I made chicken wings tonight.
The first thing I did was pour a class of tequila. And a beer and a tequila.
I take the deep fryer out, I plug it in and I set a timer for 20 minutes. That's how long it takes for the deep fryer to reach 375 degrees.
20 minutes is enough time to chop the broccoli, make the blue cheese dressing, which is blue cheese crumbles, ½ sour cream, ½ mayonnaise, salt and pepper and Worcester sauce. I misspelled Worcester sauce just now. Not even spell check knows how to spell it. I got the blue cheese dressing from Martha Stewart. It's the best.
I mix it all together, slice the potatoes into french fries with a fine Japanese knife. The kind that you can slice printer paper with and it leaves no stray paper hairs. If you have headphones and Spotify you should listen to My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit while you do this.
I have 5 minutes left before the timer goes off, I sit down and watch some fights on Hulu. I have another tequila.
I put the potatoes into the deep fryer for 5 minutes, and then dump them into a bowl and put them into the freezer. If you've ever had fries where the inside is cooked perfectly. soft and fluffy and the outside is golden brown and crispy and wondered how they do this, this is how.
The timer goes off and it's time to put the wings into the deep fryer for 15 minutes @ 375. A lot of wing restaurants do it for less time than this, and they come out fatty and shitty. Mine come out perfect.
I put the wings in and set the timer for 15 minutes. This is also exactly how long the broccoli takes to cook in boiling water to come out perfect. I find this to be very satisfying.
After 15 minutes goes by I take the wings out, put them in a metal bowl with Frank's hot sauce, and mix them around, put blue cheese dressing on the plate with broccoli and get the fries out of the deep fryer.
I watch Prey as I eat my dinner and think about what a great idea it is to set a Predator movie during a 18th century native American backdrop.
I think of a conversation I had months earlier. My friend thought cooking was a waste of time because after you eat it, it's gone and you have nothing to show for it. As a human we eat, as a mammal we eat, as a animal. It's one of the most fundamental things that gives us pleasure and I can't think of no other better way to spend my time than to pursue a great meal.