By Staff
Paint-by-number cooking?
Absolutely not! Culinary art, like fine art, can never be reduced to an exact formula.
Case in point – my wife recently returned from a workshop in Austin, Texas, where she experienced the most delightful cilantro vinaigrette dressing.
It was delicious on salad, on salmon, on simply everything.
Once home, she was a woman on a mission: duplicate that dressing.
The chef in Austin "gave" her the recipe – "make a vinaigrette dressing with lemon (or was it lime?) juice and add cilantro." She did that. And did that. And did that.
The kitchen was almost flooded with liquid cilantro!
The result was nothing like the original. Well, duhh! We finally used it as a dip for cucumbers and radishes!
In cooking, as in art, the copy (forgery) can never be exactly like the original. The original is one-of-a-kind and can never be replicated or reproduced.
Over the years I've earned a reputation for creating some very fine dinner parties. I have never attempted to repeat any entre even when guests have requested recipes.
For instance, my famous chocolate mousse has delighted very selected palates (well, I can't serve it to just anyone!) and I have shared my recipe, to a point. I never tell my guests that I add orange extract and brandy to the chocolate. Oops!
I didn't mean to divulge that!
And while I have some signature dishes, they are never twice the same.
So, I shared that tidbit of advice with my wife – we culinary artists never share every detail to fans. The reason? We simply can't replicate our designs perfectly – each creation is one-of-a-kind.
That's the wonder and excitement of dining at my house or at any five-star establishment.
To copy a culinary art is similar to a paint-by-number "reproduction" of one of the masters. Can you imagine Monet, Picasso or Rembrandt reproducing a painting?
My mother (rest her soul) bought a paint-by-number canvas of Da Vinci's "Last Supper."
It (proudly) hung over the buffet in her dining room.
To say the "painting" was ugly is an understatement. Jesus and the disciples looked like they were suffering from fiery hemorrhoids! Can you imagine an amateur trying to reproduce Dave Baker's paintings of the Dowagiac Creek? By paint-by-number? God forbid!
I really enjoy reading cookbooks. I view cookbooks, not as paint-by-number instructions but as inspiration for my cooking. I never follow a recipe in detail – I always have to add my personal touch.
I adore Paula Deen. Rachael Ray is great, too. These two divas of the kitchen really know how to cook, and I'm sure that they never reveal all of their secrets.
I also appreciate that they cook with imprecise measurements – a handful, a pinch, a smidgeon, a palmful, a pinch, a few good pinches, a dash, a dapple, once around the pan and, best of all – season to taste. This is a far cry from cooking paint-by-number.
When guests dine at our house, they always have a one-of-a-kind dinner. I don't do fast food. I don't do restaurant food.
I create! No two dinner presentations are alike.
However, to placate my dear spouse, I surfed the Internet for cilantro vinaigrette recipes and found hundreds of them. So many recipes; so few salads!
I'm sure that we will find an acceptable rendition of this dressing – but I will add a twist to make it original and one-of-a-kind.
And when I serve my very last supper, no one will appear to have fiery hemorrhoids – only satisfied smiles, a wine toast and a "here, here!" to my last one-of-a-kind.