Fire!

The oldest man-manageable heat source* is necessary for taking your dead stuff to a "cooked" state.

FIRE: cooking basic

[Technical note: "Cooked" is the state which comes after "raw" and before "burned". We'll get into the technical aspects of this complicated concept a little later. Babysteps, babysteps.]

*(Yes, I'm SURE you can cook over a geyser, geothermal vent, or even a volcano... that's why I put in "man-manageable". It's gotta have a knob to turn, or, at the very least, when p

oked with a small stick you can have an effect on the heat output.)

Microwave: (juju fire)

Fire (actually, "heat" is more accurate, but it just doesn't go with "dead stuff" and "large knives", now, does it?), can come from many sources such as wood, gas, charcoal, dried animal dung, electric coils, or even from magic juju such as microwaves and electrical induction (which is a form of witchcraft, but WILL simmer your chitlins).

Be warned: There are some cults of non-cooking, raw-fooditarians of various stripes. They hold that any application of heat destroys part of the natural goodness and healthy attributes of the Dead Stuff they are about to consume. They will insist upon telling you about it and cannot be dissuaded by normal argument. (See the chapter on LARGE KNIVES for some ideas that may help).

For me? The ability to kill bacteria, render tough cell walls permeable and soft enough to be acted upon by digestive enzymes, and bring cool stuff to the table sizzling and bubbling (and occasionally flaming) is reason enough to not give these folk much shrift. I'm sorry, but any cult that insists on removing popcorn, crispy duck, and hot buttered rum from the pantheon of my pantry is just NOT happening!

No! Fire good!

Cherries Jubilee:
Dessert that's on fire!
Coolest of the cool!

You are now fully armed with the three basic basics of cooking. Easy, huh?

Now, we shall pull Dead Stuff, Large Knives & Fire together and get to cooking.