|
|
| Back to the Table of Contents |
Recipes are just
guidelines...
|
| Eating economically at the
co-op series |
by Miriam Axel-Lute
|
Cooking from scratch costs
less than buying packaged foods. It does. But every once in a while,
when you find yourself with a bouquet of parsley the size of a
sunflower, a bottle of super-duper extra virgin olive oil, fresh
tomatoes in the middle of winter, and a surprisingly large pile of
other pricey ingredients, you may find yourself wondering just how true
it really is.
You've probably fallen prey to "recipe-adherence-itis." If you're new
to cooking for yourself, or if you're trying to expand your repertoire
beyond a few familiar staples by perusing cookbooks, this is a common
danger. You dutifully write down a list of everything a particular
intriguing recipe calls for, and suddenly your grocery bill starts to
seem a little swollen.
|
Adapt,
Adapt, Adapt...
|
Remember
that cookbook writers are professionals, and they tend to be aiming at
a result rather more particular than "tasty and nutritious." There are
three steps to curing recipe-adherence-itis and moving on to frugal
chefdom. The first is to adapt recipes you've already made. Which
things make a different to your palate, and which don't? Go with your
gut: If you looked at an ingredient and thought "Really?" it can
probably be substituted for, or even dropped. (Note: Not when baking.
That takes more finesse.)
Experiment with more seasonal vegetables, different oils, new spice
combinations, or garnishes that use up something you already have
instead of calling for a new purchase in the name of aesthetics. Mix
and match your onion relatives (leeks? scallions?), use up last week's
wine in the soup instead of getting a new bottle of cooking sherry.
Pesto with walnuts instead of pine nuts.
You may be surprised to find along the way that you develop a version
that you like better than the origin nal. We have a lentil soup recipe
by Miriam Axel-Lute we like that calls for it to be poured over grated
Swiss cheese. In our experience, soft Swiss turns into such a sticky
mess in the hot soup that it makes it hard to eat (and even the spoons
hard to clean). The cheaper Palatine cheddar we always have on hand
anyway works better and tastes great.
And even if you don't stumble on a better-than-the-cookbook twist, you
will come to know the range of what a given recipe can do—particularly
tasty with fresh tomatoes in summer, perhaps, but fine with canned.
Tasty with butter, but differently so with oil and some other extra
flavoring. But don't skip the nuts, that really makes a difference.
When you're comfortable with this, you can skip that first dutiful,
instruction-bound step. Consider recipes to be inspiration, but adapt
to your budget and taste on the first go.
|
Leaping
to Improv
|
Finally,
leave the recipes behind sometimes and make the leap to improv cooking.
Improv cooking has gotten some high profile attention lately, including
a Wall Street Journal article and Jean Johnston's book Cooking Beyond
Measure: How to Eat Well without Formal Recipes (see links at www.foodchannel.com/stories/1287-are-you-an-improv-cook-).
Improv cooking advocates see themselves as a fighting back against
over-regimented and/or high-falutin' celebrity chef cookbooks, and
argue that people are leaning on recipes as a crutch because they
haven't learned basic cooking techniques or paid attention to getting a
feel for what tastes go well together. (To be fair, some of the
tastiest surprises to come out of our kitchen have been the result of
my husband throwing out every rule I know about what would go well
together. So a willingness to try things is also crucial.)
Every once in a while, don't start with a recipe—start with what you
have, with what's on sale, with what's in season, with something
unusual you did buy for a recipe and didn't use up. (Word to the wise,
though: Don't try to use up everything in your fridge at once.) Imagine
how these things might go together. Try it. If it works particularly
well, write down what you did. And then start adapting it.
|
| Back to the Table of Contents |
|
|
|
