The Recipe Tweaker
I cannot say it any better. Here is a paragraph from Amateur Gourmet’s latest post:
So even a bad tweak has a silver tweak lining. And that’s the point, isn’t it? The beginner cook cooks nervously, makes mistakes and follows a recipe like it’s the written word of God. The intermediate cook might make a change here or there, but does so cautiously. It’s only when you make big, bold changes—swapping limes for lemons, grinding and toasting your spices, ignoring the Mighty Keller—that you can call yourself a real cook. AKA: a recipe tweaker.
Actually, what I found most interesting about the post that this paragraph was taken from was that it was about one of Adam’s fails. It’s refreshing to see a food blogger that I respect admit that things don’t always turn out how he plans.
But going back to the part about recipe tweaking, I think that this is an integral part of learning how to become a real cook. To master the basic cooking techniques and become proficient at combining ingredients, one must start at the basic level, just as Adam writes. Some people barely get beyond this stage. I think this was myself senior year of college, when I was eating out almost every day and when I did cook, it was by following recipes to. the. tee.
Luckily, I have friends that have pushed my boundaries and continue to do so. My roommate senior year was the queen at making pasta sauce with whatever veggies she had in the fridge that were about to go bad. Weekly “Cooking with Lila” sessions taught me that I could enter a grocery store **gasp** without a recipe and choose ingredients based solely on what looks good and is on sale at the moment.
Enter the second stage of cooking: making cautious changes, here and there. There is the cook who will add an additional clove of garlic, or an extra splash of spice, to taste. This is where I think my mom is stuck, but only because she doesn’t cook that often. This was me up until a few months ago. I would add an extra veggie or two to a recipe and think I was being inventive, like adding carrots to a channa masala.
After awhile (and enough cooking), you build up some confidence and before you realize it, you’re at the beginnings of stage three. Although I haven’t attempted a Thomas Keller recipe yet (given their complexity), I have tried a Momofuku recipe or two. You are able to look at a recipe and know how to make it better, or different in an interesting way: you become “a recipe tweaker.” You add some browned cauliflower and tofu because you realize that it will go with the melted parmesan cheese… without thinking. You just kind of know.
I have yet to make an epic mistake in a recipe due to my own decision, but when I do, I will feel like I have mastered stage three. Until then, I’ve got to keep cooking…
