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The Difference Between Cooks and Bakers
April 2007
For the last few weeks I've had the urge to make cookies. I love a
cookie--or more accurately a biscuit---with my coffee in the
morning. The problem is store bought cookies are just too sweet.
Stella Dora cookies ---something my father used to love to dunk in
his coffee and a habit I picked up as well---come close to what I'm
yearning for, but after months of eating them every morning, I wanted
something different. My perfect cookie had to be delicious, low in
sugar, and most importantly, I had to be able to dunk it without it
falling apart. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not much of a baker.
Still, desperation leads me at times to try my hand at it..
It's common knowledge that many chefs are not good at baking and
pastry making. And vice versa. That's because baking is more like
science. You have to follow a formula and there's little room for
improvising. The artistry in baking comes from the creativity of the
formula. Change the formula, and the recipe may not work at all. One
tablespoon instead of one teaspoon of baking powder will make a big
difference to the results of a cake. By comparison, one tablespoon
of garlic instead of one teaspoon will just make any recipe, well
more, garlicky.
There are very few rules with cooking. It naturally appeals to my
renegade spirit. It's much more forgiving too. Recipes are meant to
be guidelines and really nothing more. Substitutions are up to the
whimsy of the cook and improvising always leads to new discoveries.
I think pastry chefs tend to be more exacting people. They probably
have the items in their kitchen shelves all lined up and maybe even
categorized. That's funny. I have all my spices lined up in same
size glass jars in a nook on the wall. Maybe I have a little of both
in me? It would make an interesting case study to compare the
personality of pastry people to cook people--- kind of like type A
or B personalities.
I teach hundreds of people to cook and I always have to keep in mind
that many of them need to know the exact amount of each ingredient.
When I make something by throwing in a little of this and a little
of that, they tend to get nervous. So, I urge them to just watch or
work alongside me. Then when they're on their own, they can follow
an exact recipe and later, when they've made the recipe a few times,
maybe they'll learn that it's okay to change things around to suit
their taste. Maybe they'll discover that breaking the "rules" is not
only fun----it can lead to something downright delicious that they
alone invented.
How rewarding is that!
Chef Silvia
Recipes this month...
Those delicious Biscotti Cookies!
Also, if any of you are interested in organizing you own style of cooking
class/dinner party, including
Corporate Team Building Events, check out my
cooking classes page for more information.
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