Skip to main content

Cookbooks and the Art of Letting Go

It's a new year and a good time to cull the unnecessary items from our lives.  Habits, possessions, etc.

And when I wake up at 5:00 a.m. for no earthly apparent reason, it is this particular task I feel inspired to do.  Especially cookbooks.

I really am of two minds about my cookbooks.  With nearly every imaginable recipe available on the Internet, cookbooks seem to be a thing of the past.  Why limit yourself to a few dozen in one book when a hundred dozen are readily available in a few clicks?  And sometimes, websites can give you search and filter capabilities that just aren't possible in a book.  Consumer habits are also contributing to a decline in cookbook/recipe quality (no empirical evidence here, just a hunch...I never said I was a scientist).  People want cookbooks with their favorite Food Network personality's recipes RIGHT NOW, that sometimes I wonder how much testing can really be done for a quality finished product.

It would be seem so so so simple to throw out all the books.  A conversion to the dark side would be so easy.

But.  It's books.  About food.  By people or institutions I respect in the industry. And those three simple things alone are enough for me to hang on to some of my food tomes.

One cookbook, though (out of the three I eliminated this morning), that did not make the cut was a Food + Wine cookbook.  I think I blogged about it earlier in the year when I found it at a consignment store...but ultimately, the recipes weren't that inspiring or some of the ingredients were nearly impossible to find around here.  It's a shame, yes, because Food + Wine is a great, credible source of recipes for me...but I'd only used a handful of so-so recipes in the last few months, so...bye-bye book.


When I began this task this morning (way too early this morning), I thought one major criteria would be: if I hadn't picked the cookbook up and used it in several months, then it was time to go (after all, I often use this criteria when sifting through my wardrobe every few months).  But, as I began to compile my cookbooks for the cull, I realize that particular criteria meant I'd be parting with books especially close to my heart, namely: Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food, Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy, and the cookbook from Thomas Keller's restaurant ad hoc.  And I had no intention to throwing those books out, because a.) they contain some time-tested wonderfully classic recipes and b.) not only do they contain recipes, but anecdotes and information that I consider invaluable.

And naturally, as I flipped through each of these books, I found several new recipes I wanted to try, namely an Orange and Olive Salad and a Winter Minestrone in the Waters book and a Chickpea-Tomato soup and a Sweet Potato Flan in the Madison one.  Naturellement!  And as I flipped through these books, I was re-inspired to play around in my kitchen!  That's what Alice Waters does for me!

Other sacred tomes I own include three textbooks from school (one cooking, one garde manger, and one baking), Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and two by Michael Ruhlman (Ratio and Ruhlman's Twenty).

And I will try, the very best I can, not to purchase any new cookbooks for the duration of 2015...because obviously I have enough recipes and techniques right here at home.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

(She) Blinded Me With...Citrus

Excuse my attempt at tying today's blog entry with an iconic Thomas Dolby song.  What a terrible pun-ishment. Har har har. So, we're on the backside of Winter Vacation/Christmas Break/Holiday Hiatus here.  The kids return to school tomorrow, the freshman and I start back to our respective colleges next Monday. The clock is ticking and suddenly, I am whipped into frenzy to Get Work Done.  I suspect this phenomenon happens to many, many educators who try to avoid that panic-stricken night before they go back to work. And believe me when I say, I had the deepest, most earnest of intentions to write lesson plans, write quizzes, and generally prepare for the restart of my classes next week.  Like, really. And then...I was distracted by...citrus.  This happened. Okay, so....the lemons on the far right are no big deal.  They're available year-round.  But Meyer lemons...MEYER...I only find around here in the winter.  I first read about them i...

In Which I Suspect I Have Latent Tendencies...Much Like The Hulk, Or Similar

I find in most normally functioning families, the members have a distinguishing role or legacy or skill of some kind. Like, he's the smart one.  Or, he's the religious one.  Or...she's the glue that helps the fam together.  Or, she's the savvy one, so she's the Power of Attorney. In my family, that system went something like this: My dad was The Dad.  Cantankerous, crotchety, and especially tight with daughters' curfew times.  Also, not a fan of driving in Big Cities. My mom was the long-suffering, patient, reserved one. My brother was the baby, the one who got away with murder, the namesake, and also, Frosty Hoarder. Me?  My legacy?  The Ruiner of Remote Controls.  No lie.  Although I've repressed the memories, my parents claim I destroyed at least two remotes in my tenure as Child Under The Roof.  Remote #1: milk spillage; Remote #2: applesauce spillage. So, now you see why my younger brother was the favorite. Anyway, t...

Spaghetti Cake

Yes. You read that right.  Keep reading, friends, it's about to get good. Photo by Brent Nelson...who doesn't quite know about shadows and things in photography. Photo by your trusty author, who doesn't quite know about taking knockout food pictures. So, the caboose (Elliot) was in charge of meals this weekend...as part of his requirement for one of his Boy Scout badges.  Even though we'd be eating meals easy for a 12-year-old to put together (usually not healthy), I was totally ready to hand over the reins for the weekend. Saturday night's dinner was supposed to be simple.  Spaghetti.  But then, I remembered I had Justin's Chapple's Mad Tips article for Pasta Bundt Loaf .  I handed that over to the Boy Scout...and things just got awesome. The ingredients here seem to be a cross between those of a lasagna and an alfredo.  One pound of spaghetti noodles is cooked, and to which a bunch of cheese, milk, eggs, and seasonings are added.  All...