Words of Wisdom

I have a good friend, well, more a cousin many times removed, whom I've never met who does something with food in New Orleans. Check down below during the Great Tasso Experiment and you'll find a link to his blog. Anyway, although we've never met it's clear we fell from the same tree.

Danno writes:

I never follow a recipe, but you can always find nine, or so, cookbooks open on my table when I’m cooking it. I always search for a new technique, they almost always turn out good, but once in awhile, there is magic in the pot.

Exactly right. That's how I cook. Every meal is an experiment, done from scratch and following my instinct. Mostly usually all in all and, eh, give or take a few, my meals are rated by much gnashing of teeth and yum-yum sounds. Occasionally I produce a monster like the Not So Great Tasso Curry.

No pain, no gain. Judging from my weight I've had a lot of pain!*

Just today I was looking up recipes for corn bread. Corn bread, you say, who needs a recipe for corn bread? Well, nobody does, you just add a bit of this and a bit of that, squint at it and it's corn bread. Every once in a while, though, somebody will come up with a new trick that's worth trying if for no other reason than to hear your family complain about the nasty corn bread. Makes them appreciate the every day stuff all the more. I must say, the anchovy corn bread was not something to repeat.

Take boiled water, for example. Who would look up recipes for boiled water? I do! Turns out that if you add water to a pot a teaspoon at a time and stir vigorously, your boiled water will come out lighter and fluffier. I tried it and it's true!

So, get out there and check out those recipes. No telling how it will improve your every day fare!











*French for "bread," get it? Never mind.