How To Read a Cookbook

Look beyond the recipes

Photo: Martin Edic

I read cookbooks to relax. And for inspiration (more on that shortly). But I’ve learned that some see them as formulas to be followed exactly. I have a relative who was learning to cook and she was very literal about it. If a recipe said bake for twenty-five minutes, she set a timer and turned the oven off at exactly twenty-five minutes, regardless of what the dish looked like!