A couple of days ago, I was (once again) trying to answer that eternal question . . . What’s for dinner? . . . when I had a little idea.
I mean, I do like to cook.
And I’ve been doing it for long enough now . . . that I have a pretty good sense of things. A solid repertoire of “old standbys.” A good understanding of the foods my people like to eat. A strong sense of flavors and how they work together. How to put togther a menu. That kind of thing. And I generally get good results — even when I go off the recipe rails and try things on my own.
But, some of the time, figuring out what to cook . . . again . . . just feels overwhelming and tedious. (Surely this can’t be just me.)
When I want to plan ahead and beat back boredom, I like to try something new and exciting (although I will settle just for “new” most of the time). And when I’m looking for some novelty, I usually turn to my own. . . Cookbook Central . . . for answers and inspiration.
I’ve got a little desk in my kitchen, and I keep my cookbooks on a shelf there, with even more cookbooks stored away in the cupboard above . . .
I really like cookbooks.
And not just to hunt around in for recipes. I actually like to read them, too!
Some of the cookbooks in my collection are very, very well used. And some? I’ve not used much at all (yet). You can tell which cookbooks I’ve used a lot. They’re the ones filled with markers and post-it notes.
Now that the weather is turning cold again, I’m drawn to hearty meals I can prepare inside. (During the summer, we’re all about salads and something-on-the-grill, but come fall, I get more serious about cooking.)
So (and here’s the idea), I’ve decided to challenge myself a bit this winter . . . by trying at least one new recipe every week. My plan is to choose a cookbook at the beginning of the month, and then try one new recipe from that cookbook each week. It will spur me on to grab for cookbooks I’ve been intending to use more, and will help me build my repertoire of recipes. (Y’know. To help me answer that eternal question . . . what’s for dinner?)
This month? I’m going with . . .
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.
I’ll report back next month!
Bon appétit!
=====
How about you? Do you have favorite cookbooks? Do you like to try new recipes? And if you do, what’s your strategy for building your repertoire?
This sounds like a good idea! I cleaned out my cookbooks when we moved back from MD and am down to only the basics. My favorites aren’t really cookbooks, but more for “suggesting” food. I love Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, essays that Laurie Colwin wrote for Gourmet long ago. I enjoyed her fiction, but these essays always inspire me and inspire hunger for something good. I also like Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, which provides basic ratios needed for different recipes and allows you to create your own recipes. I’m looking for a good soup cookbook but haven’t found the right one yet.
Ooo! I really love Bittman’s recipes! (My fav tomato jam is Bittman’s!) I don’t have that book but we have been talking about less meat and more veggies. I have a couple of books I have been telling myself to crack open again… great inspiration! Thank you!
Deciding what to cook is the hardest thing about cooking! My mother-in-law gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook that I have used a lot over the years but I made my own cookbook …a three ring binder…out of the family’s and my favorite things. That gets used almost every day. I also made copies and gave to the kids. I’ve never gotten an Ina Garten cookbook but she has a new one I might try.
You and I have talked about this before – our love of cookbooks. Like you, I enjoy reading them. They can transport you easily to another place and time. I have SO MANY cookbooks and I’m still given them as gifts all the time. A few yers ago I decided to make a new recipe every week. And I did. In fact, I ended up making more than one new one each week and many have now become favorites. I hope you share what you make! I wish I had more space for my cookbooks. I’ve started to weed them out (but I have not been able to get rid of any yet…they are in a box ready to donate…maybe…).
What a coincidence. I was formulating a “cooking” blog post in my mind for the past couple of weeks.
I DON’T like to cook. Vera inspired me to “learn to like it” and last week I hit a few second-hand bookstores and lucked out on some cookbooks from magazines I used to get (Southern Living, Taste of Home, and Cooking Light) and a couple of just interesting looking other ones.
My goal is to cook the books.
Oh yeah… shelves & cupboards FULL of cookbooks! Plus the recipe card files (more than one) and the folders full of other/handwritten/photocopied/printed/magazine/label recipes! Some might call it a problem. I’m not one of them.
I LOVE THIS IDEA!! I can’t wait for a report… and may try it myself!
What to make for dinner is ALWAYS a challenge, mainly because I’ve got one family member who will eat whatever is put in front of him and one who is a picky eater (guess who!). We have our standbys, but the same picky eater both complains that she’s tired of the same old things and yet is reluctant to try new things. I also have a big cookbook collection and find that I most often turn to Ina when I need a recipe. I don’t think there’s been a single thing out of her books that I’ve made that hasn’t been a success!
What a great idea! I get weary of trying to figure out what to make. And our only in-town grocery is tiny and has very little exotic in it, so even if I wanted to try something new I’d have to drive an hour round trip (with no guarantee that the OTHER little town near to us would have it–the other little town has a Safeway but not a very well stocked Safeway). What I need to do is figure out a few recipes to try and then have the ingredients on hand!
This is an excellent idea to inspire you to try new recipes and to rotate through your cookbook collection, too. I get a lot of recipe ideas from Pinterest and Foodgawker. I save recipes in the Plan to Eat app and when the weekly flyer from the grocery store comes, I check to see what’s on sale, reference the recipes I’ve saved plus my own repertoire, and plan my meals around that as much as possible.
I loved when Everyday Food came in the mail. Did you subscribe to that? What a bummer when it went away…getting that in the mail, along with my old Cooking Light subscription, was always a fun ‘lift’ in the kitchen. Nowadays I don’t subscribe to any mags, but one thing I love to do is check out new cookbooks from the library. If there are more than a handful of recipes I try + I like, then I’ll usually buy the book. Because I’m prone to letting the books languish once they come in, I’ve been adding it to my seasonal dreams list…reminding myself to try a handful of new recipes each season. Kinda like you just said! It
Bon appetit 🙂
I had to smile because my daughter and I often talk about “the eternal question, what’s for dinner?” Some days I don’t mind cooking and some days I do. I like America’s Test Kitchen – Vegetarian Cookbook. I have plenty of cookbooks. My copy of Colorado Cache has been lovingly used. The pages with grease stains are the pages with favorite recipes. Keep us posted.