Member-only story
For the love of a sheet pan
When the prospect of dinner terrifies you, reach for your trusty metal baking tray and relax.
My friend Jane asked me for a cooking lesson. She’s one of those people who feel about cooking as I do about taxes. In other words, dreadful. As in full of dread — a fear and loathing verging on panic. A fear and loathing sufficient to blot out the mind.
Jane’s son is 12 now, teetering on the edge of teen-hood, and he’s hungry all the time. Jane is desperate. She needs a solution. She’s skirted cooking for years, hoping her husband would pick up the ball, and he has, to a degree, but not entirely. Jane is trying to summon the courage and wherewithal to tackle the chore of nourishing her family.
There are many people like Jane. People who are either intimidated or bored or frustrated or disgusted or simply uninterested in the minutiae of the kitchen. If you lack the tools, or a good knife, or sufficient space, it’s beyond annoying. If your stove is sub-par, with electric burners or a broken oven, it’s demoralizing.
But, all that said, there are important reasons to overcome your aversion. Nutrition is primary among them. Economics is right up there as well. Eating out all the time, ordering take out, swinging by fast food joints, or stopping at the Whole Foods…
