Recently, a reader wrote to ask how I managed to have only two cookbooks, after I mentioned my scant collection several weeks ago. That isn’t very many for a food writer, is it
I am definitely a minimalist and can’t stand clutter. Sometimes I even give away things I’m still using just to free up space. Our culture tends to undervalue empty space, but I love the breathing room and spaciousness emptiness creates. The only books I keep are reference books, plus six that greatly influenced my worldview. And my two cookbooks.
Once, when I moved, my belongings went into a storage unit. My house overflowed with cookbooks, and some were even stuffed under the bed. A book I read on organizing said most people use only two or three recipes per cookbook. The author suggested copying those recipes and putting them in a notebook. I did that and even indexed it. When I moved again five years later, I realized I hadn’t used one single recipe. Goodbye, recipe notebook!
That realization changed my view of owning cookbooks. Do we really need them when we can Google recipes or, now, ask the AI? I’ve consulted AI for several years and I’m awestruck by the recipes; it even informed me it likes to cook. Still, it’s satisfying to hold a cookbook in one’s hands and turn the pages.
Cookbooks generate ideas. They can help answer the question, “What’s for dinner?” But my subscription to the New York Times Cooking website does that. The site is a powerhouse of recipes and cooking tips and has a sophisticated search engine, too.
When I want to round up a cookbook, the library can usually locate it through the Sage interlibrary loan system. This week, I checked out two books: “A New Take on Cake” and “The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes”.
I heard about “A New Take on Cake” from a friend who listened to an interview on NPR. The book teaches readers how to embellish a cake mix to get as-if-baked-from-scratch results. This dovetails with my philosophy of “If it takes more than 30 minutes, I don’t want to do it.” The book’s recipes are unusual and best of all, you won’t need to tell anyone about the shortcut!
“The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes” is right up my alley. I learned years ago that following a recipe exactly and measuring ingredients takes too long. The NYT recipes are an ingredient list and a simple how-to. The author uses words like splash, sprinkle, spoonful, scoop, some, dash, and a lot, which lends a spirit of freedom and flexibility to the recipes.
So now you know why I own only two cookbooks.