In ‘Secret life of…’ we reveal the lesser-known sides of some well-known Macquarie people. Here Professor Sherman Young, Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching, talks about the joy he finds in food.
“One of the things I have a great passion for is food. I wouldn’t exactly call myself a foodie – I’m less interested in the art of food and more in the everyday joy of it.
For me, the family dinner is an important ritual, where we sit down to a home-cooked meal and just talk. And preparing that meal is part of the ritual. So part of the passion is definitely cooking. I think good food is essential for wellbeing and home-cooking is not just for physical well-being. The act of creating and sharing a meal is integral to the human experience.
My mum used to have dinner on the table at 6:30pm every day and, being a Chinese family, there would always be three dishes, plus soup and rice. It was only after I left home that I discovered the joy of cooking myself, and the creativity involved.
When I was an undergraduate I had an Indian friend who would buy big bags of spices and rustle up curries to die for. So I figured out that it was possible to live very cheaply on tasty combinations of rice, vegetables and spices. Then there’s things I experimented with that have now become dinnertime staples – cassoulet, a particularly tasty Korean fried chicken, seared salmon (the kids like it v-e-r-y pink) with udon noodles, a wicked tiger eating pig dish, and a five-minute-to-make banana cake.
We do quite a lot from scratch. Our veggie garden was a staple until the dogs started eating the goodies, but we still do our own breads and doughs (pizza bases, tortillas and focaccia), and things like curry pastes from scratch. And there’s nothing like cooking a fish you’ve just landed yourself – steaming a bream, Chinese style, or frying a just-caught flathead in butter.
To me, recipes are inspirations rather than instructions. Once you get a feel for the flavours of your ingredients, it’s easy to improvise. For example, we do Sunday roasts regularly. But when we do, say, a roast chicken, it’ll be marinated in Indian spices and (home-made) yoghurt and the leftovers will be fried with rice to make a version of Biryani for the next evening.
There’s a book called ‘Ratio’ by Michael Ruhlman which doesn’t provide recipes but instead provides guidance on how ingredients work together. I like that approach to learning to cook. That way no matter what you have in the fridge and pantry, you can throw together something delicious.
It’s the same with learning how to do anything. Giving our students the ability to adapt to the challenges they’ll have to face is much better than only teaching them how to follow recipes.”
How often does your family sit down for dinner together? Tell us in the comments below.
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What a great insight Professor Young has given us into how he thinks about food and family life. Our family tries to sit down together for dinners most nights, and we’ve banished all screens from the dining table, which makes conversation much more interesting. I have to say, our meals don’t look nearly as delicious or adventurous as Professor Young’s, and for that I’m a bit jealous. We have two associated problems: Our meals tend to be fairly predictable, and our kids (and parents) tend to eat too fast. Any tips on slowing down the eating process? The idea of treating cooking like a science experiment is pretty interesting, too. That might intrigue the kids, though I have a feeling they’d use it as an excuse to try to blow up the kitchen. Thanks for the inspiration, Professor Young!
Can we try some of your cooking? We are just on the ground floor same building.
Loved your approach to cooking, will check the book you recommended.
Although I still like to see recipe books for some ideas or inspirations. Just a thought, perhaps when MQ runs another Masterchef competition, you should join as well:)
Sherman you’re making me hungry! I’d love to get some of your recipes. I tried the Rick Stein roast chook w Indian spices – amazing! I like your philosophy and analogy to learning…thanks.
We sit down to dinner (mostly made from ‘scratch’) every night. It’s a custom I learnt from my parents and it is great to share stories about our day with each other! TV, tablets and mobiles can be successfully separated from meals!
Yes agree John – one of the few times of day we can get real information out of the kids!
Loved reading about Sherman’s cooking, and now I want the recipe for his “five-minute-to-make banana cake”!
me too!
Same here! 🙂
I don’t do recipes particularly well, but here goes:
About 150g butter or equivalent (we use rice bran spread)
3/4 cup (ish) sugar – to taste (we use half castor, half brown)
3 eggs lightly beaten
2-3 dead bananas mashed
1 jar (home-made 🙂 yoghurt
enough self raising flour (about 2 cups?)
Cream butter (nuke it for 10 seconds to make this easier) and sugar in a bowl with wooden spoon. Add mashed bananas, eggs, yoghurt and mix with said wooden spoon. Add flour until when you lift the mixture with the spoon, it j-u-s-t drips off. Mix well with that same spoon.
That was the five minutes bit.
Pour mixture into greased baking tin and bake in oven until done (in our oven, it’s about 190 degrees C for 35-40 minutes but your mileage may vary – just check regularly with a skewer after half an hour)
Love it. Its great that you make time for this. Its a nice way of thinking about it- treating cooking as an enjoyable part of the ritual, not an unavoidable chore.