It’s time to play a cook’s version of truth or dare. I’ll go first.
“Truth or dare? Do you work with your cookbooks?”
You might be thinking, “Of course I work with my cookbooks, doesn’t everybody?”
Uh, not exactly.
It has come to my attention that there are 3 basic types of cooks:
Type 1 purchases, inherits or checks out cookbooks from the library, but never actually cooks from them. Happy just to add to their collection, these cooks find inspiration from browsing recipes, reading captions, or admiring the bevy of mouthwatering photos. It is enough for them to mull over or bond with the material presented, rather than prepare it.
I can relate.
Type 2 are the cooks who buy cookbooks, but cook from them rather than with them—caring for their volumes as if they were pieces from King Tut’s collection. These are the cooks who would be mortified if oil splattered on a page, or blop of tomato sauce landed on the cover. As a safeguard, these cookbooks are kept far, far away from the stove, perched upon another counter or table, or perhaps stowed safely away on book stand, protected by cling wrap or a thick see-through cover.
Yes, I too can relate.
Type 3 are often tactile cooks who work with a cookbook rather than from it. These brave souls throw caution to the wind, cooking with their most beloved volumes anchored firmly by their side, always within arms reach whether by the stove, sink, mixer or grill. Oil splatters? Ha! Tomato sauce blops? Peeshaw! These cooks and their cookbooks share a deep, resounding bond. They have withstood years of dutiful service together. Both have the stains and the tatters to prove it.
To this I can definitely relate.
Even so, it has come to my attention that I could be working with my cookbooks on a much deeper, more meaningful level.
What if I were to start writing in my cookbooks, making notations to recipes, adjusting cooking times, or including phrases like, “Yuck,” or “This one’s a keeper?”
What if I were to start including notes about when I preferred to serve a particular dish, “This recipe is a favorite at Thanksgiving,” or what a recipe reminded me of, “This is similar to Aunt Martha’s famous caramel coffee cake.”
Is it sacrilege to write in a treasured cookbook? Is it in bad form to mark up pure, professional, recipes with your own hand?
What if you were to pass these treasured, hand-notated cookbooks down to your children or grandchildren? Would the books themselves take on more meaning?
Could writing down your tips, thoughts, ideas and variations on cooking and serving give future generations a lasting glimpse into the heart and soul of a family cook? Could family or friends begin to know or remember you on a new level, as they enjoy the experience of cooking with your voice in kitchen?
Personally, I’m beginning to like the idea of taking a favorite cookbook to a new level, giving it added meaning and creating a tangible, working scrapbook for family and friends to share and enjoy. I appreciate the simplicity behind this idea’s usefulness, purpose and value.
So, the time has come.
Truth or dare?
Do you work with your cookbooks and are you interested in passing down more than just recipes?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I always make notes in my cookbooks, and I’m always so happy I did.
Maybe that is why I blog. When I find a great recipe I want to share it. I write about it and make changes there:D I don’t know if I could actually write in my cookbooks, but I could leave sticky notes:D
i have two cookbooks near and dear to me, and they’re near and dear to me because they contain scribbles and notes from my grandmother, my mother, and now me. i have no problem smearing chocolate on a page or splattering tomato sauce on the cover, which is actually surprising, given my compulsion to have a clean kitchen.
For the most part with me I will think of an ingredient and then if nothing pops into my head go to the cookbooks in a bookcase near the kitchen. Sit on the floor with my trusty notebook jotting down notes. I will also mark pages with post it notes that may have a note scribbled on them about the dish so I always know what I am doing.
This is also one of the major reasons why I started blogging was because I was having problems paging through my notebooks trying to find a note I made about X. Instead I figured if I took time and wrote it out then it was worthwhile and more commited to my memory.
Cathy, Val, Grace & Jeff – Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments.
To Val & Jeff – That’s part of what attracts me to food blogs (and blogging) also. I enjoy creating and reading living, working books (i.e. blog scrapbooks), that house our collective articles, recipes and notes on food and cooking.
What I like even more on blogs are the comments left in return—when folks have made a recipe and shared their results, or when they’ve add a helpful tip, variation or thought to a recipe that’s been shared.
I tend to associate food & cooking with family, friends and community, because it’s rarely something I do for me alone. And while I think of Inn Cuisine as my creation, I also consider it a community resource that grows better with time, as readers add their own thoughts, comments and ideas to the mix.
To Cathy & Grace – I wish I had more of these books, full of notes from my grandmothers, or kept more of them myself.
One of my favorite finds when I go to estate sales, antique shops, garage sales or even thrift stores, is to discover a cookbook I want to add to my collection and find it contains a few of these notes.
Left in a cookbook from a previous owner, these notes (often jotted down on index cards or scraps of paper), remind me that a home cook, somewhere in time, loved a recipe enough to comment on it.
Somehow, having that snapshot of someone’s thoughts, some piece of their experience in the kitchen or with that particular cookbook or recipe, makes it all the more valuable to me, even if I never know who wrote it!
I honestly don’t use cookbooks all that often, but the ones I do use are treasured. You can tell exactly what recipes I like by how mucked up the pages are, so no need to write.
I used to own a zillion cookbooks and would buy them at every garage sale I’d come across (I’m a recovered cookbookaholic). I would LOVE it when I would find ones with writing in them. Like a little piece of someone elses history.
As a kid I was told so often not to scribble in books that it kinda stuck with me. I like the idea of passing on history though. This is a tough question!
I’m definitely a Type 3. Depending on the type of cookbook, it’s either encrusted in flour or splattered with all types of seasonings.
Most of my cookbooks, and I really don’t have many, were given to me and perhaps I actually have purchased two or three. The ones that were inherited are the best…. not because they contain the best recipes but because in it are the basics every cook needs to know and more importantly those stains and writings my mother left behind. I’ve found that my recipe box with all the handwritten 4×6 cards are my most valuable source in the kitchen.
I definitely cook with (and on) my cookbooks although I wish I didn’t spill as much as I do. I should take better care of them. Even my most treasured books (the signed Nigella cookbooks) I still use. And I do write notes in them, but mostly corrections if I find there needs to be more or less of an item (or from imperial to metric) as I know I just won’t remember the corrections at a later time. I usually find that if I get a recipe that has corrections, they make the original recipe often better!
Kristen – A “recovered cookbookaholic,” this is too funny. I’ll take your hand-me-downs. I’m still addicted to cookbooks and have no plans to recover anytime soon.
LyB – I can so relate to your comment, and yes, how we were taught to treat books while growing up makes it almost impossible for (most of) us to find it acceptable to write in books now. Such a quandary!
Jude – Type 3, huh? I used to be a Type 2, but graduated to Type 3 many messy years ago!
Denise – How wonderful to have cookbooks with your mother’s notes in them. Recipes passed down through family or friends are often the most meaningful recipes of all.
Lorraine – Eek! You cook “with” your Nigella signed cookbooks? That’s the mark of a true risk-taker in the kitchen! I agree with writing/making corrections to a recipe, and am often surprised by just how many errors I find in published cookbooks and recipes. So much for the editorial process & recipe testing!
Duh, what’s a cookbook? I read what you write or do what someone else has told me and then, at times, add to it. Omelets are one thing that I may throw everything into. I told someone once I put onions, celery, bacon, kitchen sink, and cheese in, not sure they ever did catch the kitchen sink, but if it sounds good I may just throw it in. Your Island Shrimp Omelet was just great! It’s a fond memory now but you can bet I’ll be making it again. A cook book to me is a collection of history that loved ones have found very useful to make a meal, or a cake, or even an omelet, but do I own one, no. I count on people like yourself and save the recipes on my computer. Thank You..
I’m probably a Type 1 or Type 2. I have a lot of cookbooks, but I don’t really use them. For the most part I tend to look online for recipes. A notable exception is the Joy of Cooking – I do refer to that a lot for “the basics”. Now that I’m thinking about this, I want to start using my books more often!
I spatter and write in my books; changes, suggested variations, etc. I have no problem with it, i rather like having the reminder when i decide to give it another go.
I admit i am also one of those cookbook collectors with more recipes then i could ever use, but flipping through them with a hot cup of tea in hand is the best of the best lazy day activities.
The recipes i use the most are actually printed out from online recipe collections with a few of the helpful comments noted by hand on the bottom. if it works for me, it gets my scribbles and rating all over it before going into my “loose recipe” collection.
I received a beautiful blank page cookbook for a gift recently, i think my family is hoping I’ll fill it in and pass along their favorites all in ONE convenient book ^_^ .