These long winter days and all this snow has lots of people cooking. I've heard of just about everything being whipped up. My darling husband made chili this afternoon, and I made taco bread to go with it. Cook, cook, cook... the food product is always worth the effort...until later when we have to tackle the mess, sigh, big sigh.
Cooking should be a neat process. There should NEVER be a mess in a kitchen. First of all, it's dangerous-this is how fires start and people get hurt and poisoning begins. Second it's disappointing - all that work so that there is twice more - almost doesn't seem worth while. Third, it's completely unnecessary; messy in the kitchen is the tell-tale that one's life is a mess as well. I learned a long time ago from my mother who liked to use every single dish in the kitchen, that a kitchen should always be neat.
Both my kitchens are very small. You couldn't get a table in either of my kitchens. At home, my one hundred and eighty year old kitchen has a brick floor and antique furniture - a large hutch with a porcelain pull out counter, and a large oak breakfront with drawers and a cabinet on top for dishes. The sink barely has enough counter space to drain dishes on either side, and the only other surface in the room is a flour barrel with a fruit bowl on top. Yet, unless someone else cooks, I always try to keep the kitchen clean and functional.
I keep all my appliances out because I use them nearly every day. I keep out various spice jars, flour jars, bowls, paddles and whisks, so it's a tight squeeze - I can't spread out, so every thing is used and either put away promptly, or cleaned and put away promptly. Every dirty dish goes directly into the sink - I have a dishwasher but I never use it.
At school, I cringe when someone stirs a pot and leaves the dirty spoon on the counter. "OUCH," I want to scream! When as many as five dirty spoons are left on the counter, two things happen: the first is the drying crusted mess on the counter that needs to be scraped off and is a serious crime against health, and the second is there is no place to put a hot pot or a finished product because the dirty spoons are taking up the space- dangerous! When you taste or stir a pot, take the spoon and either wash it or leave it in the sink to be washed during a pause in the cooking. This way, the counter stays clean and what space you have is usable.
I need: flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, eggs, and baking powder. When the right amounts are in the bowl, there should be one thing on the counter - the bowl. When an egg carton and egg shells linger on the counter, the cinnamon is opened and the jar is separated from the lid, when the flour and sugar containers are opened and the lids are who knows where, and the butter paper is stuck to the front of the baking powder with the spoon still stuck into the tin...you have a mess.
Cleanliness dictates that it is far easier to open a can of tomato sauce for spaghetti and toss the can away than to leave it on the counter while the sauce dribble makes its way down the can and makes a ring on the counter. When the can opener has done its business, rinse it off and put it away!
When making pancakes at school, the first thing to do is to gather six eggs in their carrier and crack them open into the mixing bowl of the electric mixer making sure every egg shell is deposited into the garbage can a.s.a.p. Wash the carrier and put it away. Measure or pour the oil into the mixing bowl, and put the oil away. Pour half as much milk into the mixing bowl as you need and put the milk away and put the bowl aside. Next, get out a second bowl. Measure the flour and put it away. I use a dog food storage unit with a strong hinged lid that rolls for flour. Measure your baking powder and put the spoon into the sink and put the baking powder away. Use the salt dispenser and put it away. If we are making a spiced pancake batter, measure your spice into the flour mix and put your spice away. Whisk all dry ingredients and put the whisk into the sink. Using an electric mixer, heap great spoons full of dry mix into the egg- milk mix one spoon at a time until it is all mixed well, adding more milk as needed. Put the dry bowl into the sink with the spoon. Wipe your counter. Wash your bowl, your measures if used, your spoons, and your whisk.
Now look at your kitchen. It doesn't even look like you've cooked. And if you were suddenly called away, you can pour your batter into a pitcher for later without coming home to a disgusting mess rife with bacteria spread across your kitchen.
Now plug in your griddle. As you ladle the batter onto the hot griddle, wipe up any spills and drips. Wet spill is always easier than dry ones. Wipe the excess on your griddle, your batter bowl and any surface that is caught by unsuspecting batter. When the cooking is done, put your batter or mixing bowl into the sink with your spatula and swish swipe and let these pieces dry while you eat.
Cooking sans mess is the only way to fly. After a delicious dinner, it's so hard to face dishes and mess. And it always amounts to the same amount of work, so it makes sense. It's really a matter of thinking things through - I think they call it prudence.
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