Still Life with Robin: Nat's What I Call Cookin'!

by Peggy Robin

If you’re like me, you’ve been doing a lot more cooking at home than you used to do back before the pandemic hit and put an end to normal restaurant operations. You may have used your extra at-home time to sharpen up your cooking skills. I know I have. I used to take a lot of short cuts in cooking, seldom making things from scratch. Now I realize there's nothing you can get out of a jar that won't taste a lot better if you make it yourself from fresh ingredients.

This isn't a thought that came to me out of the blue. It's the philosophy – and the basis of all cooking instruction – of the phenomenally popular, worldwide cooking sensation known by the single name of, Nat, whose series of cooking videos on Youtube are all under the title: "Nat's What I Reckon."

Nat usually begins each video by demolishing a jar of sauce or some other industrially packaged food –unleashing a torrent of blistering profanities in the process. 

Here are five of his biggest hits:

Make a basic tomato/basil/garlic sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OEDjDKV038

Make a simple chicken curry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uBDNhe6Gkk

Make mac’n’ cheese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk2wjrYXSlo

Make pasta with carbonara sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KthvXIFhcc

Make chili con carne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9sjrjr06K4

You will immediately notice that almost every third word he speaks is an expletive delivered in an almost impenetrable Australian accent – but the thing is, these are actually GOOD cooking lessons While he swears like a sailor, he is organized like a fleet admiral: he shows you what you need, what you do in what order, and what you can feel free to vary as you like, and when you must stick with the program. It’s ridiculously easy to follow along – although you may need to pause the video if you start laughing too hard.

Just a quick but necessary warning: These are NOT good videos to watch with your six-year-old….unless you are prepared to have your child shout at you in an imitation Ozzie accent, anytime from now through the end of high school, anytime you might venture to open a jar of any commercially prepared sauce: “NO MORE F*****G JAR SAUCE!”

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.