A friend of mine asked me recently “What should my “goto” cookbook be?”…Once I started thinking, about it I realized what an open-ended question that was…I honestly don’t think there is an answer.
Background…Since you read this far you must have some time on your hands…Growing up, my memories of my Mother revolve around her cooking…If she wasn’t at the stove, she was washing dishes, if not that, getting ready to be at the stove…Granted it was not quite that bad and my memory sucks, but it was close…She also did not have all the contraptions that are all over today…Microwave, food processor, Kitchenaid, George Foreman (I could go on as I own most of them)…With the lack of these timesavers, she stayed pretty busy…Yet, what I do not remember, is a cookbook…A large dusty book that she referred to when she had questions…She just knew…Well, that is not quite accurate but, I will get to why.
Since there was always a meal when I was hungry, I was lacking in the “cooking” department after I left home…As a true American, I resorted to McDonalds and Kraft M&C…This worked well for quite a while, until the birth of the Food Network…I don’t know about you, but I was hooked…Even when I found some shows unwatchable, there would be another that I couldn’t get enough of…Enter Culinary School.
I checked, and one of the better Culinary programs in the country was offered right here in Omaha…Who would of thought?…True to form, I enrolled and started taking classes…Not full-time, yet enough to move through the program…Wow, the things I learned…There is an actual name for the reason that a steak turns brown when you sear it (Maillard Reation, look it up)…Breads, proteins, veg, starch, sauces…The list goes on and I am know where close to a degree…Or knowing what I have supposedly learned…I do know one thing I have learned though.
Inspiration
This is where true cooking gets done…Not a cookbook…My wife has always envied my ability to like in the fridge and think of something to make.
The problem with cookbooks (the way most folks use them)
You browse until you find something appealing…This means you have never made it before…Yes it does…If you have made it before you would not be looking in the book.
You determine what you do have and what you need…Make a list and head to the store…You usually by only what you is on the list and milk.
Back home, you find a comfortable position for the book and begin the step by step process…Since this is your first time, you will more than likely miss a step or two.
The dish turns out OK, but not quite what you thought it would be…Not bad, but now you know what you would have changed…Unless it was fantastic you never make it again…What a hassle going to the storre and all that reading.
If you can learn a couple of sauces and maybe how to braise, instead of sauteing…You can begin to work with ingredients and not recipes…I am not demeaning recipes…What they really are was somebody else’s inspiration…Change it up and add that other stuff or take something away and make it yours…We tend to remember how to cook something that is ours…That is why my Mom never had a cookbook…She cooked what she knew.
I make it sound easy and it is not…Take a little effort and more than a little failure…The part that hooks you is when you can make something your friends and family ask for…We have one of those sticker things in the kitchen that says “Good cooks never lack friends”…It sounds cliche but, it is true.
After all that, is I had to recommend a book;
James Beard’s American Cookery
ISBN-13: 978-0316098687
Tells you how to cook just about everything…Plus some good stories…Well, that is my not so humble opinion…Agree or disagree…Let me know…We are all curious.
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