Overcooked Peas

For lunch, I tried my hand at cooking one of my improvised recipes. Pork Barbeque. Without the grill. It's more of like a stew actually.

I marinated my pork in my barbeque marinate for about 15-20 minutes then sauteed it in oil. Afterwhich, I dropped in the marinate with cornstarch for it to have a thicker consistency and a cup of frozen green peas. I let the mixture simmer for a few minutes then took it off the stove.

My mom, a seasoned cook herself, gifted with an unbelievable cooking prowess without even setting foot in a culinary school, started criticizing my dish.

"Too salty. Too thick. The meat is not tender enough."

Uh-oh.

The meat is not tender enough.

The first cardinal rule in Angie's (my mom) kitchen (and in any kitchen for that matter) is that the meat must be tender enough. If not, even if it tastes really good, the dish will be dumped.

So my pork barbeque made its way back to the stove. I added a cup of water and let it boil for ten minutes.

Within that ten minutes, I picked up my cell phone (i don't use my cell phone in the kitchen). I had two messages received. One saying thank you for the birthday card I sent and the other asking for an appointment at two to four in the afternoon. I only have to give a lecture at four so I said 2-4 is fine. Feliz, my cousin started dancing and running around the living room while singing (in words I cannot understand) Defying Gravity with Elphaba and Glinda. I can hear my mom cooking in the kitchen.

I went out to check on my pork dish and just as I thought, the peas were overcooked.

I took a small pork chunk to test how tender it is. No. Not tender enough for my mom.

My mom started her meat tenderness lecture (again) while chopping vegetables.

"Alam mo namang gaano man kasarap ang luto mo, pag hindi labog ang karne, itatapon yan"

"Takpan mo. Kaya naman pala hindi lumalambot"

"Masyadong maraming sauce!"

"Paano ka magtatayo ng restaurant niyan?"

And her ranting goes on and on and on.

I didn't argue. She was right anyway. I should have cooked the meat longer. No, I shouldn't have used pork casim. The original recipe called for pork loin, not casim. Loin is a lot less tough than casim.

Tough luck, no pun intended.

It only shows that I need more practice. A lot more.