For me, cookbooks and food magazines are entertainment rather than applied science. I flick the pages, browse the illustrations and occasionally read an entire recipe with no intention of doing anything so practical or active as actually preparing food. My pallet is broad. I'll browse any number of international cuisines, celebrity chefs & quirky ingredients. I'm particularly partial healthy lifestyle and gourmet cookery, opposites that to me represent lifestyles I'm equally unlikely to experience. A sweet tooth and a fondness for pretty pictures adds to my enjoyment cake decorating books, and I felt great kinship with a group of preschoolers who visited my library and 'read' a birthday cake book together. They examined every image, discussed the desirable features of each cake, then (in contravention of our no food in the library policy), 'ate' each page, accompanied by gobbling sounds.
Occasionally, though, I am inspired to actually try a recipe, and even more occasionally, that recipe becomes a regular in our food repertoire.
Some of these recipes have suited us so well that we aim to reproduce them in every detail, including suggested accompaniments. These include 'Pork Steaks with Brown Sugar Apples' (Marie Claire Food Fast) 'Carrot & Thyme Tart' (The New Glucose Revolution Life Plan), 'Steamed Chicken Breast' (Stephanie Alexander's The Cooks Companion), 'Garjar, Aloo, Mattar' (Vicky Bohgal's Cooking Like Mummyji) and 'Chicken with Pumpkin & Spicy Sauce' from the long defunct SimplyLite magazine (Summer 2000 edition).
Some recipes require a little tweaking. I prefer to use Balti curry paste, rather than Korma when making 'Spicy Chickpea Fritters' (Super Food Ideas, February 2010 edition) and always omit the flour when cooking Stephanie Alexander's excellent 'Bolognaise Sauce'. 'Moroccan Roasted Sweet Potato Soup' (The Soup Book) becomes more kid friendly if commercially mixed Harissa is replaced with a home made spice blend with less chili, and 'Banana & Almond Loaf', (Gabriel Gate’s Family Food) is much enhanced by doubling the cinnamon and sultanas and omitting the almonds.
Sometimes, we've combined elements from two recipes. 'Carrot Soup with Hazelnut Dukkah' (Australian Gourmet Traveler, August 2007 edition) becomes a heartier meal when chickpeas are added, as suggested by the recipe for 'Carrot & Chickpea Soup' (Super Food Ideas, May 2009 edition), but possibly less gourmet when the Dukkah is omitted, as suggested by my kids. Elements from both the 'Sweet Cherry Tomato & Sausage Bake'' (Jamie At Home) and 'Brunch Bake' (Taste.com) have combined to make a oven baked sausage and veg dish that all members of my family will eat without argument.
There are some seasonal features in our repertoire. If I don't get round to making the 'Light Fruit Cake' (Australian Gourmet Traveler, November 2001 edition) that features dried pawpaw, pineapple, apricots, peaches and pistachios at Christmas time, I'll cook it a few weeks later for my husbands birthday. While my mum continues to advocate for the pastry recipe she learnt at school (which she enticingly describes as 'half fat to flour'), I always make my mince pies using with 'Almond Pastry' (Australian Gourmet Traveler, December 2004 edition). I would not, however, dream of making my own fruit mince as suggested. Jars of Robinson's fruit mince are one family tradition from which I will not deviate. My annual contribution to our family's Christmas buffet (and anywhere else I'm asked to bring a plate) is 'Roasted Warm Potato Salad' (Potatoes: From Gnocchi to Mash). My habit is so well known that when someone bought a similar dish to a recent get together, everyone assumed that they were just helping to carry my offering. Ever since, I've taken my second string salad: a mix of leaves with 'Dressing for Green Salad' (The Cooks Companion).
The particular stage in our lives at which some recipes became regulars is easy to pinpoint. We first cooked 'Pasta with Pepper Relish' (Delia's How To Cook) when a lengthy period of painful acid reflux banished tomatoes, and consequently the pasta sauces we regularly cooked, from our diet. 'Cheese Sauce' (Robin Barker's Baby & Toddler Meals) was a standard when our children were at the mush eating stage. In the months after we acquired an ice cream machine, 'Vanilla Bean Ice Cream' from (SimplyLite, Summer 2000 edition), and a home grown variation, coffee bean ice cream, were churned almost weekly. Our attempt to adapt a delicious recipe for strawberry and clove ice cream (Australian Gourmet Traveler November 2000) to create blueberry ice cream resulted in such an unappetizing icy mess that we have been permanently discouraged.
Some recipes, once firmly in our repertoire, have fallen away. We can no longer make a delicious African inspired stew of turmeric rubbed chicken since the recipe, with its long list of spices, was lost. All attempts to recreate the dish from memory, or locate the original source (perhaps The New York Times magazine, from some time in the early 1990s) have been utter failures. Some of the more complex, time consuming or strongly flavoured dishes we enjoyed before having children have been retired too, among them 'Chicken with Red Wine Vinegar & Tomato' (The Cooks Companion) and 'Pork Fillet, Sweet Potato & Sesame Seed Salad' (Australian Gourmet On The Run) and 'Salmon Burgers' (Rosemary Stanton's Healthy Living Cookbook). Thankfully, as they grow, the kids are both more willing to try a variety of dishes, and more able to consume some without making a major mess. Soup is back on the menu, after a short hiatus. I highly recommend 'Roast Pumpkin with Middle Eastern Spices' (Australian Gourmet Traveler, August 2001 edition), 'Roast Red Pepper, Fennel & Tomato' and 'African Sweet Potato Soup' (but caution that it does contain peanuts), both from The Soup Book.
The kids are enthusiastic in their support of regularly cooking and consuming the cakes in our repertoire. They both love 'Sticky Gingerbread Cake' (Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids), that can be relied upon to turn out well every time, no matter how many helping hands are dipped into the batter. 'Coconut Cake with Lime Syrup' (Australian Gourmet On The Run is a messier favorite. There have been some disappointments, though. I will never forget the look of anger and dismay on the face of my eldest at 15 months, when the promised 'Buttermilk Pancakes" (The Cooks Companion), were found to be more pan than cake. Though a favorite with most of the family, 'Simple Lemon Slice' another find from The Cooks Companion (I double the base and cook the topping for 20 minutes longer than recommended) is too sharp for my youngest, and a recent discovery, 'Poppy Seed & Ricotta Cake with Lemon Curd' (Australian Gourmet Traveler, October 2010 edition), has been retired from family gatherings, since we discovered her poppy seed allergy.
Of course, not all recipes in our regular repertoire come from books. Some come from friends: we regularly enjoy what is known as 'Michael's Bean Salad', though his partner has pointed out that it should more accurately be named after her, and 'Gayle's Mother-in-Law's Chocolate Fudge Slice' is a reliable favorite. Other meals are inspired by the food our parents fed us as children: South African inspired curries, English Shepherds Pie, Sausage & Mash, Egg & Chips, roast dinners with plenty of veg and casseroles.
Over the years of cook book browsing I've discovered many recipes that have transformed from words on a page to part of my life and the language of my family. It's enough to encourage me to keep browsing.
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