Classic Recipes Flavored by New Cooks
My family has a unique casserole dish created by my maternal grandfather when he worked as a short order cook during the Depression. The recipe consists of hot dogs, tomato sauce, spices, onions, and cheese baked together. My wonderfully humorous grandpa named it King’s Delight, an ironic moniker due to the basic, cheap ingredients. Despite the simplicity of the recipe, the dish is amazingly tasty!
My two siblings and I begged our mom for King’s Delight over any other meal in her repertoire of excellently created dishes (she inherited her father’s culinary skills). We brought the casserole to our families, where it has now trickled down as a favorite to two more generations, becoming a certified Underwood clan classic.
Over the generations the recipe has altered slightly. For instance, I use Hebrew National All-Beef Kosher dogs and Velveeta cheese instead of the cheaper varieties. My mom preferred tomato soup and tomato sauce, while I am a tomato paste kind of gal. I’ve long ago memorized the recipe and never measure anything, thus, each time I make it, the ratio of spices and garlic and cheese will vary, giving the finished King’s Delight a unique taste that is never precisely duplicated. Nevertheless, the basic foundation established by my grandfather remains.
In other words, the classic entrée has the same edible components. They are merely flavored by a different cook’s hand.
This is exactly like writing a story based on a classic novel. Similar to my grandfather some eighty years ago, over two-hundred years ago Jane Austen invented six rich, delicious stories inhabited by a mix of succulent characters. Tales so zesty that two centuries later they continue to fill the hearts of readers with a deep feeling of warmth, satiation, and satisfaction. The connection to how a fine culinary meal makes us feel is obvious.
Reading a beloved novel is akin to a favored dish in that once is rarely enough. We soon hunger to taste an excellent dish again and revisit the delightful sensations evoked, so we return to the restaurant or dig out the recipe. In both instances, our anticipation and preference is for the novel or dish to be exactly the same. We never tire of eating a favored meal or re-reading a beloved novel, the familiarity a major aspect of the joy.
Yet we also know that the same book might connect in a different way throughout our lives or depending upon our mood. Similarly, the same dish might tickle our taste buds differently. In the case of food, slight ingredient changes or cooking techniques can improve the taste (or, to be fair, maybe make it worse).
To sum up, variety IS the spice of life, as the saying goes. Humans instinctively long to have their literary and culinary taste buds stimulated by a new sensation, particularly if reminiscent of the original. This hunger ofttimes ignites a fervor for cuisine with a similar ethnic quality or particular ingredient. Same applies to our taste in reading material. In essence, we relish having more of what tickled our fancy to begin with, but with a unique twist.
I wish our family had that very first recipe of King’s Delight my grandfather whipped up in his cafe. I bet he altered the ingredients just as we did over the decades, meaning that what he cooked for his children and grandchildren probably tasted different from the original. This fact does not mean later incarnations were necessarily better, although they might well be. I personally prefer my rendition to my mom’s, albeit only minimally.
Lucky for us, unlike that long-forgotten first batch of King’s Delight, Austen’s superb classic novels are unchanged and available for everyone to read. Furthermore, no one will claim that any fan-fiction is better.
Taking on the characters of Jane Austen is not a task for the faint of heart. People often erroneously believe we are attempting to improve on the original or that we are somehow messing up the classic by going in a different direction with our stories. If written with integrity, true passion, and respect for the original, nothing could be further from the truth.
Contemporary Austenesque authors mix up the characters, add in unique plot spices, utilize modern techniques and utensils, place everything into a shiny new pot, and serve them to hungry readers. All the while, the cooked masterpiece sitting on the shelf with “Jane Austen” on the spine remains intact.
Perhaps in a hundred years my novels will be in a library section for classic literary Austen-fiction. I girl can dream, right? Even if that happens, I have no doubt the section inhabited by Jane Austen’s novels will be far more prominent and heavily visited. For the present, those of us who write within the genre are content knowing we are contributing to the heritage of Jane Austen in our humble way. I think she would be smiling with pleasure, just as I know my grandfather would flash his mischievous grin if he saw his recipe pleasing his great-great-grandchildren. After he cracked a joke in fractured German, that is.
Sounds delicious! I agree with your post entirely!
Mmmm that looks delicious, and I love the idea that, just as the original recipe is adjusted to people’s tastes so Jane’s novels are adjusted by JAFF authors! I can certainly appreciate that.
We don’t have a family recipe unless you count the lemon drizzle cake that all in our family make? And of course Yorkshire Puddings!