"Kitchen Timing" - A Legacy From Joe Biden's Mom

[TygrBright]

Joe Biden grew up in a quintessential Irish Catholic family in the 1940s and 1950s. He was the oldest of four kids. You can bet he spent plenty of time helping his Mom - that's what a good son did, back then.

And every holiday, every big occasion, Joe got to watch the unique talent of an Experienced Mom: "Kitchen Timing"

This is a skill few of us appreciate until we're old enough to be responsible for preparing festive meals for our own family and friends.

Kitchen Timing is not easy, people. You need to know exactly when and how to do every step involved in preparing multiple dishes - some of them complicated and only rarely served - so that they all reach the table at peak edibility: Hot things hot. Cold things chilled. Crispy things crisp. Smooth things smooth. No lumps in the gravy, no melted edges on the Jello salad.

You need to know when to purchase your ingredients, so they'll be fresh and available. When to start prepping them. How long to marinate, chill, pre-heat, etc. How to coordinate one oven and four stove burners for maximum efficiency. When to add the final seasonings. How long to "rest" the roast.

Start too early - you have potatoes sitting there getting cold and crusty, rolls becoming chewy, salad greens going limp.

Start too late - you inevitably end up burning something, dealing with lumps in the gravy, underdone veggies, cream that won't whip because the beaters and the bowl aren't cold enough.

It's a mix of art, craft, and most of all - experience.

Joe learned it at his Mom's knee, and took those skills into politics with him.

What, after all, is an election, but a Major Feast for which a political party has to have every dish presented at peak readiness for the voters?

We are watching a master who studied at in the kitchen of a master, prepare our Midterm Election Feast, people. And everything is going to reach the table at its best, a veritable crescendo of political cuisine.

Thank you, Catherine "Jean" Finnegan Biden. You done good. I bet your Thanksgiving dinners were awesome.

appreciatively,
Bright