Food has the power to hook a memory and reel it in to the present. Have you ever bitten into a piece of cake only to see a vision of your grandma standing at the kitchen counter hand-mixing a batter? Does a mouthful of buttered mashed potatoes bring to the table your grandpa shaking a hefty amount of black pepper over the white mass?
“. . . I had leftover ingredients from the weekend to work with: a bowl of overripe tomatoes, an onion, some garlic, two lemons, a handful of linguine, a bottle of Chardonnay, and one and a half pounds of squid. The squid was left over from the paella Bill had made Saturday night . . . As the tentacles hung in front of my nose, I murmured, “I’m a heck of a long way from Iowa.” (p. 133-134, Cornfields to Codfish)
This menagerie of recipes has that effect on me. I make some of these dishes often, and there are some that I’ve never made – and probably never will. The latter remain too tightly sewn to another family member’s kitchen.
In parentheses is the title of the essay that the recipe relates back to in my new book, Cornfields to Codfish. I’ve either specifically mentioned these recipes in the essays, or they were inspired by what I wrote.
In some cases, it may be helpful to reread the essay before making the dish. Plus, definitely read through the entire recipe before making it: a useful lesson I learned in home economics class in high school.
Here are a few other potentially helpful notes:
• Iowa’s state bird is the goldfinch. Iowa’s marketing slogan is “Iowa: Fields of Opportunity.” Iowa’s state flower is the wild prairie rose. Iowa’s state oven temperature is 350 degrees.
• In Iowa, a pan is a pan, whether used on top of the stove to make risotto or to bake a cake in the oven. As a friend from Iowa recently pointed out, pot is something people smoke. However, in recent years, I have incorporated stockpot into my kitchen vocabulary. And, of course, Crock-Pots are standard winter cooking vessels.
• I have yet to successfully soften butter in the microwave; I’m capable of only melting butter in that powerful box. Consequently, for recipes calling for softened/room temperature butter, I highly recommend leaving it out on the counter for a few hours or overnight.
Cook with love!
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