Cooking as a design process

COOKING AS A DESIGN PROCESS XIAO WU / UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA BS IN ARCHITECTURE 2012

Cooking is a process of “Complexity and Contradiction”.

On one hand, it is a logical and analytical process. It serves a consistent purpose of satisfying people’s need of food for survival and taste for pleasure. It is when one look at a Tuna Helper and see “2 tablespoons of water and 3 tablespoons of milk” as if it must be as precise as a 2” by 6” wide-flange beam.

On another hand, it is a arbitrary, artistic, and creative process of improvisation, both inevitably and intentionally. There is a primiary goal to feed oneself and others, yet the goal is vague and open as your tongue is always open for variations and new tastes.

Cooking is a condensed and illustrated process of resolving such complexity and contradiction between rationalism and autonomous art. It is a complicated process that involves multiple stages of using product as ingredient while each stage is more or less independent.

Therefore, cooking as such a “dialectic” process, is not intended to resolve the relationship, but to celebrate such complexity and contradiction, or celebrate anything that addresses any important aspect about the process. European cuisine and Asian cuisine clearly contrasts each other on whether to present itself as a very carefully measured image or not. And there will never be a conclusion on which is more superior. Cooking is an additive process, not reductive.

NOODLES

PLAIN NOODLE SOUP - NOODLE, CARROT, LETTUCE, DRIED MUSHROOM (SOAK IN WARM WATER FOR AN HOUR BEFORE USE), HAM, GREEN ONION - ADD NOODLE AND DRIED MUSHROOM TO BOILING WATER - WHEN ABOUT HALF WAY DONE, ADD CARROT, LETTUCE, AND HAM - WHEN ALMOST DONE, ADD LITTLE SALT AND GREEN ONION

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP - CHICKEN SOUP (SEE PAGE), NODLE. HAM, CORN),

- BOIL FINISHED CHICKEN SOUP - ADD NOODLE, CORN, HAM AT ONE TIME

CORN NOODLE SOUP

COLD RAMEN

- RAMEN, BABY CORN, HAM, GREEN ONION / PARSLEY, SOUP MIX

- RAMEN, EGG, HAM, GREEN ONION

- ADD SOUP MIX TO WATER - HEAT ON STOVE - ADD RAMEN, HAM, CORN WHEN BOILS - ADD GREEN ONION / PARSLEY BEFORE FINISHING

- BOIL RAMEN TILL DONE, TAKE OUT AND DRAIN - IN A HEATED PAN WITH OIL, ADD ONE OR TWO EGGS, QUICKLY SCRAMBLE A LITTLE BIT - ADD SOY SAUCE SUGAR, WATER - ADD ONLY A LITTLE PRE-MIX OF STARCH AND WATER - POUR EGG AND JUICE OVER THE RAMEN, AND ADD SLICED HAM AND GREEN ONION

FRIED NOODLE - RAMEN, EGG, CARROT, GARLIC CHIVE - BOIL RAMEN IN WATER - DRAIN RAMEN AND REFRIDGERATE FOR HALF AN HOUR - BEAT ONE OR TWO EGGS, ADD SALT IN THE EGG BEAT - HEAT PAN AND OIL - ADD EGG BEAT TO THE PAN - IMMEDIATELY AFTER, ADD REFRIDGERATED RAMEN TO THE PAN - ADD CHOPPED CARROT AND GARLIC CHIVE, THEN STIR FRY TILL SMELLS AND LOOKS GOOD - ADD A LITTLE SOY SAUCE AND SUGAR

SUSHI

- RICE, FISH (BEST WITH SKIN: E.G. EEL OR HADDOCK), EGG, HONEY, MILK, CARROT, CUCUMBER, MAYO, ROASTED SEAWEED, CRAB STICK, ETC.

1. FISH - WRAP DEFROSTED FISH IN PAPER TOWER; LET SIT FOR 5 MINUTES - IN A HEATED PAN WITH OIL, ADD FISH - WHEN HALFWAY DONE, ADD SOY SAUCE, TERIYAKE SAUCE, HONEY, WATER AND STARCH WATER - COOK TILL DONE AND JUICE THICKENS

2. EGG - BEAT EGGS THOROUGHLY, ADD STARCH WATER, HONEY, AND MILK - HEAT A NON-STICKING PAN; DO NOT ADD OIL - POUR EGG BEAT IN THE PAN, COOK ON LOW - FLIP OVER AND TRY NOT TO DESTROY THE SHAPE

3. RICE - TAKE COOKED RICE AND LET SIT OPEN TO DRY A LITTLE BIT - REFRIDGERATE TILL IT COOLS - IN A SEPARATE POT, BOIL THE MIX OF RICE VINEGAR, SUGAR AND WATER - ADD THE FINISHED MIXTURE TO RICE; ONE TEASPOON PER BOWL

4. SAUCE - TERIYAKI SAUCE: KEEP FROM THE COOKED FISH

- WHITE SAUCE: ADD MILK AND HONEY TO MAYO; MIX THOROUGHLY

5. ROLL!

CHICKEN

PORK