My personal food muse was __________ ....

[Gifted Gourmet]

You might choose your grandmother, your mother/father, a friend, a television celebrity, or even eGullet but seriously, is there any one person to whom you give credit for being your personal cooking muse or inspiration?

And how has your muse influenced the way in which you cook today as opposed to when you first began cooking?

[Carrot Top]

An interesting question. . .and my answer came out differently than I would have thought if I had just "briefly" thought.

The first thought that came to mind was some of the chefs that I worked for when first entering the field. But that was not "really" the answer. There was not enough depth to that answer. It seemed feeble, flat somehow.

The person who finally came to mind was my first mother-in-law. There is a story about her called "Not Your Average Joe" posted in the Literary Smackdown Entries (Round 25).

I don't really think of her often, not often enough (for really she deserves the thoughts and certainly my gratitude).

How has she influenced the way I cook today? Well. . .the foods that she knew and cooked are still my favorite sorts of things. And after learning and knowing how to do many more highly technical and elegant sorts of cookery. . .finally in the end of it all I find my preference is for the simple, the unpretensious, the "home cooking". The circle completed itself and the path came right back to where it started.

Was it the food, or was it her, or was it the sense of family that was part of that time and experience? I don't know.

Thanks for thinking of this question, Melissa.

[therese]

My grandmother. Those recipes that start out, "First, catch a chicken..."? That's how she did it.

[BarbaraY]

No contest here. It has to be my paternal grandmother. She had been a cook in private homes before her marriage and kept a boarding house in Rhyolite, NV and Bodie, CA in early years of her marriage before my dad was born.

She loved to have parties and family gatherings and the food was always superb.

She started teaching me to cook when I was very young and I treasure the memories.

[Carrot Top]

You might choose your grandmother, your mother/father,  a friend, a television celebrity, or even eGullet      but seriously, is there any one person to whom you give credit for being your personal cooking muse or inspiration?

And how has your muse influenced the way in which you cook today as opposed to when you first began cooking?

How about you, Melissa? Is there any one person that comes to your mind?

[Susan in FL]

........is there any one person to whom you give credit for being your personal cooking muse or inspiration?

No, there isn't. I sort of wish I could say yes; but on the other hand, I'm proud of how I am in cooking and in my work and at home and pretty much in most aspects of life... a self-starter and self-motivator. Very early on in teaching myself to cook I was inspired by cooking magazines, especially Bon Appetit and Food & Wine. I still find inspiration in reading recipes and food articles in magazines, cookbooks, newspapers, online, etc., but any one person, no. That is not to say I wasn't influenced by some people, but I give myself the credit.

[Gifted Gourmet]

How about you, Melissa? Is there any one person that comes to your mind?

←

My aunt Betty was my inspiration ... didn't live near her but whenever we visited her in NYC, I watched every single dish she made (quiche Lorraine, fancy soups, brandy alexander pies, etc.) .. and tried to emulate them ... Aunt Betty was my role model and it aggravated my mother no end!

BTW, her sister is my mother who never cooked anything but managed to heat up a few t.v. dinners ... of course now she is 94 and watches Food TV religiously .. go figure ...

[Mayhaw Man]

My Mother

[maggiethecat]

My Mother

←

Always. And she's such an inspiration: the older she gets, the more adventurous and sophisticated her cooking becomes.

But there ia a muddle of muses. Rombauer/Becker and Julia Child when I was a twenty-year old newlywed with three cookbooks. The English Dames: Elizabeth David, and even more, Jane Grigson. And my Nonna-in-law, who was cooking scratch Tuscan until she was a hundred and one.

(Thanks, Brooks, for the link to your beautiful piece about your Mother's cookbook. I loved it the first time round, and it resonated even more strongly this time.)

[Carrot Top]

But there ia a muddle of muses. Rombauer/Becker and Julia Child when I was a twenty-year old newlywed with three cookbooks.  The English Dames: Elizabeth David, and even more, Jane Grigson.  And my Nonna-in-law, who was cooking scratch Tuscan until she was a hundred and one.

Ah. You've opened the door to think of literary muses. . .then I would have to add MFK Fisher.

And in a different category, Larousse Gastronomique. (What it lacks in warm personality it makes up for in bulk ).

[KatieLoeb]

My Mother

←

Thanks Brooks. That piece brought back memories of the things I managed to glean from my mama before she passed, and the things I'm still trying to fake out.

[tejon]

My grandmother, hands down. She isn't able to cook any longer, but I have been blessed with her recipe box, which is one of my most cherished possessions.

[purplewiz]

Two inspirations:

First, The Frugal Gourmet. I used to watch TV cooking shows as if they were demonstrations of what you might be able to do with enough training and money. His show was different. His dice wasn't even. He added more garlic if he wanted it. He didn't precisely measure everything - close enough was good enough. Finally, someone was making cooking look as if it was something I could do myself.

Second, my friend Chris from college (he knows who he is). Chris and I lived in the same house (different apartments, long story) our senior year, and because it's difficult to cook just for one person, we would split meals on the weekend - he'd cook one night, I'd cook another. He always made such tasty things. When I asked him how they came out so well, he told me his secret: garlic, soy sauce, and oregano.

I know, it sounds funny, but there was a wealth of cooking knowledge in that statement. How a few simple flavors can be combined. How it's better to have a few flavors in pantry that you know how to use than lots you never will. That good food doesn't have to be bland.

He encouraged me to try, and maybe that's the best inspiration of all. And yeah, he knows all this stuff :-).

Marcia.

[kdl1221]

Susan in FL said:

Quote

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by kdl1221
Deleted deleted (log)

[pamjsa]

My Granny Goode--known as "Goody Granny" when my brother and I were very young, because of the constant supply of treats on hand whenever she was in the vicinity. We lived far apart and rarely saw one another, but that just made the smell of her kitchen all the more magical.

Long since gone, but never forgotten. Granny Goode's Sweet Cream Pie lives on.

[ChefDanBrown]

Robert Fripp and my Uncle Johnny.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Robert Fripp and my Uncle Johnny.

←

Do tell us how they influenced your cooking .. please?

[ellencho]

Pretty much anyone on my mom's side of the family. They all know what it means to eat well, and no ingredient was used unless it was the best, and no ingredient was allowed to go to waste. In addition to appreciating good food, they are also advocates of healthy living with plenty of exercise.

[Kevin72]

I always tell my wife that she's my culinary muse. Whenever I come across a recipe I want to try out, I imagine her reaction to it, and I'm forever trying to outdo myself in impressing her.

My mom certainly passed on the culinary genes to me. She handmade everything when I was a kid and I have distinct memories of watching and helping her in the kitchen, particularly kneading dough for bread.

My two biggest "professional" influences are Marcella Hazan and Mario Batali. When I really started getting into cooking, I happened across Hazan's Classic Italian Cookbook and read it like a book, cover to cover, twice, and pretty much spent the next year cooking almost exlusively out of there. Then, just when I was getting bored with it, I turned on FoodTV one day . . .

[jvictor930]

Geez....I don't know about anyone else, but my list would read like an Academy Awards acceptance speech.

"Wow, what an honor. I'd need to thank my Grandmother who taught me how to stuff a pepper at age 4, and always instilled in me that a pot of gravy isn't complete without veal, beef and pork. Shout outs to Mom, who bought me a kitchen set for my 5th christmas (and told me to tell everyone it was for my sister) and didn't blink when I asked her how to turn on the convection. Dad for showing me that Jeff Smith wasn't just some weird bald guy. Julia Child for being after "Seasame Street" on PBS and showing me how to not just laugh at Cookie Monster, but how to tame him with freshly baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies. I can't forget my Dad, because if you wanted an omlette, hot dogs, coffee or pancakes, he was your man. Oh, and before I go, need to thank my girlfriend, for getting me into a website where whacks like she and I can talk about cooking to our heart's content!"

Cue music and hook from side of stage...

[transfattyacid]

Maybe not one person but a joint effort with me .

Some of the strongest driving forces in my life come from negative situations, it gives me the impetus to run and run, and take what ever i`m doing to beyond my imagination . The postitve is the roots , the grounding , the reason for doing something.

Positive :- My Mum would be in this catagory.

If it wasn`t for her i wouldn`t have had the chance to love food. With out putting my Mum on a pedastal , because her cooking was born out of the need to feed her family , not to impress but to fuel , and to use every thing that was in the family budget. Which wasn`t that much in Thatcherite britain. We were not alone in being mortgaged up to the hilt. My Mum is the daughter of a Yorkshire coal miner, so she is very working class in mentality. Very roll your selves up and get cracking sort of lass . We had a vegatable patch in the back yard with potatoes, tomatoes, mint , rosemary , rhubarb , gooseberries, peas, raspberries and best of all a crab apple and damson tree all very close to hand. all of which ended up in our kitchen, and turned into the most delicious meals. On trips to the butcher Mum would buy half a lamb or pig , boned and rolled brisket ( which was pot roasted very slowly untill it was so tender and tasty you could eat it with a fork) . Even though money was kinda tight she didn`t want any of us to go hungry ( i get the feeling that when she was gowing up this was not always a reality ) .

By the age of seven i was eating tongue and piccalily, or stilton and pear chutney sandwhiches for my school lunch, which went down a storm with the dinner ladies at school who would always ask what was between my bread.

I would go on but your getting the picture right ?

I dont want to bore you all to a point were you shoot your self in the face about this , but needless to say by my teens i had a REAL taste for food, and i was becoming quite handy in the kitchen as well. and it was all down to her.

Negative :-I`ll call him "this guy " to protect the guilty .

There was this guy at school who was two years older than me and used to hang around with my big brother alot. Now this guy gave me more inspiration to join the trade than any single person, but all for the wrong reasons. He was the biggest dickhead i had ever met ( up to that point anyway ) a complete and utter self obsessed loser, to say this lad had a chip on his shoulder would be wrong, he had the whole damn bag of McCain`s.

Any way this guy left school two years before me and by the time i was leaving school he was working in the kitchens at the ( then ) best restuarant in my home town ( Nottingham ). Now i had a rough time of it in the education process, not that i`m stupid but lets just say at that age i had quite a reputation and not for the best of reasons. I was anti everything and this sensibility got me in a lot of trouble with the law, my loving family and anyone in authority. but i was harbouring the desire to be creative ( also as advised by those that were letting me rejoin society ), and the latent need to do something with myself.

And here was this guy with, in my eyes, the best job in town . so this strong negative force coupled with what had been subconsciously absorbed into my palete by my Mum . i thought WTf ? if this guy can do it. so can i but better .

post script

"this guy " a few years after the above events got sacked from a hotel for stabbing a commis at work. and last i heard he was doing time .

Mum is doing good, getting over the shock of me making her a grandparent last i heard .

Edited August 20, 2005 by transfattyacid (log)

[Carrot Top]

Maybe not one person but a joint effort with me .

Some of the strongest driving forces in my life come from negative situations, it gives me the impetus to run and run, and take what ever i`m doing to beyond my imagination . The postitve is the roots , the grounding , the reason for doing something.

Positive :- My Mum would be in this catagory.

If it wasn`t for her i wouldn`t have had the chance to love food. With out putting my Mum on a pedastal , because her cooking was born out of the need to feed her family , not to impress but to fuel , and to use every thing that was in the family budget. Which wasn`t that much in Thatcherite britain. We were not alone in being mortgaged up to the hilt. My Mum is the daughter of a Yorkshire coal miner, so she is very working class in mentality. Very roll your selves up and get cracking sort of lass . We had a vegatable patch in the back yard with potatoes, tomatoes, mint , rosemary , rhubarb , gooseberries, peas, raspberries and best of all a crab apple and damson tree all very close to hand. all of which ended up in our kitchen, and turned into the most delicious meals. On trips to the butcher Mum would buy half a lamb or pig , boned and rolled brisket ( which was pot roasted very slowly untill it was so tender and tasty you could eat it with a fork) .  Even though money was kinda tight she didn`t want any of us to go hungry ( i get the feeling that when she was gowing up this was not always a reality ) .

By the age of seven i was eating tongue and piccalily, or stilton and pear chutney sandwhiches for my school lunch, which went down a storm with the dinner ladies at school who would always ask what was between my bread.

I would go on but your getting the picture right ?

I dont want to bore you all to a point were you shoot your self in the face about this , but needless to say by my teens i had a REAL taste for food, and i was becoming quite handy in the kitchen as well. and it was all down to her.

Negative :-I`ll call him "this guy " to protect the guilty .

There was this guy at school who was two years older than me and used to hang around with my big brother alot.  Now this guy gave me more inspiration to join the trade than any single person, but all for the wrong reasons.  He was the biggest dickhead i had ever met ( up to that point anyway ) a complete and utter self obsessed loser,  to say this lad had a chip on his shoulder would be wrong, he had the whole damn bag of McCain`s.

Any way this guy left school two years before me and by the time i was leaving school he was working in the kitchens at the ( then ) best restuarant in my home town ( Nottingham ). Now i had a rough time of it in the education process, not that  i`m stupid but lets just say at that age i had quite a reputation and not for the best of reasons.  I was anti everything  and this sensibility got me in a lot of trouble with the law, my loving family and anyone in authority. but i was harbouring the desire to be creative ( also as advised by those that were letting me rejoin society ), and the latent need to do something with myself.

And here was this guy with, in my eyes, the best job in town . so this strong negative force coupled with what had been subconsciously absorbed into my palete by my Mum . i thought WTf ? if this guy can do it. so can i but better .

post script

"this guy " a few years after the above events got sacked from a hotel for stabbing a commis at work. and  last i heard he was doing time . 

Mum is doing good, getting over the shock of me making her a grandparent last i heard .

Interesting response, tfa. (Hope you don't mind my giving you a nickname there )

It might be quite an fascinating story to ask your Mum about what and how she ate while growing up, someday. These stories are full of tidbits of good things to muse over. . .

Anyway. The yin and the yang of what gives impetus in life. They are both useful!

Edited August 20, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[PurpleDingo99]

I would definitely say my mother. Not because she was a good cook, however. I would choose her because she was quite an orthodox, boring cook who thought bacon and eggs for dinner was something exciting.

She could cook (broil. ) a steak, boil rice, etc. So, I gathered up a few basics from her, spun them to my liking, and went from there. If she could cook, I probably couldnt today.

[mizducky]

I'd say I had two main cooking inspirations:

1) Mom. Another extremely talented no-nonsense feed-the-family-right cook. There was *nothing* this woman ever cooked that I did not inhale with gusto. She also, more than anyone else, instilled in me an intense love for food and eating. I feel obligated to mention that there was a shadow-side to this legacy, in that she also instilled in me her psychodrama about dieting/overeating/overweight, but when I put aside the memories of those more uncomfortable issues, I have to admit that we shared some damn fine food-appreciation moments. And I've said this before, but several years of being "sous-chef" as it were to my mom's Thanksgiving extravaganzas taught me more about cooking than almost any other experience I could imagine ... except for cooking with:

2) My friend Harry. He and I were best friends, and roommates for a couple of years, when we were both in our 20s and living in Boston. Harry was the son of a family in the catering business, and was one of the first people I ever knew who owned a copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," a microwave oven, and a food processor (IIRC it was one of the first models marketed in the US under the name Cuisinart, as opposed to Robo-coupe or whatever they had been called in France beforehand--they were pretty pricey, but Harry was a hot-shot programmer in the 1980s Boston computer boom and could well afford one). He'd frequently throw these amazing cooking extravaganza parties that would require several days' worth of advance food prep, into which I was eagerly co-opted. We became such weekly regulars at Haymarket that several vendors there knew us on sight and assumed we were husband and wife, which amused us considerably. We were also members of a larger informal circle of friends who were all dedicated foodies and loved doing group expeditions to various Boston restaurants, where we would take over a table and uproariously feast and carry on for hours (we'd tip big). Harry was responsible for opening up my brain to higher levels of cuisine than my mother had known to show me, and for demonstrating to me that these lofty and exotic cuisines were all within the grasp of any home cook with a bit of ambition. He was also an early exemplar of how to cook for a crowd.

Edited August 20, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[barolo]

I can't choose one:

1. My parents. My mother, especially for her use of fresh herbs and knife skills. She could turn even the most humble vegetable into a work of art. My father for the bounty of his garden, the trips to hunt mushrooms or wild asparagus, or to find new farm markets. My appreciation of great ingredients comes largely from him.

2. Gourmet magazine. I read it from a very young age and it exposed me to the broader world of food and wine - London and Paris and much more. It was the spark for daydreams and inspiration for explorations.

3. My long ago boyfriend who introduced me to sushi almost 25 years ago and encouraged my culinary explorations beyond my euro-centric origins.