It is a given that cooking requires time and makes a mess.  But what meaningful thing doesn’t?

This challenge is not new.  In the 20th Century literature there are at least 3 major author/cooks that address the issue of cooking/table/time.  M.F.K. Fisher wrote a book during World War II, How to Cook a Wolf – “in the earnest hope that you are being a good provider, try this simple plan: Balance the day, not each meal in the day.”  Dinner Against the Clock by Madeleine Kamman is a collection of “quick, sumptuous meals with the look and taste of infinite leisure”.    Finally, back in 1930, Edouard de Pomaine published French Cooking in Ten Minutes (Adapting to the Rhythm of Modern Life), a delightful guide that was also a weekly radio broadcast.  Gourmet magazine was also in this mix, publishing a monthly column Gastronomy Sans Argent that featured great recipes that cost little.

As a believer and practitioner of The Table, these four pieces have been stuck in the back of my head for sometime.  I always imagined that at some point, I would attempt to bring the concept of “cooking with little time” forward to this century.  (I admit, not a modest claim).  Standing on the shoulders of these culinary giants (Madeleine Kamman was one of my mentors), afforded the ease of a digital global network, I will rush forward with an uncertain plan into Saturday’s Kitchen.  It is a year’s journey, at least.

Saturday has always been a special kitchen day – tracing my love of Saturday back to my childhood.  Growing up, no one was home Saturday morning, except my sister and myself.  Often, my sister would be somewhere else.  It was the day I would ‘sneak’ into the kitchen, slice a potato and in an iron skillet fry those potatoes, making my own chips.  I would carefully strain and replace the cooking oil in it’s jar, so no one would know I had been cooking.

As a chef, Saturday morning was filled with anticipation as well as tranquility.  Arriving early, loading my work table up with a day’s production, I was able to sink into the meditation of cooking – at least until one o’clock, when staff would begin to appear.   The kitchen was quiet, I was surrounded by things I could slice, chop, fry, blanch, roast, shred, mold, bake, braise or dice.  Hands at work, mind in contemplation, music.

Starting my culinary life I learned to rise early and visit farm, garden or wood, being the source of all things food.  This habit of a lifetime has not diminished, where now in season, my Saturday morning trips to the tailgate market are the basis of a week’s meal plan as well as a highlight of my social life.

For the past few years, as I stepped away from restaurant production, this delightful habit of a morning in the kitchen made it’s way home.  In Saturday’s Kitchen I will share lessons of how to spend less time in the kitchen, so that you can spend more time around The Table.  As all cooking begins in the garden, Lesson #1 is either plant and plan your garden or sign up for a local CSA plan – a community supported agriculture plan.  We  have, and it will be a part of future lessons.  See Hanna Rachel Raskin’s piece in the Mountain Express.  March 1 is the deadline for signing up.

Another way to think about this is “Dancin’ in the Kitchen”.