It’s likely that if you come to my parents house for dinner and are a fan of Indian food, you’ll be eager to return over and over again. My mother is an incredible cook and no matter how much I have tried to replicate what she does I’ll never able to. My best friend has had the same experience with his mother.
No Recipes:
If you went into the kitchen at my parents’ house and you looked for recipes, you wouldn’t find any. There are no cabinets full of recipe cards or anything of the sort. There are no rules, except that the kitchen will be cleaner than Buckingham Palace after you are done. However you would find all the ingredients that eventually result in very tasty dishes. Ask for a recipe and you’ll receive some sort of vague and frustrating answer that will leave you endlessly trying to replicate my mom’s cooking abilities. I would imagine if you are Indian and your mom can cook, it’s the same way.
No Measurements:
My best friend said that he once stood next to his mother copying everything she did on the stove. The food she made was a thousand times better. If you ask an Indian mother for measurements, you’ll get yet another vague instruction like “just put a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.” Well, to my mother, I have tried that and your food is much better than mine, so for the time being I’ll stop by every other weekend and pick up food.
Just Instinct:
What amazes me is that even when my mom makes something she has never made before, it still turns out awesome. Sometimes she even makes food that she doesn’t like herself, but it’s still perfect. And still there are no measurements, no recipes or anything of the sort. You might call it guesswork. I think it’s just instinct.
So, what does this have to do with you? There’s formulas and measurements for everything in our lives. I know because I’ve tried to create them:
- How to get free drinks and get treated like a VIP everywhere you go
- How to write a blog post in 20 minutes or less
Maybe it’s time to just go with instinct.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I didn’t think there was an instinct about cooking, but you’re probably right. It’s the same instinct which made us find and eat the good food for thousands of years as tribe people, instead of eating poisonous stuff or tree bark
PS: Changed the name of my blog, as you can see.
I love this post, and it’s definitely something I hear often after people eat in our home and then go home and cook the same recipe after I post it to the blog. Cooking is like jazz – there’s a structural foundation of skill, a framework within which you create, but after that – it’s all sensing and tasting, adjusting as you go to make that perfect dish. I now write notes as I cook so that I can write the recipes up later with a reasonable amount of accuracy, but it still comes down to getting comfortable in the kitchen and making your own riffs to make that dish perfect for you. Maybe not exactly like Mom’s, but good in its own right.
(And I’d love to have dinner at your Mom’s house.)
Jenn Sutherland´s last blog ..Chewy Oatmeal Cookies…Gluten-Free
@Eduard: You would think there is no instinct, but after a while you just do what you do very naturally. I don’t think much about what I write now. When I surf, I find that it’s hard to teach somebody because so much of it is done based on instinct.
@Jenn: Glad you liked it
Yeah I would imagine most of it based on sensing and instinct. I haven’t spent enough time in the kitchent to attempt any variations on anything. I just follow the instructions, hence the reason I can’t cook like my mom 
.
I relate to this post so much! I could say the same things for my mother. After I started cooking for myself, I would try and remember what my mother did at home but could never achieve the depth of flavors she manages to. In my Indian food blog, I try and make my recipes as structured as possible but I know that the best results come from cooking often and really getting a feel of the dish you want to make before you get the perfect result.
Sabera´s last blog ..Channa dal & patties
Moms are the best cooks!
They have the magic ingredient that’s just so difficult to replicate.
Mighty´s last blog ..Are You Independent or Free?
@Sabera: Glad to know there is a good resource out there for those of us with complete lack of culinary talent can turn to when attempting Indian food.
@Mighty: Yes they are
Srinirao,
I’m a Pakistani and this is pretty funny to me. You’ve got it down perfectly: if I ask for a measurement, my mom will pour the spice into the palm of her hand and say something ‘bus itna’. Haha.
It’s hard to replicate those recipes… probably comes with time. I”ll never be able to cook awesome foods like my mom. Now you have my mouth watering!
Moon Hussain´s last blog ..My Three Pronged Approach To Creating My First Niche Website
@Moon: You know exactly what I’m talking about. That drives me nuts
I cook the same way, to taste.
But I’ve been cooking for myself for a long time.
And it’s funny, because one of my Indian friends cooks this way too. She just throws stuff on the stove and goes!
Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Antti Kokkonen – When it has to be done right
Dude, nothing beats our food!
Nothing ever goes close to tasting as good as food cooked by our mother.
Instincts are what keep us alive and make us better.
There is only so much knowledge can do.
aDeeb´s last blog ...web: Threadsy.
What a wonderful gift–to be able to cook like that. I’m sure it’s simple (but not easy) to replicate though: spend a lifetime cooking for people you love and putting your whole being into it.