This
blog is a work of transmission, designed to be shared freely with all curious
and interested readers. Its contents are drawn from a book I originally wrote for my children and my close American family and friends, people
who have enjoyed my cuisine over the years and have urged me to bequeath my
knowledge.
Still Cooking is
quite different from most food blogs, with their collection of recipes. It is first
and foremost a memoir where I have tried to communicate my lifelong passion for
the creative and meditative cooking process itself. My purpose is to share an
account of my own culinary journey to better urge readers to trust themselves,
try their own way, develop their own repertoire and, above all, enjoy the process.
It offers a comprehensive review of many ingredients and ways to accommodate
them, along with numerous comments representative of my own tastes, values and
(debatable) wisdom. It is also finite, as a finished book would be.
I have sprinkled the text with a
number of light ink/watercolor illustrations as just another way to prod
readers to action.
It is in essence a long letter from
a loving French grandfather.
How
to read it?
However
you like, as you would do with any book. Posts are labeled from a to z,
following a natural order from opening remarks to last minute comments.
Which kind of cuisine?
Most
of the peoples in the world have a defined cooking culture, which they cherish
as a significant cultural difference with other peoples and countries. Within
each population, each family has its own idiosyncrasies: dishes which regularly
re-appear on the table, both comfortingly familiar and always renewed. Still Cooking is about my own body of
cooking knowledge. My cuisine
largely reflects who I am, starting in France, where I was born and raised, but
enriched in many serendipitous ways as I travelled extensively throughout my
life and incorporated many of the world’s flavors into my repertoire.
What
kind of recipes?
All in all, Still Cooking offers more than 200 time-tested recipes, half of
them singing the praises of vegetables. Because we all find pleasure in simple
comfort food as well as in complex, enchanting dishes, Still Cooking mixes both registers.
Another aspect is unique: Having cooked
for my family and friends for close to 50 years, while maintaining a 60-plus
hour work week as a business executive, I have learned to simplify and pare
down recipes from common magical practices. I believe this experience and
understanding to be very valuable for other busy amateur food lovers. All my
recipes allow
preparation in a limited time
while always aiming for a high level of flavor sophistication. They
necessitate a minimal number of tools and utensils.
Still Cooking. A search for meaning
Still Cooking
offers a rambling one-sided conversation about food, the profound experience of
cooking and, to a certain extent, our place in Nature. It encourages readers to
explore their own preferences and potential. My highest hope would be that it
serendipitously affects a handful of people perfectly unknown to me, young or less
young, and accompanies them on their life journeys, as a personal testimonial
of our shared humanity.
Bon
Appétit!
