Someday, a cookbook

[breakinglight11]

Someday, I think I would like to write a cookbook. I enjoy cookbooks immensely, particularly when they contain more food writing than just recipes. It has been a trend in cookbooks lately to include little anecdotes related to the recipe's history in your family or some such, and I often do enjoy those, but I particularly like when cookbooks have interesting information about food in general. The Silver Palate Cookbook, for instance, contains spreads on how to use common herbs, how to pair an appropriate wine with your meal, identifying different cuts of meat and their uses, and all manner of interesting food concepts. It makes it a particularly enjoyable reference for me, because it teaches me about food in general, not just how to make a certain recipe.

At the moment, I am not an advanced enough cook to do such a thing. Most of the things I cook are still straight out of the books I got them from, and I do not yet feel confident enough to start really designing recipes. I'm still working on figuring out how to alter current recipes to suit my needs and tastes, and while I'm getting better at it, I am hardly an expert in culinary improvisation. Improving my facility with that is still my current cooking goal. But eventually I hope to get to the point where I am designing my own versions of recipes, constructed entirely by my own experimentation and experience. I think it would be really cool to put together a book of those recipes, and add my own little interstitial bits about my thoughts and viewpoints on cooking.

Not right now, but someday maybe. I'd better keep on cooking, then, right?

Comments

[katiescarlett29.livejournal.com]

You should definitely, definitely do this! And I want to be in the little anecdotes about the meal... maybe as the unnamed Helpful Sous-Chef. :P

Question for you. Pretty much every recipe I try comes from the Internet. And it's useful enough, they're yummy enough, but I'd be curious to find a cookbook that was maybe just a smidge above my skill level. For challenge and legitimacy purposes. Do you know any good ones you could recommend?

[laurion]

How would you classify your current skill level? Bonus if you can do it in the form of an extant cookbook.

[katiescarlett29.livejournal.com]

I don't get the bonus, haha. I would say I'm on the lower end of intermediate skill level.

[laurion]

So would you say you're past the point of generalist cookbooks, and are looking for some targeted books? Look for cookbooks on specific cuisines, like Indian, or specific categories, like bread or squash, or specific forms of cooking, like soups, or grilling. Each of these will push you a little further than a generalist cookbook like Joy of Cooking or Betty Crocker.

I definitely think the local public library is a great place to do this from. That way, if you find you really don't like Indian food, or soups, etc. you haven't bought a useless book.

[katiescarlett29.livejournal.com]

Good plan. Thanks!