Secret recipes: was, Re: [Sca-cooks] Article: Feasting with Food Allergies

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Nicolas Steenhout wrote:
>
> Adamantius is correct: "secret recipes don't belong in food
> service".  Heck, I defy anyone to follow a recipe I make and come out with
> the same dish I do.  It might be close, but it'll never be the dish I
> made.  Well, you get the meaning, right? :-)  (on a side note, I think that
> people who keep recipes secret are somewhat insecure, and isn't it best to
> expand cooking knowledge rather than keep it close?)

Since I wrote that, I've been thinking why I wrote it, and wondering if
there was a bluster factor involved. I think the social and commercial
responsibilities as a food service professional are fairly obvious,
especially in a thread on food allergies. For the rest, I think you may
have it on the insecurity point. The refusal to share a recipe because
it is "secret" suggests that that recipe gives the cook some kind of
edge over competitors (and we've established that I'm deficient in a
sense of competition unless my loved ones are threatened). However, it
also suggests that the cook's edge is lost by sharing the recipe, which,
if true, suggests he or she may feel they haven't got another great
recipe inside.

It's kind of like keeping the Mona Lisa, once painted, locked in a
closet because you're afraid someone may paint something better, and you
fear you haven't got another painting inside you.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98