Julie & Julia is a lovely movie that tells the story of Julie Powell’s year of cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julie blogged her way through the year, which was the basis of the movie. In this respect, Julie was way ahead of the rest of us, who own so many cookbooks that we cannot hope to cook our way through any of them. Huge kudos to her for going cover to cover.
I’d go so far as to say that (almost) all compulsive buyers of cookbooks have books from which they have never cooked.
From observation, a book may be used a little soon after purchase, or when a particular type of dish has been researched. A few get used frequently, until the novelty wears off. Most just sit there, silently waiting as an ignored council of elders.
I should mention that I read Tim Hayward’s Steak from cover to cover. It’s a super informative book by my favourite food writer, and it’s guaranteed to make you hungry.
Even the pickiest users of published recipes will have a handful of cookbooks that get used more often than others.
I think this is missing a point. What if, instead of preferred cookbooks, we had kitchen utensils that we lean towards? It may even happen that we choose our dishes based on our favoured cooking methods. I didn’t have air fryers in mind, but yes, that’s certainly an option.
Mine is a cast-iron skillet that suggests centuries-old cooking methods, but has probably not been in the family for more than 30-odd years. It will be doing just as good a job in 100 years. There’s no Teflon coating that will start failing, nor enamel that will chip. This thing is pretty much bullet proof.
It fits into my farm life perfectly. I use it for cooking dinner on a Sunday night when I get here and it will sit on the hob until we leave on Thursday morning. Some part of dinner (for two) on the intervening nights will be cooked in it.
I use it for frying my eggs every morning. The residue of whatever was cooked for dinner the night before just adds to the flavour of breakfast. It’s another version of ‘the ghosts of meals past’.
Of course, the best evening meals to ‘pay it forward’ are those that leave a few tablespoons of fat. I’m thinking of things like bacon, steak or sausage.
The skillet is very heavy, holding – and distributing – heat brilliantly. I have also used it in the oven (because I can) to do a dish that we call Neglected Potatoes. Basically, this comprises cubes of unpeeled potato tossed with olive oil, salt and onion/garlic, roasted for ages until it all goes wonderfully caramelised. In my experience, the skillet does a far better job of this than any regular oven tray.
After all this time, the skillet is extremely well seasoned, so it’s pretty much non-stick.
Mostly, I’ll run hot water over it before I leave on a Thursday, wiping it clean with some kitchen roll. If too resistant a residue builds up, I’ll give it a light wash and then coat it with a smear of olive oil.
In terms of modern living, it’s not something that fits into a dishwasher, although technically it’s not something that gets washed anyway.
On Sunday evening, the cycle starts again. I do it all without ever opening a cookbook, because the skillet sets the direction.
Julie Powell’s book references “1 tiny apartment kitchen”, which suggests that no clutter would have been possible. Neither of cookbooks nor of pans.
Powell may have been appreciative of me simplifying my cooking options, although the lack of adventure in my repertoire could have raised an eyebrow. Before anyone suggests that I take a leaf out of her book and do the reverse project, no, the world does not need 365 Days with a Skillet.