Cooking My Way Through ‘The Essential Mormon Cookbook - Types Of Gardening

© Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News Potatoes featured at the Utah Foods Cook-Off at Thanksgiving Point in Lehigh, Saturday, July 25, 2020. The event is a way to celebrate Utah's pioneer heritage and unique food culture.

Where some see comedy in Julie and Julia, I see a challenge.

The film follows the culinary journey of Julie Powell. Powell decided to cook and blog from Julia Child's popular cookbook, Learning the Art of French Cooking. Now, unlike Powell, I'm motivated not to touch a live lobster and can't find a grocery store that offers lamb and goose.

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Instead of mastering the art of French cooking, I embark on a journey a little closer to home;

It's okay for me to be a Latter-day Saint Julie Powell as the resident undertaker.

Julie Badger Jensen is the author of The Essential Mormon Cookbook. She has collected dozens of recipes and says in her book that she started collecting recipes with Loveable Lime Jell-O when she was 8 years old. I was particularly impressed by Jensen's writing style, which is fun for every occasion and passionate about family meals as a tradition.

"People's lives are very busy with all kinds of schedules, but I think eating with family is a great tradition worth keeping," Jensen told the Deseret News in 2004.

With over 200 recipes, I was commissioned. As an eclectic home cook, I struggle to follow recipes exactly, which is what this challenge requires of me. I carefully document my experience in preparing each dish.

The basics of Latter-day Saint cooking are comprehensively presented. Potatoes. cheese butter But there are other flavors. By cooking through cookbooks, I think I learned what Latter-day Saint cooking was like in a more sophisticated way than before.

What I Learned About Latter-day Saint Cooking

Jensen's recipes revealed a lot about what Latter-day Saint cooking really is.

Not surprisingly, many recipes are designed to feed large numbers of people. Latter-day Saints are known for their large families and potluck-style meals. Cooking for a crowd is different in several ways. dishes must be strong enough to withstand adaptation and appeal to a large number of people.

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While that usually means hearty casseroles, Jensen shares other types of recipes, like salads and sandwiches, that can fill multiple plates. The recipes are quite easy to understand. I mean, a novice amateur cook who has never done more than boil water for pasta can pick up a cookbook and learn how to cook delicious meals and comfort the family. .

In a sense, this is a metaphor for Latter-day Saint cooking. shared food Classics like funeral potatoes and jello are a mix of home cooking and eating out. Jensen's featured recipes follow the style and unique twist of mixing canned foods with fresh foods. His cookbook is an excellent handbook for anyone who wants to see the evolution of Latter-day Saint cooking.

And honestly, her cookbook is great for learning to cook for a group of people with different tastes.

My favorite recipe

I have to admit, while I love beef stroganoff, I've been using Hamburger Helper for years. While I can cook some complex dishes at this point, the convenience and texture of the Hamburger Helper appeals to me.

So when I tried Jensen's recipe, I was hoping it could be my go-to hamburger alternative. I already have most of the ingredients except the mushrooms. The way she writes her recipes really helps. he includes visual descriptions of how food can look at different stages.

The beef stroganoff exceeded my expectations and was a hit with my friends. What I love about her recipes is that I feel like I'm learning to cook and not just following a recipe when I read her instructions because she teaches me to look.

Another of Jensen's favorite recipes is her green jello recipe. Now it's time for another confession, before Jensen's recipe I avoided jelly, but when I tried this explanation, my avoidance of this classic dish stopped.

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He added pineapple to the mix, which gave it a delicious fruity flavor. The jelly had a mousse-like texture, and suddenly I began to see it in that light. These recipes are no longer just gadgets reminiscent of the modern conveniences of Utah's midcentury heyday, they're a way to democratize recipe creativity.

And I am glad that.

Some of the other recipes surprised me. Although I have heard about Five Cup Salad for a long time, I have never tried it. The five-cup salad is a plate of one cup of each ingredient: sour cream, mini marshmallows, pineapple, coconut and tangerine.

My initial reaction to this recipe was always that I didn't think yogurt and marshmallows went well together, but try to prove me wrong. The recipe itself is quite simple and very good. Trying a recipe and liking it is harmony. i understand judging by the dishes i've seen over the years. This gives me a wider view of the kitchen.

Cooking in an entire cookbook isn't easy, but the most important lesson I've learned is don't be afraid to try something new.

Missionaries are asked the most embarrassing questions... see how they answer