Chaos v Order Muppets
…It’s not that any one type of Muppet is inherently better than the other. (Order Muppets do seem to attract the ladies, but then Chaos Muppets collect the chicken harems.) It’s simply the case that the key to a happy marriage, a well-functioning family, and a productive place of work lies in carefully calibrating the ratio of Chaos Muppets to Order Muppets within any closed system. That, and always letting the Chaos Muppets do the driving…
Good morning. Home cooks generally fall into one of two camps, I find: Chaos Muppets or Order Muppets. Those Chaos Muppets have their charms, and you may eat brilliantly at their tables, but dinner will always be late and there’ll be a phenomenal amount of cleanup in the kitchen afterward. Your Order Muppets, for their part, clean as they go. They follow plans closely. They’re kind of uptight.
I aspire to chaos, myself. It seems fun! And I do often serve dinner later than I’d intended. But my belief in order is too strong to allow the mess to get out of hand. I imagine Chaos Muppets sometimes have a similar desire to be more like their opposite. And so I think we should all try to embrace that balance this week, edging our cooking closer to the precepts of the Muppet we are not.
For Order Muppets, then: no-recipe recipes that allow the cook to freestyle. And for Chaos Muppets, some semblance of organization and stability: a proper mise en place and an empty sheet pan for scraps while they’re slicing and dicing. Clean as you go? It’s a good way to live.
