In Defense of Recipes
Random Lunch: greens with goats cheese and pinenuts
and chickpeas with basil pesto
I've known two people in my life who have disagreed with my use of recipes. Both of them are relatives, and both are of the male persuasion and, it need not be said, but both deserve a swift kick in the backside.
The suggestion is that somehow I am less of a cook because I follow recipes.
I know, right? It's blasphemy.
In fact, I would happily challenge both of them to a duel in the kitchen starting with a spice rack showdown.
I've got spices that I'm sure they don't have and damn it, I know how to use them.
Nothing makes me happier than finding a recipe that I not only want to make again, but that is easy enough that I can wing it the next time. And soon enough, the technique, method or combination gets stuck in my head and becomes mine to improvise with. It's that point, the point where I don't need to follow the recipe anymore, that gives me freedom in the kitchen. The more I am able to improvise, the less I am confined to a cookbook, and less frequently do I stand in front of the fridge or the pantry not knowing what to make.
Of course, the quest is never ending. There are millions of recipes out there and only so much time to cook them. And sometimes you get yourself all geared up to try a new one only to find that you're out of baking soda or that your sour cream has gone moldy. And when a recipe goes wrong altogether, oy, that can have devastating consequences. Although temper tantrums are rare, I did once throw an innocent spoon at the wall in protest of a most craptacular recipe.
But this is our curse, right? The curse of the person who loves to cook, and who loves to see the reaction on people's faces when they try something we've made.
Gad. How I love to feed people.
What is that all about anyway.
Elsa Schiaparelli apparently once said: "A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness."
I like that.
Don't you?
*****************
Just a few of the online recipes I've made (and enjoyed) this month:
Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Marinated Zucchini and Green Bean Salad
Japanese-Style Fried Brown Rice
Sushi Bowl
Scallops with Tarragon Cream
posted by Michèle at 10:30 AM
7 Comments:
I think that is true about dispensing happiness :) keep up the good work!
I agree that the meaning of a recipe is to educate first. After you get the gist, however, off you go to improvise. And the latter makes a cook, or a 'sorceress who dispenses happiness' indeed. :)
Thank you for taking a stand for those of us who use recipes and thank you for sharing some of your favorites. Recipes have allowed me to try to make dishes from other countries, using spices I didn't grow up using. Without recipes I'd be very limited. P.S. glad you're back blogging - I missed your wisdom these last few weeks!
Oh yeah. Recipes are how I get by! Truth is, I can be absent minded at times and I like to follow a recipe.
Thanks for the blog! LOVE the blog!
Kat, I'm glad you agree! And thank you, I will do my best!
Anya, I hear you, and even a witch needs to check her book of potions sometimes, no?
Brooke, it is my pleasure to act in defense of us recipe followers and I wholeheartedly agree with you that it allows us to explore the foods of other countries in ways that we might not have otherwise. And thanks, it's nice to be missed!
Anon, me too my friend, me too. And I'm glad you like the blog!
Boo-Y-A.
There's lots of room for elitism and snobbery in cooking - I just can't see this being one of them.
And well written. Always fun to read. :)
Recipes serve an important purpose. They show people how to make things. Incredibly important if you are trying a new-to-you cuisine or technique. Not everyone is born with an innate sense of every food and technique out there so we rely upon well written recipes to help us sort things out...
That said...I'm very guilty of not providing exact quantities for cooking recipes (baking is quite a different story)--a handful of that, a walnut-sized lump of this, a slosh of that--but I suppose that's because that's how I cook normally...
j
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