Kitchens of my life

'In the Kitchen (Essays on food and life)’ is a collection of short stories by different writers about food memories. Rachel Coddy is recalling her life on the cookers she had throughout her life.

It got me thinking, not so much about the cookers I had (and there were many) but the kitchens I have lived and loved over the years, beginning with the first kitchen I can remember, my childhood kitchen. It was not particularly big, mainly due to the massive wood-fired stove made of bricks and a cast iron top.

We couldn’t use it in summer as we would have created a sauna environment but in winter it provided warmth and comfort on these cold winter months. You needed to start the process of heating it up early as the size alone made a quick fire impossible.

The heat in the oven part could not be regulated and my mum used the normal oven for baking the Sunday cake. The top had openings that were covered in cast iron rings that could be removed with a special tool. The more you removed, the quicker the boil would be.

I remember large stew pots simmering away on top of the stove. It was also great for keeping food warm.

In summer it was more a storage unit. When it was removed after many years, the kitchen suddenly seemed huge but less cosy.

Then my grandparent’s kitchen. No brick stove but a cute corner bench where I would sit hours watching my grandad painting. It also had a walk-in pantry stuffed with my grandmother’s preserves and her famous biscuit tin.

My first own kitchen was a tiny square. I painted it in bright yellow. I hadn’t taking into consideration that the window was south-facing. On a sunny day, I had to wear sunglasses to cook.

Here I cooked the first meal for my mum (I did cook in her kitchen but this was the first time, I had invited her over for food), an Indian dish called murgh malaiwala (it was mild enough for my mum).

She told my aunties about it and suddenly, I was running a monthly supper club for my mum and her sisters. My last kitchen in Germany was long and narrow. I had measured every inch to get the best possible kitchen. It was perfect for me as I was single but loved having people over for dinner.

It was crowded with more than one person but I have fond memories of it especially cooking a Christmas buffet for 26 people and a 50th birthday spread for my mum and about 50 guests (29 were invited).

My current kitchen is the largest kitchen I have lived with yet and it was rather bare when I moved in. But here, the Cork Dine & Wine Club was founded and my monthly dinner parties were never short of diners.

It was also here that I first cooked for Mr T, a French dish called chicken chasseur. I still remember watching him eating away and thinking that cooking for someone you care about and seeing him or her enjoying the food is the best feeling ever.