i'm scared to cook these 12 foods

coming out as beet-phobic

In late 2019, I created perhaps the most lofty New Year’s resolution I could think of: I was going to cook with a new, scary food every month. I was sick of skipping over so many recipes in cookbooks that I have, simply because certain ingredients, cooking techniques, or flavors scared me a little. The goal was not to master cooking with these ingredients, but to become at least a little more comfortable with them. Well, the pandemic hit before I was able to complete even two items off my list. I’ve been thinking about this list a lot lately, and how far I’ve come since late 2019 without even trying. I’m writing this newsletter in the hopes that maybe someone reading might have tips, go-to recipes, or condolences as I (more casually this time) embark on this journey to conquer my fears.

1. Beets
   Rarely have I had a beet I loved. It’s not that I’m scared to cook or prepare them, I’m scared to eat them. I can think of only one instance that I had an overwhelmingly positive experience with a beet; it was at Sweedeedee in Portland and I had this fantastic BLT with thin slabs of pickled beets on this insane molasses cornmeal bread. I know that I can tolerate pickled beets, so I’m thinking I’ll start there and work my way toward more complex beet treats (I want to make beet-cured smoked salmon!).

2. Steak
   I never ate a ton of steak growing up, and I never really gravitate toward it at restaurants either. I actually have improved my steak cooking skills in the last year (aka I cooked steak for the very first time by myself), but it still isn’t my favorite food ever, which is fine. I still feel like I never know what type of steak I’m looking for when I go to the store (NY strip? Flank? Ribeye? I just want the normal kind!) so there is some room for improvement there.

3. Artichokes
   I love artichokes! Artichoke dip, artichokes on pizza, in pasta, grilled, you name it. But literally how do you cut and prepare an artichoke? I know that a quick YouTube search would probably alleviate a lot of fear, but I’m also stubborn, so consider that.

4. Bread
   The way that I predicted that y’all would be baking bread during this whole pandemic back in 2019… I will say, the fact that so many people I know mastered homemade bread last year comforts me. I think what scares me about bread is that I’m a lazy baker with no regard for measurements and that seems like the type of attitude that absolutely would not fly while baking bread. To be honest, yeast in general scares me because every time I try to make anything with yeast, it never rises properly. Can you tell that I’m impatient?

5. Pastries
   Croissants and danishes come to mind, also kouign-amann. If you remember this newsletter, you’ll know that it is one of my current New Year’s resolutions to make croissants this year. So it will happen, because I don’t back down from a challenge. But I’ve never made laminated dough before and feel like I’m going to cry every time I make a simple pie crust, so this could easily go poorly for me.

6. Anything fermented
   I’d really love to learn how to make kombucha because it’s one of my favorite drinks, but all the equipment and attention to detail that you need to make it kind of turns me off. Fermentation as a fear is both related to the daunting process to make fermented foods and also the fact that I don’t super love how they taste. My most embarrassing confession is that I don’t like kimchi and I can barely tolerate sauerkraut. Everyone loves kimchi and I want to be one of those people so badly.

7. Chicories, endives, and radicchio
   These greens are in every salad in every cookbook that I want to cook from and I got so sick of it that I got endives from the store once and tried to make an endive, apple, celery salad with a shallot dressing. It was disgusting. They’re so bitter! Is it even worth learning to love these veggies?

8. Miso
   I love anything miso: miso soup, miso chocolate chip cookies, miso pasta… but there are so many different types of miso and I felt so intimidated in that aisle of the store every time I went. But I’m happy to announce that I am the proud owner of a tub of white miso, that I have used one (1) time to make a salmon glaze. A small win, in my book.

9. Clams or mussels
   I loooooove seafood. Absolutely love it. Clams and mussels, especially in pasta (perhaps with some sort of white wine sauce), have always seemed so glamorous to me. Picture this: I’m on the frigid Oregon coast at my cedar A-frame cabin, wrapped up in a white sweater, sipping wine, eating clam pasta that I cooked, while the tiramisu chills in the fridge… Cioppino also always sounds good, but I never have easy access to a fresh fish counter, so making dishes with shellfish is typically pretty out of reach.

10. Halloumi
    I have never had halloumi before! Not once, in my whole life! I wouldn’t know the first thing about where to buy it, what it looks like, what it tastes like, how to prepare it, what it goes well with. But it’s always in my favorite cookbooks, so I think as long as I can find it, I’ll have the cookbook there to guide me every step of the way.

11. Any fish that’s not salmon
    Honestly, I don’t even think I’m really that stellar at cooking salmon either. I feel like cod and halibut are so under appreciated, and I personally would really like to get familiar with cod. I’ve had this recipe for coconut cod chowder with turmeric saved in my notes app for years.

12. Tikka Masala
    What makes me shy away from Indian recipes typically, is the fact that they often require an array of spices that I don’t have and would need to seek out at a specialty spice store. I know that once I just commit to buying the spices, I’ll have a blast cooking all my favorite Indian foods.

Does anyone else have foods they’re a little spooked to cook? I think we can work through this together, I really do. Maybe by 2022 I’ll be a beet-loving, clam-cooking, halloumi-eating son of a gun.