Where Are We Going? And What Are We Eating?

Baked Carrots

12 medium-sized or 6 large carrots, scraped
3 tablespoons sesame oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley or toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)

Soak a covered clay baking dish for 1/2 hour. Place the carrots in the bottom and sprinkle with the sesame oil. Dust with a little salt and pepper, cover, and place the dish in a cold oven. Set the thermostat at 400º and bake for about 1 hour, or until the carrots are lightly caramelized, turning occasionally. Serve immediately, sprinkled with parsley or sesame seeds.

—John Cage

From The Boston Symphony Cookbook (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983). I'll post more as I try them. (Coming soon: Barbara Kolb's Meat Loaf Soufflé.)

Correction (1/29): I got the title wrong. The Cage piece I was thinking of, a culinary gloss on his earlier lecture-piece, is actually called "Where Are We Eating? and What Are We Eating?" It's reprinted in the collection Empty Words.