I watch YouTube cooking shows, still turn to watch thirty-year-old episodes of Martha’s Kitchen, and sit down to view my favorite chefs on Food Network. Before the Internet and technology, I collected cookbooks—various cuisines, various styles, casseroles, shortcuts, French cooking, vegetarian dishes, women’s church groups, seafood, grill, chicken, desserts, hand-collected recipes, and cookies for Christmas. I still have my “plaid book,” The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, that has a copyright date of 1982. You would think after all these years, cooking would come naturally to me. It does not. I
enjoy cooking, but I’m terrified of my eyes jumping from Step One to Step Three and missing the crucial Step Two. The first time I make a dish, I must follow the recipe: Read it, read it a second time, and at times, use a ruler to mark each line as I go. I’ve learned this lesson from years of making dishes that were so close to being perfect but remained elusive. “Oh, I was supposed to whip the egg whites first,” “I added the onions without sautéing them. Darn it.” My timing and precision left a lot to be desired. When I follow the recipe, the dishes are delicious. It’s true that people weren’t getting the surprise of that little extra “somethin’ somethin’,” added to a dish—“Oh, it didn’t call for
tarragon, but I knew that was what it needed.” I didn’t do that.
Today, I have several copies of the journal, The Rise: A Journal for Black Woman, and one of the copies I use strictly for recipes, writing down thoughts about a particular recipe. After following a recipe word-for-word, I can now look at ways to enhance it. My journal is filled with information on each recipe like,
“swap out white sugar for brown sugar,” “bake 10 minutes longer,” “caramelizing the onions might be better.” My precision and timing improved to the point where I can follow a recipe while making it my own, too.
What makes a dish work? Caring about the person/people I’m cooking for. Whether it’s a meal just for me (something I highly recommend) or for
someone else, I put myself into the mindset that I want the meal to be an experience. Enjoy the process of creating it, choose a nice place setting, eat with care, savor it, and identify the flavors and seasonings.
Now, I like to try new recipes from different cuisines. In fact, I use My Everyday Planner to write down what new recipe I’m going to try that week, note the ingredients I’ll need, and form a shopping list.
Cooking is love. One of my favorite movies is “Like Water for Chocolate.” The main character is a genius in the kitchen because each ingredient comes with its own story, some sort of emotion behind it. When others try to make exactly what she has made, they aren’t successful. It is her love or longing or other
emotion that makes the diner experience the same.
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