Last time I reorganised my kitchen cupboards I decided to sort ingredients by cuisine, rather than type. My first go involved splitting into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, SE Asian, Mexican, and "white people food", but when the last pile turned out to be just popcorn kernels and a solitary tin of cannelini beans I reallocated that shelf to my collection of dried chillies. 🤭
If, like me, you don't really enjoy eating meat, traditional British cuisine doesn't have anything to offer except puddings. French food is grim, overwrought and drowning in sauce. Italian food is magical until you ask them to cook a vegetable. Central and Eastern European food is just stodge with extra stodge. Spanish and Greek both are great in their own ways, but a big chunk of that comes from their locations and histories.
I'm becoming more and more interested in West African food (Ghana, Nigeria, The Gambia especially), but so far I've only enjoyed those in restaurants. I want to try making domoda, a Gambian peanut butter stew that doesn't look like an impossible place to start. ('pologies for the essay)
Hear, hear! A recipe is a moment frozen in time -- of the author, of the cuisine, of the history of the dish, of the cook who recreates it. It is story telling of all five senses. It is how we connect with the past + with the future. Thank you, Julia!
I am a cook, there are tried and true battered cookbooks, a magazine that comes monthly to try something new, various sites that send me recipes. I like to “read” cookbooks, I have memories of filling my Nonna around and stopping to measure what was in her hand as I wrote up her recipes.
Putting a good meal on the table is love to me, and since I enjoy cooking, it is not a chore. Most days I just put things together because I know how!
What a nice perspective about cookbooks versus YouTube. I’ve often watched the videos & sometimes see a mistake which isn’t mentioned. The same goes for the concept of the celebrity chefs on tv. It’s more hype than serious cooking. I miss real cooks on tv, such as Julia Child & Sarah Moulton. (So?)
As to takeout culture, I find it to be appalling. We recently had 2 family members in our home & they wanted to eat each & every meal out. It’s unhealthy!
Your duck recipe looks wonderful. We will be in France next month & I just may buy 4 duck legs for dinner one night when guests are over.
As always, many thanks for your interesting articles & recipes.
I love recipe books (as witness the four shelves of the things in the hall!) - a fascinating read. I agree with you about the Instagram/YouTube recipes. I also have my grandmother's cookbook - rather like the photo in your article! - which includes, among other things, a recipe for dog biscuits made from liver and posho (East African corn meal), and 'cures' for baldness and amoebic dysentery! The duck sounds wonderful - am pursuing an online French course which includes chats with an AI bot about books and cookery, so I shall have something new to discuss tonight. And to try out in the near future ...
Last time I reorganised my kitchen cupboards I decided to sort ingredients by cuisine, rather than type. My first go involved splitting into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, SE Asian, Mexican, and "white people food", but when the last pile turned out to be just popcorn kernels and a solitary tin of cannelini beans I reallocated that shelf to my collection of dried chillies. 🤭
If, like me, you don't really enjoy eating meat, traditional British cuisine doesn't have anything to offer except puddings. French food is grim, overwrought and drowning in sauce. Italian food is magical until you ask them to cook a vegetable. Central and Eastern European food is just stodge with extra stodge. Spanish and Greek both are great in their own ways, but a big chunk of that comes from their locations and histories.
I'm becoming more and more interested in West African food (Ghana, Nigeria, The Gambia especially), but so far I've only enjoyed those in restaurants. I want to try making domoda, a Gambian peanut butter stew that doesn't look like an impossible place to start. ('pologies for the essay)
Hear, hear! A recipe is a moment frozen in time -- of the author, of the cuisine, of the history of the dish, of the cook who recreates it. It is story telling of all five senses. It is how we connect with the past + with the future. Thank you, Julia!
I am a cook, there are tried and true battered cookbooks, a magazine that comes monthly to try something new, various sites that send me recipes. I like to “read” cookbooks, I have memories of filling my Nonna around and stopping to measure what was in her hand as I wrote up her recipes.
Putting a good meal on the table is love to me, and since I enjoy cooking, it is not a chore. Most days I just put things together because I know how!
What a nice perspective about cookbooks versus YouTube. I’ve often watched the videos & sometimes see a mistake which isn’t mentioned. The same goes for the concept of the celebrity chefs on tv. It’s more hype than serious cooking. I miss real cooks on tv, such as Julia Child & Sarah Moulton. (So?)
As to takeout culture, I find it to be appalling. We recently had 2 family members in our home & they wanted to eat each & every meal out. It’s unhealthy!
Your duck recipe looks wonderful. We will be in France next month & I just may buy 4 duck legs for dinner one night when guests are over.
As always, many thanks for your interesting articles & recipes.
I love recipe books (as witness the four shelves of the things in the hall!) - a fascinating read. I agree with you about the Instagram/YouTube recipes. I also have my grandmother's cookbook - rather like the photo in your article! - which includes, among other things, a recipe for dog biscuits made from liver and posho (East African corn meal), and 'cures' for baldness and amoebic dysentery! The duck sounds wonderful - am pursuing an online French course which includes chats with an AI bot about books and cookery, so I shall have something new to discuss tonight. And to try out in the near future ...