cooking for holidays when you have a cold
 

This Thanksgiving was a challenge because I have a lingering cold
and almost NO sense of taste and smell. Eeeek! This is obviously
not a good time to try new things, but I did think that these
problems would be gone by the time I set about to cook.

I guess the first issue was this. I decided to try the make-ahead
gravy. So, I roasted some wings and then proceeded to make the
stock. Well, I smelled NO turkey smell as the wings were
roasting, and the bit that I could smell of the stock just smelled
odd. I had to ask my daughter to sniff things, and she (who hates
turkey and tried to avoid it) said she guessed it smelled like
turkey. I then realized that I couldn't exactly tinker this or
anything else to perfection! Bah!

That led me to buy backups at Whole Foods--and I had little
confidence that these things tasted good "as is" either. I had to
have my guest taste and season things!!!!! Sigh. This experience
was an interesting challenge at the very least!
--
Jean B.

cooking for holidays when you have a cold
 

"Jean B." wrote:
>
>This Thanksgiving was a challenge because I have a lingering cold
>and almost NO sense of taste and smell. Eeeek! This is obviously
>not a good time to try new things, but I did think that these
>problems would be gone by the time I set about to cook.
>
>I guess the first issue was this. I decided to try the make-ahead
>gravy. So, I roasted some wings and then proceeded to make the
>stock. Well, I smelled NO turkey smell as the wings were
>roasting, and the bit that I could smell of the stock just smelled
>odd. I had to ask my daughter to sniff things, and she (who hates
>turkey and tried to avoid it) said she guessed it smelled like
>turkey. I then realized that I couldn't exactly tinker this or
>anything else to perfection! Bah!
>
>That led me to buy backups at Whole Foods--and I had little
>confidence that these things tasted good "as is" either. I had to
>have my guest taste and season things!!!!! Sigh. This experience
>was an interesting challenge at the very least!

An experinced cook doesn't really need to taste. Right now I'm in the
midst of fighting a bronchial infection that attacked me right after
getting my yearly flu shot three weeks ago and am on a heavy dose of
Augmentin because the first course was Cipro that didn't cut it, the
Augmentin is working... there's really nothing to taste while
seasoning a raw turkey. Just remember when cooking for others to go
very light on the salt and hot pepper... people can easily add their
own but they can't remove those.

cooking for holidays when you have a cold
 

On 2011-11-25, Brooklyn1 <Gravesend1> wrote:

> An experinced cook doesn't really need to taste.

I love the movie, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.

> Right now I'm in the midst of fighting a bronchial infection that
> attacked me right after getting my yearly flu shot three weeks
> ago.......

You didn't learn anything in the Navy? I (USAF) learned NEVER to
voluntarily get a flu shot. 1st yr: rubella measles (hosed my 3 yr
tour of duty in france). 2nd yr: my 1st case of strep throat. 3rd
yr: Hong Kong flu. 4th yr: swine flu. Everytime, stricken within
24 hrs of that damn flu shot!! Have never had a flu shot since.

If I die, I die. Be damned if I'll self inflict it or pay for the
privilege.

nb





and am on a heavy dose of
> Augmentin because the first course was Cipro that didn't cut it, the
> Augmentin is working... there's really nothing to taste while
> seasoning a raw turkey. Just remember when cooking for others to go
> very light on the salt and hot pepper... people can easily add their
> own but they can't remove those.


--
vi ....the heart of evil!

cooking for holidays when you have a cold
 

On 11/25/2011 2:11 PM, Jean B. wrote:
> This Thanksgiving was a challenge because I have a lingering cold and
> almost NO sense of taste and smell. Eeeek! This is obviously not a good
> time to try new things, but I did think that these problems would be
> gone by the time I set about to cook.
>
> I guess the first issue was this. I decided to try the make-ahead gravy.
> So, I roasted some wings and then proceeded to make the stock. Well, I
> smelled NO turkey smell as the wings were roasting, and the bit that I
> could smell of the stock just smelled odd. I had to ask my daughter to
> sniff things, and she (who hates turkey and tried to avoid it) said she
> guessed it smelled like turkey. I then realized that I couldn't exactly
> tinker this or anything else to perfection! Bah!
>
> That led me to buy backups at Whole Foods--and I had little confidence
> that these things tasted good "as is" either. I had to have my guest
> taste and season things!!!!! Sigh. This experience was an interesting
> challenge at the very least!

I hope you feel better soon! I'm now on one week of this cold and while
I have more energy now, the cough and dripping nose is not going away.
My SIL said her family all had it except my brother, and it took them
all up to 3 weeks to completely recover. I think it's a flu virus and
not a common cold virus.

You're right about the challenge of cooking, especially for others, when
you can't smell.