Food, Glorious Food

Food, Glorious Food

This is my first blog entry for Running Press and what I hope to communicate in these few short words is an appreciation for cooking and well prepared food. Sure, it's nice to have a healthy appetite and enjoy sitting down to a favorite dish, but what I most enjoy is the creation of a meal from start to finish and the happy faces of those I've been fortunate to cook for.

I grew up in a food family, in fact I learned to cook, and I mean really experiment with ingredients and food pairing from a very early age. My grandfather ran a small Italian restaurant in north Jersey and as a young boy I would spend every possible waking moment at his side, he would take me everywhere on his rounds whenever he could: Mondays during the summer we would leave home at 4:00 a.m. and head to the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan to buy the freshest fish; Tuesday's we would make the rounds to various purveyors; Wednesday mornings I would watch as my grandfather made dough for bread, pasta, and pizzas, peel onions, make home made tomato sauce (not gravy, this was north Jersey after all).  I was his "little helper" as his customers came to call me.

What I hadn't realized at the time was that I was receiving the greatest education ever. He was a great teacher, his patience with me as I made mistakes along the way never wavered. I look back on the time spent cooking with my grandfather fondly.

One of the very first things I learned to make alongside Pop was pizza, very basic cheese pizza. The dough was always just right, the tomato sauce was fresh, homemade and wonderfully seasoned, and he used only the best mozzarella as a topping...and it was always cooked to perfection in a blazing hot pizza oven. This past weekend I tried my hand at my own pizza making prowess in my own wood-burning backyard pizza oven that I received as a birthday gift from my partner. I'll tell you that kneading the pizza dough, prepping the sauce, and then enjoying it fresh right from the oven brought me back to my childhood. It was truly a moment of pure and simple joy. 

Today, when I cook in the kitchen I use a cookbook in the way that Pop did, both for instruction and also inspiration. I will take a recipe and instinctively reshape it and tailor to my tastes...more garlic perhaps?  Nowadays I like to think that I'm a natural in the kitchen and I'm proud to say that I can pretty much make a really good meal from whatever might be in the fridge or pantry. I have my grandfather to thank for one of the greatest gifts, a true appreciation of food, artful preparation and presentation.

My future blog posts will vary, I'll touch on some of my favorite recipes, the very active food scene in my adopted city (Philadelphia), and other food related stuff. I'm really excited to be a part of Running Press Cooks.com and glad you're along for the ride.

Craig, @craigphilly1
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