As an ex pastry chef, my "recipes" in my work binder were mostly written in code, to save time. a circle for flour, a square for butter and a triangle for sugar. The starting trinity of all recipes. Repetition made detailed instructions useless, like you say... the small things a chef knows to do,aren't always written out. You streamline. That's the difference if learning how to cook and how to cook from recipes. The printed recipes are never detailed enough for a novice. Long recipes scare people away. My favorite Tuscan food writer never really broke down recipes in the classic way, they are all essays, as if he was speaking to you, like cooking with you in the kitchen.
When I cooked professionally people would ask me for my recipes all of the time. I was happy to share them, but I always wanted to add, "but just because you have the recipe, don't think you can do what I do."
I truly enjoyed reading this as it reminded me so much of my wife, who is from Peru, and is an amazing cook. In 21 years of marriage I have never seen her refer to a recipe. She has hundreds of dishes committed to memory and makes minor adjustments each time based on a thousand little details discerned during the cooking process. She learned the art of cooking from her mother and grandmother (who could neither read nor write) both of whom had spent thousands upon thousands of hours in the kitchen, the gathering place of women in their culture since time immemorial. When my wife cooks she remembers all the things passed on to her by the women in her family, things that could never be written on a recipe card and that have so much more to do with life than with cooking. Thank you for this beautiful essay and I look forward to continuing to learn from your culinary journey.
I needed this reminder to start writing my recipes down. I AM starting to write down my tweaks in the cookbooks I use, so that's a step in right direction.
Also, the sausage recipe!!! Looks incredible. Would you serve with sautéed veggies?
Amen to that. Tonight, in the way to a class with my eight year old son, I dictated tonight's recipe to my phone notes whilst driving. My son asked why I was doing that, and I told him it was so we can make it again! "Oh yeah! You should do that more often!" 😆
I used to be afraid to make notes in a cookbook, but after reading through so many vintage cookbooks in my mother’s collection, I realize the marginalia tell grand stories of their own. Cookbooks are legacies.
Oh Will yet again poetry making each word one to read a second time slowly. I smell, taste feel as I cook but not with the expertise you have even in my 70s. But I aspire 😄
These are the notes that we would have got at the knee of a granny (given the luxury of such a person in one’s life), or the table of a true teacher.
Cooking and recipes need curiosity and experiment and deeply immersed knowledge, IMO. And the imagination to vary from a printed list.
Thanks for the Boerewors recipe here, I will definitely have a crack - with local variations accordingly.
I have a question for you, if you don’t mind - and if the answer is that it doesn’t matter that is fine too!
In terms of the brisket and the pork belly - roughly what proportion of fat to meat would you use?
What is available here varies SO much - piece by piece - some are more fat than meat, and some more meat than fat. Your picture looks fairly lean, especially the pork belly.
Hoping you might be happy for us to share this excellent piece with our newsletter readers over at 'Field Notes for Curious Minds', Will. So beautifully phrased, as ever, and delicious lessons and learning in (and between) all the lines. I have a wee opening in the draft for the 10 March edition that this would fit in perfectly! Warmly, Barrie and JoJo
Ah, that's so kind, Will ... I'll send you a link to it when it flies out in a couple of Sunday's time. Unusually, I am getting ahead of myself with the next two newsletters scheduled ahead of a trip to UK - JoJo is off to a creative gathering in West Wales and I'm hanging out with my Mum for her birthday and Mother's Day. Add in grandkids and squishes and all is well. Barrie
Sadly the whole series is only spottily available on YouTube but the Koffmann episode is superb. I treasure his cookbooks from the 80s - La Tante Claire and Memoirs of Gascogny.
It’s funny but this article reminds me of how stripped down most recipes in books have to be - the exception being someone like Olney who gives you a recipe for calves ears in his French Menu cookbook that would make most Michelin starred chefs go white with fear. Also in case it needs to be said - you really need to add a YouTube channel showing us a recipe ops like this step by excruciating step!
Superb! Confession time: I made the mistake of zooming in on your recipe for Crème Anglais, and was trying to figure why it took 8 yaks. The moral of the story is don't fixate on the recipe!
Your wicked humour is one reason we love your writing. Another is your dedication to your craft and treating every ingredient, however "lowly", with respect, even reverence, so you can truly make them "sing".
I doubt if I'll ever make boerewors, but I still read every word avidly. I'm not a professional cook, but we have recipes passed down over generations that require just as much painstaking detail – we can appreciate the care and thought that you put into each step, each and every time.
Beautiful writing, bc of it I love the recipes in your head more than the recipes written up for here. Can picture your smells, your knowing by taste, touch, smell or hearing that something is done, or needs to be adjusted. Don't have even remotely close to the same tells as you, but I like being able to use my senses when cooking.
Thanks for sharing, that's a nice looking sausage. You'll know it's done when it's done, that's perfect. Beautiful char. In my last move, unfortunately my sausage making abilities disappeared, I literally have no idea where everything went. So for now I'll just have to look at yours and appreciate.
Love your writing. I’ve never cooked like, but I did have my own cafe for 12 years. I made everything in house. What you say about the senses is exactly true. I never really thought about what I was just doing. I followed my intuition and my senses.
As an ex pastry chef, my "recipes" in my work binder were mostly written in code, to save time. a circle for flour, a square for butter and a triangle for sugar. The starting trinity of all recipes. Repetition made detailed instructions useless, like you say... the small things a chef knows to do,aren't always written out. You streamline. That's the difference if learning how to cook and how to cook from recipes. The printed recipes are never detailed enough for a novice. Long recipes scare people away. My favorite Tuscan food writer never really broke down recipes in the classic way, they are all essays, as if he was speaking to you, like cooking with you in the kitchen.
I do agree with this. I like to tell recipes as stories in some of my pieces. I find it works so well to be able to read the story.
Cooking shorthand! 💜
When I cooked professionally people would ask me for my recipes all of the time. I was happy to share them, but I always wanted to add, "but just because you have the recipe, don't think you can do what I do."
So much more than a recipe in a recipe.
I truly enjoyed reading this as it reminded me so much of my wife, who is from Peru, and is an amazing cook. In 21 years of marriage I have never seen her refer to a recipe. She has hundreds of dishes committed to memory and makes minor adjustments each time based on a thousand little details discerned during the cooking process. She learned the art of cooking from her mother and grandmother (who could neither read nor write) both of whom had spent thousands upon thousands of hours in the kitchen, the gathering place of women in their culture since time immemorial. When my wife cooks she remembers all the things passed on to her by the women in her family, things that could never be written on a recipe card and that have so much more to do with life than with cooking. Thank you for this beautiful essay and I look forward to continuing to learn from your culinary journey.
It must be amazing to have that knowledge from her family. You are very lucky. My wife can’t cook…
Lol, she must be related to my husband….
What would be your advice for the younger generation who really want to learn how to cook, the proper way?
Probably to read, compare, talk , discuss and read some more.
I needed this reminder to start writing my recipes down. I AM starting to write down my tweaks in the cookbooks I use, so that's a step in right direction.
Also, the sausage recipe!!! Looks incredible. Would you serve with sautéed veggies?
Write everything down. I lost more recipes than I care to remember, telling myself at the time that I’d never forget them.
Amen to that. Tonight, in the way to a class with my eight year old son, I dictated tonight's recipe to my phone notes whilst driving. My son asked why I was doing that, and I told him it was so we can make it again! "Oh yeah! You should do that more often!" 😆
And, annotate recipes in cookbooks, that you tweak
I used to be afraid to make notes in a cookbook, but after reading through so many vintage cookbooks in my mother’s collection, I realize the marginalia tell grand stories of their own. Cookbooks are legacies.
Legacies with splatter!
Oh Will yet again poetry making each word one to read a second time slowly. I smell, taste feel as I cook but not with the expertise you have even in my 70s. But I aspire 😄
I love how words do this… thank you for reading.
This. 👌🏼
This is what I like about your writing, Will.
These are the notes that we would have got at the knee of a granny (given the luxury of such a person in one’s life), or the table of a true teacher.
Cooking and recipes need curiosity and experiment and deeply immersed knowledge, IMO. And the imagination to vary from a printed list.
Thanks for the Boerewors recipe here, I will definitely have a crack - with local variations accordingly.
I have a question for you, if you don’t mind - and if the answer is that it doesn’t matter that is fine too!
In terms of the brisket and the pork belly - roughly what proportion of fat to meat would you use?
What is available here varies SO much - piece by piece - some are more fat than meat, and some more meat than fat. Your picture looks fairly lean, especially the pork belly.
Thankyou ☺️
Sarah
Hoping you might be happy for us to share this excellent piece with our newsletter readers over at 'Field Notes for Curious Minds', Will. So beautifully phrased, as ever, and delicious lessons and learning in (and between) all the lines. I have a wee opening in the draft for the 10 March edition that this would fit in perfectly! Warmly, Barrie and JoJo
Yes of course, thank you.
Ah, that's so kind, Will ... I'll send you a link to it when it flies out in a couple of Sunday's time. Unusually, I am getting ahead of myself with the next two newsletters scheduled ahead of a trip to UK - JoJo is off to a creative gathering in West Wales and I'm hanging out with my Mum for her birthday and Mother's Day. Add in grandkids and squishes and all is well. Barrie
Thorough. Amusing and a joy to read.
Thank you Liam.
Excellent. Reminds me of a YouTube video of a young Marco PW deboning a trotter with the grace of a duchess removing an opera glove.
And he was shown that skill by the man who I refer to, a boss we both shared. Pierre Koffman. We had them down to about 45 seconds, no holes.
Sadly the whole series is only spottily available on YouTube but the Koffmann episode is superb. I treasure his cookbooks from the 80s - La Tante Claire and Memoirs of Gascogny.
That voice still makes me stand up straight…
It’s funny but this article reminds me of how stripped down most recipes in books have to be - the exception being someone like Olney who gives you a recipe for calves ears in his French Menu cookbook that would make most Michelin starred chefs go white with fear. Also in case it needs to be said - you really need to add a YouTube channel showing us a recipe ops like this step by excruciating step!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Flb6-_wcQ
Superb! Confession time: I made the mistake of zooming in on your recipe for Crème Anglais, and was trying to figure why it took 8 yaks. The moral of the story is don't fixate on the recipe!
Perhaps you’re onto something. I shall phone the butcher…
I enjoyed reading this post so much that I read it twice.
"It will be ready when it tells you. Not before”. I love this and may use it on some of my recipes, rather than the default - Cook until baked.
Things often tell you when they’re ready by a smell, a noise or colour. Or you just know.
Cheering here! Such a great picture of graft in professional kitchens, all senses deployed.
Thank you. Glad you could feel what I meant.
Your wicked humour is one reason we love your writing. Another is your dedication to your craft and treating every ingredient, however "lowly", with respect, even reverence, so you can truly make them "sing".
I doubt if I'll ever make boerewors, but I still read every word avidly. I'm not a professional cook, but we have recipes passed down over generations that require just as much painstaking detail – we can appreciate the care and thought that you put into each step, each and every time.
Beautiful writing, bc of it I love the recipes in your head more than the recipes written up for here. Can picture your smells, your knowing by taste, touch, smell or hearing that something is done, or needs to be adjusted. Don't have even remotely close to the same tells as you, but I like being able to use my senses when cooking.
Thanks for sharing, that's a nice looking sausage. You'll know it's done when it's done, that's perfect. Beautiful char. In my last move, unfortunately my sausage making abilities disappeared, I literally have no idea where everything went. So for now I'll just have to look at yours and appreciate.
Love your writing. I’ve never cooked like, but I did have my own cafe for 12 years. I made everything in house. What you say about the senses is exactly true. I never really thought about what I was just doing. I followed my intuition and my senses.
Your way with words is exceptional!!