No Account for Taste

No Account For Taste

I have come to the realization that I own too many cookbooks. I have discovered that I am not alone in this hoarding of cooking knowledge. Even with the realization that I have more cookbooks than necessary, I am can't bring myself to part ways with any of them. I love having all those possibilities at my fingertips.

I was talking  with my friend, Lizzy at HaveYouReadIt about this predicament. She also suffers from this cook book addiction. A brilliant personal challenge was born. In one year we will try utilize one recipe from every cookbook that is in our collection.

In order for me to take any personal challenge seriously, there needed to be clear cut rules. I am one of those people that like to color inside the lines. If there are no guidelines, I have a hard time taking it seriously, and will rationalize. The notion of challenging ones self is a form of self growth is something that I believe is good for the soul. Going beyond the established  comfort zones and trying a recipe from every cookbook I own is definitely going to take me out of my comfortable kitchen habits.

You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.

Ray Bradbury

Cookbook Challenge Rules

1.  At least one recipe from each cookbook must be used starting July 1st 2014 and ending June 30th 2015
2. All recipes must be new to the cook- recipes with variations don't count. If you have tried it, or something like it, try something different.
3.  Pictures and blog post are required as proof of completion.
4. All cook books that are acquired during competition must be noted on blog and added to the list of cook books in the challenge. 
5. Cocktail books are considered cookbooks.
6. If it is in a binding and is hand written or prepared it is considered a cookbook. Magazines do not count and neither do recipe Rolodex or recipe boxes.
7. List of cookbooks should be available online for reference at all times.
8. Substitution and alterations should be noted at all times.
9. If there are duplicate cookbooks, different recipes must be utilized by each cook.

 

Thankfully my friend, Lizzy will be partaking in this adventure with me, and that I don't have to do this alone.  Any road traveled, is shorter with a friend. I think that it also helps that she has more cookbooks than I do. (Only by one.) I am sure before the end of this, some helpful friend of mine will gift me another book along the way. However I do have a little bit of glee in knowing that before this adventure was cooked up, I had donated two Ramen Noodle cookbooks to a coworker, to help him with his culinary skills.  Ramen noodles are good noodles, but after being a Guinea Pig for GAT when she was teaching herself to cook using the 101 Things to do with Ramen cookbook, I have a love hate relationship with Ramen. Not having to try a Ramen noodle recipe is currently the highlight of this challenge, and it doesn't even start for another week. 

Please stay tuned for more updates as they unfold. A list of all my cookbooks (57 in total) may be found on LibraryThing under Monkey2262, along with an incomplete catalog of my library.

I have a good collection of cookery books. This is not so much because I like cooking, but because I like eating.

Louise Brown