{"id":45,"date":"2025-07-21T17:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T21:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hudsontable.com\/princeton\/?p=45"},"modified":"2025-07-21T17:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T21:21:17","slug":"to-cook-or-not-to-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hudsontable.com\/princeton\/2025\/07\/21\/to-cook-or-not-to-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"To Cook, or Not to Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

She was having a nightmare.<\/p>\n

She found herself surrounded by darkness except for a lone door that glowed faintly before her. On that door was a single word carved deeply into the wooden panel:\u00a0PANTRY. Scared, but curious, she turned the handle to walk inside when an object suddenly appeared in front of her. It was a potato. Before she could think, there they were: potatoes of every kind filling the pantry shelves. Idaho potatoes, sweet potatoes, yukon golds, russets, fingerlings, reds and purples – what was she\u00a0going to do with\u00a0these potatoes?\u00a0Mash them, fry them, hot soup, cold salad, how should she prepare and serve them?\u00a0And should she peel them before she boils them? Should she slice them before she roasts them? \u00a0Which potato should she even choose in the first place?<\/p>\n

As if in\u00a0response to her thoughts, the\u00a0potatoes whispered mockingly in unison,
\n\u201cIt all depends. How much\u00a0starch will you need?\u201d
\nThat pushed her over the edge.
\n\u201cNot the starch!\u201d she\u00a0screamed. “Please, ask me about\u00a0anything except the starch!\u201d<\/p>\n

Wake up. You\u2019re not in a nightmare,\u00a0you\u2019re just in the kitchen. And standing in the kitchen, there is one question we must all eventually ask ourselves: \u201cTo cook, or not to cook?\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, it sounds like an easy\u00a0answer. You can\u2019t cook, even if you wanted to. It\u2019s\u00a0understandable – you\u2019re awkward and clumsy and you don\u2019t\u00a0know the\u00a0difference between a banana and a brussel sprout.\u00a0You\u2019re not a cook, you explain. It\u2019s not your thing. You\u2019ve tried, and failed. \u00a0You just\u00a0can\u2019t<\/em> cook.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with telling yourself you can\u2019t do something is that you\u2019ll actually start to believe it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Hudson Table, and our new blog,\u00a0are here to show you the\u00a0possibilities of a\u00a0different path. We are here to destroy your self-doubt and\u00a0prove how capable you can become in the kitchen. We want to show you how much happiness a\u00a0little\u00a0confidence can give you. We\u2019ll teach\u00a0you\u00a0how to think\u00a0like a chef but we\u2019re not training you how to cook in restaurants. There\u2019s already plenty of extraordinary schools for that. What we want to do is to teach you how to cook for life.\u00a0<\/em>We want to ignite that fire inside of you and we want you to use that fire to cook. But by far the most important thing we want is to make sure you have fun along the way.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This blog will be a supplement to that. Throughout\u00a0this blog we will explore the joys and drawbacks of both decisions – the immense\u00a0pleasures of cooking, the occasional joy of not cooking, and\u00a0everything in between.\u00a0We’ll\u00a0travel around the world, explore the cuisines of diverse regions and countries, from Japan, to New Orleans, to Israel; we\u2019ll teach you various techniques, share recipes, discuss the best kitchen tools, tell you about our favorite places to eat for every occasion, and share with you who we are, how we got here and where we\u2019re going.<\/p>\n

Of course, don\u2019t be fooled by our wisdom. We have an abundance of experience and\u00a0knowledge but we certainly don\u2019t know everything. We are on the same adventure as you are and the best teachers never stop being students. Talk to us, question us, challenge us, force us to grow and we promise we\u2019ll do the same for you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Make no mistake, you\u2019re going to get dirty in the kitchen. It\u2019s going to test you. That\u2019s good. Together we will begin a type of culinary\u00a0guerrilla warfare. Patience and persistence. Revolt against your\u00a0hesitation. Read, learn, try, fail, try again, and repeat.\u00a0<\/em>With a few glasses of wine to warm the body and a few new friends to warm the soul, it\u2019s going to be okay. There are many factors that may have prevented you from beginning, fear being the main one – and to that we say:\u00a0Don\u2019t be so afraid of that potato – or put another way:\u00a0be afraid, but cook the damn thing anyway<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see you in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Baked Potatoes<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything<\/em><\/p>\n

4 large starchy potatoes, like Idaho or other russets<\/p>\n

Salt and freshly ground black pepper<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Scrub the potatoes well, especially if you plan to eat the skins. Use a skewer or a thin-bladed knife to poke a hole or two in each potato.<\/li>\n
  2. Put the potatoes in the oven, right on the rack if you like, or on a rimmed baking sheet. The potatoes are done when a skewer or sharp knife inserted into one meets almost no resistance. (You can turn them once during baking, though it\u2019s not necessary.)<\/li>\n
  3. The potatoes will stay hot for a few minutes. To serve, cut a slit lengthwise into each about halfway into the flesh and pinch the ends towards the middle to fluff, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then top.<\/li>\n
  4. Some ideas for toppings:\n
      \n
    1. Butter, sour cream, and\/or minced chives.<\/li>\n
    2. Grated cheese, like cheddar, Parmesan, Asiago, or Jack<\/li>\n
    3. Crumbled cooked bacon, sausage, or chorizo<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10739,"featured_media":50,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"yoast_head":"\nTo Cook, or Not to Cook - Hudson Table | Princeton, NJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hudsontable.com\/princeton\/2025\/07\/21\/to-cook-or-not-to-cook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Cook, or Not to Cook - Hudson Table | Princeton, NJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  She was having a nightmare. 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