How Martha Stewart Changed My Life
Editor's note: For more than a decade, Martha Stewart has been as much a staple as any food group in shaping the patterns of home cooks. With news that her cable TV show has been canceled, Zester Daily brings the reflections of author Brette Sember, who writes about what comes next and how her Martha Stewart obsession led to exhaustion, dirty dishes and the discovery of one life-changing trick.
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By Brette Sember
Martha Stewart changed my life. And not in the ways you would expect. I have a love/hate relationship with her as do many women -- we are drawn to the perfect world she creates, while simultaneously resenting her for making us feel inadequate. When I was facing down 40 (and all that number stood for), I gave in to the temptation to remake my life in Martha's image. I unofficially apprenticed myself to the queen of "good things" for one year. I cooked her recipes, made her crafts, organized and decorated my house according to her aesthetics and bought her products and those she recommended. I even (gasp) attempted to garden. Every single day for an entire year I blogged about my journey at MarthaAndMe.net.
Handing my life over to Martha was like going to cooking school, opening a shop on Etsy, hiring a professional organizer and taking a class in domestic management. In short, it was mentally and physically exhausting. Martha does nothing halfway. What I will remember most about cooking with Martha are the dishes. Mountains of them. I don't believe Martha cooks much of anything herself, the woman has more staff than you have relatives. At the end of a Martha meal, my kitchen was a disaster, with teetering towers of dirty bowls (sometimes I used every single one I owned), sticky pots, baking sheets and caked-on pans. I dreaded it.
Facing that pile every night became more than I could bear. I still wanted to eat good food, though. Some months after completing my year of Martha, a handful of parchment paper packet recipes was included in one of her magazines. Aha! The perfect antidote to Martha madness -- cooking without any pots at all! I had made a dish "en pappillotte" years ago; Martha reminded me of the beauty of parchment. I started a new blog, NoPotCooking to share my adventures.
Tip: Which are better? Parchment bags or parchment packets?
Just about anything can be cooked in parchment. Pasta? Check. Dessert? Yes. A clambake? Oh, yes. Even gnocchi (how I hate scrubbing that sticky gnocchi pot). And meat, fish, veggies, sandwiches, wraps, potatoes and breakfasts. Baked brie, chocolate bread pudding, chorizo with polenta and broccolini, breakfast sandwiches, lemon chicken, steak in the grass -- you name it, I've made it in parchment.
Tip: What's the process for using parchment paper and how do you fold it?
With my method, at most a small cutting board, small bowl, a spoon or knife are waiting in the sink when I'm done. Cleanup time minimized! What a relief!
Tip: Can you substitute anything for parchment paper?
If I sound like a zealot, it's because I am one. I love parchment paper. I buy it in rolls (instead of precut sheets) so I can cut it to the required size.
No matter how you fold it, parchment is a cook's best friend.
This week's Zester Daily soapbox contributor, former attorney Brette Sember, is the author of 35 books including "The Parchment Paper Cookbook" and two upcoming titles: "The Organized Kitchen" and "The Muffin Tin Cookbook" (Adams Media). Sember is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and lives in Buffalo, N.Y., with her husband, two children and two golden retrievers.
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Striving for an ideal isn't limited to Martha's fans - Here are 3 views of 'perfection':
When perfect hurts: How did the 'low-fat' diet fuel an unhealthy trend?
When perfect works: Can pancakes ever be devilishly good, inexpensive AND healthy?
When perfect isn't all it appears: Is 'extra virgin olive oil' always extra virgin?
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