Serving Up the Perfect Memory: Recreating Favorite Dishes at Home

Food is the easiest and most enjoyable way in which to activate memory recall. A scent, a flavor and a texture can reposition one in a moment of time as easily as a guest visiting Fantasy Island. It can be tricky however, when one tries to recreate the dish of another. As many people now try to save money by cooking at home, favorite dishes of relatives, friends and restaraunts, full of nostalgia are appearing on their tables. Often people lament that they cannot get the taste exactly as they remember it. I believe that this is due to an incomplete part of that particular culinary story. You see, a good complete story has several important elements:

1. a setting (where and when the food memory occurs)
2. one or more characters (the original cook/s)
3. a particular style (overall flavor of the dish)
4. a structure (ingredients)
5. a plot (recipe directions)

No matter how much you let the plot thicken and bubble, if the rest of the elements are not present the story falls apart. The surest way to recreate the dish from memory is to spend time with the cook who created it. Work with them, listen to any stories they have to share, absorb their personality as they cook and watch carefully how they do everything. Of course this is not always possible whether the cook is no longer with us or if the experience was in regard to a dish presented to you fully prepared, as in a restaurant. So, in these particular situations, sit quietly and remember the experience. I think about what I do remember when I watched the cook in the kitchen; the smells, the atmosphere and whatever else comes to mind. I think of this as a kind of pre-cooking meditation.

I keep a small notebook in my purse at all times and also keep a diary with me whenever I travel. This way I can quickly write down what I am tasting and experiencing. Let me tell you that I have been very successful in my kitchen after doing this.

Recreating food is so much more than the ingredients, it's the personality of the cook and story of that particular culinary experience. Once you've captured all of the elements, you have captured the dish!