We all do it. Find ourselves in a rut of making the same things all the time, because it is familiar, easy to do and you don’t have to think about it. The measurements, instructions and ingredients are all in your head and you can slide through the task of getting dinner on the table while your mind is occupied with something else entirely. Is the food nourishing? Probably to your body, but not necessarily to your soul. Does it taste good? Probably, but it isn’t as great as the first time you made it. One of the dishes I do repeatedly is Chicken a la King. It’s not fancy, but I loved it as a child, still love it as an adult, but it has grown a little more boring than its title for me.
What to do? How do you get out of the rut? What switch do you have to trip to make you fall in love with your food again? For me the answer is reading.
When I was a newlywed, I had few things in my food arsenal that I could make really well and they grew tiresome after a while as they were mostly pasta dishes and heavy and, well, familiar…what I grew up with. Fish was a mystery to cook well. Beef in its ground form or stew form was common, but other cuts befuddled me. And let’s not even get into the YEARS it has taken me to do full justice to a chicken. So I read cookbooks. I READ COOKBOOKS. I pored over sections, reading each recipe until I found one I was brave enough to try and one that had ingredients I was familiar enough with to purchase in the local stores. And I attacked – that’s how I found the a la King recipe. My “go to” book as a newlywed was a wedding gift and it is the pic of the week. You’ll notice there are 2 copies – the one is clearly more than 20 years old, the other is one hubby John tracked down and bought me as a gift because mine was falling apart – literally. The book is now out of print, so finding a BRAND NEW copy, still in the plastic wrap was a real coup!
After a couple of culinary courses and years spent in the food industry and in my own kitchen, reading cookbooks is still fun, but they are not how I get inspiration. I go to them now as sources of reference and I often look up the same recipe in several books and combine them to make the dish the way I want to make it. For inspiration I now read memoirs. I just finished Julia Child’s My Life in France. I wished, as I read through, that I had had the chance to meet her. I am now on to Anthony Bourdain and Kitchen Confidential, and yes, I do hope I get to meet him one day. Both chefs are terribly snarky, bold and candid. If you have a Kindle, both are available for the device. These books have me reaching into my SKILL repertoire and dragging out techniques I use seldom, seeking instruction on some things I haven’t mastered and creating food I have never attempted at home! Lovely! I will also admit that Bourdain has me a bit nostalgic for my days as a waitress – but I think I am romanticizing that time of my life because I used to chant “I hate my job”, over and over again, and I need to remind myself of that before I start filling out job applications! Working as a Cocktail Waitress IS how I met John, so maybe there is a little romance in that work.
If tackling non-fiction is a little daunting to you, as it is to me with anything that isn’t food related, try looking at great magazines for inspiration. Bon Appetit and Saveur are two of my faves. Food and Wine is also a good choice. Seek out the unusual, avoid Southern Living and the like – they are all derivative and I find them more about things other than food. Go to their websites and browse there and see the mags at your local library or quickly disappearing book store (alas Borders is closing).
This week’s Food Memories are watching the guy at the deli slicing up my house made pancetta for me, cooking with friend John Morris for an impromptu and informal dinner on the patio, tapas and mojitos with friends Dani & Robert, and the first crop of figs from our tree wrapped in paper thin slices of prosciutto.
Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories.
