Are You a Baker or a Cook?

With a recipe for savory crackers you will definitely want to make. And a fantastic vintage Christmas dinner.

A few days ago, when I offered up my recipe for saffron shortbread, a few irate people asked why I don’t list weights for ingredients. “Don’t you have a scale?” one asked irritably.

Actually, I don’t.

This is because I am a cook, not a baker.

Bakers are precise people who believe in perfection. They are deeply invested in results.

Cooks, on the other hand, prefer the journey to the destination and don’t fret over the occasional mistake. Cooks prefer recipes that leave room for your imagination, allowing you to improvise at will.

In my first cookbook I wrote this: Don’t be afraid to produce bad meals. Better to shock friends with your failures than bore them with the same old successes; at its worst a bad experiment is a good laugh. That prompted one early critic to entitle his review “Cooking for Boos.” But I’ve never changed my mind.

So if you want weights and measures, I’m not for you. On the other hand if you consider the kitchen a playful place rather than a laboratory, we think alike.

In that vein, I offer up this recipe for one of my favorite holiday treats. It is utterly forgiving - you might want to add a bit of black pepper or perhaps some fresh rosemary or thyme. Like spice? Try some espalette pepper powder, a shower of fiercer pepper flakes, or a dollop of mustard.

Whatever you choose, these little crackers, hot out of the oven, go perfectly with a glass of Champagne.

Savory Parmesan Cocktail Crackers
7 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
¾ cup grated good quality parmesan cheese
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk

Put all the ingredients into a bowl or a stand mixer and mix until they come together into a smooth dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it about until you have a cylinder that is between an inch and an inch and a half in diameter. Cut the roll in half.

Wrap a piece of plastic wrap around each cylinder and roll one around until it’s perfectly smooth, making sure each end is flat. Repeat with the second roll and put them into the refrigerator where they will rest happily for at least an hour - and up to a few days.

When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, cut the cylinders into 1/2 inch slices and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the lovely crackers have become slightly golden.

Here’s what Gourmet Magazine thought you should cook for Christmas in 1966. It’s especially interesting to me because Beef Wellington is having a whole new moment right now.

You’ll see that back then the mandoline was “a special cutting board,” and you could stroll into your butcher and casually ask him to tie a filet of beef with sheets of larding pork. And just imagine creating that shrimp tree!

Incidentally, I have found a couple of bottles of ‘58 La Tache for sale; the price ranges from $4500 to $6500 .