A very well-written article by Adam Gopnik about how (and why) we use cookbooks:
What’s the Recipe? | The New Yorker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bruce
Darn! I thought it was another “guess the car” game.
wow … that may be the longest linked article i’ve read, but being a cookbook reader myself (much moreso than “user”), I felt an uncanny obligation to do so. nice article; longer than it needed to be – kind of reminded me of reading Thomas Wolfe’s works.
as to the content of the article: I can certainly associate with the disappointing end-product of a closely-followed recipe, which, along with the boring nature of doing so, is one of the main reasons I almost never follow a recipe to the T.
I enjoy reading cookbooks for little tidbits that inspire me … whether it’s a combination of particular ingredients, a particular technique, or merely a reminder of a dish/food that I hadn’t thought of in quite some time.
The New Yorker doesn’t specialize in short articles, but they tend to be well-written.
-Al