ANYWAYS, cooking…

Cooking is something that you can get better at easily because the very nature of needing to eat means that you have the opportunity to practice it several times a day. And I do think its something that takes practice. If you are reading this then there’s probably a good chance you’ve eaten food that I have made and most people have told me that what I make them is good. That said, I know for a fact that I have screwed up, and not a little bit. Once when I was a teenager tasked with making the family dinner I ruined it with too much cinnamon. I knew I screwed it up and my family was not really shy about telling me that it wasn’t good. I have also cooked dinners for my wife that were “not my favorite”. This is ok, its part of the process, its part of life. As long as its not literally inedible or going to make someone sick they can, and will, get over it. They (you) get to eat again in like 8-12 hours. This too shall pass. This also doubles as advice for eating something you might not like, be it trying new stuff or eating something that someone has made you that you might not care for. Eat it anyways and move on with your life. You get to eat again. This is not your last meal. And ESSPECIALLY don’t make the other person feel bad that you didn’t like it. That can be CRUSHING for someone trying to get better at cooking.

My first bit of advice is stop trying to cook recipes and start cooking food. You don’t need to cook; Jamie Oliver’s Tuscan chicken with Venetian cannellini bean and Tuscan arugula salad. You need to cook beans and chicken

Learning to food ingredients rather than recipes will lift your skills faster than anything else. How do you do this? Easy pick foods and cook them. I’m not trying to be obstinate here, I’m trying to make you see that food (specifically dinner) doesn’t have to be A Thing™ every night. It doesn’t have to be something specific. It can just be food. I’ll include an example towards the end.

This leads well into my next point, one I was sort of making earlier. Food, by its nature is ephemeral. If you don’t absolutely CRUSH dinner tonight, guess what. You’ll have another chance tomorrow. If you don’t love what you made, learn from it. Think about why, was it the flavor? Was it the the texture? Was it the combination of ingredients? Whatever it was, next time, do it different. Bam. You learned, you got better. Well done. You’re well on your way.

Now, I’m not an idiot. I hear you yelling at the screen. “But Corey! How do I know what to change!?!?” Easy. Was it just kind of bland? Add salt. Was the texture wrong? You either cooked too hot or too cold resulting in it cooking too long or not long enough (It was probably too hot). Was it just kind of ::gestures vaguely:: missing something? Acid, it was missing acid, squeeze some citrus on it or add a splash of vinegar. Trust me. Was it overly dry and not pleasant in the mouth? It didn’t have enough fat.

Salt, fat, acid, heat. 4 simple words. UNLIMITED possibilities for deliciousness.

I debated heavily on whether or not to include the following as it strays much to closely to a …recipe (Dragnet sting). Now that I have decided to include it, I don’t know exactly how. Should I just give some examples of what I cook on a weeknight? Or should I instead I’m going to phrase it as a series of tips and advice? Por que no los dos? Idk. I assume that if you’ve made it this far you’re pretty comfortable with my disjointed and rambling style. So I’d like to give an example (or maybe 2) of what I might serve on a random weeknight. One of which is what I like to call Ground Beef du Jour, or sometimes just “brown food”, it goes something like this. Ground beef in a pan, till its brown, not grey, brown, add some spices that I like from the pantry, maybe 3 tablespoons total, add a tomato paste and some hoisin/oyster sauce, stir till its glossy and bubbly. Separate pan, throw down a bit of oil and some broccoli florets, cook till done. How do I know its done? I taste it. Serve with rice. Congratulations now you’re cooking like Corey. We eat this at least once a week. Its delicious. Does it have a name? No….Ok ok yes you’re technically correct, it does because I named it to be funny. But the point is its not like A Thing its just food. And the best part, none of it is rigid. You could do it with chicken or pork, you could swap out the veg, you could serve it over spaghetti if you wanted. Want to make it “better” cook some diced onions and mushrooms into your beef. There are no rules.

Now here are some rules(of thumb):¹

• Brown your meat don’t grey it.
  • Cooking gringo tacos with a kit from the grocery store? Box says brown the ground beef doesn’t it? Cook it till it turns BROWN. I know this sounds so dumb but I swear to glob it will make your food so much better.²
• You (probably) need less heat than you think
  • I do about 95% of my cooking at, or just above, medium heat.
  • The exceptions are deep frying, boiling, and when you need a HEAVY sear on a hunk of beast. Which are all up near 9-10/10.
• …But let your pan PREHEAT
  • Any kind of pan, let it sit there for a min or 3
• USE MORE SALT
• The fewer ingredients a you are using the more they matter³
• I’m probably forgetting one
• Have Fun
  • this is just like any other hobby. Meant to be enjoyed. Even though it has a large amount of utility.

Ok I think I’m done. I don’t have some grand conclusion. I don’t even really know what the whole point of this was other than sharing my thoughts. I just want people to eat and be happy. Thanks for reading

~Corey

A small bit of context here first: This…diatribe was originally written as a post for Facebook. I haven’t posted anything on Facebook in over 18 months, and longer than that since there was anything of substance. So, this was written as my “triumphant” return.

I honestly thought people would be shocked enough to see that I posted something for the first time in so long that it would garner some attention. I quickly realized that attention was probably not something I actually wanted. Now, with this blog, something feels different. So I thought I’d actually share what I wrote. This is also one of the driving factors for me even starting this blog in the first place. I wanted a place to write about stuff like this and as time goes on Facebook seems less and less like the place to do it. So if you are seeing this because I shared my blog (this post) on Facebook then congratulations on finding your way here. That is/was the first time I’ve shared this little “secret” with the wider world. If that is true, unless you are a small subsection of my friends then I am sorry not sorry for what you’re about to read. Honestly you’re probably not going to like it.

The video I mention will be linked somewhere around the middle of the post, my thoughts below were written the day after that video was published and now I’m finally posting them however many months YouTube says it has been later.

As a wise man once said:

Linear time got hands bro

Anyways…enjoy:

I almost didn’t do it.

It was a near thing.

I wanted to stay away.

I wanted to stay out of it, but this video was enough to bring me back. If you don’t read past this or if you know what this video is about already, I’d appreciate if you just dropped a heart or a thumbs up so this post reaches more people. (Since this isn’t on facebook anymore go ahead and read a little more before watching the video)

¹[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM]]

If you haven’t yet you need to watch this video regardless of your feelings on the subject of solar power or renewables in general, its full of good information. I know that it is a long video but if you keep reading I will offer a suggestion to shorten it.

If you aren’t familiar with what this video is or what it is about I will give you a primer. This guy Alec makes videos about various technologies. In this particular video he speaks on several topics dear to me. The first of which is that the world is ready to switch to getting ALL of its electricity from means other than burning things. At, functionally a “moments” notice we could just decided to stop burning coal and methane to generate electricity. Why don’t we? Because it is more profitable for oil companies if we just keep needing to buy things that burn, instead of spending a fraction of that same money upfront to “pre-purchase” enough solar generation to power the same things over their lifetime.

Well, that’s the first 2/3 of the video. The last 3rd is…a different, and more important video. If you only have 30min, please, do me a favor skip to the 1h03m mark and click play. Watch from that point forward with an open mind, an open heart, and a modicum of introspection. IF you do that, I want to say thank you. I appreciate you.

If you watch that video and it makes you mad that I would take sides with this guy. If you think “oh no, not Corey too. I can’t believe ‘They’ got him too.” I’d like for you to really think about that for a second. Think about what it might actually mean that one of the kindest, most mild mannered, least openly partisan people you know is mad enough to get onto a platform that he hates to share an opinion counter to what you might assume he has. My grandfather fought and bled his way through Italy to stop a fascist dictator, now 85 years later we are seeing a DISTRESSING amount of similarities. Consider that I should be your canary in the coal mine.

So what now? Please hear my desperate plea for you to really consider our future. Look inside of yourself and consider if that single issue you’ve been using to guide your vote is REALLY that worth absolutely demolishing any chance we have at a free and better future. It’s time to start actually caring about your fellow humans. So please, evaluate whether or not you have tied your identity or ego to a particular politician or party “winning”. There is no winning, for anyone, under this level of oppression.

Still not sure or did you not actually watch the video? Cool, I honestly doubt most people will. No worries, I’ll leave you with this:

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

• The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and The Committee of Five of the Second Continental Congress - July, 1776

~Corey

I do not love working. I reject this idiom that we grew up with that. “If you find a way to get paid to do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

I don’t want to get paid to bite into perfectly toasted piece of handmade sourdough bread. I don’t want to get paid for spending a lazy Sunday afternoon on the couch with my dog. For spending a Saturday at the track with my friends. Seeing my nephew open another Lego set Christmas morning. That first bright blue, clear, and crisp fall day in Virginia. Feeling the grip of my wife’s hand slacken as she falls asleep. Even if you could find a way to give me money for these things I wouldn’t want it.

These are the things I love. These are the things that stir passion that make me cry. Even if it was possible to get paid for doing them I believe that I wouldn’t want to. I wouldn’t want pureness of the joy and the beauty of the moment to be tainted by money. I am a passionate person. I Love my friends and family and hobbies and animals and wife. I love feeding people making them smile. I love being there for people when they need me. I do not love work. I work so that I can love. I will work hard because I love hard.

Now if only there was a way, a method or device by which we could divorce the need to make a living from the products or services we provide…..hmmm. Anyone have any ideas?

I’m not sure if it’s a useful thing to think about, but I often think about what I would do if I didn’t have to earn a living. I don’t just mean if I was independently wealthy or didn’t have to worry about money because of generational wealth or something. I just mean that If we lived in a world where most people didn’t have to spend most of their time and structure their entire lives around simply covering the first two levels of Maslow’s Pyramid, what would we do? What would happen if some people just….did that? Probably nothing good which is, I suppose, why we don’t just stop working. However I have considered what life might be like if I just disappeared into the woods one day.

I digress. I try to work hard so that I can play hard, cook hard, love hard. But if, on any given day I am out of motivation or really not feeling well enough to “Strive and struggle” to “make a difference” or “have an impact”…well sometimes I think that’s just ok. This is not my company, this is not my start-up, it’s barely my career. Honestly, I don’t care that much about it.

Which kind of dovetails into my next point. Which maybe should be its own article entirely, we’ll see. I am so f’n tired of life on the road. Excuse me while I winge for a bit. I am tired of being in the car. I am tried of looking out of this windshield. I am literally sitting in my car right now procrastinating driving to my installation today, a 276 mile round trip skirting DC….it’s not going to be fun. Next week I am leaving on Monday driving to WV, working there Tuesday morning, then driving to Buffalo, working there Wednesday morning, then driving to North Western VA, working there Thursday morning and then coming home…. Also I am so god-damned tired of eating in the car (or on the road). I bet I eat >50% of my meals away from my own home, my own kitchen, and my wife, and most of those meals are literally eaten in the car. I am so tired of not being able to have a real routine other than seeming chaos. I am exhausted, and it’s not getting better.

I am endlessly grateful for my career and what it has afforded me and my family but it has stagnated. For the last 5-6 years my salary has barely stayed ahead of inflation. In the last year I’ve had a couple of extremely promising interviews for jobs that would get me out of the field. Both of them fell flat for me.

I wish this post had some grand revelation, some point to make. It doesn’t, this is basically it. I am tired of working. I don’t like that we have to keep doing it. I understand why, and I am (probably) going to keep doing it. But I am not going to be shy about hating it.

I asked a question earlier: What would I do if I didn’t have to “work”? I think I would make stuff. I would grow and cook my own food. I would build things in my shed. Maybe I would work on/enjoy cars again. I’d probably sit on the porch and drink whiskey and smoke cigars a lot. But maybe I’d get into sewing, or archery, or basket weaving. Maybe I’d try my hand at painting, or take singing lessons. Maybe I’d disappear into the woods and live as long as I could off the land. I don’t think I’ll ever really know…and to some extent that hurts a little and it reminds me of these lyrics

~ Corey

Ok so this article has been fairly long in the making but I believe it is finally ready. So here it goes. Get your popcorn. Get your blanket. Get your pajamas…and throw that crap out the window cause it’s about to get real. This article is about rotaries and how I feel about them but first a little clarification and backstory. First of all, I don’t hate rotaries. They just aren’t really for me. (more on that later) Secondly, when I say rotary I am talking about the Wankel Piston-less Engine made by Mazda. Ok now that that is cleared up on to the heart of things. This rant (because lets be honest that’s what it is) originated from a discussion we (The guys of FC3) were having on one of our boards. It started with me posting a picture of a Miata Coupe, one of like 5 that Mazda ever made. Someone ELSE then said that “all Mazda needs to do to make another RX7 is put a Renesys in a Miata with a fixed roof like that.” Now being a Miata driver myself I (respectfully) disagree and was instantly deemed a “rotary hater”. Although if I’m honest I haven’t exactly been supportive of rotaries in the past. However the conversation continued for almost a full day without me logging onto the boards and when I did I had some catching up to do. So I started typing and as so often happens with these things one thing lead to another and I had a full blown rant on my hands. Using mostly that rant I will now attempt to explain and otherwise lay bare for you my opinions of rotaries hopefully with a bit of fact laid in there as well. Keeping in mind of course the original context of this rant.  

The First thing I would like to talk about is the bastardizing of a Miata with a rotary in it. 

I think putting a rotary in another car is almost as bad as putting something else in an RX-7. Think about it. Yeah sure there are a lot of LS swapped FDs out there but if you ever run into a true rotary fan they hate on those cars so much it’s incredible. Believe me cause we have a few of them here at FC3. They constantly talk about how having anything else in the car other than a Wankel completely destroys everything the car is about and I tend to agree with them. Although I applaud people for doing what they like with the cars they like. However I feel the same way about putting a rotary in a Miata. I think it changes what the car is all about and I think it’s silly and I don’t like the idea. I think if they put the Renesis in an MX-5 it would be cool and all and might sell a lot but I think they would sell more if it was a piston engine. I say just make a new RX-7. Hell you could build it on the same chassis. All I’m saying is I wouldn’t buy one. It might be a great car, just not my cup of tea. I think that the general public would rather have the more basic, more reliable (more on that later), more well known, traditional Otto cycle piston motor. 

Secondly I would like to talk about said reliability and general tech of this motor. 

For those that don’t know the difference between the 2 kinds of motors I’ve mentioned you better look it up cause that’s not what this article is about. However I will do my best to explain some parts.

Here is the thing about the reliability of the Wankel motor. It CAN go as far as some Otto piston engines, SOME rotaries have been known to go a long distance before needing replacing or rebuilding. However the ratio of longevity of the average rotary vs the average piston motor is tipped way in favor of the piston motor. Cars like Subaru, Honda, and Volvo to name a few are CONSTANTLY going 300,000+ (and that’s a big plus) miles without engine failure.  The instances of a rotary hitting those numbers are very few and even farther between. Every rotary guy I talk to says they are just as reliable but then they add that little side comment, that little fine print at the bottom of the page “If you know how to take care of it”. This brings me to my next point. Not everyone knows how. This is because these motors are extremely uncommon and not a lot is known about them outside of the small circle of people who own them. Literally EVERYONE ELSE in the world (ok not this guyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrSpFk_XXFo)  is driving a piston motor so a LOT more is known about how to take care of them and that sort of thing. Now when a Wankel does break one might think it would be easy to rebuild it right? I mean come on half the point of a rotary is to have less moving parts so there is less to do right? Wrong. Now I am not one to say that (piston) engine building is easy or uncomplicated it’s not at all but when it comes to rebuildable  what gets me is you can’t machine them. If you scuff a rotary housing you’re boned. If you scuff a cylinder wall you can literally buff it out. In a piston engine every single surface can be re-machined and brought back to original tolerances and unless there is a catastrophic failure and you blow a hole in your block then the engine is rebuildable.  

Told you I forgot something. My other point is Mazda in all their infinite wisdom holds ALL of the patent rights to the wankel so no one else can build one. Well we have seen throughout history that competition makes or better products. That’s what has caused all the advancements in the Otto cycle of piston engines. Someone made one and some other guy said I bet I can do that better and then a third guy said I bet I can do the same thing for less money. And the rest is history. With only one company making rotaries there’s not going to be as much advancement as there could be. That said Mazda is doing a hell of a job. But this simple fact is just one more mark against the rotary as a whole for me. 

Another thing I just thought of. With less parts and less complexity (while usually a good thing) means you get one personality. (Albeit maybe more personality but that’s neither here nor there) I.e. there are no valves so you don’t get things like VVT or its not as easy to change how the motor runs or where it’s power band is just by changing camshafts (or programs in a Diesel motor. ::Drool::) what you end up with is some super crazy high revs and some decent power once you get there but it might not have the best manners for traffic. But that’s more for like crazy bridge ported craziness not stock motors like we are talking about. However after ALL of this let me say I think rotaries are cool and I appreciate them from an engineering standpoint and I applaud Mazda for sticking with it. But let the RX7 be the RX7 and the Miata the Miata. Both are great and both do their part to advance and generally make the car world better.

Hope that wasn’t too cringy ~ Corey

The mark of any good restaurant is delicious food and accommodating staff. At a James Beard award winner excellent food, wonderful cocktails, beautiful presentation, and professional, knowledgeable, personable staff are literally table stakes. At 1010 I have found the mark of true greatness.

Tonight, I sat at the bar and was greeted by my new super hero’s BB (spelling?) and Derick. I treated myself to an absolutely fabulous Manhattan made by Derick, some really stellar blistered shishitos, and a lovely ramp salad. Afterwards I let Derick “talk me into” a fabulous glass of wine from Cotes De Rhone my absolute favorite wine region in the world, with wine that instantly bring back memories of my late father.

I could have gotten up and left just then and been perfectly happy. But, if that had come to pass I would not be writing this message and although I would have accounted myself lucky, this evening successful, and my pallet/belly totally satisfied. I would have missed out on a truly unforgettable night. I would have missed the opportunity to see the sort of greatness, compassion, and hospitality that drive me to find restaurants like this.

For you see, I stayed for an entree. Why is this notable? Why have I written 200 words to tell you I had an entree? Because, while eating I had the misfortune to discover a small issue with my meal.

More surprised than anything I alerted BB and, before I could blink, my plate was whisked away. I was offered and brought what Derick knew was my second choice of entree. My entire meal was comped including the dessert I BEGGED to be allowed to pay for. I was rebuffed multiple times when I offered. I had 3 different people come and ask if I was ok. I was made to feel extra special.

You see, the mark of REAL greatness in the restaurant industry is not how you handle the table stakes. In large part it’s not even really the incredible food you make. Its how you handle adversity, how you correct mistakes, and how you treat people. We’re all human, mistakes happen the only thing that matters in the world is how we treat each other when mistakes happen.

Eat, drink, and be merry Do it at 1010 Bridge You won’t be disappointed

~ Corey

One of these properties was a very charming little brick house from the 1950s with everything we wanted and needed. It was a really perfect fit. It was a teeny tiny bit out of our Self-Imposed price cap but still within the what we could afford. The kicker was it just so happened to be, in the neighborhood and one street over (like 300 yards away) from my best friend of 25 years (shout out the Daily Downshift)

I really wanted this property. So I asked our real estate agent if it would be appropriate and helpful for me to write a letter to the seller, entreating them to consider our offer (as it was likely to be a lower offer) for the sake of the story of my friendship. I was really attempting to pull on the heartstrings. I even asked for the opportunity to increase our offer if it was close to their top offer. Essentially I was trying to ask for something like the right of first refusal

Anyways, in that letter, as I’m wont to do, I used…what I would call…AP vocabulary, or put less kindly 11 Dollar Words (Its just like 10 Dollar Words but they go to 11). Most of which I’m confident and familiar enough with that I didn’t figure it would be a problem. However, one of these words stood out to me as having been misused in a pique of overwrought verbosity…

::Cough::

If you’ve spent any amount of time reading this blog, hanging out with me, being internet friends. Then you know that it’s something of a foible of mine to not proofread well, I don’t have an editor, and you must know well that sometimes my word choice gets in my own way. I do find that I often forget words or know that I know a word for a thing but have a hard time bringing it to mind. All of which is why when I went back and reread my letter, this particular word stuck out to me is possibly being used incorrectly.

So, being the modern era, instead of having a human that I trust and love proofread/edit my work, I threw it into ¹Chatty-G and asked if I was using the word correctly…. I was not. So I asked if it could help me find the right word or refactor that sentence to actually ask what I was trying to ask or say what I was trying to say. After I was happy with the results I gave the letter to my wife to proofread. I did ask specifically if she thought any of it was written by AI. I explained what I did and she said it sounded pretty much just like me. Which was encouraging because, ultimately I only swapped out a few words.

Well, we didn’t get that house. I never go any feedback about the letter either. I was so frustrated at this point in the house hunting process that I deleted this letter and I don’t even remember that word I was trying to use. BUT, what that whole kerfuffle was good for was making me realized that when its something I am passionate about…I can and do enjoy writing.

All my life, all through school I hated writing. I was bad at it and that made a lot of my education very fraught and caused me no end of trouble. In fact, once in middle school I failed a history test because it was all essay based and my teacher graded on grammar as well as content. So it has been quite refreshing actually to learn that writing can actually be something that I can not only do…passably…but can also be something that I enjoy doing. Thus. This blog.

~ Corey

This might literally be my life’s biggest struggle and I don’t even make that much stuff I’ve mostly just had a series of jobs where old parts or other “trash” was still too interesting to me and I’ve had to keep it. I can barely get into my extra deep and wide 2 car garage. Why? I have TOO MUCH stuff. Part of my personal problem with most of the ¹suggestions here (and others that I have gotten) are that they seem to be made by people who don’t understand what it’s like living with this kind of mental “illness”.

I have pretty intense ADHD and one of the manifestations is hardcore executive dysfunction. I know that I shouldn’t keep the stuff, I know that I should get rid of it, I simply cannot. It’s SO hard for me. It’s getting to the point that the sheer amount of stuff in my house and garage has become a contributing factor in my 5+ year battle with depression. Intellectually I know that I will feel better if I get rid of some of the stuff but it is really really hard for me. 

I share all of that  to say this, you are not alone. I see you. And I would like to share with you some of the things that have worked for me in my battle:

First having/getting some accountability for myself and the stuff. This one worked for me because most of my problem was bringing in stuff to the system, not just keeping my scraps. (I can elaborate if anyone wants more info) The next thing is I try my damnedest not to be TOO precious about keeping it. Like actually letting myself USE the stuff. It sounds trivial but the moment I actually get to use that thing I’ve been hanging on to for YEARS makes me feel so good it gives me the motivation to find other places to use the stuff. (This could quickly turn into vindication for the hoarding and spiral badly but it works for me).

Next is a similar catharsis I’ve found to using the stuff is finding someone else who will use it and giving it away. For a long time I was holding on to a TON of small electronic components and pieces. I’ve never once built a single electronics project. I asked around and found some fellow makers who DO make that kind of thing and literally shipped them an entire box of stuff. They were psyched to get it and I felt great that it went to a good home. 

Next specifically for wood, deciding in the moment of making the cutoff I often decide then and there if I’m going to save it or burn it. Most of my justification for one or the other is “can I make this scrap again FROM scrap I already have?” 3 inches of 2x4? I can cut this from the 11" piece I made earlier so I’ll just burn this one. I love fire, probably too much, so burning the stuff is enough fun that I can consider it a good use of wood scraps. Also this mostly works for construction lumber. If I had a 3 inch chunk of Sapele or Purple Heart, you bet your bottom dollar I’m keeping that till the end of time…

Next has only really worked for me maybe twice but it’s really good when it does, challenge yourself to make something out of only what you have laying around. Different from just using the scraps where and when you have opportunity. Go out with the express intent of just seeing what you can come up with using only “trash” even if it’s just art or for fun and not something practical. If it turns out terrible then toss it out and don’t try to recover your “investment” lol. 

Lastly (or the last thing I can think of at this point) is the final and hardest thing to do is just throw it away. I know I just talked earlier about how this is basically impossible but I have a method. I literally ask someone else to do it for me. My wife/my mother/a couple of good friends are all people I can call to help me. I will literally tell them that I need help letting go of stuff and they will do it for me. My one friend calls it “disappearing things” for me.

What I do is identify to that other person what I’m having trouble letting go of (or sometimes specifying what I absolutely want/need to keep) and then, this is the critical part; GTFO, get away, turn around, don’t watch them do it. Just let that friend/wife/mother with no emotional attachment to the thing get rid of it. I think this mostly works for me because I also kind of struggle with object permanence so, if I can’t see it or don’t see it anymore that bond I have to it tends to goes away quickly. Very rarely this has backfired on me because I have sworn up and down that I have some specific part or piece and then I spend 20 minutes looking for it only to realize that it was “disappeared” 

Anyways if you struggle with this sort of thing then I hope this helps even a little bit. Stay strong brother (or sister) 👊

~ Corey

The conversation quickly turned into something much more than a discussion of bread, butter, and cheese. I realized that this starts to get into a broader theory of all cooking really quickly. I haven’t fully thought through every aspect of this but my working theory right now is:

In other “words”:

(Number of Ingredients)=100/Inpact of Each Ingredient¹

As and example, if you think about something like a cup of coffee versus a pot of chili, yes, the ingredients and technique matter in both instances. However its a matter of scale. In a cup of coffee; If you have bad beans, bad water, or if you don’t know what you’re doing, it goes downhill quickly. But a pot of chili is like…almost designed to be hard to mess up. I often use leftovers and things not at their prime in chili because its so forgiving and there are like 30 ingredients so any one is of nearly trivial value.

Which brings us to the crust of the matter

I think grilled cheese is somewhere in the middle. Yes, you can absolutely make a great grilled cheese sandwich with 89c Wonder Bread, a shmear of margarine, and a nickel’s worth of processed cheese product but it’s so easy to burn or to otherwise mess up, the technique really matters a lot. However, if you go in there with some hearty fresh sourdough and some fancy cheeses, it’s actually easier to pull off well because they don’t cook as quickly. It’s a really interesting midpoint.

It’s also interesting/tricky because the difference between those breads and cheeses is so vast that if you did the exact same times and temperatures for both “recipes”, you’d come up with two different products.

OK, enough theory, enough rambling, its time for me to be getting to how I make my grilled cheese, but I want to lead with a qualifying statement. None of what I’m about to say is in any way meant to be definitive or prescriptive, and I certainly don’t think that this is the only way. It might not even be the best way.

This is my way

Generally, I prefer butter, but I’ve also been known to use my jar of bacon drippings. I keep my butter on the counter so it’s always room temp and spreadable. Additionally, I buy bougie butter. Kerrygold or the Kirkland knockoff which is also delicious.

I use my lodge 10 and 1/2 in flat Skillet (the one with no sides). I use this for a couple of reasons. The first is it’s very heavy. It’s incredibly well seasoned. It allows great access, but perhaps more so than any of that. It sits almost perfectly flat on my glass top stove so there are minimal hot spots and it doesn’t move around.

Generally speaking, I use sourdough or a loaf that is marked as “Italian bread” in the Publix bakery. For reasons completely unknown to me, sourdough takes a little bit longer to toast. So in order to achieve the nice golden brown we all long for it requires a little more time on the fire. However, although sour dough is what I have most often, my actual favorite is pumpernickel.

When it comes to cheese I prefer Colby cheese although pepper jack is also nice. I’m not above using American or something else, but if I’m going to the store with the intention making grilled cheese, I’m getting Colby from the deli. The important thing is to have a cheese that melts well. Also, I tear up the slices and distribute them across the piece of bread so that every part of the sandwich is as close to two slices of cheese thick as I can reasonably make it. I do this mostly because the bread and the cheese are not always the same size. I also try really hard not to have the cheese hang outside of the bread

I used to be a fan of putting a little whole grain mustard on the inside of one slice but I don’t do that a whole lot anymore.

Alright

• Pan on Medium Heat
• Get Out Other Ingredients
• Butter Both Slices, Set Aside
• Portion Cheese, No Thicker Than Two Slices at Any Point
• Place First Slice in Pan (if It Sizzles Really Hard, Cut the Heat 20% and Move the Pan off the Fire)
• Put Cheese on First Slice
• Top With Second Slice
• Wait
• Listen, Smell and Watch for Bread To Begin To Toast
• Flip When Golden Brown
• Repeat Previous Two Until Desired Level of Crispiness and Golden Brownness
• Remove to Cooling Rack
• Wait at Least a Minute
• Cut DIAGONALLY

It should never sizzle really really hard. If it does, remove pan from heat, you can even pull the sandwich out and set it aside on a cooling rack for a minute.

Honestly I could keep going but at this point I’m pretty sure you guys are tired of reading this dissertation. Go forth and grill some cheese and be merry.

~ Corey

This is just a landing page…

I am working on it…

I am still trying to figure all this out…

I am not a smart man…

Also, a blog? What year is it?

Who knows. But I’m trying something new. Join me while I smash my head with a hammer.

PS, Any grammatical, spelling, or other language based mistakes are entirely my own and not the fault of other person or entity. I just use a basic spell check and often fail proof read. I don’t even have another human proof read (But I’d accept volunteers)