Amanda McClements is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance food writer and the blogger behind Metrocurean.

Sweet or salty?

Salty, all day, every day. Can you pickle your insides?

Which ingredient(s) do you use most?

Pork, mostly bacon and sausage. Garlic would be a close second. When I read a recipe, I typically double or triple whatever the amount of garlic it calls for.

What’s the cooking sound you most love?

Popcorn pushing the lid off a heavy pot.

What’s your favorite cooking smell?

Onions sautéeing in butter. The beginning of so many great things.

What are the qualities you most admire in a dish?

I love dishes that let ingredients speak for themselves and dishes that are playful enough to make me smile. Like the “green eggs and ham” at DC’s CityZen, where sulfur-smelling Himalayan salt grated over the plate stands in for egg yolk.

What is your most treasured possession in the kitchen?

My 9-quart Le Creuset French oven. I can barely lift it off the stove, which is where it lives, but I make everything in it. Risotto, soup, short ribs, braised chicken.

What is a dirty word in your kitchen?

Cool Whip.

What are afraid to do in the kitchen?

Flip a heavy skillet of food. I always spill some.

What won’t you eat?

I’ll eat pretty much anything … once.

Have you ever lost your appetite for a food you once loved?

Yes — cooked salmon. I used to eat it all the time and now it almost turns my stomach. Raw or smoked salmon I still love, but there’s something about the oiliness of cooked salmon.

Have you ever had a change of heart involving a food you once disliked?

Tomatoes! It was the one food I wouldn’t eat as a kid, and one day when I was about 18, it was like a switch flipped. My mom was blown away the day I came home from college and went to the store just because I was craving a tomato.

If you could choose one historical or living cook to make you a meal right now, who and what would it be?

My late grandmother would cook my favorites from her repertoire: manicotti followed by “Biloxi pudding,” a layered meringue and coffee ice cream cake, iced with frozen whipped cream and sprinkled with toffee. That dessert was pure magic to a kid.

Which food website/blog would you be lost without?

The correct answer is Cookthink, right?

What is your favorite food-related word?

Pamplemousse. My favorite French word.

What is your favorite food-related scene from literature or the movies?

I’m sure these have been answers before but it’s a tie between the dinner scenes in Babette’s Feast and Chocolat.

What’s your favorite food-shopping errand or journey?

Going to the Dupont FreshFarm Market Sunday mornings. There’s a great sense of community.

To which country would you move for the food?

Is California a country? Just kidding. I’ll take France. So I can say pamplemousse a lot.

To seduce someone, what would you cook?

Steamed crabs. Assuming the person I’m seducing is my husband, I know that would work.

What’s your poison?

Champagne.

What’s your standard outfit in the kitchen?

Jeans and Dansko clogs or heels — my counter plus bulky wood Boos block is just too high for me to comfortably chop so the clogs (or heels if I’m feeling it) give me a much-needed boost.

You wish to die with what in your stomach?

A buttery grilled cheese sandwich and a side of grits.

If heaven exists, what do you hope they have on the menu?

Fried chicken, seared steak, eastern North Carolina barbecue sandwiches, watermelon and wood-fired pizza. And bowls of olives everywhere.

If you came back as a fruit or a vegetable, which one would it be (and why)?

An olive. My favorite food in the world.

What are you craving right now?

Pizza. I’m always craving pizza. Good pizza.

(Image created at Wordle.)

Posted by kristin in the cookthink questionnaire | | Subscribe to this feed