Taking On "The Next Element"

What am I going to do?

I am going to attempt... No, I am going to prepare all recipes from Andy Allen's The Next Element.

But why?

Let me take you back to the beginning of this idea and the fall of 2012... 

What follows is something you can skip if you just don't really care why.

I met a girl at a Halloween party - while dressed up as a pop art character - and discussed my love for the show with her. 

She immediately asked me which season I was watching. I honestly didn't know. I had seen the very first one, with Julie Goodwin (whose cookbook I also own) and after that I knew I'd missed one. Or two. I merely said, "Um, the one with Ben [Milbourne]." 

Reason behind this was that he had, from day one, reminded me of one of my favourite Dutch speedskaters, Simon Kuipers. Sometimes the likeness was creepy. But I'm digressing.

She asked me, "Is there a guy named Andy in there?"

I remember thinking hard, and stammering, "There's an Andrew in there... The hairdresser?"

"No, he's a younger guy," she responded.

And then I realised that she meant "the cute guy" (yeah, sorry). Andy was kind of quiet, in my opinion. He had been floating along the middle section of the competition, not showing great skills just yet, but hardly ever ending up in the bottom two. There was Ben. There was Sam. Beau-y. And then there was the other cute one. I'm not sexist, by the way. Kylie [Millar] was (and still is) one of my favourite girls on MC Australia Season 4, so I'm thrilled Andy's cookbook contains some of her recipes. 

Anyway, back to the Halloween party. My new friend informed me that if I liked Andy, I would definitely like this season. Obviously this turned out not to be a spoiler at all... She also told me that, by the by, she had met Andy's sister when travelling around Europe. This piqued my interest greatly (hello, two steps to one of the Australian MC contestants? Awesome!), so of course I started paying more attention to Andy.

Not that I could have ignored him. As days went by and contestants left the show, Andy started to develop and show more and more of his skills. And naturally we all remember the incident with the piping hot pan from the oven that took him out of the competition for one luckily elimination-free challenge or that incredibly emotional elimination test up against Sam at the Stanley Pub in Tasmania. ("It was Sam up against that cute guy and it was super tough, but they both got to stay!" I told my flatmate afterwards. I nearly cried during that, right along with George Calombaris. Thanks, guys.) 

But just like Julie Goodwin's cooking inspired me during season 1, Andy inspired me during season 4. Let me get one thing straight: I love fish. Unfortunately I don't prepare it often enough. Let's face it, Andy has fish-skills. He can catch 'm, fry 'm, bake 'm, eat 'm... So who better to take fish-preparing advice from than Andy? In other words: I needed to have his cookbook and try out all of his recipes. Pronto.

By the time I had finished watching season 1 of MC Australia, Julie Goodwin's cookbook Our Family Table had been readily available. Andy's cookbook? No way. Despite the fact that he had won in July 2012 and we had seen the finale in November or December, the cookbook would not be available in the Netherlands until early 2013. After a month or two, early 2013 turned into April 2013.

"No problem," my best friend assured me. She was going to buy it for my birthday (April 2nd). It would arrive a few weeks late, but at least it would be there. I would have it. And then I would be able to start my culinary and fishy experience.

If you skipped the part above, feel free to join in again here!

So here we are in 2014, and I'm about to take step 1 in Andy's The Next Element. I admit, I've had the book for months already (eventually I received it by May 2013), but just leafing through it and seeing all those things with more than four legs (crab! lobster! yabby!) freaked me, Miss Super Arachnophobe, out. 

Yes. Before we (well, I) start you should know that I don't like most things with less than 2 and more than 4 legs (with the exception of a five legged lamb). Besides, how on earth was I going to get hold of yabby, which is a completely Australian thing? I live in another hemisphere, in another country, on the other side of the world. I'm pretty sure I can't get yabbies over here. But back to the legs. There are just too many of them. Even eating gambas freaks me out, even though I tried to conquer that bizarre fear just a few months ago, when my order of gambas led to the ultimate dilemma: touch the creepy (dead and fried) creatures or go without dinner. I chose dinner. With shivers. And a little bit of repulsion.

So despite all of this, I'm going to do it. And I'm going to start tomorrow with one of Andy's favourite starters: Salmon Rillettes. He told my flatmate and best friend to prepare them for girls' night last Friday, but considering one of the girls attending hates salmon, she decided against it. I promised her I'd make this starter for her. Besides, what better way to start this journey than by preparing a starter?

I am not Julie Powell and Andy Allen is not Julia Child to me. I don't want to be him. I don't want to master the art of preparing fish. But I do want to eat more fish and try out other things that I usually don't. I want to eat more Mexican, because I don't really see the appeal (so thanks, Ben!). And let's not forget Kylie's amazing desserts (honestly, I'd feel much more comfortable starting with her recipes). 

But first and foremost: I want to overcome my fear of things with too many legs and exoskeletons. 

What am I working with?

I live in a 100 m2 apartment which I share with my best friend. We have a tiny kitchen and a regular sized oven. We also each have a cat. Hers is a whiny and ever hungry Maine Coon. Mine likes to sit on the rubbish bin when I'm cooking or doing the dishes, watching my every move and making sure I'm not slacking off. 

This is my cat. She tends to look at me like this.

The kitchen we have is ordinary. We don't have a lot of working space. We don't have a dishwasher. There's enough space to do things, and because I'm a clean cook, that usually isn't a big problem.

As I just returned from my grandfather's 90th birthday party, I am not going to show you pictures now. You will see the kitchen from now on, because I will be posting updates with regards to my trials and what I am sure will be many errors. 

And finally...

I definitely won't prepare a Next Element dish every day, but for now my goal is to prepare a dish at least once every week, even though I can't promise that this will happen. I am counting on my lovely flatmate to keep me in check, especially when I can no longer avoid the exoskeletons and the going will get tough (or creepy).

I apologise for the lengthy babbling this first post has turned out to be, and as I get used to Blogger I hope to get better at its layout too, because I can't seem to get rid of the random blank lines, and I am in a frustrating battle with the headers. Fyi, I'm losing.

Good news, though, from now on posts will have many more pictures (yay, pictures!).

I would love for you to join me during this experience, and if you do I hope you will enjoy the ride!

See you at our (first) Next Elemental meal!

That is totally going to be my catchphrase, just so you know.