The best songs for cooking
The kitchen is a musical place. Melodic chimes of knives married with the rhythmic chopping, all finished with percussive hisses of the frying pan. As a form of self-expression, cooking is perfect. With the addition of music, your cooking routine is no longer a routine as you can transform yourself to a party in the pantry.
On the musical menu today, we have chosen certain songs which are perfect for different parts of the cooking process.
Upbeat song
Upbeat songs are very important in the kitchen. They keep your energy up and keep you happy whilst your cooking away. By choosing an upbeat happy song, you can fall into the rhythm of the beat. This is very good for cooking as it adds an element of consistency to how you cook. We would recommend a song for any chopping, as this is where rhythmic beats play the most important part. Move On Up with Curtis Mayfield, as you chop on up.
Relaxing song
Sometimes cooking is not meant to be energetic and quick. There are many cooking processes which are meant to be slow and not rushed to truly receive the best results. Relish in these moments of peace in the kitchen and your music should reflect this. Whether your kneading dough to make fresh bread, or carefully folding flour into a cake, gentility should envelope this cooking process. Allow your mind to be travel away with Norah Jones beckoning you to Come Away with Me.
Determined song
Although some moments shouldn’t be rushed, others can take sheer determination. The kitchen can be a place of hard work at times, and your playlist should push you through them. Keep beating egg whites until they’re at the the perfect peak can take a while, so your music needs to motivate you through this. It can be easy to give up, but with the right song choice you won’t even notice how long it took. Matthew Wilder keeps you strong with inspiration with Break My Stride.
Patient song
Patience is a virtue, but often a necessity in the kitchen. Waiting for the pan to boil or for the sauce to thicken can be torturous. Take your mind away with a little bit of music. Escape for a couple of minutes into melodious daydreams whilst your cooking reaches perfection. Just like your food, The Supremes tell us You Can’t Hurry Love.
Anticipation song
All of the hard work is done, but your food is not quite ready for eating. You have to wait, and waiting can be hard. You’ve cleaned up, the table is set, so what to do? Watching television as a distraction can lead to too much time away from the oven, and you certainly wouldn’t want all your hard work to go to waste. Stop checking on the oven, put on some music to wait with you, and anticipate the delicious taste of your labours. The Beatles wisely put it, Let it Be.
Song to avoid
You don’t want to jinx your cooking. Use your music to nurture each stage of the cooking. Each note and lyric should give you something to look forward to, so in order to allow the music prophecies to reap good news, definitely avoid any song which is too powerful. The Trammps’ Disco Inferno is a great boogie song, but you definitely don’t want your food to burn, baby, burn.
Turn the volume up, and let the music inspire your cooking.