Write a Cookbook

49 Comments
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Right after my daughter got married I did something that I’m very happy I did. I wrote a cookbook for her. Not just because she was married, or because she’d reached a certain age. It’s just that as she got older and busier, we didn’t really cook together much anymore, and I had so much I wanted to share.

You see, I’m pretty much 99% self-taught, so I learned the hard way how to cook. I had no Grandma in the kitchen with me showing me the ropes. Which is fine, but that’s what I mean about learning the hard way. I read recipes, and cooked. And I made mistakes.

When I made the decision to write the cookbook, I purchased metal-ring binder kind of book. It came with dividers, and pages I put through my printer for the recipes. I also used plastic-lined blank pages, so there was lots of room to include pictures, drawings, and for personal notes.

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A lot of the pictures I glued were pages I’d saved from Chefs Illustrated – they have the most beautifully illustrated tutorials, like boning a chicken, for example. And I had copies of helpful reference charts, like how long it takes to steam different vegetables, or at what temperature to remove meat from the oven.

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I ended up being so happy with my “cookbook” that I made a duplicate for my younger daughter, and gave both girls the cookbooks at Christmas.

Although I rarely cook the same thing twice, I still do have my favorite recipes, and these are the most common ones in the cookbook. My Favorite Barbecue Sauce, for example. Or a recipe for White Sauce. I remember thinking once that only chefs in fancy restaurants could make white sauce. How silly is that?!!!

My older daughter, who cooks often, has told me that she has referenced my cookbook quite often over the last few years. I remember once she did for cleaning shrimp, once for trimming asparagus, and once for cleaning leeks. This is the sort of basic instruction that is absent in most cookbooks, unless they are specifically for beginner cooks. (Of course now, there’s You Tube!)

I especially love that both of my daughters cook beans. They’re both on a budget, being young working women, but they figured out how easy it is to cook a dollar’s worth of dried beans and make spectacular soups. I know adults who have never cooked beans from scratch! And, I credit my cookbook for encouraging this, because I simply showed how easy it is. It’s easier for young people to jump into cooking without any pre-conceived notions as to how difficult some of it might be. And honestly, as we all know, home cooking is quite straight forward and easy.

So I’m not writing this post to pat myself on my head. This is not a cookbook that I will be sharing with anyone else. I designed it just for my daughters, who both enjoy cooking and eating, so that they might not learn some things the hard way. A kitchen should not be intimidating, and cooking shouldn’t be stressful.

But I wanted to pass this idea along to any of you who hadn’t thought about it, so you can gift your children a cookbook from your heart and soul. Even if yours are young, it’s something you can plan for the future, gathering tidbits here and there, maybe keeping track of the meal you made on every birthday and a photo to go along with them. Plan ahead – they grow up fast!

But I do know one thing. They will treasure it always.

49 thoughts on “Write a Cookbook”

  3. Mimi, what a lovely thing to do for your daughters. I have a file of recipes collected over many years but haven’t made a copy for my kids. I gave them each a copy of Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course when they went to university on the basis that she would answer any cookery query they had. Last year I gave them each a copy of MORO EAST … I cook from it so much it’s almost like coming home for them!

      • There are three! MORO THE COOKBOOK, MORO EAST and CASA MORO. They’re all brilliant but my favourite – or most used – is MORO EAST. But MORO THE COOKBOOK isn’t far behind and we use as family lots of its marinades when barbecuing and their kofta recipe. CASA is newer to me so less used and known. Samuel Clark gave it to me to make up the 3 when I interviewed him, which was one of my most exciting blog experiences.

      • oh my! I just knew about two of them. I must not have been following you when you did this interview. I will look into it! Thanks so much for responding!!!

  4. What a lovely post Mimi. I don’t have any kids, but I’ve wanted to write a cookbook for so long. The idea of showing the next generation how easy cooking really is, is absolutely essential here. I think cooking becomes easy once you understand 3 things: 1) You have to take your time, 2) you have to keep the ned in mind (ie who you’re cooking for and how happy your dish will make them feel, and 3) that if you mess up the recipe, you just have to add water and it will make a great soup :)

  7. Aw Mimi, what a beautiful (not to mention practical!) idea! What a lovely mother you are. I started my food blog for much the same reasons (i.e. favourite home meals) but of course it pales totally in comparison with a real, physical, material, cookery book from Ma. I’m a material girl …

  14. They will absolutely treasure it forever! I phone my Mom at least twice a week at the same time to ask her a “dinner question”. I think she looks forward to the ritual of me calling, plus there isn’t anything as comforting as “Moms food”… Cheers to being a sweet Mama! Your kids are lucky..:0)

  17. what a lovely idea! to capture your recipes for generations to come. I believe we should all think along those lines….your daughters & their partners to be are very lucky, you are very lucky to have them as inspiration, & we are very lucky that you shared your idea with us…

  20. You’re entitled to pat yourself on the head. Sometimes people don’t realise till it’s too late that there’s some family history in them there recipes.
    I don’t have a grandma either, but I sat down at my mother’s kitchen and took notes. She’s the sort of person who tosses in a bit of this and a bit of that and doesn’t know about measurements. So, that part of it I had to work out for myself plus I watched her make some of the dishes. She doesn’t cook much any more.
    I am saving mum’s recipes for my granddaughters. The nine year old wants to cook or bake something whenever she comes (from interstate to visit). She cracked her first egg (to make ‘googie’ egg) when she was four.
    Good job, chef Mimi. :)

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