Thread by @mattBernius

Whose making french onion soup on this fine fall day?

This guy is!

Onion slicing progress bad is at about 45%... Need to do more coping and less tweeting.

(Mise en place soundtrack Say Hi @ericelbogen mix)

Update: fingers still intact... Moving onto red onions and shallots.

Red onions done! Next: shallots.

And, since today is Day 1ish of @epicpeople_org #epiconference as I prep these materials to Cooks, I am thinking of a recent conversation that I had with the brilliant @beh_zod about cooking & dining as a metaphor for the work of research.

I present 4ish lbs of assorted onions sliced down & prep'd for cooking.

In research terms, this is not unlike taking "raw" field data & starting the process of getting it ready to work with -- reviewing, slicing, dicing, & rough coding.

(Yes I am going there. Buckle up!)

Another similarity of the prep process is that you occasionally discover something you thought was one thing was, on close inspection, something unexpected. Ex: this onion that sure looked like a shallot from the outside.

This happens to me all the time when I review my data.

Stage 1 of cooking is done. Onions are in w/butter & sweated down (they reduce a ton). It's onto low & slow for 45 minutes.

Back to research, you start with so much initial field data & then begin a slow process of reducing & concentrating it as you move from data to findings.

45ish minutes in & it's time to stir. Then continue the sweat. There are great French Onion Soup short cuts, but to get really deep and complex flavor, you need time.

This is true of research. Moving from findings to insights requires time letting the data stew in your head.

Some of that time reviewing your data & findings to look for insights is "head" time. But a lot of it also involves chatting with others about what you are doing and getting suggestions for different ways of "cooking" your findings.

Ditto for cooking.

https://twitter.com/adblanche/status/1320433770118451203

To do it right, cooking and research, the process can be painstakingly slow at times. So you have to do your work up front to make sure it fits timelines (says the guy who realized that this soup is going to finish up dangerously close to the #epiconference cohort he is hosting).

And I have move to the high heat and build the fond stage of the process. This is where the onions will get their color though a constant deglazing. I also have prepped the broth so it's ready to go.

Ops is critical in cooking and research.

It's important to understand theory to do anything well. Knowing how the Maillard Reaction converts sugars in the onions to a rich brown fond that intensifies the taste. It also helps you not burn it.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_…(%2Fma%C9%AA,other%20foods%20undergo%20this%20reaction.

In that same way, research without theory is incomplete. It can work in the short term, like instinctively cooking. But it's not enough to find an insight. It's critical to understand why something is an insight. And be able to explain that.

Its also critical to bring in additional theory and other research to inform and enhance findings and insights -- just in the same way that French Onion soup has more to it -- like bay leaves and thyme -- than just onions and stock.

Also, the best cooking, like research is collaborative. And that's critical when you have to run off to host a workshop for #epiconference.

My wife, was ready to jump in and finish my work. I would have gotten something thrown at me if I had taken a photo of her doing that.

Its time to bring this cooking/research conversation home now that the soup is more or less done.

As I mentioned, the connection between food and research (beyond "the raw and the cooked") come from @beh_zod & this tweet that I swear I think of everyday:

https://twitter.com/beh_zod/status/1287430149600731137?s=20

@beh_zod To extend it, appetite is tied to taste. When you are cooking (or researching) for others you need to take THEIR sense of taste into consideration. That influences every stage of the process from the ingredients you use to how you spice & present your food (& research).

To be clear, preparing a dish (or research) for others doesn't mean that you hide things that they won't find palatable/comfortable). Sometimes those are the ingredients/findings) you have. In those cases the role of the chef/researcher is to know how to work with & present them.

Also, in both research and cooking, when in doubt (especially in 2020) you can always try a little alcohol... /s

BTW the soup came out great!

And now, after the EPIC sessions are done for tonight (at least for me), I get to enjoy the final soup with some gooey melted cheese and a slice of Flour City Bakery bread.

https://twitter.com/mattBernius/status/1320536722413920256/photo/1

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