Have any other HO’s tried this? Chaos Cooking has cooking events where some brave soul volunteers to have guests come to their home, bringing their ingredients and cooking tools. Each participant makes a dish of their choosing at the event. The name Chaos Cooking is fitting, but somehow it seems to work out. The event lasts for about 3-4 hours, with people arriving at different times, so sharing the stovetop and oven is workable. The dishes prepared are not co-ordinated in advance, so the menu is eclectic, to put it mildly. Most of the participants have not met previously. The events are posted on their website and occur in various cities around the country.
Last night was the 3rd time I’ve tried it and it’s a fun way to meet other food enthusiasts and different cuisines.
I wish I had asked for the names of the dishes, but I’ll try to name them in order to give you an idea.
Last night we had a Chinese celery w/fried tofu dish, bruschetta, pasta e ceci, Udon noodles & beef in broth, crisp baked potato wedges, Mexican tortilla wraps w/ cream cheese & veggies as savory tastes.
For dessert, almond cake squares w/ rosewater, Thin pastry shells w/ nuttella & banana filling and an Indonesian subtly sweet warm broth with coconut milk, ginger & mung beans ( sounds weird, but was surprisingly good).
There were a few others that I missed while I was busy cooking my Thai curry.
People are pretty civil. It’s a cooperative atmosphere. The host sets a limit on the number of guests. You can see online who signs up. Part of the deal is everyone helps clean up. People are appreciative that the host is opening their home to the group and are eager to help out. That is especially true here in NYC, since many have apartments too small to host an event.
