How Does Your Cooking Change With the Seasons?

When the weather is cold or rainy/snowy I want comfort food.... soups, stew, casseroles (like lasagna), roasts, full meals. But once it warms up I tend to make a lot of "simpler" dishes... salads, grilled meats and vegetables, plain fruit for desserts. And I would think this is fairly typical.

[Digression: The problem arises when a beautiful, sunny, warm day suddenly turns chilly and rain-soaked, like it did this past Monday. We opted to go to the Flying Star (ABQ diner-ish place) for chicken pot pies instead of making the brats we had on hand for the grill. ]

So what do you do? Do you still bake desserts? How about bread? Do you use the slow cooker more or less than in the colder seasons? Do you even turn on your oven? Does your choice of breakfast food change too? Do you increase or decrease the frequency you entertain? Is the nature of how you entertain different?

during months when the local farmers market is open i cook ONLY what i can get from there - other than meat. so, yes, my cooking changes depending on what is in season. now, asperagus has finished; beans, peas and brocoli are starting as well as some young squashes and of course lettuces. potatoes just started.

Winter...like you said. Pot roasts, stews, soups etc...

Spring / Summer / Fall - these seasons are pretty much all the same down here. A little bit of cool weather in the early spring and late fall, but not much.

Summer rules the south Texas coast. And the grill is king during the hot time of the year. Plus salads and quick pastas. But no long cooking dishes. Heats up the kitchen too much.

Richard

The available ingredients tell me how to cook. It just so happens that lots of winter vegetables and products are dark, rich, and hearty. But you just can't really make (for example) a good, heavy spring asparagus or fiddlehead or English pea or ramp dish, they almost force you to have a light touch.

That said, at the moment there are some great fresh porcini available at pretty low prices, so summer or not, it's gonna be a porcini risotto tonight with all the earthy, cheesy goodness I can pack in. What was the Whitman line...?

Winter...like you said. Pot roasts, stews, soups etc...

Spring / Summer / Fall - these seasons are pretty much all the same down here. A little bit of cool weather in the early spring and late fall, but not much.

Summer rules the south Texas coast. And the grill is king during the hot time of the year. Plus salads and quick pastas. But no long cooking dishes. Heats up the kitchen too much.

Richard

Richard, what with grilling so much in the hot months, what kind of grill do you have. I used to be a weber kettl griller, then about 12-14 years ago I bought a Holland gas grill. have burned through that, and replaced the working parts plus the bottom section that holds the burner etc. Some here are tired of hearing about my latest grill, which takes me back to charcoal, and for everything from burgers and franks to pulled pork to whole turkeys to ribs and pork roasts, to beef briskets to prime rib. Check out the link below. That pretty blue thing on the front page is my grill

http://www.kamado.com/

We eat an enormous amount of vegetables and fruits, with fish five times a week, pasta or pizza once a week, and meat once a week.

So, we eat lots of fresh stuff in the spring, summer and fall, more frozen in the winter, and I use the grill year around. Pretty much the same thing year round -- one or two fancy dinners a week around a theme adds enough variety for my customer's tastes.

Bob H wrote:

Richard, what with grilling so much in the hot months, what kind of grill do you have?

Bob,

I'm back to burning charcoal or mesquite in a welded pipe pit. I've used up about 3 gas grills in the last 6 or 7 years. The humidity and salt air down here rusts up orifices and burner jets every time you turn around. I'm in a "I hate gas grills" mode right now. But, when I eventually get tired of messing with wood or charcoal, I'll buy another gas unit.

That kamado is awfully nice. But down here, even stainless steel rusts. I think I'll stick with a welded pipe unit for awhile.

Richard

Cynthia,
Absolutely it changes with the seasons. The availability of fresh produce plays a big role - salads in summer with tomatoes fresh off the vine just doesn't work in winter. As it is supposedly winter in NZ right now I'm back into stocks and soups and I even used the automatic oven the other day to do a slow roasted pork belly. Coming home at 5.30pm when it is dark already and there's a chill in the air, the smell from the cooking and the warmth from the oven is very pleasing.
I think entertaining in summer is easier on the preparation with BBQ'd meat, salads with garden greens and herbs, and fresh fruit or chilled desserts, but right now I am thinking what I could make for a sublime winter solstice dinner - a roast leg of lamb with rosemary and redcurrant perhaps - and an oven baked pudding.
Cheers,
Sue

Well, if summer happens on a weekend, we have a picnic.
Seriously, pretty much the same. Seldom, on hot (85F) muggy days, do I cook at all. I make sandwiches.

My ccooking is so seasonal that there are some dishes that seem so wrong out of season that I couldn't possibly make them in another season. For example - even though I might have a piece of ham or procuitto or pancetta in the larder in the summer I could never bring myself to make pasta e fagioli. A summer minestra, yes, but that is a totally different dish. Somehow cooking out of season make me feel very uncomfortable - out of sync- dysharmonious.

Like everyone else, we enjoy the heavier meals in winter. This time of year being in CA, we love the fruit, veggies, and whatever the Farmer's Market has. Meats this time of year are fish, chicken, pork tenderloins, and a good hamburger now and then, usually made out of ground poultry. A good steak now and then is a treat.
I love making all sorts of salads, as complete meals. Tomorrow night is a wheat berry, barley, feta cheese, garden cukes, toms and herb salad with grilled chicken breasts. Cooking is so much fun now compared to 40 or even 20 years ago. I love fusion foods.

But you just can't really make (for example) a good, heavy spring asparagus..dish

Well, add enough cream and potatoes, and... voila!

Found plenty of that during our Spargel-Season tour through Germany.

[Digression: The problem arises when a beautiful, sunny, warm day suddenly turns chilly and rain-soaked, like it did this past Monday. We opted to go to the Flying Star (ABQ diner-ish place) for chicken pot pies instead of making the brats we had on hand for the grill. ]

I hope you didn't drive all the way from the Pecos just for a pot pie at Flying Star. That would be one expensive pie.

Mostly I try and stay in season. Right now we are cooking potatoes, onions, and squash from farmer's markets, basil too. But I still will make my own bread when I have the time.

Also, when we get a craving for an apple pie I'll do that as well. But mostly it is berries and fruit alone or in a crisp (love those Texas peaches right now).

And lots of greens.

rwj

I hope you didn't drive all the way from the Pecos just for a pot pie at Flying Star. That would be one expensive pie.

Nope. I was at Tim's and I suggested going out instead of cooking in the downpour.

tour through Germany.

Res ipsa loquitur. Germans can actually make Thai food that's bland.

[Jenise]

Like everyone else, I tend to cook with what's fresh and available, and love hearty, comforting braises and roasts during the winter and lighter foods on summer's warm days. That was true when I lived in Southern California, but it's become more extreme in the Pacific Northwest not just because the lighter foods and white wine appeal more, but because fresh halibut, salmon, crab and rock shrimp are readily available in the spring and summer months but almost nonexistent the rest of the year. Come October, we probably won't have fish more than once a month until May. But starting in May, we'll have seafood several times a week.

I'm like most everyone else; I buy what is in season and serve cold dishes on hot days and visa versa. Of course many cold dishes require cooking so I tend to do that early in the day before the afternoon heat sets in. (It was 95°F in my kitchen yesterday!)