Cooking for pleasure and for that special someone

I forgot to take photos when I made this so I had to take a photo from thehungrymouse.com which is an awesome site by the way. If any of you remember the phrase "If Yan can cook, so can you", you must be in your late 20's. I don't remember much of that show but I guess it inspired me a little to try my hands at cooking. Seeing how much I love to eat, I guess it's inevitable that I will try getting my hands dirty, cooking that is.

I am not qualified to teach one how to cook, merely sharing my experience in the kitchen with whomsoever is reading this blog. Not many, I guess, at time of reading. Probably only one person and no.... no prize for guessing who that person may be. Her picture is on the post right before this post.



These are the stuffs you need: -

• Minced meat (pork / chicken / beef / yr choice) but I chose pork... for obvious reasons (400 grams of minced meat makes 2 patties; so for those of you who eat alone, you can save the other patty for your next meal. Sad but true. Get a life, get a friend or better yet, get a partner. If you have a partner, more often than not, she will clean up after the meal, now hey! aint that incentive enough?)
• Onions (ang moh's uses shallots but we Asians shall stick to Onions. Chopped)
• Garlic (chopped)
• Seasoning (thats a whole new chapter itself)
• Bread (whatever kind of bread you like)
• Eggs
• Butter
• Cheese (Cheddar, for the bread)
• An appetite and a beautiful partner to eat with (if you are as lucky as me)

Marinating thy meat (no, not yours per se but that piece of minced meat... oh lord.. I hope your meat, is not minced)

Now, this is the funny thing. I have never in my life taken notice of how I marinate stuffs, foodstuff that is. I usually use whatever I can lay my hands on. For this pork burger made, I used the following seasonings and what not and marinated it for a full, say... 15 hours?

• First, wash the meat, dry it and leave in bowl
• Add a dash of whisky (takes away the pork smell) / a tablespoon of vinegar (whatever vinegar you fancy or can lay your hands on / a pinch of salt / pepper / 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce
• Mush up everything in that bowl until it is well mixed (it's well mixed if you think its well mixed, hey, we all learn from experience and mistakes don't we?)
• Leave bowl in freezer / fridge (depending on when you are gonna cook it)

Cooking that piece of meat

• defrost it if its still frozen, chop up some garlic and onions
• add onions into the bowl of defrosted meat and mix till well mixed.........
  
• grab a handful of meat and roll into a ball
• toss the ball of meat between left and right hand until somewhat flattened

Meanwhile.........

• Heat up frying pan and add a lil wee bit of butter ( I like a lot, but she prefers a wee bit)
• Throw in some garlic and fry with butter
  
• Put somewhat flattened patty onto frying pan and hear it sizzle!!!
• Let the garlic and meat get to know each other
• Cook till meat is cooked (when meat is no longer transparent, it is cooked, well most of the time, it is cooked when its no longer transparent)

In the not too distant future (left over garlic, onions?)

• Waste not, want not
• Scramble them eggs if you will
• Spread butter on bread and sprinkle what's left of the chopped onions and garlic onto bread
• Place bread on frying pan (the garlic and onions should be under the bread, not on top)
  
• You may take the bread up anytime you want, just don't burn it

Serve, Eat and oh no! clean up!

• Light up some candles
• Turn on the music (not Led Zeppelin, please, unless you really want to)
• Pop that sparkling (ribena....)
• Enjoy thy meal... even if you are eating alone, one must enjoy the fruits of his / her labour