People Are Part of the Recipe

The measuring of ingredients by eye and creating smells, tastes, and caramelization or emulsification consistently no matter for 1 person, 20 or 70 people is the magic. Over my years in the kitchen I have noticed that having people in that kitchen with you can make it easier to perform this magic. Indeed, I have worked with some people who only had to stand next to me, or stand next to my cooking, for my dish to succeed, and they did not touch a thing. I have thought a lot about these observations and I am forming them into my philosophy. Sometimes food is yours and part of your upbringing. When you cook this food it helps to remember. Other times food is part of someone else's upbringing. When you cook this food it helps to remember this person. For example, Daphne and I have a friend who invites us to meet with her family. During this time I got a chance to stand next to her brother in-law while he barbecued chicken drumsticks. He shared with me a method using very low dry heat and continual turning with tongs. His chicken turns out sublime and I can repeat it best not only when I remember him, and Daphne's friend and her family, but also when our relationship is good. Having good relationships can make the cooking easy and seamless. There is a lot I can create on my own, even more so if I was gifted, but eventually this creativity will plateau. When it does, it is these relationships that get my cooking out of my head. I believe that I would never have began using this slow method because it is so far out of my comfort zone. What comes natural to me is hot and fast. Not only do I not come up with new recipes when I do not have these people, but I cannot perform these methods when I do not have these people in my life. In other words, I never cook a dish as good as when I am spending time with the person who gave it to me, and especially never as good when they are standing next to me. I am sure of it.

My Life in Food

I first began to dream of becoming a chef when following the recipes of America's Test Kitchen magazine. It was a chicken pot pie and a roasted garlic leg of lamb in the march 2006 issue of Cook's Illustrated. Over the next 13 years I have learned that cooking is not as easy as Jamie Oliver would have us believe. The most important lesson I learned in this time is that the best dishes you will ever cook are the ones passed on to you from someone standing next to you. I want to give away my cookbook idea. I would call it, "stand next to me." When in culinary school I noticed a certain magic that seasoned professional cooks have. This is what it is all about. If you think about it, the industry is built on this tradition. It is the ability where a chef first demonstrates a dish to a cook and then asks the cook to repeat it. The magic exists in the cooks ability to repeat that dish exactly as the chef without a recipe and by measuring ingredients by eye, and to do this with different sizes. I have seen this ability and I assure you that this skill is unreal. So what am I talking about? Well I could write a book about it. Actually, many people could write books about it. In fact, I predict this is the direction that food writers, and cooking shows, and cooking training will go. The cookbook, and food tv series has exploded in the last 20 years and it is going to lead to this truth, the best recipes include people in the list of ingredients and directions. The search for good food will end and begin with the realization that the best dishes you can cook come from having someone stand next to you while you cook it.