I have reached a plateau – a lull – in my cooking lately.  My “old standard” recipes are well rehearsed.  I make them often and know exactly how they react to minor shifts and changes in ingredients, temperature, cooking time, etc.  Then I will experiment (as I did last week with the braised duck).  I’ll take something I have never made before and apply theory to it and see what happens.  Sometimes the experiments turn out fantastic… sometimes they are just okay.  No matter what, I learn something in the process and will make changes/modifications each time until I customize the recipe to my liking.

I look at the work that some of my chef-friends produce and I am humbled.  As with any craft, if you practice it every day (200 covers a day), you will master it.  So a home-cook like me could never dream of reaching the skill-sets of my professional friends with only one experiment per week on a Sunday – no matter how much I love and look forward to it. 

One of my favorite French chefs living and working in America is Michele Richard.  His approach to food is masterful.  I pulled his Happy in the Kitchen cookbook from my bookshelf the other day and began skimming through the recipes.  What struck me in every case is that each recipe only uses 3-5 ingredients but requires mastery of skills to execute properly.  This man’s love and respect of food shone through every dish… even on paper.  His playfulness came to life with elegant interpretations of common fare… like tater tots and chicken nuggets. 

My friend Will recently complained about the lack of quality people applying for line cook positions in his restaurant.  I asked him what some of the basic skills he looked for in a candidate were…  I found that I did not possess at least one third of those “basic” skills – not that I am planning to become a line cook, mind you… it is just a point of comparison for me.

Then, there is the challenge of diners… you know… the people that eat the food I cook… or shall I say… lack of diners.  I often invite my friends, colleagues, cousins, brother, and neighbors to come for dinner.  I love when people enjoy what I have prepared.  However, most of my “customers” are only so experimental in their dining.  As I explore the various cooking methods for duck, rabbit, veal, lamb, etc… my pool of willing participants dwindles down even further.

So, I find myself trapped in-between the home and professional cook with trial and error experimentation ahead of me. I find as much learning in the failures as I do the successes… or what I call the successful failures – those dishes that did not turn out as you expected, but still tasted good.  I hope, dear readers, that you will continue to travel along with me as I test new cooking methods, ingredients, etc.  

Perhaps I will start classes again this spring... maybe even re-take some of the continuing education courses at the CIA that I have taken in the past.  I find that whenever I reach these lulls — I do well to always go back to the basics...  we will see.