It’s imprecise. While tangible, it’s slightly out of reach. I’m talking about measurements for cooking. In my mind, people have a feel for cooking/baking or they don’t. Those who don’t dutifully follow recipes to the letter. They don’t “feel” the food. I dare say they eat to live.
I fall into the category of being able to feel the food. As I’m cooking, I can create taste sensations through thought and then create them in the cooking. I do measure when I use recipes but a teaspoon may become a pinch, a 1/4 teaspoon may become a dash…do you follow me? Inclusion of imprecise terminology really confuses the dutiful recipe followers.
I brought some homemade butternut squash soup to school one day for lunch when I was still teaching. One of my colleagues was fascinated by it and wanted to know the recipe. I shrugged and said I didn’t follow a recipe, I just put it together. The colleague wanted to know how I knew what to put in it. I said I’d roasted a butternut squash on a cookie sheet in the oven along with some quartered onions. Then I threw those in a stock pot along with some chicken broth and seasonings and pulverized everything with an immersion blender.
Oh my. The questions rained down upon me and my soup became cold. I tried to explain that I don’t make the soup the same each time. I wanted it savory this time so only included sage and thyme along with salt and pepper. What do you mean by savory? How could it be sweet? Well, I would have roasted some apples along with the squash.
Apples? What kind of apples? How many? I told her I’d use whatever I had on hand. And I’d add some cinnamon, maybe nutmeg, maybe a little brown sugar, honey or maple syrup. Yeah, but how much? A pinch here and there, a splash of anything liquid. It’s important to taste as you go along.
But what if you ruin it? It usually can be saved with the addition of some other ingredients. I thought her head would explode at this thought. I’ve been cooking/baking since I was a kid. I have a feel for it though I’m no gourmet cook nor am I a foodie. I just like flavor.
By this time I’d heated the soup once again and rummaged through the nasty faculty room fridge until I found a specific item which I started adding to my soup. “What are you doing now,” she exclaimed. I told her I wanted some Worcestershire in it. Why? I could only shrug. It was not the time to tell her I was craving an umami flavor.
Stories Are For Eternity 