COOK'S JOURNAL
Vincent G. Johnson

(What to do with bacon grease)

Numberless hordes of cooks have never bothered to get competent training in the culinary arts. This lack of ambition binds them forever to the line, sweating over the grill, the broiler and the french fryer.

What they don't realize is that the acquisition of one simple skill, such as knowing how to make good soup, can catapult them high on the culinary ladder.

Luckily, during the early years of my training, a French chef taught me how to make clam chowder.

This is how the Frenchman taught me.

"Meestair Veence, if you go to work in a first-class
house and make this soup as I am showing you, you will
immediately classify yourself as a professioNAL. The
chef will recognize you, and will know at once that
you were not selling used cars last week, like so
many who put on a tall hat and think that makes them
a cook. The competent cook, unfortunately, is rare.

"Here's how you make one good soup," he told me. Always
choose a pot that others may think is too big for the job. Nevair
cook soup in a small pot. In fact, nevair cook anything
in a small pot. Young cooks always pick out a small pot,
barely big enough to hold what they are cooking. Then
they have no margin for error, no room to stir and it
will probably boil over too. Besides, it takes too long
to come to a boil.

"Chop up enough vegetables (onions, celery and bell
peppers) to fill about one-fifth of the pot. The reason
I do not specify exact amounts is because there is no
such thing as an exactly correct soup. And also because
we are dealing with a recipe which will work with any
size pot. Our main concern here is only that we do not
wish to choke the soup with too many vegetables, but
still we want enough. Therefore we gauge amounts according
to the size of the pot. No?"

I had to agree with him.

"I emphasize this idea of ratios instead of exact amounts,"
the Frenchman went on, "because when pretentious recipes
specify exact amounts they tend to frighten young cooks
into thinking that the slightest variation means failure.
This is a falsehood. Even the application of herbs,
seasonings and salt are not as important as cookbooks
insist. Far more important, I think, are appearance,
thickness, color, temperature and texture -- what the
soup feels like in the mouth.

"Now, we have not started cooking the soup yet, have we
Meestair Montana? But this explanation gives us a good
understanding of what we are trying to achieve and is
the first step on the road to acquiring judgment, something
every good cook must have. Bad cooks know a lot of rules.
Good cooks have judgment and an understanding of what
they are trying to do.

"I am taking a long time to tell you this because these
procedures are fundamental and can be applied over and
over again in making many different types of soups.

"So far, all we have in the pot is onions, bell peppers
and celery. No? Some hotshots may object to the inclusion
of bell peppers in this clam chowder, and I say to them,
bon! We are not dealing here with authenticity as recorded
in cookbooks written by people who should know better; we
are just talking about good soup.

"All right. Now put some bacon grease in the pot and fry
the vegetables until they are tender and you have gotten
rid of the raw taste of the onions -- You do save your
bacon grease so that you always have some on hand, do you
not, Meestair Montana? Tell me you do or I will take away
your soup spoon."

"I do now, Jean," I answered."

Hmm. Okay, now chop up some raw potato and add it to the
pot. Next, fill the soup pot halfway with hot water and
bring it to a boil. Add some chicken soup base, enough
until you actually have one excellent chicken soup. Now,
cover the pot and let it simmer till the potatoes are done.
Simple, so far, no?

Now, add a couple bay leaves and some white pepper and
thyme. The amounts of thyme and white pepper can be widely
varied to suit your taste. No salt, of course; the chicken
soup base already has plenty of salt in it.

"Now, you may wonder why I do not just give you the exact
amounts of ingredients. But remember, we are talking here
about learning how to cook, while avoiding the bonds of
exact recipes. Recipes do not teach you how to improvise,
which is necessary in becoming a competent cook.

"Too many recipes with exact amounts of this and that
have been written by cooks who really make their own
clam chowder just about the way I recommend here. They
do it by eye. I do not know why it is that perfectly
good cooks lose their minds when asked to write down
how they cook something. They write down what they think
is the authentic method, but of course they never make it
that way themselves.

"Now," Jean said, "for the secret ingredient. Garlic.
Offhand I cannot think of a single soup that is not
improved with the addition of garlic. So add some
granulated garlic to your soup as so many of us do.
How much? Suit yourself. After making soup this way
a few times, you will know how much you want without
consulting a recipe.

"Now, check the potatoes to see if they are done. If so,
mix together some cold water and flour. (Don't worry about
making too much; this 'whitewash' has many applications
and can be stored in the refrigrator.) The whitewash must
be smooth with no lumps and about the consistency of
pancake batter.

"Slowly, while stirring the soup with a big spoon, begin pouring some of the whitewash into the simmering soup. Let the soup get about as thick as you want it. The bacon grease will be entirely absorbed by the whitewash

Then, still over a low fire, stir in some milk, hot or cold, just enough to make the soup smooth and creamy. Cold milk will cool off the soup a little, but a moment or two more over low heat will correct the temperature. Voila!"

"But, Jean," I protested, "haven't you just made potato soup?"

"But of course! Oh, that is right, we were supposed to be making clam chowder. Zut! So put in a couple cans of clams. Clam chowder is potato soup with chopped clams and clam juice in it. ##

Watch your fires,
Chef Vince