[Sca-cooks] Cooking with youngsters was Wow, a day of it's own!

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

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In a message dated 11/25/2002 8:50:00 PM Eastern Standard Time,
johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu writes:


> So how many people do cut up their own meat these days?

Almost never, for me.  I usually buy precut and preboned stuff; if I buy
something on the bone, I usually cook it on the bone as well.  The time
saving is worth it to me.

> It's perhaps not butchering but cutting up chickens is not all that hard
> a skill. We expect people to be able carve at table as they did in
> medieval times, but we don't expect the cooks to be able to cut up a
> bird.
>
>

Nothing in my family has ever gotten carved at the table :-)  Dad carved it
in the kitchen or at the counter and then brought it to the table spread out
on a platter.  Now that he can't do it anymore, either my brother or my
husband does it the same way.  And that seems to be common here in the
northeast, judging by the trouble people have dealing with whole chickens
that appear on feast tables.  Again, my husband usually seems to get the job.
 He's not stylish about it, but he can manage to get recognizable pieces off
the bird.

Actaully, I think I'd expect a cook to be able to cut up a bird better than
the average person seated at a dining table.  But I'd still prefer that the
bird be tasty and well-cooked, but whole or in a pile of ragged pieces,
rather than beautifully carved or jointed and poorly cooked.

Brangwayna Morgan