I have an affinity for things that many other cooks find tedious. I happen to love the prep work of cooking. Give me a huge pile of carrots and onions to chop, a whole head of garlic to mince. I will happily fill prep bowls to overflowing, arranging all ingredients in order of use and within easy reach. It makes the cooking itself – the searing and stirring and deglazing – all the more pleasurable. Some may use the term OCD, they’d be partially right, but missing the point, too.
One of the things I really enjoy is making stocks. Many might consider it a drudgery. But I get so much pleasure from taking the dregs of the kitchen: vegetable trimmings, a pile of roasted bones, the shells from shrimp, and transforming them into something that
