Blog.EmealsForYou

Cookbooks are like arm chairs; sounds crazy but let me explain. Cookbooks are a collection of recipes; kind of like the arm chair selection in a furniture store. To see whether we “like” the chair, whether it is comfortable or not, we have to sample it. Sit in it, move to the left, move to the right, maybe put our feet up to fully evaluate it. We have to take into consideration the quality of the store we are in. Now let’s look at color and material; lots to do here.

So how does that equate to cookbooks? We have many avenues for cookbooks and recipes. There is the old fashion book, and the new fashion Internet search. We pick up the book, look at the pictures, do a quick scan of the recipes and take it to the cashier. Now, at home with our feet up in our favorite chair, we open that cookbook and find exactly two recipes we think we like. Over the next few days we make these recipes and guess what? We find we like only one. So the end result is one good recipe for the cost of the cookbook, plus not just a little disappointment on our mindset. Each of us has that supposed “special” cookbook. I bought a Charlie Trotter, world-class Chicago chef, cookbook; impressed my friends. I quickly found out that Tuna-Wrapped Oysters with Saffron Infused Tomato Water just wasn’t me. Fifty bucks well spent, not.

Now let’s look at those favorite recipes and cookbooks, the ones with the smudges of chocolate and egg on the pages. The one where you can quickly find the recipe you always cook when you have to have something that works, mainly ’cause the book has so much “crud” on the page that it opens itself to the recipe. Ooohhh! This is my favorite chair, this is my comfort zone.

So what’s your point, you say. My point is you can buy all the cookbooks in the world. You can download all those recipes from the Internet. I am betting in the long run you will return to those old favorites, those recipes from chefs, and friends and maybe your mom that always work and bring back good memories. Sure it is okay; in fact you should be seeking out new “favorites”, just don’t think that more is better. Sit back in that comfy old chair and enjoy your recipe comfort zone. That’s my rant and I am sticking to it.