3.06.2008
Trusting Your Buds
A number of years ago, I spent a few days in Bethany Beach with Linda at her family’s beach cottage. One afternoon, we decided to make deviled eggs. After boiling the eggs, peeling and halving them, we prepared to mash the yolks and discovered the fridge was rather low on all the essentials for making the filling. Using the little bit of mayo for the amount of yolks we had would have made the end product rather dry and pasty instead of the creamy texture you’d expect. And we didn’t have any sweet relish on hand either, which was OK. Not everyone likes a chunky deviled egg!
Scrounging around the fridge a bit more, I found some sour cream and dill pickle chips. I suggested adding the sour cream to the mixture, but Linda was not so sure. Sour cream has a similar consistency to the mayo, although richer. She didn’t think the sour cream would taste very good in the egg mixture. So, we had a deviled egg Throwdown.
We divided up the yolks and each made our fillings. Linda used the remaining mayo in her filling and I used the sour cream. Being one who likes relish in my deviled eggs, I chopped up a few dill pickle chips and then added a pinch of sugar to cut the sourness of the pickle. At this point, I think Linda was still unsure about my crazy concoction.
Finally, it was time to taste our creations. Linda made a good deviled egg, given the lack of ingredients we had on hand. She took a taste of mine and laughed a little. When she finished my egg, she had to admit she was wrong about my choice of ingredients and that mine were indeed yummier than hers.
Lesson learned: Trust your taste buds when it comes to substituting ingredients.
How many recipes use both mayo and sour cream? Salad dressings and dips, for sure. They’re both similar in texture and both impart creaminess and a touch of tanginess. Why couldn’t you substitute one for the other if you really had to?
Recipes, to me, are just general guidelines, except when it comes to baking where you really need to be more exact with the ingredient measurements. Anyway, when I want to cook something I’ve never made before, I follow a recipe as written. But if you know me, I often bojangle recipes by adding my own twists. And yes, “bojangle” is a very technical term. Just ask William.
Cooking without a recipe often makes it difficult to recreate something that turns out well. One time, I made pork chops using a marinade containing soy sauce, brown sugar, and cayenne. I know there were more ingredients than that, but since I was in “bojangle” mode, I can’t be sure exactly what was thrown into the mix or how much. The pork chops were fabulous! And as many times as I’ve tried to recreate that magic, they’ve never tasted the same.
My other problem with not knowing exact ingredient measurements is my inability to pass on a recipe. This is especially evident with Thai curry or Thai salad recipes. I add certain seasonings until the dish “tastes right”. I may start out adding two tablespoons of fish sauce to the dish, but after adjusting the seasonings, it could be half a cup in the end! I blame my mom and my aunt for this. They cook this way and probably learned the “some of this and some of that” method from my grandmother. It’s really not a bad way to cook if you know your ingredients.
On another beach trip, this time to the Outer Banks, Linda and I rode down on a Friday with Nicole and stayed at Nicole’s family’s house in Kill Devil Hills. Nicole cooked us a seafood pasta dish she just “threw together”. She cooked scallops and shrimp in a sauce of fresh, chopped tomato, sliced scallions, chopped basil and parsley (from her garden) and broth from cooking the shrimp shells in a little water. This was served over linguini. So simple. So delicious. No recipe.
I often wonder what makes one a good cook. Is it learned? Is it inherent? Or is it simply not being afraid to try?
I think it’s all three elements. [1] We learn from our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. If you have relatives who aren’t great cooks, you learn from them (what NOT to do!) as well. [2] We instinctually know a splash of lime juice will give chicken salad an extra zing. And [3] We have no fear of experimenting with ingredients.
This is not to say that someone who is uncomfortable in the kitchen can’t cook a good meal. They just might not be cooking a fabulous meal. My advice, as I too am continually learning, is to trust your taste buds and don’t be afraid to try something new.
Scrounging around the fridge a bit more, I found some sour cream and dill pickle chips. I suggested adding the sour cream to the mixture, but Linda was not so sure. Sour cream has a similar consistency to the mayo, although richer. She didn’t think the sour cream would taste very good in the egg mixture. So, we had a deviled egg Throwdown.
We divided up the yolks and each made our fillings. Linda used the remaining mayo in her filling and I used the sour cream. Being one who likes relish in my deviled eggs, I chopped up a few dill pickle chips and then added a pinch of sugar to cut the sourness of the pickle. At this point, I think Linda was still unsure about my crazy concoction.
Finally, it was time to taste our creations. Linda made a good deviled egg, given the lack of ingredients we had on hand. She took a taste of mine and laughed a little. When she finished my egg, she had to admit she was wrong about my choice of ingredients and that mine were indeed yummier than hers.
Lesson learned: Trust your taste buds when it comes to substituting ingredients.
How many recipes use both mayo and sour cream? Salad dressings and dips, for sure. They’re both similar in texture and both impart creaminess and a touch of tanginess. Why couldn’t you substitute one for the other if you really had to?
Recipes, to me, are just general guidelines, except when it comes to baking where you really need to be more exact with the ingredient measurements. Anyway, when I want to cook something I’ve never made before, I follow a recipe as written. But if you know me, I often bojangle recipes by adding my own twists. And yes, “bojangle” is a very technical term. Just ask William.
Cooking without a recipe often makes it difficult to recreate something that turns out well. One time, I made pork chops using a marinade containing soy sauce, brown sugar, and cayenne. I know there were more ingredients than that, but since I was in “bojangle” mode, I can’t be sure exactly what was thrown into the mix or how much. The pork chops were fabulous! And as many times as I’ve tried to recreate that magic, they’ve never tasted the same.
My other problem with not knowing exact ingredient measurements is my inability to pass on a recipe. This is especially evident with Thai curry or Thai salad recipes. I add certain seasonings until the dish “tastes right”. I may start out adding two tablespoons of fish sauce to the dish, but after adjusting the seasonings, it could be half a cup in the end! I blame my mom and my aunt for this. They cook this way and probably learned the “some of this and some of that” method from my grandmother. It’s really not a bad way to cook if you know your ingredients.
On another beach trip, this time to the Outer Banks, Linda and I rode down on a Friday with Nicole and stayed at Nicole’s family’s house in Kill Devil Hills. Nicole cooked us a seafood pasta dish she just “threw together”. She cooked scallops and shrimp in a sauce of fresh, chopped tomato, sliced scallions, chopped basil and parsley (from her garden) and broth from cooking the shrimp shells in a little water. This was served over linguini. So simple. So delicious. No recipe.
I often wonder what makes one a good cook. Is it learned? Is it inherent? Or is it simply not being afraid to try?
I think it’s all three elements. [1] We learn from our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. If you have relatives who aren’t great cooks, you learn from them (what NOT to do!) as well. [2] We instinctually know a splash of lime juice will give chicken salad an extra zing. And [3] We have no fear of experimenting with ingredients.
This is not to say that someone who is uncomfortable in the kitchen can’t cook a good meal. They just might not be cooking a fabulous meal. My advice, as I too am continually learning, is to trust your taste buds and don’t be afraid to try something new.
Labels: general
