One of the problems with maintaining your own personal cookbook is that you just memorize how to cook most things, so mostly your recipe book just needs to be a handful of ratios, instructions for more complex and easy-to-forget recipes, and just a list of the things you know how to cook to remind you of all of them when you’re looking for inspiration.

the compressed form of a lot of #cooking recipes just calls for the ratio of the primary ingredients: all I need to know to make fried fish or tempura is “1 cup flour, 1 egg, 1 1/3 cup beer” because I can scale and season as necessary and remember that if I want a lighter batter I can swap the beer for club soda

that is to say, my whole personal cookbook is about 4 pages long and contains just under 60 recipes, many of them just single-word descriptions like “caldo verde”

the recipe for “caldo verde” is just the words “caldo verde”, there to remind me that I like to cook that thing, the rest is just Draw The Rest of the Owl

current version:

BRINE

• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp sugar

PONZU

1/2 cup soy 1/2 cup citrus 1/2 cup white wine (mirin) 2 tbsp rice vinegar lil bit of dat fish powder

LEMON CURD

3 lemons: zest & juice 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs 6 tbsp butter (3/8 of a block?)

whisk it all together under low heat or in a double boiler, until thiccc, then chill for at least 1 hour

WAFFLE

• 2 cups white flour (240g)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 500mL buttermilk

whisk drys whisk wets add wets to drys

OVERNIGHT BREAD (+~5 hrs)

NIGHT:

• Mix the poolish:
• 500g flour
• 0.4g (1/8 tsp) yeast
• 500g water, 80F
• wait 12-14 hours (bubbly, triple volume)

DAY: (5 hrs)

• add 500g flour
• 21g salt
• 3g ( 3/4tsp ) yeast
• (you can mix dry ingredients separately first)
• 250g water, 105F
• mix
• timer: 3 hrs (2 folds)
• divide & proof: 1 hr
• oven: 475F, 30 minutes lid on, 15 minutes lid off

SAME DAY BREAD (~7-8 hrs)

TOTAL:

AUTOLYSE

• 1000g flour
• 720g water at 90-95F
• mix, rest for 30 minutes

THEN

• 21g salt
• 4g (1 tsp) yeast
• mix
• timer: 5 hrs (2 folds)
• divide & proof: 1hr 15m
• oven: 475F, 30 minutes lid on, 15 minutes lid off

SHOKUPAN (~5-6 HRS)

Roux - (Double Recipe for 2 Loaves):

• 125g water (250g water)
• 25g flour (50g flour)

1. roux: in a warm pan, 125g water, 25g flour, cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes, until 150-175F

2. cool the roux for 10 minutes+ off the heat (<110 degrees F so it doesn’t kill the yeast) while you measure out the rest of the ingredients

Dough - (Double Recipe for 2 Loaves):

• 400g flour (800g flour)
• 215g milk (430g milk)
• 30g sugar (60g sugar)
• 4g salt (8g salt)
• 8g instant yeast (16g instant yeast)
• 60g salted butter (120g salted butter)

3. measure out 215g milk + 8g yeast into mixing bowl, let rest for 2 minutes.

4. add 400g flour, then the roux, mix with dough hook at lowest speed until incorporated, then for another 3 minutes.

5. add 30g sugar and 4g salt, mix on lowest speed for 5 minutes

6. cut in cold butter, mix on lowest speed for 5 minutes

7. fold it until it’s a nice tight ball and plop it into a bowl to rise for ~2 hours (doubled in size)

8. load them into the (lightly greased) bread pans and let them rise for 90 minutes (until they’re almost touchin’ the lid)

9. 45 minutes into the previous step, start preheating the oven at 375 F

10. bake: 40 minutes

CRISP (NOT CRUMBLE)

(a crisp is the one with oats)

Apple/Fruit Mix: 6 apples (or equivalent) 2 Tbsp sugar 3/4 Tbsp cinnamon 1 lemon juiced (optional tbsp water, tbsp flour)

Toppins: 1 cup brown sugar 3/4-1 cup oats 3/4-1 cup flour 1 tsp cinnamon

(optional 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda to decrease the pH for better browning)

1/2 cup cold cubed butter

350F for 45-60 mins

ICE CREAM

1L half & half (mix in some whipping cream if’n you dare)

1/2 cup granulated sugar (the original recipe calls for 1 cup, take from that what you will, also i hear corn syrup can help the texture in small amounts)

generous pinch o’ salt

throw in steepables (coffee! cardamom! mint! probably not rosemary again!) and get to 170-175F (no higher, don’t want curdlin')

let it sit for 45 minutes (or as long as seems appropriate, given the steepables)

separate 6 eggs, keep the yolks only add to 1/2 cup of sugar, (optional: 1/4tsp guar gum) whisk, whisk in a few splooshes of hot milk to temper

add the egg glop back to the milk, get it to 170-175F and stir until spoon-coatingly thick

strain out the steepables chill overnight churn next day

DUTCH BABY

• warm eggs, warm milk (let them sit, measured, on the table for a bit)

(the reference recipe here was for 2 eggs:)

• 2 egg

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp sugar

• vanilla

• beat until loose and frothy

• 1/3 cup flour (40g)

• 1/3 cup cornstarch (40g)

• 2/3 cup milk

• a spoonful of mascarpone or cream cheese wouldn’t hurt

• let batter sit for 20 minutes

pan in a 425F oven, hot hot hot

quickly butter the pan, get the batter in before the butter burns 20 minutes in the oven

top with lemon, powdered sugar, whipped cream

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

1 1/2 sticks (170g) butter 2/3 cup (142g) brown sugar 2/3 cup (132g) granulated sugar 2 tbsp (39g) light corn syrup 1 tbsp cider or white vinegar 2 large eggs 1 tbsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp salt (omit, using salted butter) 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 2 1/4 cups (270g) all-purpose flour 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Note: this one is a pretty sweet dough and it really benefits from a bitterer chocolate and maybe a little flaked sea salt

• cream together butter, sugars, corn syrup, vinegar
• beat in eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, baking soda
• stir in flour, chocolate chips
• store in fridge overnight or freeze
• 375 oven
• drop tablespoons of dough on to baking sheets
• 10 minutes, with a half rotation at 5 minutes (ed: 12 minutes with my oven)
• let sit on the pan for a few moments after removing from the oven
• rack to cool

WONTON SOUP BROTH

chicken stock garlic ginger 2tbsp soy 2tbsp wine 1tbsp sugar 1tsp sesame oil

Beer Batter

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 1/3 cup beer

What Should I Make For Dinner?

Beefs

• Burgers
• Spaghetti & Meatballs
• Tacos/Burritos
• Beef Bourgeoignon
• English Beef Stew
• Braised Short Rib & Polenta
• Steak (money’s too tight for steak)
• Shepherd’s Pie

Chickens

• Roast Chicken & Mashed Potatoes / Dinner Rolls & Mayo
• Caldo Verde
• Potato Leek Soup
• Butter Chicken
• Thai Curry Chicken
• Weeknight Biryani
• Chicken Parmigiana
• Chicken Soup

Fishes

• Baked Fish with Citrus
• Stinky Tinned Fish Rice Bowl w/ Egg
• Beer-Battered Cod
• Clam Chowder
• California Roll Rice Bowl

Porks

• Fried Rice
• Pork Tenderloin
• Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork
• Carnitas Tacos/Burritos
• Pork Chop Stir Fry
• Classic BLT/Club
• Sausages & Potatoes & Veg
• Ribs
• Breaded Fried Pork Cutlet

Breakfasts

• The Big Breakfast
• Eggs Benedict
• Waffles
• Potato Latkes

Misc

• Nachos
• Cabbage, Vinegar & Chile Stir Fry
• Cucumber Salad
• Coleslaw
• Caesar Salad
• Greek Salad
• Stankpaste Salad (roasted garlic, anchovy, vinegar, beans, cherry tomatoes)
• Fried Tofu
• Slow-cooked Beans
• Borscht