From Scratch
by Dax Montana on Mar.01, 2009, under General
I was going to post about the awesome lasagna I’ve been making lately. I was going to tell you all about how I make it “from scratch”. Then I thought about what “from scratch” means. I really don’t know.
Is it “from scratch” if I boil the noodles? Sure, I could make a pile of flour and break an egg into it and start to roll out some fresh pasta. That is definitely “from scratch”. What if the sauce is from a jar too? After all, it is just one more shortcut. I’d brown up some meat and then splash in some sauce from a jar, and maybe add a few spices to make it my own. I could get some tomatoes and cook them up for a couple of hours. If I made the sauce “from scratch” but used tomato paste from a can in the sauce is it no longer “from scratch?” How about a lasagna not frozen from a box like that Stouffer’s stuff. Is anything less “from scratch”? Where is the line?
I make macaroni and cheese baked casserole. Although I didn’t roll out the pasta, or milk the damned cow for cheese, I consider that “from scratch.” It ain’t Kraft in a box. What about cakes? Is it different if I use Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker to call it “from scratch?” I didn’t thaw out a Sara Lee cake or buy one from Publix. Is a cake only “from scratch” if I use cake flour?
I make homemade pizza for the kids. I stopped making the dough from flour years ago. It was too inconsistent, wouldn’t always rise, and was generally a pain in the ass. Now I use a bread machine mix for my pizza crust. Is that still “from scratch?” I still make my own sauce though.
Then there are all those box type meals, the Hamburger Helper and others. I don’t consider those meals as cooking, much less “from scratch.” What are your thoughts? What does “from scratch” mean to you?
Just Damn!
March 1st, 2009 on 7:26 am
Bread machine is cool. I also have a bunch of pasta making gadgets that fit on another big ass gadget that does all sort of stuff…even makes sausage in a tube. I grow a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. What we don’t eat or give away, we put up for days like today. Guess you know what’s for dinner tonight.
Wish I had a vineyard, orchard, and a cold water stream full of trout, and a pond full of catfish.
March 1st, 2009 on 9:30 am
as long as you don’t get the whole meal from a box… heh. I like choppig my own veggies, adding spices, other igredients- that’s my idea of scratch.
March 1st, 2009 on 11:44 pm
I make cannelloni from scratch. Takes over two hours. Lots of work. Lot of dishes. Needless to say, I don’t make it too often.