The simplest and easiest way to learn any skill is to break the skill a part into repeatable steps, then practice each step. Recipes are one such demonstration of this approach. Usually, they begin with a list of needed tools and equipment followed by needed ingredients. Then it’s step one, step two, and so forth, until BOOM, a cake or tuna noodle casserole or vegan black bean chili with vegan cheese diarrhea. How great is that? We need not be a culinary school graduate to produce edible meals. Thank God.

There is a hole in recipe approach, of course. A recipe can’t teach a cook how to sear chicken, blanche vegetables, or grill a steak. And recipes don’t help us adjust to the variables present in every kitchen including quality of ingredients, availability of ingredients, humidity level, the quarks of the stove or oven in use, the transfer of heat by the pots and pans in use, and always, the sharpness of the knife.

***Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled reading, but I have an important announcement!***

If you ever learn one thing from me regarding the cooking process: USE A SHARP KNIFE IN THE KITCHEN. YOUR FOOD WILL COOK MORE EVENLY, TASTE BETTER, AND YOU’LL SAVE TIME. You can’t cut shit with a dull knife. Yes, you’ll cut yourself. So what. Battle scars are sexy.

***Back to our regularly schedule blog post. Thank you.***

As you know or can guess, I was never one for a recipe. I like to feel my way through the process, tasting and adjusting as I cook. And my mentors focused more on cooking theory, the use of acids like lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, the role of salt, and how to present a dish. It’s why I can list the ingredients in my chili but not the measure of each, or the specific steps needed to produce a wonderful pot of perfectly spiced meat and beans. (To ask me for a recipe is a nightmare and I’m sorry.) From my high and lofty perch, recipes get in the way and slow me down. And yet when stumped, even I will scroll through pages of search results, looking for direction- a recipe to help me over the hump or inform my process.

As a writer and author, I feel like I’m in the recipe phase, banging out clunky casseroles and boiled eggs. And I hate it. I hate that nothing I write feels intuitive or comes easy. Which is why it pays to remember I once tried to fry chicken wings in vinegar. Yes. I know. Vinegar is mostly water and the best anyone can do is boil the bird. The fumes were awful.

And then I remember, I’m still new to all this, that books don’t merely fall out of the fingers of well known authors. They started at the same spot I did and kept going. Same with all the best chefs. And so, for the 12th(?) time, I’m writing a blog post about patience and the process. And I’m leaning on my experience and success in other areas of life to keep me going.

I’ll end today’s post with an update.

My work on Gary and Mary is ongoing and taking longer than I hoped. But, it’s good. I’m refining and reworking various sections, and I’m genuinely starting to enjoy that part of the writing recipe. (All artistic endeavors are like it. Start big and ambiguous, then refine the lines and improve the details.) My goal is to have it posted by Friday.