People Still Learning To Cook Matter
photo credit: sanofi2498
I got a little menstrual about this post from Gluten Free Girl(which is the best place to go for recipes if you or someone in your family is allergic to gluten by the way). She kind of rambled her way into a discovered recipe, but what caught my attention was this:
Honestly, I’d say now that you should take every recipe before May 2006 with a big grain of salt. I didn’t really know what I was doing then, not like I do now.
So, are you saying that anyone who read your blog when it started was wasting their time? They only thought they got useful information out of it, but really they were suckers? But now, now you’ve got it all figured out. Now you’re a genius. Now we should all listen to you, and in two years you won’t be telling us how we should disregard everything before 2009.
Bullshit. For 2 reasons: First different people are at different levels and need information at those levels. What got me into cooking was Good Eats(still the greatest cooking show ever) because it was at my level. For some people they might consider that show a waste of time. Those people, as a rule, suck. Others might be harried mom’s who need to learn how to make a whole meal in 30 minutes, Rachel Ray style. Others might have been cooking for years and want some expert in a particular type of cooking to hone their skills(I’m looking at you, Mario Batali). But if every show was Mario and Emeril, how many people would never even give cooking a chance? Just like if every blog was Smitten Kitchen and Serious Eats how many people wouldn’t even bother coming online to find something for dinner? Everyone needs information at their current level.
Second, it’s not just the information, it’s the guy giving it to you. 
The personality matters a lot. Going back to the Food Network, why do you think Rachel Ray is the number one show? Because that betty loves cooking and it shows. She seems like she’d be a lot of fun to cook with, eat with, plus I bet she’s a little dirty in the sack. Not freaky, just the right amount of kink. That’s what really pisses people like Anthony Bourdain off. It’s not that she isn’t’ good at her job, it’s that she is. And it’s the same with blogging. If all people wanted were recipes they’d search about.com. They want personality. I’ve never had to make a Passover meal before, but Amy Sherman makes me wish I had(grizzly connotations of dead first born children aside).
Like I said, I think I’m a little overly sensitive about this. Probably because I’m not that good a cook. Which is ironic, because I eat well. But I shy away from anything too fancy. My attitude is why make hard stuff when there’s so much great food that’s easy as hell when you know a few tricks. Last night I didn’t have pan-fried panini with an apricot glaze. I had a baked potato, roast asparagus and a New York strip, rare. And it was awesome. Seriously. If that steak had VD I still would have ate it and had no regrets.
My point is there’s something for everyone out there on the internet. I always hope that you find value in what I give you, both educational and entertainment wise. Enough so that you subscribe. But if you don’t, if you don’t find me fun or smart or inspirational then somewhere out there you can find the guy talking at your level. Also fuck you.
And I think it’s a bit disingenuous and insulting to say that what you said before was worthless because now you’ve learned more. There are still those who haven’t learned, or don’t have the inclination to learn, what you know. If they can find value in what you wrote before who are you to call them morons?
Tags: information, penis envy, rant
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
oh goodness, I seem to have set off a firestorm, unintentionally.
I certainly didn’t intend for anyone to disregard the recipes I wrote before I met my husband. It’s just that some of them don’t work as well as the ones I’m posting now. I was flying, creating food every day, making it once and posting it up before I ever tested it again. The fig cookies? Those will always stay. But some of those recipes from the first year I wouldn’t make again now.
And it’s certainly not that I think I’m a genius! Oh dear no. It’s really because I have a chef helping me with recipes now. Because he has the memory of food in his hands, deep in a part of his brain I don’t have, he can help me to write recipes and create food that is guaranteed to work. In many ways, the recipes I’m putting up now are simpler, far more complex. I just want to make sure that the recipes I publish really will work, so that people who feel intimidated by cooking aren’t discouraged by making a recipe that was flawed.
THat’s all I meant.
We’re all of us, always learning. But this isn’t about me being right, or having the best recipes. All writing — and recipes - are an offering. Sorry you took offense at that line i wrote, but it certainly wasn’t offered in the way you read it.