FRIDAY,MARCH13,2020| THEGLOBEANDMAILO H5
‘O
h my god!” shouted
John Ota, as he sat back,
closed his eyes, and
chewed, very slowly. “This is the
best cutlet I have ever tasted!”
I suspect there is some exag-
geration, or perhaps gratitude,
flavouring that statement. Who
wouldn’t want someone to come
over, don the chef’s hat and cook
them a three-course dinner?
While I enjoy the company of
Mr. Ota and his wife, Frances
Rowe, I was on a mission: Is the
Ota/Rowe kitchen really as bad as
described in Mr. Ota’s new book,
The Kitchen: A Journey Through
History in Search of the Perfect De-
sign(Random House, 2020)?
Before embarking on an arche-
typal hero’s journey to better un-
derstand, be inspired by and cook
in some of the United States’ and
Canada’s most historically accu-
rate kitchens from the 17th centu-
ry to the current day, Mr. Ota
states that his own kitchen – built
in 2005 in Toronto’s Riverdale
neighbourhood – is a “cramped
and crowded space for two peo-
ple.” And while he’s “grown ac-
customed to its inadequacies,”
his wife, who has only recently
started to take over some of the
cooking duties, “hatesthe kitch-
en” [italics are Mr. Ota’s].
Clearly Mr. Ota has never
cooked in my tiny, vintage 1964
kitchen.
But before I get to why my cut-
lets were so tasty, let’s open Mr.
Ota’s very readable book. Fitting-
ly, his journey begins in a Pilgrim
kitchen in Plymouth, Mass., but
not before his architect’s eye ana-
lyzes the house, a simple, built-
by-hand frame cottage covered
with clapboard and a thatched
bulrush roof. “This is an architec-
turethatreflectsaPuritanculture
of work and devotion,” he writes.
The kitchen within this one-
room house is just as simple – an
open fire in a pit – and within
minutes, the self-described “city
boy” is choking on smoke.
Eventually, Mr. Ota will assist
the docent in preparing a meal of
duck, quail and vegetables such
as turnip and pumpkin. Using a
historically accurate knife on the
“rockhard”vegetablesprovesdif-
ficult, however, and after “about
fifteen minutes” he is “grunting
and sweating.” The same goes for
when Mr. Ota is handed a mortar
and pestle to grind spices; his
arms turn to “limp spaghetti” af-
ter a half hour that produces only
a few teaspoons.
Interestingly, one can trace the
evolution of time- and effort-sav-
ing innovations through Mr. Ota’s
journey. At Thomas Jefferson’s
Monticello (which features a sep-
arate kitchen building), the au-
thor marvels at the French “stew
stove,” a long, charcoal-powered
appliance that allowed cooks to
better control heat under the
pans, which was necessary for the
fine French sauces that Jefferson
loved.
When our hero reaches the
1890 Point Ellice house in Victo-
ria, we learn about massive iron
stoves and how they were “a
cook’s new best friend.” In an “as-
toundingly beautiful” 1909 arts
and crafts house in Pasadena,
Calif., he is confronted by a gas
stove from 1908 with six burners
that have “temperature-control
knobs, an oven and warming
compartments.” Soon, Mr. Ota is
placing a California walnut pie
he’s made into it, which will
crown the picnic lunch he is cre-
ating.
At the end of each kitchen
tour, Mr. Ota writes a (very sweet)
letter to his wife to inform her of
what he’s learned
and how the couple
might incorporate
some of that knowl-
edge into their up-
coming kitchen ren-
ovation; after his ex-
periences at the arts
and crafts house, he
suggests that they
consider natural
wood cupboards “to
express warmth”
and perhaps an art
glass window to
“brighten up our
days.”
In painter Georgia O’Keeffe’s
bright 1949 New Mexico kitchen,
Mr. Ota is delighted by how the
curvingadobewallscontrastwith
the “clean, modernist aesthetic”
of the work surfaces and ap-
pliances. “There is no art on the
walls. But maybe that’s no sur-
prise,” he quips. “O’Keeffe let the
kitchen itself be the art.” Also
from the postwar period is a 1956
Frank Lloyd Wright kitchen atKentuck Knob with its “disap-
pearing stove,” and Julia Child’s
1961 kitchen at the Smithsonian
in Washington (where he doesn’t
cook, obviously), which is “mass
confusion” at first but, upon fur-
ther analysis, makes perfect
sense for “a person
who loves to cook.”
Mr. Ota, of
course, loves to
cook. And, as he
toured me around
his own kitchen be-
fore taking on sim-
ple sous-chef tasks
such as chopping
garlic or boiling wa-
ter, he and Ms.
Rowe pointed out
some of the things
that bother them:
The most-used
utensil drawer is directly under-
neath the most-used preparation
surface, which means a lot of in-
terruptions; no thought was put
into the kitchen triangle; the cup-
boards – not natural wood – are
chipping badly after only 15 years;
and many cupboards are inacces-
sible without a stool.
And while it is surprisingly in-
efficientforsucharecentkitchen,
I acclimatize myself quickly and
am soon plating a simple salad ofbocconcini, tomato and basil. As
Mr. Ota characteristically oohs-
and-ahs his delight, I keep one
eye on the stove as my quick-yet-
zesty tomato sauce reduces.
After we eat the pasta, I excuse
myself and prep the aforemen-
tioned cutlets, which I cannot
take credit for (the recipe is from
my Montreal friend John Triv-
isonno’s mother, Carmen; see
sidebar). We finish with single
malt, decaf and cannoli from
Francesca Italian Bakery in Scar-
borough.Equal parts travelogue, archi-
tectural history, culinary history,
social history and personal mem-
oirs, The Kitchen: A Journey
Through History in Search of the
Perfect Designis a literary feast
and our hero, Mr. Ota, through
his breezy writing style, oozes
charm and likability. But, I won-
der, has his quest resulted in the
ultimate plan for his new kitch-
en?
“It’s a work in progress,” he
said, smiling. “We’re getting
there, slowly.”Chickencutletscapthis
culinaryquestfortheperfectkitchen
JohnOtatravelledthe
continenttoseehow
kitchendesignshave
changedovertheyears
–whilehisownremains
‘aworkinprogress’
DAVE
LeBLANC
ARCHITOURISTTORONTO
JohnOta,top,showsoffabakedAlaskainthekitchenofFrankLloyd
Wright’s1956KentuckKnobhome.Middleandleft:Mr.Otavisitsa
pilgrimkitcheninPlymouth,Mass.Above:MrOtastandsinthe
Hermann-GrimaHouseinNewOrleans.PHOTOSCOURTESYJOHNOTADaveLeBlanc,right,cookshisfamouschickencutlets(witharecipe
courtesyofaMontrealfriend’smother)inMr.Ota’sownkitchen.
SHAUNTELLELEBLANC/THEGLOBEANDMAILINGREDIENTSChicken breasts, butchered into
quarter- to half-inch thick
cutlets
Egg
White flour
Bread crumbs
Dried oregano, dried basil, salt,
pepper, chili flakes, freshly
grated Parmigiano-ReggianoLayoutaplateofflour,abowl
withbeatenegg,aplatewith
generousbreadcrumbsseason-
edwithoregano,basil,lotsof
salt,pepper,asprinkleofchili
flakesandsomefinelygrated
Parmigiano.Poundcutletswitha
tenderizer,bothsides.Asyour
inchofvegetable(orsafflower)
oilisheating,dipeachcutletin
thisorder:flour,shakeoffex-
cess;thenfullycoverwithegg;
finally,pressdownintobread-crumbmixture,bothsides.
Throwalittlepieceintooil:ifit
sizzlesandbubbles,itisready.
Dropcutletsintohotoil;asthey
cook,reduceheatalittlesothey
don’tburn.Flipwhengolden
brownononeside.Removeand
patdrywithpapertowels.Finish
byaddingadollopoftomato
sauceandeitherParmigianoor
mozzarellaontop,andput
underbroilerorintoa250-F
stoveforafewminutes.THEBESTCHICKENCUTLETSJOHNOTAHASEVERTASTEDREALESTATE|