As we approach the summer cookout season . . .
How many chefs do we have amongst this august group? Do you like to cook for your family or guests?
As I threw a casserole together on the fly (so to speak…) the other day, it occurred to me that cheffing styles are somewhat akin to writing styles. What in the wide world am I talking about?
Just this.
I am a Pantser Chef. Most of the time, I have no recipe, no plan, just the glimmer of an idea. Like my casserole.
This is me…sigh…
As I wondered what to fix for dinner that night, I thought of the boneless chicken thighs I had packaged in the freezer. I got them out, put them on the counter to thaw, then went about my day.
As dinner time approached, I looked at those thighs and wondered what to do with them. I decided to brown them. When they were done, I thought, “Now what?”. I opened the refrigerator and spied some carrots. Ah! Diced carrots!
Before you get bored with my culinary adventure, I’ll just say that when the casserole was released from the oven, it was a divine combination of pasta, chicken, Alfredo sauce, carrots, and Parmesan. As there are only two of us, it fed us for about 3-4 days…the perfect food creation in my book.
So, TKZers, the question for you today is:
Are you a Pantser Chef like me? Or are you a Plotter Chef—do you always start with a detailed recipe and plan your whole day around that recipe?
Or, you might be a Plantser Chef—you have a recipe, but as you go, you substitute this for that and that for this until it’s your recipe, not someone else’s.
What say you?
Bonus Question: Does your cheffing style match your writing style, as mine does?
Sure glad you added plantster in there. That’s the way I write and the way I cook. And the way I live my day—I start off with a plan, then something comes along that sounds better and I take that route until something else grabs my attention.
You could have been describing my days, Patricia!
Same here, Becky!
Patricia, you must live in my basement…but wait…I don’t have one. 🙂
So often, I look over my loosely-written schedule/goals for the day–then, oops! A squirrel runs across the calendar on my desk and off I go.
I try not to do that too much when I’m working on the current WIP, though. Too often I end up in the proverbial weeds, hunting for my characters who went the other way.
Thanks for dropping in this morning!
Thanks for this light-hearted look at life on a Friday morning.
Actually, my cheffing style much more resembles those who have AI write their books for them. I don’t cook. I buy premade sandwiches at the grocery store & get the easiest to prep fruits (i.e. bananas, grapes) and veggies (chop up some carrots & cucumbers) that allows me to eat as healthy as I reasonably can on an always hectic schedule.
Have a great Friday, everyone.
Hi Brenda!
“…my cheffing style much more resembles those who have AI write their books for them.”
Wow! Didn’t see that coming…nicely done. I hadn’t even thought of that connection, but it works. I guess for those who would rather eat out than in, it’d work also.
Thanks for joining the culinary/literary discussion this morning.
Fun comparison between cooking and writing styles, Deb. Got me thinking.
I like to make refrigerator soup. Always have certain basic ingredients on hand like stock in a box, pasta, rice, canned beans, etc. Then leftovers come out of the fridge and start going in the pot. Simmer, taste, adjust seasoning, then it’s ready to eat. Soup never comes out the same way twice cuz it depends on the variety of leftovers but it’s always tasty.
As a writer, I guess the process is similar: basic ingredients for a series, like continuing characters and setting. Then I start pulling leftover memories, experiences, news stories, wild hare ideas, etc. out of my subconscious. Throw it all together in the pot and let it simmer. Maybe it tastes too slow so I raise the heat. Maybe it needs more villain input and I add that. And so on until the story comes together.
Unlike soup, where you can’t take out too much salt, in fiction, you can take out unnecessary seasoning with the delete key.
Good morning, Debbie.
I like this in your comment: “Maybe it needs more villain…” 🙂
For me, that translates into “Try something new.” In my soups, stews, casseroles, even tuna sandwiches! I remember once we tried Craisins in the tuna mixture. It was delicious!
(I also put them in my casserole…)
Thanks for cookin’ with us this fine morning…
I am a pretty good cook. I know the basics and have a well stocked spice rack. I am a plantster. The first time I try a recipe, I follow it. Then it is change up time. Sometimes it is ‘what do we have?” turn it into something.
Alan, the “what do we have” question is a staple in my kitchen.
🙂
My gotos
90 second rice bags. Perfect for two.
Arrowroot. I tablespoon disolved in a 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to a pan sauce and it will thicken but not lump. Corn starch will do the same. Dip your chicken in corn starch than saute. It will color nicely and not be dry.
Soy sauce, garlic, ginger.
Sounds delish, Alan!
I’m a recipe man. I don’t have time for failed experiments.
Same with writing. Structure and primary ingredients (you don’t make an omelet without eggs), and adding creative seasoning throughout.
Hey Jim!
And your success and popularity speak volumes about your process. Omelet without eggs…perfect analogy.
Thanks for mixing it up with us this morning, and have a great weekend!
I enjoy making the “big” meals, e.g., Christmas. Those are fun to plan and work through. I’m not as enthusiastic about everyday cooking. Maybe that’s why I don’t do much of it anymore.
I do like casseroles. Everything in one dish that will feed us for several days. I don’t do much experimenting with food, though. I leave that for my writing.
Hi Kay!
I’m the opposite, I guess. I do not like cooking a big meal for a bunch of people, even for those I love. I like the everyday stuff, but even more when the man does it! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend, my friend!
Great question, Deb. I often wing it, unless I’m watching a cooking show where the chef churns out something that piques my interest. I’ll jot down the ingredients, then tweak to make it my own.
Hi Sue!
Wing it? Bet your crows like to watch you do that…#sorrynotsorry… 🙂
Do you know, I have never watched a cooking show! I might have to give that a try some day.
Have winger of a weekend!
You can do both in cooking and writing. I always follow the recipe for delicate things like cake where the ingredients have to be exact, or you get a flat cake. Romances are cake where all the ingredients have to be perfect. Most other recipes and novels are casseroles where you have wiggle room to change ingredients and amounts.
Good point, Marilyn. Both in the culinary arts and the literary arts, “genre” is a consideration.
And if the genres are mixed, say, as in a thriller with a romantic element, I’d guess that one must be more prominent than the other. When I pick up a thriller/espionage novel, or a crime novel, romance has to be lightly sprinkled for my reading pleasure.
Thanks for your take on it. Hope you have a great weekend!
You made me smile. My first novel was a run-on MESS of vignettes and characters. I had a cast of thousands with reams of backstory I couldn’t begin to untangle. Lesson learned; outline. Cooking…red sauce goes with pretty much anything and leftovers are gold. I enjoyed your article. It made me think.
Welcome to the kitchen, Susan…
Sounds like you learned your lesson well. We’ve had plenty of discussions here about how to sprinkle backstory, and the development of memorable characters.
I agree with you about the red sauce and leftovers–light kitchen duty for me works well in my life.
Have a good one!
I don’t have a long history of writing to call on but I recently discovered that I am a Plantser. My WIP has a long history and as an engineer I plotted it out in great detail long before I tried putting it on paper. When those pesky characters intervened, I found myself starting in one place and ending up in a totally unplanned one. The direction they led me made for much more interesting story than the beginning->middle->end one I had plotted. Hopefully, someday, others will share that opinion.
Hi Marshall!
When those pesky characters intervened…ha!
Isn’t that what they do? Sometimes you follow them for awhile and they lead you to a stunning scene or detail. Other times, you have to rein them in and get them on track back to earth. Or Not Earth, if you’re more of a Sci-Fi writer. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!
I like to write, but I’m not a cook. I’m easily distracted. I’ll start making something and read something on the internet and burn the food. I once burned boil-in-the-bag lima beans. I do make a mean scrambled egg. Also, I’m very versatile — I can make reservations for lunch OR dinner.
Hi Elaine…Also, I’m very versatile — I can make reservations for lunch OR dinner.
I swear, y’all’re crackin’ me up today! Gotta have something to laugh about these days…
So, you burned the beans, didja? Probably not the first time that’s happened–we’re all distracted.
I once put a kettle of water on the stove for tea (before the microwave entered my life), went to the nursery to comfort a cranky babe, discovered she’d regurgitated her last feeding, cleaned her up, rocked and sang her to sleep…then smelled something burning. Didn’t have that tea after all.
Those were the days… 🙂
Thanks for dropping in today, and have a good one, please and thank you!
Kinda plantser, mostly pantser.
Steven, there’s lots of us out there that can say the same thing. 👍
Thanks for stopping by today, & have a good one.
Total pantser cook here. I will read a recipe somewhere (usually in a mag at the hair salon) and use it as a basis. I keep a pantry full of basic stuff that you’d need in a pinch — chicken broth, canned Marsano tomatoes, pesto, etc — so when you take those thighs out to defrost, you always have something to toss on them. Plus I keep an herb garden because nothing spices things up like the fresh stuff. I also make my own pasta vai a nifty baby Cusianart thing.
HOWEVER…I never bake. Because that requires you to be a true plotter. Baking is precision, math, timing and respect for the rules of the universe. No room for riffs and scatting. This is why God invented bakeries…
There ya are, Kris!
Herb garden…that’s what I need to complete my Pantser Kitchen…yes indeedy.
And I’m with you on the baking-I’ll do it only if it starts life in a box. 😂
Have a good weekend!