Recipe or throw it together? And the genius of recipe creators

"Necessity is the mother of invention" English proverb

This post has a couple of serendipitous inspirations I guess. The fact that yet again I am going to have to devise something for dinner tonight from leftovers, and something I read yesterday from Nigel Slater's A Year of Good Eating. And these have also led me to ponder on the nature of creativity and genius versus mundane creativity and slavish following of someone else's genius. And dinner parties come into it again as well. Convergence - a modern word I think.

The dinner party comes into it for two reasons too - one being obvious. For this is where the leftovers come from. In this instance the leftover meat and associated vegetables, plus the tapenade and the cooking juices. The other reason for the dinner party association is that I never extemporise for a dinner party - I always follow recipes.

And this is where the genius comes in. I think, in my long life of cooking, I can truthfully say that I have never invented a dish that I am truly proud of as being my own creation. One that almost does is my smoked trout and beetroot quiche. But even this, which I did see as an inspired creation from leftovers at the time, is, of course, not original. If you look on the web you will find several iterations of this combination. Not that I did at the time - I just used my knowledge of what goes with what. Which is not surprising as long years of cooking have taught me this - and smoked fish and beetroot is a bit of a classic - albeit a modern one. I am not a genius. And finding all those recipes on the net rather rubbed it in.

I guess there are two levels of true genius in the cooking world. Those who invent something truly original - which must be getting more and more difficult and which leads to haute cuisine which is a little like haute couture and not for mere mortals. I have written about this extreme cuisine before so I will not repeat myself. Suffice to say that it requires very high levels of imagination, knowledge, skill and technique, and yes - artistry that mere mortals do not possess. And it generally costs heaps to eat. Not to mention that it is not easy, indeed is impossible, to replicate at home. Then there are the middle level geniuses - the Jamies, Nigellas, Delias, Elizabeth Davids, Yotam Ottolenghis et al. - you pick your favourite cook book author here - who devise new, but not extreme ways with the things we all know in ways we can all emulate. I remember Delia Smith saying once that she was "all recipe'd out" and was retiring - but I don't think she has. Although then again maybe she has as I think she is more focussed on teaching people to cook these days if you check out her website. But it must be extremely difficult to constantly come up with something new that people will like enough to buy your books - or your monthly magazine - or your website. I have enormous admiration for them. These are the people who are an inspiration to us to try our hand as well - even though, basically, we are just not up to it. Which is why I resort to recipes when I am showing off at a dinner party. Because I suppose I am showing off, even though I am loathe to admit it. No - not showing off - just not wanting to disappoint.

I also unfortunately have to admit that when I do follow an actual recipe - which I do for everyday cooking every now and then as well, it almost always tastes better than anything I might throw together myself. Even something as simple as Robert Carrier's Egyptian lemon chicken is a whole degree better.

The challenge with recipes is which recipe to choose. I have a lot of cookery books, as do most keen cooks, and remembering what is in each of them is a bit of a trick. The section on the left is only about a third, maybe less, of my collection. Nevertheless I do have a sort of idea of what I might find in each book.

I have said it before but will say it again. Having the right recipe books is all you need to be a good cook. What the right recipe book is, is, up to a point, a personal thing, dependent upon the kind of food you like, but there are books and cooks who are just a bit too complicated or don't quite work for some reason. A while ago now in our book group I led a discussion on cookery books and as part of it I asked everyone to bring along their favourite cookery book. It was amazing how many brought along an old and frequently battered, hand-written and maybe scrapbooked handed down book from their mother. I have one of these too - though mine is not handed down. It's just odd recipes that I have picked up here and there from friends.

Nowadays I would put them in the database I have for this purpose on my computer. And I have to confess I rarely use it.

But I am very loathe to throw it out.

I see I am rambling somewhat. To return to the point about following a recipe. A recipe is generally speaking much more exact about quantities and about the way you should mix and prepare the ingredients. There are rules to follow. Of course you can deviate - and sometimes I do - but again I have to confess that my deviations are probably not nearly as good as the originals. Mind you there are a few tried and true dishes that have evolved over time as I have sought to please the people I am cooking for - Robert Carrier's kebabs are an example. I now put in many more onions than in the original and more sauce/marinade anyway - because my sons loved the sauce so much, particularly the onions in it. The real point is that the genius cooks can throw something together and it will be worthy of writing up and publishing in a cookery book. What I shall throw together tonight will, I'm sure, be tasty but not tasty enough to write up and publish. Or is it just a confidence thing? After all the recipe that Nigel Slater was writing about was the one I included in yesterday's post, and in a way I could have thought of it myself. But I didn't and actually I don't think I would have. I don't use sauerkraut very often, though I do have some in my store cupboard, so I would not have thought to use it. Like I don't often think to use things like capers or sumac. And therein lies the difference. Nigel Slater is always aware of what could be used whereas my range of what goes with what is much more limited. But OK and I should be happy with that. Besides I can use all of these recipes anytime.

Here is the quote I was talking about at the start of this ramble.

"The food you throw together without a second's though often looks more delicious than the food you have arranged oh so artistically on a plate. It's the same with flowers in a jug or throwing on any old think in the morning and realising you look better than when you spend ages getting ready to go out." Nigel Slater

And now I see he was talking mostly about the dish's appearance - but he might just as well have been talking about taste. The same principal applies. For 'arranged oh so artistically on the plate' substitute the appropriate words to mean you have followed somebody else's recipe. I'm sure that the same principle applies to any field of human endeavour. There are geniuses, there are lesser geniuses - Leonardo versus the Pre-Raphaelites for example - and then there are the rest of us who just try. And so we should. "A man should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for" and all that.

Not sure what I'm going to throw together. A stir fry - the easiest option really. Shepherd's Pie? A meat pie of some kind ...