Recipe

imperative of recipere: to take

Perhaps, the oldest form of 'recipe' is a medication prescription. We generally take it as a list of ingredients, and preparation instructions for a meal. For the former, we need to follow exactness for the chemical mixture and portion; for the latter there should be a spirit of liberty, and the practicality of availability, and taste.

Those of a certain age (well, now we have rerun television stations) may remember the slightly befuddled Baldwin sisters on The Waltons. They distilled Papa's recipe, a Blue Ridge 'moonshine'. Posthumous Papa Baldwin was a local judge, and a man respected for his vocation, and learning. He had the first typewriter in the county. He cooked his whiskey before the prohibition dictated by the 18th amendment. The stories run during the time of the good Roosevelt; there was no prohibition, but there were 'revenuers', who eventually would take their still. There is some question whether the conservative old girls realise they are bootleggers. Mama Walton disapproves of their hobby (this is Baptist country), Papa Walton, the store owner Ike Godsey and, others enjoy the recipe, and have affection for the old maids.

Then there is idle talk amongst womenfolk, “That was delicious, I've gotta have the recipe”, or “what's the secret ingredient? ”. If it is a familiar meal, this is just chatter. If anyone think the 'secret' is magical, or meant to be protected; well they have problems.

There are cookbooks, and cooking shows a plenty. A reasonable cook/chef will approve of substitutes. A favorite is the nonchalance of Jacques Pepin, “you can eat it, but i give it to my dogs”, “you can have it with coffee, or champagne”. Options, sometimes icebox foraging, and scrounging; use what you got, or need to use up [before it goes bad], and if you dunna like this, use that. Cooking is an art of necessity, not an exercise of exactitude. And if ethnically, it is new to you, then you generally find out what is the central ingredient, and do what you can, or like with the rest. E.g., guacamole needs avocados, borsch needs beets.

People even older, may remember the original broadcasts of Julia Child. She had a clumsy good humour. Recently, there was an amateur journalist who went through the entire cookbook, and the darling Amy Adams played the part in the movie. Why are there so many recipes of aspic, and who eats it? What, is that french for headcheese?

Now, recently i found on the youtubage a young girl's Drunk Kitchen. She is hilarious, spontaneous, and either carefree or careless. She does make the apt observation, that there is a lot of waiting in cooking. Drinking can fill the gap, and she is not too interested in results. If you smell burning, it is finished. If it tastes bad, put cheese on it. I like it when there's pictures. Ingredients: eggs, champagne