cooking @ home

Where does cooking inspiration come from? Well I can only say where it comes from for me. And it’s a variety of sources. Hmm, before I go on, I should explain. I’m not talking about following existing recipes, I’m talking about making my own up.

Often they are inspired from other recipes. I might be watching at television cooking show and say, hmm, that’s interesting. But you know, I’m not sure I really like that particular ingredient. I think if you switched that with this, it would taste much better. Come to think of it, I’m not too impressed with that second ingredient either. Not only would this other thing go better with theirs, in my opinion, but with the first switch, this would defnitely enhance that as well.

It often comes from several recipes. Hmm. Now this person did it this way. And that chef did it that way. And the third cook it the other way. I think they all had something, but not one of them got it on the money, I’m going to take the best part from each and fuse it into a totally new one of your own design.

Sometimes it comes from meals I’ve had before at a restaurant that I recall enjoying so much that I want to recreate them as closely as possible, or maybe some sort of variant on it.

Sometimes it’s looking at an item, at the store, on a television commercial, a website, my own frig and saying what can I do with this that’s not the same. Sometimes it’s the ingredients or the spice that makes me say, do I have anything in the house that I could do something with that?

On occasion one is motivated to do it because there’s a batch of lefovers and a desire to “do something else” then just reheat them. On other occasions, like bravery or an episode of “Dinner: Impossible” it’s thrust upon us. Such as when there’s unexpected company coming and you have 45 minutes to make some special from “nothing.”

Other times it doing something common and saying there must be a way to pick his up, take it to that next level. I recall when i was first dabling with cooking and I looked at tasty but same old tuna fish salad and thought, what if besides mayo I added some of this creamy italian dressing? Mmm-mmm. Simple but gave it a nice blast of taste. I wouldn’t want it all the time, but once in a great while, I do enjoy having it again.

Funny, creamy italian dressing also played a part in another of my very early, and successful, experiments. Cooking chicken breasts in the oven, and five minutes before they come out, I poured some creamy italian on it. Woohoo! Shocked the family. It’s another super simple way to perk up something from the norm and give it a totally different, better dimension. And again, once in a great while, I’ll remember it and do it to this day. It really is the epitome of simple and delicious at the same time. Give it a try yourself.

So, whether it’s adapting an existing idea, bettering it, taking two or three different versions fo the same recipe and making your own fusion, or looking at a cut of beef, or a bottle of vanilla extract or even a bottle of salad dressing — cooking inspiration comes from many places. Just let it flow. Shake off the old ideas of “it has to be this way” and ask yourself: “what can I do that I’ve never done before?”

And finally, don’t let the mistakes derail you. Yes, you may have messed up dinner. You may have screwed up five bucks worth of chicken or be sorry you wasted your last bunch of tomatoes on something unappealing. Learn from it. And grow. And try again!