System of Cookery

A lot of quixotical cookbooks begin by assuming that you have eggs, and time, & thyme...& hazelnut flour, and nori and sumac, clarified stock, gelatin sheets, and foie gras, key limes, (sherry vinegar/balsamic vinegar/white vinegar/apple cider vinegar/red wine vinegar/rice vinegar/malt vinegar/black vinegar/champagne vinegar), fish sauce, endives, wild boar, star anise, cointreau, capers, and cheesecloth, creme fraiche, cream of tartar, creme de menthe, and double cream, côte de boeuf and twine, four shallots, fresh ginger, black garlic, obscure peppers, and so, so many fresh herbs, absolute bushels of parsley that never ever wilt or spoil in your refrigerator sweetly nestled next to some pristine bales of scallions. They assume that you have a kindred relationship with your local butcher, and a spiritual connection with your fishmonger; that you have the pre-eminent knowledge of which shop is the best and closest to get any such thing; that you have a dozen and a half on hand of each the exact right size and composition of various pots and pans, mixing bowls and sheet trays and baking tins, and molds and spatulas and slotted spoons, and a mandolin, and a pastry cutter, and a pastry bag (with a star tip), and maybe even a chinoise; - that you have storage containers galore and a pantry that functions something like Merlin's valise; that you can eyeball a one-and-three-quarters teaspoon measurement from a mile away, and that you're constantly evaluating all liquids as milliliters and then converting to cups in your head; that you have 2 ovens, and a walk in fridge and freezer, and the time and know how to go foraging on a whim at your local heath; that you had the night before taken out your chicken and dry brined. It's understood by these cookbooks that you have an infinite budget of money & time to simply make appear any missing & supposedly crucial component to a recipe. And whilst I wish, dear reader, for you to have all of these things, you will not in full need them, not for this. I will advise that you do acquire some of them, and I am prepared to be explicit, and to let you know well in advance in such cases for I, like you, am not on my own a restaurant, just a person that loves to cook, and needs to eat, smartly. We are cooking for two, over the course of a month; we’ll figure out exactly what ingredients we’ll need, where to get them, and how much it will cost; we’ll be mindful of our busy schedule and reduce our shops to as few as possible, we’ll make our prep and cooking as efficient as can be, pencilling in a handful of hours a few weekends a month to set us up, and no more than about an hour tops to cook dinner on weeknights, we’ll take some nights off to go out and enjoy the cuisine & hospitality of professional restaurants, or delight in ordering takeaway chinese delivery; we’ll be buying and using up our ingredients in good time and sequence so that nothing ever goes rancid or begins to degrade; we’re thinking about cupboard space and fridge space and oven space and counter space (this whole darn thing has all been operated out of the mini-fridge in our London flat); most of all we will not cook from this book, but through this book.