I know, print is times past but I love revisiting recipes before I decide to try them. Study, admire or dismiss photos, make a determination if I am going to go with it or try a few alternate ingredients. It’s always a thought process that requires a lot of reading.
Case In Point: A most recent issue of Food and Wine. There are so many great recipes not to mention photos and the collection is in my hand even as we speak. I can navigate through the pages in a matter of minutes. I can choose a recipe and for the most part, cook it in under an hour. In fact, by the time I start up my computer, get on the internet and search for a recipe, I am already in the chopping stage and have the oven preheated.
Let’s face it – Creative Directors, Executive Food and Restaurant Editors down to the Assistant Recipe Tester Justin Chapple get paid to do this every month. Why reinvent the oven?
Besides, there is a certain pleasure in finding a food magazine in my mailbox. Within 5 minutes I can tell you if it’s an outstanding issue. Give me another 5 and I’ll come across a comfortable chair and get lost in the content– either for a few minutes or for several hours. Food magazines can disrupt even the best laid plans.
My favorite thing about a food magazine? How great is it to come back to a recipe weeks later only to find a “food sample” of Cacio e Pepe you left spread out over the entire page when you accidentally laid down your spoon?
Don’t you just love the things that remind you of treasured time in your kitchen?
My Betty Crocker Leeann Chin Cookbook has samples from the first time I made Won Tons for Tommy. It’s still his favorite recipe and everytime I look at the samples, it takes me back.
Now, you just can’t get the same result from your computer can you?
Bon Appetit!