Leaving it alone

  This morning started with the discovery of three very brown bananas. They were so far gone that they were beyond use for my smoothie, which meant one thing, banana bread. There is a folder in my laptop full of recipes that have not only been tried but also tested and, most importantly, tweaked. First stop, open the folder.

  The recipes come about in two ways. Either I've seen someone else's offering, tried it as they suggest and improved it or I'll start from scratch and make a bunch of notes as I refine and perfect it. There are a bunch of well worn recipes that I keep returning to but I still can't seem to trust myself.

  I'm very happy with my banana bread recipe but as I was knocking up a loaf this morning I noticed that I couldn't help but try to out guess myself and keep adjusting it. This is absolutely mental behaviour yet despite knowing how pointless this is as I've adjusted and perfected it so much, I really can't control myself. Then I realised it may not be such a bad thing.

  It's true I'm totally obsessed with cooking and tend to get into it more than most folk, but what I noticed was that the idea of perfection that I had managed to cook up in my head is even more mental. Recipes are living things and the last thing anyone needs is for them to be set in stone. 

  Pay attention because I'm talking directly to you when I say this; your freedom and confidence in the kitchen will come as soon as you start entertaining the possibility that you're quite capable of fucking about with recipes and having an amazing learning experience. Whatever the end result of your alchemy, you've learnt something. I don't think twice about fannying about when I'm cooking and I've made a lot of inedible (and frankly embarrassing) shit long the way, but that's how I discovered most of what I know. Here's your homework; find a recipe you like the look of and don't cook it. Cook your own version instead.

Kirk out

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