Any favourite kitchen tunes?

April 18, 2006 2:14 AM

What songs do you love to play while you cook?

I was recently thinking about how I always love to cook with Coldplay's "Don't Panic", Groove Armada's "At the River" and anything by Iron and Wine playing. So are there any songs or bands that you always love to listen to while playing?

Extra points if you have a song to go with a certain dish.

posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party to Media & Arts (30 answers total)

Robert Johnson: "Hot tamales and they're red hot..." and "You'd better come on in my kitchen babe it going to be rainin outdoors..."

Also look here: 500 Songs About Food.
posted by pracowity at 3:02 AM on April 18, 2006

Charles Marie Widor's Toccata from Symphony No. 5 has often gotten me fired up to make sourdough pancake breakfast on a Sunday morning.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 3:08 AM on April 18, 2006

Bread
Cream
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Meatloaf
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:09 AM on April 18, 2006

I like to hum Chatanooga choo-choo while making pancakes.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:14 AM on April 18, 2006

I usually listen to whatever CD is in the player, but I'm quite partial to Kruder and Dorfmeister or Dzihan and Kamien, kind of funky but laid back.
Not particularly food related I know but I don't listen to music about working when I'm at work either :)...
posted by jonesor at 3:50 AM on April 18, 2006

Meat is Murder by The Smiths
posted by jne1813 at 3:52 AM on April 18, 2006

At one time I liked to cook with Steve Reich’s Drumming or Music for 18 Musicians in the background.
posted by misteraitch at 4:00 AM on April 18, 2006

This is kind of temporary, but I spent some time in the kitchen this weekend listening to the current mix on Radio David Byrne: Cuban dance music from the sixties.
posted by letourneau at 4:48 AM on April 18, 2006

The self-titled Crucifucks album.

"I ESTIMATED YOUR WORTH TODAY--YOU'RE SHIT!"
posted by beerbajay at 5:15 AM on April 18, 2006

A perennial favourite is Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I currently also enjoy Goldfrapp's "Black Cherry". I generally like something quite rhythmic - it gets the job done faster and it's easier to drink to.
posted by nomis at 5:23 AM on April 18, 2006

Anything Jamie Cullum.
posted by disillusioned at 6:41 AM on April 18, 2006

Verdi is key when making complex pasta sauces.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:55 AM on April 18, 2006

In The Wind up Bird Chronicles Haruki Murikami describes the overture from Rossini's The Theiving Magpie as the best music for cooking pasta ever. I think he is maybe right.
posted by rongorongo at 7:02 AM on April 18, 2006

Red Sparowes.
posted by slimepuppy at 7:14 AM on April 18, 2006

Cooking is one of the few activities I enjoy more when there's no music playing.
posted by rxrfrx at 7:27 AM on April 18, 2006

Alone: Refused or Dropkick Murphys- like the energy
With wife - Rem- (Murmur or FotR - I grew up in Georgia, have a soft spot, and it is one of the few things we can agree on) or Neko Case or The Meat Purveyors.
posted by Seamus at 7:27 AM on April 18, 2006

I listen to a little of everything, but lately it's been all about the Cursive

Nice reference, Rongorongo. I love that book.

Seamus, if it's breakfast I'm cooking I choose to listen to REM's Up.
posted by nadawi at 7:49 AM on April 18, 2006

I have the radio set on a classic rock station in the kitchen. Or, if it's Thursday evening, Bob Harris Country on BBC Radio 2.
posted by essexjan at 8:01 AM on April 18, 2006

Another for R.E.M., generally when baking or making soft foods, Santana for sauces and pastas and meats, Moby for cleanup, and.. weirdly enough... N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" for waffles.
posted by WidgetAlley at 8:09 AM on April 18, 2006

The Meters Anthology, first disk, on Rhino records.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:17 AM on April 18, 2006

Oh, I should add that I especially listen to this, particularly the song Chicken Strut, when cooking an all day dish like red-beans-and-rice or ribs.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:20 AM on April 18, 2006

When I have weekend mornings free, I like to make pancakes while listening to (pretty much anything by) Bach.
When I'm making supper, my favourite cooking music is Paul Simon, Graceland.
posted by purplefiber at 8:37 AM on April 18, 2006

Hmmm.... this depends on my mood, but I regularly listen to music whilst I cook. Here's some recent faves for the kitchen:

Skip James
Stereolab
Edwin Starr
Bruce Haack
Benjamin Biolay
Buena Vista Social Club/Ibrahim Ferrer
Esquivel
Holiday
France Gall
Midwest Product
Astrud Gilberto
Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited
posted by kaseijin at 8:40 AM on April 18, 2006

I love to listen to The Meat Puppets' Up On the Sun and Too High To Die while scrambling eggs on a sunday morning. Silver Jews are also good for this scenario, or heck, any band that Stephen Malkmus is/was in. For dinner I like to listen to Manu Chao or the news on the radio.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:45 AM on April 18, 2006

The soundtrack to Big Night
posted by missmobtown at 9:28 AM on April 18, 2006

"Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
"Sandstorm" by Da Rude
Pretty much anything else techno-y
I like to be able to synchronize actions like, say, cracking eggs or adding seasoning, with drum hits.......
posted by fvox13 at 9:58 AM on April 18, 2006

Calexico, Buena Vista Social Club, Gipsy Kings, Pink Martini

Modest Mouse for the Clean Up.
posted by jamie939 at 11:24 AM on April 18, 2006

If it's summer and the windows are open, and there's a nice breeze, I like to listen to the Undertones.
posted by scratch at 11:37 AM on April 18, 2006

I've always loved to play Beat Happening while I cook. Or any kind of upbeat indie pop. Keeps me on task and energizied. The new Maritime record is nice, but Tullycraft or Heavenly will also do.
posted by GilloD at 1:05 PM on April 18, 2006

Latiny stuff is really good for me, regardless of what ethnic dish I'm cooking:
Manu Chao
Pink Martini
Buena Vista Social Club

Also, pending on my mood, some good HipHop is really nice, like a solid Jurassic 5 or Tribe Called Quest album. Also I enjoy listening to Belle and Sebastian albums. For me it's important to have a long album or playlist so I don't have to go searching for a track with my hands covered in egg.
posted by shokod at 6:09 PM on April 18, 2006