I am late getting this newsletter out as I was trying to soak up as much summer sunlight as possible! I am so not ready for the dark, gray, gloomy days heading our way. There was a sudden shift in the air just about a week ago. It feels like fall, and I am now in my mourning era. I’ll be fine, I know, but the older I get, the more unenjoyable cold and rainy is, and the more I need heat and sunshine to fuel my soul
Hello spider season, some people say cozy season, but around here it’s spider season. I do love watching the giant garden orb weavers spinning their webs, and the dew on them glistening in the morning light. As long as they stay outside in my garden where I can see them and not walk into them unbeknownst, we are friends. I do not like finding spiders in my house, in dark places, or on my person, but I love their role in the ecosystem.
With the end of summer comes the last of the glorious stone fruit, tomatoes, corn, all of my favorites. It also means the start of a new school year, and back into my teaching mode. I’m not ready!!!
As I’ve been gearing up for the fall quarter to start (Monday is way too close) I’ve been thinking a lot about recipes. Random, I know, but this is how my brain works when I don’t want to think about what I need to be doing. A lot of us get so stuck on following a recipe and frustrated when it doesn’t work out the way we think it should. Is there something wrong with the recipe, is it poorly written, did we do something wrong? All of these things could be true, but more than likely not!
“Timelines are given as a map, and the sensory prompts are your signposts. My oven is different than yours, and ingredients vary, so poke, prod, sniff, taste, hear, and smell what’s happening as you cook, and go from there.” ~ Seven Spoons by Tara O’Brady
How many times have you been following a recipe that said to cook it for a specific amount of time until golden brown, but at the end of that time it was still as pale as when you put it in the pan? Or, a recipe gave a specific amount of salt to use, but did not say what brand or type, and your dish ended up being underseasoned? These are the everyday nuances if you don’t know how to adjust you may think the recipe is terrible. You may not be using the same kind of pan as the author, your burner may not get as hot, there may be more moisture on what you are cooking that hasn’t evaporated, you may have crowded your pan, and the salt you are using might be less salty for the amount of seasoning the recipe calls for depending on the brand. (I have a YouTube video on salt you should check out). So many variables can change the outcome of the dish.
I think of recipes as guidelines, or suggestions for how my dish may go, because, ultimately it becomes your dish when you cook it. How do you want it to be, maybe you like things a little more or less salty, Maybe, your golden brown fringes on almost burnt, do you want your sauce thick or thin? This is where you step in and make it your own, trust your instincts, taste along the way, and add or remove depending on your taste buds. Turn your oven temperature up, and follow visual cues more than time. If a recipe doesn’t turn out the way you want, what could you have changed to make it delicious?
In my full denial and mourning period that summer is over, I am celebrating with some end-of-the-season peach jam so I may taste the deliciousness of summer into fall and gasp* winter!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Kitchen Gossip to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.