Experimenting

Sometimes I don't know if my family is dreading my food or looking forward to it, though they claim to appreciate most of my experiments. Usually they are just variations of basic dishes, necessary as often as not due to the collection of allergies and the limits of ingredients on hand. Once in awhile it will be closer to a whole new dish, my attempt at replicating something i tasted or saw on t.v., or some feature of a recipe that I'm otherwise ignoring due to complexity or demands for some special cookery device I don't own and don't plan to buy. This year I'm trying a somewhat different approach, looking for more doable recipes and trying to stick closer to them even if it's a pain. Just that I have a recipe in hand seems to please them (which makes me wonder how often they were tolerating rather than enjoying past experiments). It is, in the end, still a half step. Even if I can avoid all the allergies without serving two separate meals, there are preferences and tastes and limits to how experimental it can be even with a recipe. Much though I might enjoy it, the mashed potatoes aren't going to get nearly all the horseradish called for in the potatoes and celery root mash. A token nod to the recipe with a taste of horseradish sauce will have to suffice.

The other reason I end up experimenting is facing me right now - can't find the recipe I was planning on. I remember the main ingredients and some of the spices. I have a recipe with all the wrong flavors but cooking instructions for the meat (a brisket that isn't corned). I have a recipe for pot roast that has some of the spices I remembered, and before I go off line I'll inquire after other recipes in case I find something closer, but there i am with the main ingredients and no recipe that has what I liked about the one I can't find and didn't memorize completely. Still, I have recipes in front of me so the family will be satisfied enough to blame the recipe if it fails and maybe give me a bit more open feedback. (They don't lie, but appreciating me cooking is not the same as enjoying the results!)

The semi-experiment after that will be capon. I'd like it to taste a little different than the usual hen (yes, it tastes like chicken) but most of the recipes are too much like turkey or the usual chicken recipes (though there are plenty of those: roasted with rosemary, sage, thyme...).

Cooks' challenge: Anyone have a favorite poultry recipe that might be a little "unique and different"?