Stir-Fry Cook-Off '07

Last night Taylor and I decided to cook supper. Cooking is something both Taylor and I enjoy (although his knack for cooking tends to get more press, you know, he IS a "Pampered Chef" and all...). The problem is that while we both enjoy cooking, we also both enjoy cooking the right way. And if you ask us what the "right way" to cook something is, you'll get a different answer from each of us. This has caused many heated "discussions" in the kitchen, which mostly end in compromise, but sometimes end with me leaving Taylor to cook the way HE wants to, aka the WRONG way. ;)

Last night, we decided on stir-fry. Taylor got a recipe for an Asian dipping sauce from the Pampered Chef website that they said could be used in stir-fry. Yummy, right? We agreed on that. We went to the store to buy some veggies, rice, and eggrolls to go with our meal. The problem began when I started cooking the rice. There was a recipe for stir-fry on the back of the rice box. I've never made stir-fry from scratch before, so I was a little cautious to begin with. Taylor has no fear in the kitchen, whipping up things from thin air all the time - and they're usually really good. I, however, DO have a little fear when cooking something I've never made before. So I like to follow the recipe! You should follow the recipe anyway, right? (I guess that's just the teacher in me...)

This was our dilemma. I wanted to follow the recipe, which called for 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and Taylor did NOT. We went around and around, bickering about this until finally Taylor said, "Call the Parkers." (The Parkers are experts of all things cooking). So I said, "Fine! I will!" We called and got Suzanne (who thought it was hilarious that we were arguing about corn starch). She gave us the solution - half the veggies and chicken, and add our own sauce to each half. (What would we do without you, Suzanne?) That's what we did. Taylor added only his Asian sauce to his, and I added what the recipe called for - soy sauce, water, and corn starch.

We finished cooking, put everything on our plates, and got ready for the moment of truth. (We had to wait 10 minutes while Taylor took about 20 pictures of each plate, though...) We tasted, and in the end we decided that Taylor's had a better taste (probably because of the seasonings in the Asian sauce), but mine had better consistancy (it wasn't as thin as his because of the corn starch I added.)

So, in the end...I was right. (Are you surprised?) I mean, the whole argument was over whether or not to add corn starch, and we decided that the corn starch was a good idea. I never said that the Asian sauce was a bad idea. How long will it take for Taylor to realize that in every argument, I'm always right? :)

(By the way, you can check out HIS version of the story on his blog. You can choose who to believe...) :)

Here's a picture of the winning stir-fry (mine).