Trust yourself in the kitchen

I think that a big reason that people don't cook is because they've tried, and a recipe didn't work, or something went wrong, and the recipe didn't turn out the way it looked, or the way they thought it would.

That's unfortunate. It's hard to explain this, but a recipe, as written down, is really only how ONE person made the dish at one point in time. It's not going to be the same, ever. But if you're confident, and it doesn't take much, really it doesn't.

I'm going to offer a case study here, with a recipe I made today, on Thanksgiving. The recipe is from Anne Rosenzweig, one of my chef heroes. Anne's recipes are superb. One of them is a standard Thanksgiving dish for me, and it always turns out right. The one I made today was new, and if I had made it to s pecifications, it wouldn't have worked. But that's okay. I will explain.

The ingredients are very simple: butternut squash, carrots, leeks, shallots, zucchini and apples.

The first thing she calls upon you to do is to peel and clean the squash. Standard. Then, cut the squash into 3/4 inch cubes.

I don't have a tape measure or ruler in the kitchen, and I have a very difficult time estimating lengths. So I diced. Probably too small. Then, she calls for tossing that squash in two teaspoons of vegetable oil and then roasting it for twenty five minutes "until just tender."

Well, I misread the oil and used two tablespoons. And I cut the squash too small. So after twenty minutes, it was plenty tender. So I stopped. Twenty five, and it would have been mush.

Then, I needed a cup of diced carrots, a cup of diced leeks, a cup of diced zucchini, a cup of diced apples( golden delicious) and half a cup of shallots, chopped. Now, the zucchini was gone from the market when I shopped. I thought about "what could substitute?" And given what I had in my fridge, there was nothing. So I left it out. Think about what the ingredient brings to the finished product. For example, had I no butternut squash, I wouldn't have made the recipe. Had I no shallots, I might have used a red onion. I don't like golden delicious apples, so I used mutsus. To my taste, leeks are hard to substitute, so had I no leeks, I wouldn't have done it either. For carrots? Hmmmm. Maybe I would have put in m ore squash if I didn't have them (but every kitchen should have carrots and onions in the house at all times).

So while the squash was baking, I cut up the rest of the vegetables. "Dice" is a very specific time that, frankly, I just do not have time for. I cut the carrots into coins, I cut the leek into p roper dice. My shallots were very small, so instead of dicing, I cut them in half. I cut the apples in big chunks.

When the squash are finished baking, Chef Anne says to cook them with the carrots in a nonstick pan for three minutes, together with another teaspoon of oil. Well, I had already mixed the leeks with the carrots, so I tossed them both in, with a tablespoon of oil, and I added the leek cooking time which was another three minutes.

After four minutes, it really did look like they were g etting soft, so I stopped, and added two teaspoons of salt, as called for, with the other vegetables, cooking them for two minutes as directed. Finally, I was supposed to cook these in a cup of chicken stock, for fifteen minutes. After ten, the stock was gone and they sure looked done. So I stopped.


Is it Anne's recipe ? OF COURSE. Would it have worked using her instructions to the letter? Yes. But did it work with my variations? Yes it did. It's tasty. I may add some pecans before ti comes to the table, but who knows

The key here, readers, is to trust yourself. If you don't have an ingredient, think carefully about what will and will not substitute. For example, if you're cooking a recipe calling for shrimp, scallops will almost always work. Onions and shallots can be exchanged. Some things can be left out. But don't get too crazy. If you don't like chocolate and a dessert calls for it, make something else. Don't be one of those people who say to me, "I made your recipe but it didn't work. Was it the substitutions? I didn't want to use chicken, so I used beancurd, and I didn't have whole milk so I used skim, and I didn't have onions so I used peppers, and instead of cashews I used sesame seeds " (that's a true story).

Cooking is, very much, an art. It's not rocket science. Make your own recipe today. Start with something and then play with it. And let me know how it works. I am truly interested in how your changes created a dish that people will associate with YOU