STAR EMAIL
SUBJECT: Follow the recipe? No thanks. I prefer creativity
FROM: Tom Johnston Clare Finney cast a provocative fly on the water suggesting recipes MUST be followed [Nov, p146]. As a proud member of the ‘chuck it and chance it’ brigade, may I be first to rise to the bait?
I started cooking in my early teens and, a few years on, graduated to Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The results were great – but you can’t say that about all recipes.
Once, staying in a French household, I asked madame what was for lunch tomorrow. She explained it depended on what was good in the market. For me, much of the fun of cooking is improvising with what you have. Some of the finest plates are born of improvisation.