Identity Crisis: Back to the Basics

Friends, I have lost my way a little bit.  I have been getting away from my Original Purpose, and I apologize.  Every once in awhile, I get all caught up in the whole “food blogging” thing.  But, I don’t really consider myself a food blogger.  Don’t get me wrong, I read lots of food blogs, and I really enjoy most of them.  The photography is exquisite, the original dishes presented are quite sophisticated, or, if simple and straightforward, at least executed with sophistication.  But I try to be more of a teacher.  I hope that doesn’t sound all Conceited or Big-headed or anything, but my goal is to help other folks understand their ingredients and how they function, to demystify ingredients and techniques.  When I do post a recipe, as for Sunday Suppers, I try to impress upon everyone that the recipe is just a snapshot–just a version of a dish that I chose to make on a particular night.  A recipe, especially for savory food, should serve as more of an inspiration than a blueprint.  And even in the case of pastries, just because a recipe calls for 1/4 tsp cinnamon, there is really no good reason not to use more if you love cinnamon, or to leave it out if you’re not a fan.  Just because someone’s recipe calls for a fruit filling to be thickened with tapioca is no reason to run out to the store to pick up some.  Just use some cornstarch or even some flour.  Yes, the filling might not be as crystal clear as it would be with tapioca, but unless you’re planning on photographing the food instead of eating it, it really shouldn’t matter.

And then, I was reading on twitter the other day about how there are folks who are lifting other folks’ photos from their blogs and using them as if they were their own.  They’re stealing them.  Here’s the post from My New 30.   So then, I got to thinking that I need to come out and make it perfectly clear where my photos come from.  Since I don’t consider myself a food blogger, I don’t always feel the need to make the dish I’m writing about (or a dish that illustrates a technique I’m writing about).  Just as teachers don’t use 100% original materials–they are working from a curriculum–I try to find pictures that best illustrate my posts.  I think I’ve been pretty up front in letting everyone know that I often don’t use my own photos.  If you ever have a question about whether or not a photo is mine, just click on it.  If it’s from flickr and under a Creative Commons license, the click will take you to the photographer’s photostream.  If it’s my picture, it will just take you to where that photo lives on the WordPress.com server.

I feel like I have gotten more than a little Caught Up in the whole Food Blogging craze–wanting to offer recipes with every post.  And I offer them, because as sure as I don’t offer one, someone wants to know the recipe.  My goal with this wee blog is not to feed folks recipes; my goal is to teach people how to cook and bake so they don’t need to rely so heavily on recipes.  It is time to get back to my roots, back to the Business of Teaching.  I’m not saying that I will never offer recipes again, after all, recipes inspire people.  I do want to focus more time on methods and techniques and, as the blog title says, focus on the whys behind the hows.  And even the hows behind the whats.  Like the Chinese proverb says, “Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life.”  Friends, I don’t want to just hand you fish.  You can find all sorts of Fabulous Fish out there on the Hinternet.  I often go out and find fabulous fish myself.  But here, at PMAT, I really want to teach you to fish.  So, get your poles and your nets ready.  You prolly won’t need any worms…

Yes, I’ll still do Sunday Suppers, because Man cannot live by dessert alone, and I’ll still have the occasional Tantrum and post my round up of search terms (because they make me Laugh and Laugh), but I shall be focusing on the Teaching.  You guys up for it?  I’d love to know what you’re really interested in learning.  Please leave a comment and let me know your Burning Pastry Questions–about ingredients, about techniques, about mixing methods–anything, really, and I’ll do my best to answer as completely as I know how.   I’ll start on the Newly Focused PMAT tomorrow.  Thanks for all the amazing support so far.  I really love my corner of the Hinternet, and I hope to be around for a long, long time.