Why is Cooks'MUSE . . . . . . and Who?

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WHY? ---- Cooks'MUSE is here because detailed recipes can be a waste of time for lots of people. --- those who know their way around the kitchen and don't have to be told how much butter to put in a pan to fry an egg. They use cook books for ideas not details. The telegraphic form in Cooks' MUSE should speed up their prospecting, and broaden the horizons for many who are looking for a bit of inspiration.

In addition, the very process of following a recipe can be intimidating for people who are uneasy in the kitchen. If the detail is there, they think they have to follow it. This throws some people into culinary paralysis, making trauma out of what should be fun.

If Cooks' MUSE can get those people to loosen up, it will have advanced world food preparation into the next century.

WHO? ---- If this idea is going to work, it will be a partnership between you and me. You know who you are. I'm the cheery face above. I learned to eat in a family where good food was a religion. In my early twenties I started cooking for myself and have been at it for almost fifty years. My only professional experience was during one school vacation, as a short order cook at a hot dog stand in Norwalk, CT. While there, I expanded their menu to include a grilled cheese/onion/fried egg sandwich. It went well with the India Ale that we drank during working hours. Over the years, I've eaten some great meals around the United States and parts of Europe --- and I know what tastes good to me. No claims beyond that.

SOURCES --- It has been said that there is no such things as an original recipe. Clearly that cannot be true if "recipe" means how you cook something. There was a first time for everything including gnawing on a dinosaur leg that had warmed in the sun. As history progressed, people no doubt passed their recipes down verbally, then on the walls of caves, and eventually in print. So, the overwhelming majority of recipes in use today are not original, except perhaps as kitchen or agricultural technology has made new foods or methods available.

Our sources for ideas in Cooks' MUSE are family recipes, restaurant menus, notes accumulated over a lifetime, cook books, magazines and newspapers. My guess is that your contributions will have a similar heritage.

TESTED IDEAS? --- Most of these dishes have no doubt been tested by someone, somewhere. --- Jack Turner

P.S. If you really want more detail on the ideas in Cooks'MUSE you can probably find a real recipe by going to Yahoo or Google and typing in a couple of the main ingredients. Alternatively, you can use a cook book. Best of all -- wing it.

P.P.S. The primary exception to the Muse approach is bread and cake baking. Because of the chemical and physical reactions involved in leavening, more specific quantities are called for. Also, once it goes in the oven, you really can't make any adjustments, the way you can with most other dishes.

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