Welcome to the Middle Class Kitchen

     I notice that there's a proliferation of food blogs on the internet. I also notice that the economy is tanking and that things do not appear to be getting better any time soon. Food and the economy are linked like sausages. That's where the problem lies for the average middle class kitchen. I see wonderful recipes in magazines, television shows and on the internet. Unfortunately, many of these recipes use ingredients I can't pronounce, let alone afford. I'd love to use Gruyere in my cooking, but not when a pound of it is almost 30% of what we spend in a month for groceries.

Delicious and $20 a pound.

     I love to cook. I love to present large, fancy meals for my family and friends. It pleases me to no end to have that moment at the table where everybody stops talking because they are too focused on the food. I want to do this thing that I love and not go broke doing it. Will I eventually do a recipe that's pricey? Yes, it can't be helped. Unless it's absolutely required, I will do what I can to keep costs down.

     So what's my goal here? I want to talk about food and drink for the Middle Class. You may ask, "what is the Middle Class Kitchen?" Statistically, it's a kitchen in a house with an average income of around $30K per wage earner. There's two of us in my house, so that's easy math. I'll touch on more specifics later on.

There will be no molecular gastronomy or degustation menus in our home. If I can't get the ingredients at a local market or at a reasonable price, I'm going to start substituting. I don't need to break the bank to cook well.

   I simply want more people to sit at a table where the primary sounds are those of clinking silverware and happy diners.

“Oh, do you like it? I'm not partial to desserts myself, but this is excellent.”