Making Food

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Tuesday News Flash: Barbara Kay and Cynthia Balevre are the winners from yesterday’s post! Check your inboxes, ladies, and congratulations.

Edith here, north of Boston, where the flower garden is mulched and the vegetable
garden planted, at last. To celebrate, I’m giving away an ARC of Murder Most Fowl AND one of Grilled for Murder to two comm2011-05-02 18.50.31enters (one book each) today!

As you must know by now, I write two contemporary cozy series that involve a lot of food. Cam Flaherty grows it in the Local Foods Mysteries and Robbie Jordan cooks and serves it in the Country Story series. The books include recipes, of course (and the latest two books come out on the same day next week!).

Right now I’m tweaking the recipes for Mulch Ado About Murder, the fifth Local Foods book, and I thought I’d share how I come up with my recipes. I love cooking, and I’d like to say I come up with new dishes out of thin air – but I don’t, usually.

For example, in Mulch, which takes place at the end of May, Cam and her visiting parents eat dinner at the real Throwback Brewery in Hampton, New Hampshire,  not too far from where I live. We’ve eaten there a couple of times, and in the summer they have tables and chairs outside on the patio. Cam orders the kale and couscous salad I had there, so I thought I’d have to make up a recipe for it. Instead, I emailed one of the two women who own the IMG_3224place and asked Nicole Carrier if the cook would share the recipe for my book, assuring her that no one dies from eating it or gets murdered at the brewery. I could almost hear the laugh in Nicole’s reply. She was happy to share, but didn’t have an exact recipe. Instead she just listed the ingredients for me. I said I could work with that, and did!

Jake Ericsson, the volatile chef/boyfriend from the first couple of books, makes a reappearance in Mulch. Cam takes her parents to his restaurant, The Market, and Jake brings them desserts on the house, including his special Swedish cheesecake, Ostkaka. For that I went to Google, and then tweaked the recipe until I came up with a version I liked.

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Because locavores are such a big part of the Local Foods books, I try to have most of the recipes feature ingredients that are available locally. The latest book, Murder Most Fowl, takes place in March. Ugh – local produce in March in New England? But Cam and her friend Lucinda visit an Irish pub for Saint Patrick’s Day and have Irish Beef Stew with Stout. Half the ingredients – potatoes, carrots, onions – could have been stored from last fall’s crop, so that works, and the beef she could get from a local farm, too.

Irish Beef Stew with Stout

In the Country Store Mysteries, the recipes in the books are usually breakfast and lunch items, because that’s what Robbie serves. It’s been fun to come up with dishes like apple-spice muffins, a colorful cole slaw (recipe in Grilled for Murder), and turkey sliders on homemade buns with a special sauce.

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The cole slaw recipe I adapted from one my Quaker friend Bill Castle makes for the Salvation Army dinner we Friends put on every summer. I didn’t think cole slaw for a hundred would be that popular in a cozy mystery, so I cut it way, way down. Still yummy.

Coleslaw

When I learned that a friend from grad school (whom I haven’t seen in decades) is now the Original Grit Girl, who grinds corn every week into grits, polenta, and cornmeal, I had to order some. And when I made the Creamy Grits with Cheese on the grits bag, I knew I wanted Robbie to serve it. Luckily Georgeanne Ross gave me her permission to use the recipe in book three, When the Grits Hit the Fan. Mmmm.

CheesyGrits

Biscuits and gravy are big in southern Indiana, but Robbie also offers a vegetarian gravy option. I tapped my sister Janet, a vegetarian since college long ago, for her thoughts on that. She worked for several years as a cook at a Vipassana retreat center, Insight Meditation Society, out in western Massachusetts. Their miso gravy is delicious!

And then there are the failures. My Quaker Midwife Mysteries don’t include recipes, but when Delivering the Truth came out, I appeared on a bunch of blogs and wanted to share a few 1888-era recipes. I found a reference to a recipe for small sweet buns called Sally Lunns in the Woman’s Exchange Cookbook from the late nineteenth century.

SallyLunnKingArthur

It called for sourdough starter, which I have. A picture (above) from the King Arthur Flour site shows pretty puffy rolls. Mine? Flat and eggy and just awful. I did not use that recipe in a blog post (and I’m not showing you the picture, either…).Grilled for Murder

Murder Most FowlSo readers, where do you get your recipes? Do you adapt and tweak, or follow the instructions to the letter? What’s your favorite breakfast or lunch dish? Remember, I’m giving away an ARC of each of my two new books to commenters!

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Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

122 Thoughts

  1. The first time I make a new recipe I follow it to the letter but then if the recipe is something we want to eat again I tweak it a bit here and there – many times it’s to use more garlic!

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  2. That stew looks divine, and it’s 6;30 in the morning! I am a purist about grits, but I love cole slaw. As for the failures, cooking is like writing. Not every effort will work, but you either try it or stagnate.

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      1. I mean that’s how *I* like them–salt and butter only. Others are welcome to add whatever abominations they wish! [insert wink here] You didn’t ask, but I love polenta with Parmesan. So wonderful on a cold evening.

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  3. I get my recipes from all over. I have some of my Mom’s, some from friends, the internet, and my collection of cookbooks. I usually follow it the first time and then who knows what I will do. Recently I wanted to make one of my Dad’s favorite my mom had made every holiday. I could not find apricot jello and used peach. It turned our great.

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  4. I get my recipes from cookbooks, and I always follow them, unless I add a pinch of extra sugar, or extra vanilla ( my grandma did this too). For breakfast and lunch dishes, I love everything! 🙂

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  5. Those pictures are gorgeous! I don’t do much cooking any more: just me and the cat and the budget stretches further when my main meal is at the local senior center (whose budget is partially based on how many people show up for lunch), but I enjoy reading the recipes at the end of your books. If I win the ARC I promise to read it swiftly and get the review up ASAP.

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  6. I get recipes from my mom, who got them from her mom. I also go to pinterest and Facebook to get them. I try a lot from books. I do tweak them to my taste. I’m not a huge garlic fan, so if it calls for a lot of garlic, I use much much less. Thank you for the chance.

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  7. Love recipe books, and get a lot of inspiration from them. I usually look for a local charity cookbook when I go on vacation – contributors usually put their very best dish in them and local ingredients, so they are a lot of fun. My best cookbook is a first edition copy of Isabella Beaton “Book of Household Management,” that I bought from a book seller on Portobello Road when I lived in London. Fascinating reading – lots of interesting foods and menus for multi-course dinners, as well as chapters on legal matters, managing household staff, and feeding invalids.

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    2. Love Mrs. Beeton! Our family cookbook. She was an enterprising young woman. She included recipes for boot polish and concoctions for getting stains out of clothes.

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  8. Before I moved to America I managed my fear by obsessively copying down all the family recipes at our Welsh farmhouse table. Measurements were in pounds and ounces. In Ohio foods were different and interesting, but I couldn’t get ingredients for most of my recipes and the flour had such a different gluten content that my sponge cakes wouldn’t rise and rolls would not work. I adapted, was given a set of measuring cups, learned to make dumplings without suet — and when I visited the UK four years later found out that my old recipes were obsolete there too, as everything had become measured and sold in grams and litres! Allrecipes.com is now my go-to cookbook, but I also make up recipes from whatever’s fresh and to hand.

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    1. Interesting, Maggie. I had that experience when I was an exchange student in Brazil many decades ago. I tried to make a few recipes from home but they tasted different – different flour, different milk, and so on.

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    2. I have a book of my grandmother’s recipes from here in America. They range from her mother’s mother’s German recipes to 1950s recipes made with Campbell’s soup.

      I make a lot of the older ones. I just have to remind myself that produce now is much bigger (cabbages, onions, turnips) and cookie sheets and pans much thicker. Also, you can’t get some of those brands of Campbell’s soup anymore!

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  9. My favorite recipes are those I inherited from my grandmother. When I make her chicken soup with matza balls, the whole family feels like we are going back in time.

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  11. I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, except maybe in some baking. A lot of times I don’t use a recipe at all–I just wing it using whatever I have on hand. I have one cookbook that I like a lot from the Pennsylvania Grange (I’m not even sure what a Grange is!). Many look like they’ve been handed down for a few generations. It’s fun to read them, if nothing else.

    Few of the recipes I’ve used (or will be using) in my books are ones I invented. But I did tweak most of them.

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  12. I kinda-sorta-maybe follow recipes! I’ve been Vegan for 4 years… I was a lacto/ovo vegetarian for 32 years & had to learn to adapt/change recipes YEARS ago. I love playing around with with my food, lol!

    It really stank for years going out to a restaurant and either getting steamed veggies over rice, a salad or people assuming vegetarians eat fish- which they do NOT (fish is still the flesh of a living being).

    My family is a mix of ‘vores’…5 of us are Vegan/Vegetarian (herbivore) and the other 5 are Omnivore. We work things pretty well in our house. There are many vegan dishes that all of us enjoy (sloppy joes, tacos, spaghetti, soup, stews & a plethora of sides). My favorite is my hubby’s Breakfast Scramble (tofu, potato, mushroom, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato and curry spices) served on a multi grain english muffin slathered with vegan cream cheese! Serve it with freshly sliced compari tomatos and it is a go!

    Robbie is my favorite character… it MIGHT have something to do with her ‘living’ in my Hoosier State in an area I’m very familiar with 🙂 Thanks for writing terrific stories!

    Cheers-
    Kelly Braun
    Gaelicark@yahoo.com

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  13. I love to read cookbooks almost as much as reading mysteries! I usually follow the recipe the first time, but will substitue ingredients if it calls for something that I don’t like. When I bake I follow the recipe to the letter.

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  14. I understand not following a recipe to the letter. I fell like I have not added my cache when I follow someone else’s path. I generally read a few recipes for the same type of dish and then use the elements I like. I am starting to realize that i am only one tweaker among many!

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  15. I have been getting new recipes online lately. My son jokes that I am trying to poison him with each new recipe. I follow the recipes the first time I cook it.

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  17. I get recipes from all over. I collect vintage cookbooks and have found a lot from them. I like Pinterest and I always get some from friends too. I normally tweak a recipe if I don’t like an ingredient or I don’t have it and don’t want to go to the store. One of my favorite breakfast foods is omelette’s especially this time of year with fresh veggies and herbs out of my garden.

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  18. I will confess, I love to read mysteries with recipes in them but I hate to cook! For some reason I love to read the recipes too though. Lol!

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  19. I tweak recipes and use old family recipes. I usually make things up as I go. I have one that my kids always called Momma’s Special because it changed with what I had on hand and added to it. It always had hamburger and some kind of pasta but went by the seat of the pants after that. My favorite lunch is simple take a hotdogs cook it split in half add mashed potatoes on top and cheese on top of the potatoes and broil till cheese is melted. Breakfast is a egg, sausage, potatoes and cheese burrito.

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  21. Most of the time I am a seat of my pants cook! I know what I am wanting, assemble the basic ingredients and go for it. I do this for entrees and side dishes. If I am doing a dessert, I usually follow a recipe but add or substitute ingredients like flavors or fillings.

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  22. That kale and couscous salad sounds delish – and perfect for summer dinner! I find most of my recipes online and save them to my Pinterest. And I have some cookbooks as well. I will tweak recipes to suit my family’s preferences, usually adding veggies of some kind if it’s a dinner recipe. My favorite recipe is pancakes – I love when my guy makes us pancakes for breakfast.

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  23. Oh you must have fun discovering and tweaking new recipes — so nice if you to share them with your readers. I am not a natural at cooking so I tend to follow recipes pretty closely– tweaking only when I feel confident. Thank you for this great giveaway opportunity !

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  24. I collect recipe books. I have some that go back to the 1950’s. I watch a lot of cooking shows on tv and play with them to get something more interesting. Our home is kosher so the first change in any recipe is to replace pork with veal. They cook pretty much the same way. For sea food I can now get kosher fake shrimp and also fake crab and lobster bits.

    I’ve cooked for friends who wanted to host small dinner parties also.

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  25. I get recipes wherever I can. My favorite cozies are those with recipes. But get cookbooks cooking magazines and from facebook.

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  26. I get recipes from everywhere – family, pinterest, food network, cookbooks. I do love leafing through cookbooks. I generally follow recipes exactly for baked goods, except adding more vanilla. Savories are more flexible. Thanks for the chance to win.

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  28. I find my recipes mostly on Facebook or on the internet. I am definitely a tweaker, which usually works out fine, unless you are using a bread machine where I learned that you must follow the directions and measurements EXACTLY–my tweaked banana bread ended up overflowing from the machine and it took forever to clean it out of all the various bread machine parts. I love having oatmeal pancakes for breakfast, but would never turn down grits — especially cheese grits!

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  29. For recipes I’m a pinterest/word of mouth girl. We have too picky of a house to buy a recipe book and think I’ll use enough of them to make it work while. I used to follow instructions to a T but now that I’ve got a few years of cooking under my belt I understand that I don’t have to be so rigid. Usually the first time I’ll follow the recipe with occasional substitutions for flavors we like and after that it’s totally up in the air. ha! 🙂 We have a sausage alfredo that I make and have deemed it my secret because everyone loves it soooo much! It’s not often I find a recipe that makes everyone in the house happy.

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  30. I rarely cook, but when I do, I follow the recipe to the letter. I don’t know enough to tweak a recipe.

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  31. Out here in the Pacific NW, I was happily awakened yesterday with a rainy a Sunday morning. So as I am retired and on my own time it was the Sunday Paper, a orange cranberry scone and hickory smoked bacon with coffee. Does not get much better then that 🙂

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  32. My favorite recipes are ones handed down from my mother. In winter I love to make a big pot of vegetable beef soup. I learned to make it by helping my mom on cold Saturday mornings. No real recipe and no measuring, just a little of this and that thrown together and simmered all morning (Nowadays I use my slow cooker. Put things together the evening before and plug it in early in the morning). Mom learned to make it from her mother, and my grandmother learned it from her mother, and on down the family line). My favorite lunch is meatloaf left over from the night before and sliced up cold and used for a sandwich. A friend of mine says that meatloaf sandwiches are proof that God exists. I agree. Can’t wait to read “Murder Most Fowl”. Love the cover.

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  33. My cooking style is along the lines of ‘what’s in the fridge and pantry’ and ‘what can I do to make something interesting’? My husband’s usual comment when something turns out particularly well is ‘I guess we won’t be seeing this ever again, will we?’. In our early years, we had very little money so I did a lot of things to stretch whatever we had but taste was always important so he’s used to my concoctions. There were, however, two times when what I concocted was offered to the dogs …. who also declined.

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  34. I’ve been collecting recipes and cookbooks since I was a little girl. I inherited my grandmothers and mothers collections when they both passed away , so I have amassed quite a collection !

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  35. At 81 I remember my mom standing me on a wooden box to watch her cook , she was the best pastry baker ever too. My MIL, born in Scotland , baked the most wonderful cookies and candy . Ihave 2 recipe boxes full of hand written recipe cards that I love to look at but out dated. I’ve added bits and pieces from so many changes in my life.I live in an area with small farms and many Farmers Markets and my small town has a market with grass grown beef and lamb so tend to cook seasonally now. Flexible.

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  37. Love the garden and all the recipes! I used to put my favorite recipes from my Mom on a cupboard door, inside, and when we moved we forgot to get the page from the cabinet and I’ve lost Mom’s best ones. I’m still trying to get them rounded up again as she was already gone when that happened. The one I miss the most is her recipe for Cole slaw sauce, nothing seems to match it.

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  38. I have to say that I am not much of a cook! When I do use a recipe, I follow every direction! I would love to win your books! Reading is actually what I do best!!

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  39. Thank you for an interesting blog today Edith! That stew looks absolutely delish! I like to bake more than I like cooking, but, when I get a new recipe, I usually tweak it. Sometimes I have to cut it down to serve just two people if I know I can’t freeze the leftovers. Other times, I have to spice it up for the dear hub who has to have a little “fire” in his food. Thanks for the chance to win. I love, love, love your Country Store debut book! sxygrndma48{at}yahoo{dot}com

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  42. Hi! I get my recipes anywhere… Cookbooks, friends, internet… Make them up. I definitely tweak them. I’m very fussy, but I’m learning to try new things. So excited about the books! Thanks for the opportunities!!

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  43. Reading in Trader Joe’s parking lot. What have you done, Edith? Now, I’m STARVING!
    My recipes are catch as catch can – from friends, family, old cookbooks. I’m a decent cook, but not a great one, as you obviously are. Truth is that at the end of the day, except for keeping my husband happy with a full meal, I would be happy with a good piece of cheese, a crisp apple and a glass of wine. M.

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  44. Reading in Trader Joe’s parking lot. What have you done, Edith? Now, I’m STARVING!
    My recipes are catch as catch can – from friends, family, old cookbooks. I’m a decent cook, but not a great one, as you obviously are. Truth is that at the end of the day, except for keeping my husband happy with a full meal, I would be happy with a good piece of cheese, a crisp apple and a glass of wine. M.

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  45. Good afternoon! I love a good cozy, when it has recipes it’s a huge bonus. I start with a basic recipe and substitute this for that… I never write it down though which is a bummer because they usually end up being pretty good! When people ask for the recipe I just shrug and tell them I’m not totally sure. It probably looks like I just want to keep it to myself.
    Anyway, thank you for the opportunity to win and I can’t wait to try some of these recipes!!

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  46. Pictures on that post made me hungry! I usually ending up substituting on a recipe either because I don’t have all the ingredients or don’t like something that was used. I get ideas from all over – books, magazines, internet, or just make something up. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes even the dog won’t eat it. I love your books & look forward to chance to win.

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  47. Well first I never, ever follow a recipe to the letter and that has only failed me a few times. I am signed up for so many different cooking emails I get a lot of them from there. Also from my favorite authors in their books or blogs. I have way more recipes than I will ever attempt to make. I dont really cook that often so I have no reason to have over 1000 recipe emails, but I do, lol.

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  48. I get recipes from cookbooks, Pinterest, blogs, from friends, etc. I can follow a recipe but I am not really confident enough to do any improvising. I love cranberry-orange or lemon-poppy seed muffins for breakfast. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  49. I usually follow recipe first time and adapt after that. I got hooked on culinary cozy mysteries for the added recipes. Diane Mott Davidson, her Cozy The Main Corpse, was my first. Read it on a camping trip and rushed home and made every recipe in the book. Stopped at a book store on way home from camping and bought all her earlier books. I love a Chicken Salad for lunch from an article in Bon Appetite from years ago( in 1070’s) and Danish pastries for breakfast from Vincent Prices cookbook. I’m OLD!!!!! Lol
    Oneponychick66@hotmail.com

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  50. A lot of my recipes come out of my head when I check out the refrigerator and pantry. Kinda like “Chopped.”

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