Young adults do cook. But the level of difficulty
depends largely on available time,
audience and desire.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
Scene Editor

enee Phillips definitely
cooks more as a married
woman than when she was
single. But since the arrival
of her son Adam five months ago, any
elaborate gourmet cooking has come to
a halt.
"When we were just married, I
would always have some exotic meal
planned — Indian food, Chinese food.
I'd research different recipes," says
Renee. But since having a baby, "I
make the same 15 dishes, and just
rotate them — and Thursday night is
pizza night or burger night, easy. In
fact, I'm making tuna casserole — just
because I have to make things so much
quicker!"
She tries to plug in some gourmet
food for Shabbat — like fresh-baked
bread. "I try to make sure on Shabbos
I'll make something different or new or
special," says Renee.
Many twenty- and thirty-some-
things are impatient and busy, rushing
from work to the gym to Jewish com-
munity events, board meetings and
planning sessions and, oh yeah, dating.
When they want a gourmet meal — or
even something more complicated than
pasta — it's hard to find time to dice
the carrots, let the oven heat up, mix
the ingredients in the right order to
achieve the best taste.

In the fast-paced world of budding
careers and burgeoning relationships,
cooking could be a way for young
adults to stop and smell the roses — or
rosehips. But after a long work day,
there's rarely a way, or reason, to take
on a recipe that calls for precise, order-
ly steps, slow cooking, and that leads
to a relaxing, leisurely meal.
Although more married young
adults cook than singles and many sin-
gles opt for take-out, home-cooked
meals with the folks or frozen entrees,
a few do tend toward the gourmet.
Fraya Lynn Hirschberg, for one, has
been learning to cook and, she says,
enjoys _every minute.
"My mom's been sending me
recipes. I just made a turkey," she says.
"Due to college, I know how to make
pasta, rice and beans, and vegetable
stir-fry. I like to entertain; I'm trying to
learn, and I'm having fun doing it.
Now I know how to make a Shabbat
dinner and serve a turkey."
Fraya finds cooking a relaxing activi-
ty, although she tends to cook more
when she works less.
"Most of my friends eat out," she
says. "A lot of us work very long hours.
[Often] I'll make a meal on Sunday big
enough to have a couple nights a week
— it's easier to come home and reheat
something than to start from scratch."
Summer inspires more cooking than
the colder months, thanks to the sim-
ple ease of grilling. Allyson and Doug

Cohen recently assembled a new barbe-
cue and now, says Allyson, they'll be
cooking more often.
"I do gourmet stuff when I have the
time," she says. "I love cooking. I love
to mess around and try new stuff, but
it's so rare that you have time. More
often than not we go out to eat. It's
quicker and easier — and more expen-
sive."
When time's an issue, Allyson sim-
ply opens a jar of tomato sauce, boils
ton of angel hair," and browns
ground turkey. She thinks more
women cook than men, but that's not
always true.
Take Jeff Lazar, for instance. The
soon-to-be-married loves to cook — so
much so, that he anticipates one of the
contentious points in his upcoming
marriage to be over who gets to cook
more.
Chicken's his favorite — "about
100,000 different ways," he jokes.
"Most of my friends, if anything, make
boxed food. I come home from work
and cook because I love cooking. It's a
lot of fun, you can be creative."
Jeff gets the cooking itch from his
parents. "My father and mother are
both excellent cooks, and it's given me
an opportunity to get into it," he says.
"But I do eat out — lunch I'm terrible
about. Once in a great while I'll make
lunch and take it, but for the most
part, Jerusalem Pizza keeps me going
every day."

Cutting Corners

Paul Kohn of Quality Kosher
Catering suggests that the food-
harried can find useful shortcuts
to make entertaining possible.
The secret, he says, is to delegate
responsibility for the time-con-
suming work and concentrate on
the elements of food preparation
with which you are most comfort-
able. For the kitchen gun-shy,
here's his advice on how to eat
well, entertain and not sweat the
small stuff:
* Buy the difficult-but-tasty
items, and cook others.
"Sometimes there's an enor:
mous amount of work for some-
thing that doesn't look like it took
a lot of work — potato salad is
not impressive but it takes a lot o
work," Kohn says.
* Make sure your menu can be
made in advance, at least the day
before.
* Most caterers won't do little
things for you; make the order
worthwhile. Carry out what you
can and order the big items.
* Remember the rental compa.-
ties. "They have a tremendous
amount of equipment [for] rental,
some of which is definitely usable
in terms of kosher — most glass
dishes, especially because most of
the time you end up serving food
that isn't hot."
If rented silverware is in your
possession for 24 hours, it's not
difficult to kasher. And you can
rent chafing dishes, linens, chairs,
tables and other items to make
entertaining easier.

SHORTCUTS on page 76

6/26
1998

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