The Lazy Genius Podcast - #73: The Lazy Genius Buys a Cookbook

Episode Date: September 3, 2018

Tired of buying a cookbook then never cracking it open? We’re talking about why that may be and how to fix it on this week’s episode. I also offer a fail-proof method of picking out a cookbook that will serve you and your family for years to come. Stuff Mentioned: How to Know if a Recipe Is Any Good Don’t miss My Favorite Cookbooks post that went live today And it’s sister post My Favorite Dessert Cookbooks  Download a transcript of this episode Preorder Shannan Martin’s new book The Ministry of Ordinary Places here. Her previous book Falling Free changed my life, and I will forever recommend her beautiful words. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi friends. You're listening to The Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. You're listening to Episode 73. The Lazy Genius chooses a cookbook. Okay, so if you walk through a bookstore lately, there are a million cookbooks that are calling your name. Such pretty covers and pictures and promises of easy dinners. And just put away my wallet when I enter the cookbook section on Amazon, y'all. It's a pretty cover. And is such a problem. I love the cookbooks and you probably do too. They hold such hope. Don't be? Maybe this one will have that perfect recipe I've been waiting for. Maybe this one will make my kids eat spinach. Maybe this one will get dinner on the table in 15 minutes. We hope for a solution. Plus, you like me might actually like reading cookbooks because it's fun. They're so pretty. It gives us great ideas, even if you never make the food. I am all for having a cookbook collection. But if you're not careful, that collection will become an albatross on your back. You will be overwhelmed by all the choices and all the cookbooks, not to mention the actual

internet if you decide to head to Google or Pinterest. It's just too much. So in today's episode, we're going to create a strategy for how to choose a cookbook. And the next time you go to Barnes and Noble and walk through those aisles of beautiful hardbacks and there are siren songs of deliciousness, you'll be better equipped to make a choice. To buy a cookbook that you'll actually use. In my in my best infomercial voice, I will say that you too can have a collection of cookbooks that do what you want them to do, a collection of cookbooks that you love, all for three easy payments. 2995. I'm kidding. So let's just learn how to choose a cookbook. First though, can I tell you about a different kind of book that I hope you read? My friend Shannon Martin, formerly known as

Flower Patch Farm Girl, you might know her is that. She would love the fact that we're talking about cookbooks because she loves to cook and is quite good at it. But she's not just a home cook who likes to make salsa and pie. She is one of the most beautiful writers I have ever encountered with an equally beautiful soul. Shannon is about to release her second book called The Ministry of Ordinary Places. And I would love for you to go and pre-order yourself a copy. I'll put a link in the show notes to make it easy, but Shannon writes words you didn't know you needed to hear. In the Ministry of Ordinary Places, which can we just pause for a second to say how great a title that is? Oh, my gosh.

She encourages you and me to encounter and receive the love in our own homes, neighborhoods, and ordinary spots in our everyday lives. I have never met anybody as in love with her neighbors and neighborhood as Shannon. But her enthusiasm, it doesn't make us feel guilty. And it's not even that she's some crazy extroverted person who doesn't feel weird introducing herself to strangers. It's weird for her too. But in this book, she helps us see the beauty in what's right next door or across the street or on the walk to school. This book is destined to change my life like her first one did. That's called Falling Free, by the way, and it's beautiful. And if you want

to read truly some of the most like beautifully constructed sentences about the most ordinary things you will ever encounter, please go pre-order the Ministry of Ordinary Places. And as a pre-order This is so fantastic. You actually get a wall calendar of photos of her neighborhood and her own ordinary places. Pretty serious. So again, I will put a link in the show notes, but it is my absolute honor to point you in the direction of this book. And I can't wait for you to read it. Okay, let's talk cookbooks.

The first question to ask yourself when you're picking up a cookbook is, what do you want it to do for you? I'll say it again. What do you want your cookbook to do for you? How is it going to serve you? Here are some possible answers. You might want doable dinners you'll actually make and your people will actually eat. That's one. Or two, you want a book that's inspirational that's full of unusual ingredients and combinations and techniques.

Three, you might want a book that is beautiful to look at with just great writing and great stories attached to the recipes. Or four, you might want a book that teaching. you. You want to learn how to cook better, how to recognize patterns and flavors and techniques, how to actually become a better cook. And there are many more answers than that. But here's the problem. A lot of times, we want a cookbook for one purpose, but we buy for another. For example, you really want a cookbook that's going to give you lots of recipes you like to make and your family will love. Those are recipes that I call brainless crowd pleasers, meals that you can make without thinking and everyone pretty much loves them. But then you're in the bookstore and then you see a

beautiful book with a stunning woman on the cover. Lots of white light and beautiful food with a title simply keto. You think to yourself, man, maybe keto. Maybe we should do keto. Everybody's doing keto. And she seems pretty happy and like her pants aren't too tight. Maybe I should do this. And then you open it. You pick it up and you open it and you see stunning photos of stunning food and you think, wow, she makes that bacon, avocado omelet thing look amazing. I mean, I know my kids don't really do eggs, but maybe they do this. That's so pretty. You've done that, right? I've done that. I call these idealistic cookbooks. I have psyched myself into buying more than one for sure. I forget what I'm actually looking for. Easy family-friendly meals, for example. And then

I buy something about power foods or fresh ingredients or a book that is completely salad. I'm the only one in my house who likes to eat salad. And even then it's not that much. Now, do I, here's the catch. Do I want to be the kind of person who eats a lot of salad? Do I want to be the kind of mother who has children who like to eat salad? Maybe yes. Maybe I do. So I buy the seemingly perfect salad cookbook thinking that it will make me and my family become an idealistic salad eating family. But it won't. A cookbook is not going to fix anything. I will say that again. A cookbook is not going to fix anything. Now sure, some are like majorly helpful with great recipes and they offer you what you're looking for. But you have to know what

you're looking for and be okay leaving behind the rest, leaving behind the ideal. I don't, I don't particularly love the fact that a cookbook that makes the most sense for my family right now is basically 20 different ways to eat pasta. But it works. It works better than a book of Marcus Samuelson's favorite recipes. If you don't know, Marcus Samuelson, he is a professional chef. You might have seen him as a judge on Chopped or Top Chef or any number of other food TV shows, but he is a professional, a literal professional who has access to tons of ingredients and experience and knowledge and all the things.

even though the cookbook that I currently have sitting on my cookbook shelf is titled Marcus off-duty recipes I make at home, that doesn't mean I'm going to make them in my home. And guess what? That book has been on my shelf for over a year. And have I ever made anything from it? No. Do I wish I had? I mean, yeah.

But those are two different things. We cook every day. We have to eat multiple times a day. There are definitely occasions to try new things and experience. experiment and push past your usual way of making dinner. But jumping from spaghetti Mondays to charred calamari with tomato, olive, and orzo salad, which is one of Marcus's recipes in this book, is too big of a jump. I don't cook calamari. No one in my family, including myself, likes olives. And the recipe calls for three different kinds of fresh herbs. I'm lucky if I have one. The recipe seems

like it wouldn't be that big of a deal and indefinitely shouldn't be that big of a deal, right? I mean, it's just food. I should be able to make it. But no, we have to be honest and not feel bad about it. We all cook different things for different reasons and have different palettes to please. But I think we all struggle with idealistic cookbook shopping. So the first step in building a cookbook collection you love is to know what you want a cookbook to do. How is it going to serve you? Idealistic cookbooks just make you feel bad and take up space. it's okay that you don't cook the way other people do. It's okay that your meals are more brown than any other color. Get comfortable there.

Find new ways of cooking within that space. And maybe, who knows? Eventually you might try a calamari recipe on a Wednesday night. But that's not the goal. The goal is to enjoy making and eating dinner tonight. Not next year. Not when your kids are out of the house. Not when you have that dinner party you've been talking about throwing for three years

but haven't gotten around to it yet. If idealistic cookbooks are a problem, so are idealistic dinners. If you sit in the space of like dinner future and long for a different way, it'll make you so discontent with where you are right now. Don't try and survive regular daily dinner because it feels hard. Because yeah, it is hard. It is hard to make food with tiny hands around and tiny questions and tiny blocks of time, but don't make it harder by buying cookbooks that aren't serving you in this time. Don't make it harder by longing for dinners that happen once in a blue moon. Just don't do it. Let it go. Want to go electric without sacrificing fun? That's the Volkswagen ID4. All electric and thoughtfully designed to elevate your modern lifestyle. The Volkswagen

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And if, for example, you wish that you have to be able to. had kids or you had more friends or you feel sad that you're in a new city and you haven't really met anybody yet. Buying cookbooks about entertaining could make that fester. It's idealistic and you need something to make you excited to cook dinner tonight. And that's not saying that you shouldn't be excited about making new friends or that you're not allowed to long for a family or any of that. But if you put all of that negative, seemingly negative energy into something as simple as buying a cookbook, it's just a reminder on your shelf of something that you're never going to reach for because it's something that you feel like is never going to happen.

You didn't know that there was so much emotion possibly tied into buying a cookbook, did you? But this is really the biggest message. Embrace your current cookbook stage of life. And don't feel embarrassed or ashamed or frustrated that you're not a different kind of cook. or living a different kind of life, whatever that might be. Choose what works now so you can enjoy making dinner tonight. Okay, so practically, what kinds of questions can you ask yourself if a cookbook is right for your collection? First thing, flip through it quickly.

Can you spot five recipes that you can make tonight with, like, at most, a quick swing by the store to get a lemon or something random that you don't have? are there five realistic recipes that you can make tonight? If the answer is no, put the book back. Put it back right now. It's just going to take up space. But maybe you're like, Kendra, it's so pretty, and I love pretty cookbooks. Guess what?

Maybe your reason for buying cookbooks and building your collection is to be inspired by their beauty. Maybe you don't care about recipes. Maybe you want to see pretty pictures, and you don't feel bad that you don't cook for them much. That's great. That is leaning into your reason for building your cookbook collection. You want a collection of beautiful cookbooks. If you still feel inspired to make dinner and you don't resent anybody, including the authors of those beautiful cookbooks, for not setting you up better for dinner

success than by all means, buy that book. Be inspired. But only if that's your primary reason for building your collection in the first place. Taking that five recipe idea. though, do you feel your wheels turning several times as you felt the pages? Are you inspired to use that ingredient or set your table that way or serve your pot roast in a cast iron skillet like that picture does? Can you not stop smiling as you stand in the aisle of Barnes & Noble as you flip? If it inspires you about five times, buy the book. The cookbook should do its job, whatever that job is, multiple times as you flip the pages to get a place in your collection. Otherwise, you will never reach for it. You just won't. And that's really the process, you guys. Those two steps.

Know what you want a cook to do in your regular life. How's it going to serve you? And then make sure that cookbook does it a handful of times as you flip the pages. And if it doesn't, it's not for you. Not right now. So find one that is. Now, I want to tell you about a couple of resources that you're going to find in the show notes for this week. One is from the lazy genius library, which is just a fancy name from my blog called How to Know If a Recipe is Any Good. It is pretty detailed. I can give you the highlights here really quickly and you can take that knowledge into your cookbook searches. If the recipes don't meet these requirements, they're probably not going to be cray recipes. So here's the gist, but definitely go read the whole thing through the link in the show notes to get

like the full understanding. A good recipe comes down to three things. Flavor, salt, and heat. flavor is how things taste, obviously, and you want ingredients whose flavors go together and complement each other. And that kind of takes practice, like knowing what things do go together. The next thing, though, is salt. You have to have salt, guys. Salt doesn't make things taste salty. It makes things taste more like themselves. Salt brings out the true nature of food. So if a recipe is supposed to feed for people, and there's no salt mentioned in the ingredient list, or it says salt to taste or says, you know, do a pinch of salt. Honestly, I'm just going to tell you the truth.

I don't trust that cookbook writer. It sounds harsh, but it is true. Salt is vital. And if a cookbook author doesn't recognize the value of that, I don't know that I can trust their understanding of flavors. I'm just telling you the truth. Salt is so important. Okay, and then the third thing, before you think I'm crazy,

is heat. Heat develops flavor. it creates texture and if heat is mishandled or it's like not even brought into the equation the recipe is just not going to be great it might be fine but it's not going to be great that is why a lot of slow cooker recipes are fine but not awesome because they don't utilize heat there's nothing wrong with alone slow but without some kind of flavor development because of heat a recipe could be missing the mark a little bit so again i give details detailed examples of like how these three components work together in that post, I actually find

recipes from the internet and then dissect whether they're good or not without actually making them, which is like kind of a fun little experiment. So as you develop that skill of just noticing and knowing what to look for in a recipe, you'll have a better idea like not only if a cookbook fits your needs, but if the recipes in it are going to be good. So check the show notes for that and you can start to develop that skill. Another resource that I will put in the show notes is opposed to my favorite cookbooks. There will be two lists, one for baking cookbooks because I love to bake so very much, and some of you do too. But then the other is more like savory dinner recipes. And that list will have both cookbooks and favorite websites I go to. So check for both of those in the show notes.

And again, I build my cookbook collection differently than you might build yours. So just because a cookbook is right for me doesn't mean it's going to be right for you. So be sure you know what's right for you. You have to know what you want your cookbook collection to do, how it's going to serve you. And that is the lazy genius way to buy a cookbook. Know what you need. Recognize if you'll actually use it and then use it. Love using it and love your collection.

No matter how big or small it might be. Small but mighty is way better than like shelves and shelves of dust collectors. So know what you need. Not so much what you want in an ideal world or in like dinner future. and then make sure that the cookbook will deliver on your need several times. It's not rocket science, but we don't always do the simple thing. We make things more complicated than they need to be, which is why we're talking about this now. Everything you need will be in the show notes, which you can access in most podcatcher apps,

like the show notes are actually in your app where the episode is. Or you can head to the LaceyChemescollective.com slash lazy slash cookbook. to get all the links that you need. And that's also where you can pre-order the ministry of ordinary places. Okay, that is it for today. Thanks for listening. And if you want to share this episode with a friend, that would be amazing. As would a review on Apple Podcasts, if you have a minute to do so.

Reviews make a huge difference, like massive in people being able to find the show. A recent review that I loved comes from, CG Whitwer. We're going to go with that. And the review title says, not just for moms, which makes me laugh so hard. Here's what she says.

It is so nice and so encouraging. I'm not exaggerating when I say this podcast has changed my life. Not only do I look at everyday routines in a completely new light, I love my life

in a more genius way with her amazing tips on everything from cooking chicken to gratitude. And by the way, this podcast is not just for moms. I'm a young single woman who lives in a

apartment by myself. Seriously, just give it a listen. Thank you, C.G. Witwer, and all the other 600-some people who have left reviews. Like, it's just such an extreme kindness. When I am feeling like wonky or wondering if what I'm doing is dumb or helpful, I'll sometimes read your podcast reviews, truth. And they seriously give me a boost when I need it. I say that reviews help people find the show, which is super true. But it's also, like, it's kind of selfish because it's really nice for me. So thank you. Thank you to every single one of you who has left to review, who might soon leave a review, who has told friends and sisters and neighbors about the show. I'm so incredibly grateful. And now we're all going to be lazy geniuses about buying cookbooks.

And changing lives, one cookbook at a time. So great. I cannot wait to hang out with you next week in your earbuds. So until then. be a genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don't. See you next time. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves.

Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.