Celebrity Chef Tyler Florence isn’t going to write any more cookbooks because …. “Recipes are dead.” His reasoning behind this statement is …. “I’ll publish a cookbook and I’ll have a 125 recipes. People only use five and they won’t even follow them: They’ll use those like a guide that they’ll kind of interchange different ingredients with ….” (The Smart Kitchen Summit via The Washington Post).
I can’t even begin to tell you how much this statement irked me. First of all, every recipe since the first caveman threw a piece of meat on the fire has come into existence because someone used someone elses’ recipe as a guide and changed out the ingredients. This includes every recipe that Chef Florence has ever created. Second, I wonder if it ever occurred to Chef Florence that more people would use his recipes as written if they were more accessible to the average home cook.
Maybe, I am sensitive to what Chef Florence said because I have spent the last 5 1/2 years adapting other people’s recipes. Over the years I have asked dozens of professional and hobby bloggers for permission to post my adaptions for their recipes. None of them have said no because they don’t want their recipes changed in any way. Most of them are happy I like their recipes enough to include them on A Solitary Feast. In fact, only one blogger has ever said no when I asked permission to post one of my adaptions. It was more of wanting the views for her recipe on her blog rather than mine not because she was upset I changed her recipe.
Personally, I want you to take the recipes I have posted here and make them your own in whatever way you wish. To me finding new ways to make a recipe is what cooking is all about. It’s where we get new flavor combinations, new recipes and new cooking techniques. So go grab a recipe, get into the kitchen and play. When you are done come here and tell me about it so can get in the kitchen and play too.
Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Adapted From Budget Bytes
1 cup pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, vanilla and milk; mix well. In medium bowl, combine the oats, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking powder. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. In a 1 quart baking dish, spread the oat mixture in the baking dish. Bake 45 minutes or until firm.
A Cuppa And Conversation 