I want to Cook Like the Highwomen Sing

Our soul food kitchen has music playing in the background. Not always. Sometimes it’s nice to have the quiet noises of the cooking seep through. But most of the time, the music adds another dimensional of sensibilities to the effort. Tones. Emotions. A Vibe. The selection is eclectic: Random selections from our ample playlist or spotify. A lot of southern tunes for sure.

The word “umami” pops up a lot in my posts. It’s an elusive thing. You just kinda know it when the layers of tastes come in subtle waves, one upon the other, harmonizing. Mostly, you know it when it’s not quite there yet and the subtle tweaking of sharp and flat notes comes into play to get it all right: a bit more acid, nope a tad of sweet, nope where’s the salt. And again. And again. And again. And again.

There are songs airing in our soul food kitchen that bring me to the verge of tears (and then some). Almost impossible to anticipate those moments, much less explain them here. It’s a conflation of things — memories, reflections, associations all woven into some harmonious whole. I suppose it’s grandiose to want to bake that whole gestalt into my dishes, but there you have it.

I wonder what our menu would read like if our dishes were described according to emotional valences.