The Road to Becoming a Yankee Chef?

At work I came across two cookbooks I felt I needed to get. The first is Favorite New England Recipes, compiled by Yankee Magazine's "Lady Editors" and it's original publication date was 1972, though the version I got was from 1990. (Still..can you believe that was 21 years ago?) I thought to myself that it was perfect for me and for this blog! The recipes seem to be characterized by simplicity, with very few ingredients. Often quite contrary to any deeply flavored Southern dish.

There is quite a variety of recipes from "Jellied Chicken Pate" (You can bet I will NOT be making this) to "Yankee Chicken Hash" and "Fried Cucumbers" (hmm...) to "Yankee Christmas Pudding" and a LOT more. This cookbook is PACKED with interesting recipes. Many of them are fish-centric and use mostly ingredients able to be grown in the north (Excluding spices). I think this is great.

When I first moved to New England I had never had, or had an interest in tasting New England Clam Chowder. When I went to a dinner at Silo's Steak House (RIP) in Merrimack, NH and was served Clam Chowder as an appetizer (Set menu..I didn't choose it) ... Well, I was blown away. It was amazing. Creamy and flavorful, with perfectly cooked clams (which I am starting to appreciate...at least when they are in other things or deep fried). Since then I've been a connoisseur of New England Clam Chowder and have tried it at many restaurants. There are two types of NECC, one of which I like and the other I find gross. There is the thick NECC... that's the worst. It's the kind you get at chain restaurants and out of a can. It's not fresh. It's full of potato chunks and overcooked clam. The kind I do love is thin, creamy and all of the ingredients are fresh and the clams are perfectly cooked. No one element is predominant the flavors are a perfect harmony. This is the kind of NECC I am dying to learn to make. To be honest, I haven't even attempted to make NECC...because I am afraid of what I will do to it. I want a tried and true and perfect recipe. I have a feeling I will have to experiment in the end, though.

The other cookbook I got was The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook. The thing I like most about this one is that every single recipe has a picture. A lot of times I'm flipping through cookbooks and I see a recipe and think "That COULD be good...I wonder what it looks like." Most of the time I'm about 75% more willing to try a recipe at random (meaning I'm not looking for a recipe for that particular dish) if it has a picture.

I've already seen some dishes in this book that I really want to make. I have read a few reviews that the recipes can be bland, though. Luckily I've got a pantry of Penzeys Spices to supplement if needed. For anyone who is not familiar with their spices I highly recommend them. Their best are their "blends" that can bump a dish to the next notch with almost no effort. I'd strongly recommend the Bicentennial Rub for rotisserie chicken, and Pork Chop Seasoning for delicious pork chops with no effort. And of course they have GREAT flake sea salt for cheap.

I've been pretty busy at work and without a lot of time to cook. Earlier in the week I made some portabella mushroom and guacamole sandwiches that turned out well, and a couple of meals we make when we don't have the energy to cook, such as angel hair and spaghetti with turkey kielbasa, or shake and bake chicken wings. Hopefully soon I'll have time to do some exploratory cooking.