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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Are you a free spirit?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I recently taught a cooking class and was struck by two divergent approaches by the participants. I like to call them “the free spirit “ and “the perfectionist.”
The free spirit thinks that measuring spoons and recipes are great for decoration or inspiration, but that’s about it. The perfectionist follows the recipe closely, measuring ingredients and keeping a close watch on the timer.
While there is certainly no “right” or “wrong” way to cook, it is interesting to see how people’s personalities color their approaches to preparing food. I guess the free spirit attitude is gaining recognition. I recently saw a fun way to communicate to that type of cook on chow.com, a great web site that provides lots of tips and recipes. It now features a “recipe-free method” which although not quite recipe free, provides general guidelines for preparing dishes in a fun, illustrated method. Check out their recipe for garlicky spaghetti to see what I mean.
How would you describe yourself in the kitchen? Do you wing it or prefer the comfort of following in someone’s tested footsteps.
Or, are you like me, somewhere in the middle?
