After
~ reading and reviewing tons of cookbooks,
~ developing recipes for my cooking classes and others,
~ writing a small little cookbook with recipes to say Sorry with,
~ ghost writing the First Aid Kitchen cookbook for a tv-chef,
~ being the culinary editor for an Argentinian themed cookbook and
~ proofreading tens of cookbooks,
it’s now time for my own cookbook(s). They say put to it out there, so here it goes.
The two books * I have in my head are closely related and all about empowering you in the kitchen.
LAZY
real meals from scratch for lazy cooks (working title)
At my cooking classes I come across a lot of self-shaming when it comes to cooking. When I ask them how often they cook, I hear a lot of people say “not often enough”. They explain that they cook 2-3 times a week, and on other days they “just make dinner”. Which quite often means they use up or improvise on leftovers, mixing and matching what’s in their fridge and pantry. They don’t consider this cooking. But why not? Just because it’s not all from scratch? That’s nonsense! This book is for them to proof that that is proper cooking!
For me, cooking is all about creating a fun and good tasting meal. Sometimes that’s spending hours in the kitchen, on other nights I don’t even turn on the stove. My upcoming full time RV life exploring all the beautiful nature in the USA will definitely inspire and help me bundle all my easy to cook recipes in LAZY, larding * them with tons of tips and tricks to make your time in the kitchen efficient, while still cooking real meals. Whatever they may be..
This book will be great for cooks with a small kitchen, people that don’t like to waste food, solo cooks, beginning cooks, and everyone who wants to learn how a chef cooks at home.
* Larding is a culinary term, describing long strips of (pork) fat being woven through a large (dryer and leaner) cut of meat. A special larding needle is used for this. This technique is not often used anymore.
creative cook book
how to become more confident and creative in the kitchen (working title)
This is the book I wished I had when I was still learning to cook! In many cookbooks, the author told me that if you really understood how to cook, you know how to alter recipes and eventually wouldn’t need them anymore. Only to give me more recipes…
To learn more about cooking, I ended up at culinary school, as a good, in-depth cooking course (or cookbook!) that would help me understand what is going on in my pots and pans didn’t exist. I developed the course myself and taught my students all the great things I had earned at school. Even more so, by teaching myself, I really gained that in-depth knowledge, connected the dots, and came up with an unique cookbook idea how to explain the cooking techniques to home cooks.
The creative cookbook is aimed for everyone who wants to really learn what’s going on in their pots and pans, understand cooking and connecting the dots.
What both cookbooks will have in common is that they will really teach you how to cook, while advocating not to waste anything. Recipes, like on my blog, will be for 2 people (cause who wants to divide everything by 3, 4 or even 6 while busy in the kitchen?), and tips for gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan alternatives will be provided. See these books as if I am cooking with you in the kitchen.
Help me get these books created!
To help me getting these books realized, I would love to be introduced to agents, editors, food photographers and publishers. To help me visually support the food for thought I want to offer in the creative cook book, I am also looking for an illustrator and layout expert. Or if you’re more into recipe testing, proof reading my English or simply want to write me a word of encouragement, my email is: blog [@] edithdourleijn.com (without the spaces).
* Two books for now! I have more ideas and plans, but LAZY and the creative cook book are closest to my heart.