Kitchen

The late food writer Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor used to say that she could tell when fried chicken was done simply by listening to it. She could gauge exactly the moment that the chicken was crispy and golden from the particular sizzling sound it made in the oil. Sometimes, she once told an interviewer, people would say, “tell me something real, like, what is it? 15 minutes, 20 minutes, or whatever. And I say, you’ve got to listen to the sound of the grease. Listen to the music.”

When learning to cook, many of us put our faith in specific timings as the best means to get reliable and precise results. We learn to boil pasta for exactly 10 minutes and to roast chicken for 20 minutes per pound. But the more meals I cook, the more I see that timing is far less solid and reliable than it seems. After 10