Just One More Thing.
19 Days to Book Launch/Signing!
Several years ago I ate at a restaurant that served an amazing Jalapeno Cheese Corn Bread. I’m not a huge corn bread fan but I was ready to fight for the crumbs at our table that night. Moist and delicious not at all dry like the corn bread I grew up knowing, this stuff was so good I asked the waiter if there was a recipe. This was before smart phones so ‘google-ing’ it wasn’t an option.
They wouldn’t give me the recipe but did give me the basic ingredients and some of the amounts; the butter amount practically made my arteries close on the spot, but it made sense given how moist this stuff was.
And so I began my quest to try and duplicate the recipe. Year after year, time after time, I tried. As the internet expanded I even found some recipes that seemed close. I tried, I failed. I tried again. Failed. Modified the recipe, Failed. Adjusted for my own tastes, Failed. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that what I was making had to go in the trash, they were (mostly) edible and some even tasty. But they were not the real thing.
I kept getting close but just couldn’t get the whole thing to come out to the right consistency. The middle was always a puddle (given the heard of cattle it would take to churn out the amount of butter this thing takes it’s not surprising) and even through the outside would taste great I was frustrated as to why I couldn’t get the whole skillet to come out a uniform consistency. Yes, I was using cast iron skillet, pre-warmed in the oven, I tried everything.
I stopped changing the recipe, It tasted pretty close so I knew the ingredients were right. Maybe I had the amounts wrong? Maybe I needed to cook it longer? Maybe maybe maybe… I kept second, third, and quadruple guessing myself.
“The answer will come when you least expect it.”
That’s what they always say right?
I hate when they’re right.
In discussing my latest attempt with a friend he suggested a slightly smaller skillet. And BAM!, just like that it hit me. In the restaurant, it had been served in small, not quite single sized, but share-able sized skillets.
Without changing the ingredients (second guessing), without changing the cooking time (third guessing) without changing the amounts of each ingredient (quadruple guessing) I made a batch tonight using smaller skillets. There was nothing wrong with what I was doing or how much or how long, just the wrong vessel.
Normally, I would have kept the problem to myself and just served the ends on the table when it went wrong, but this time a friend insisted on helping and had he not done so, I might still be using the wrong skillet and getting the wrong results.
Sometimes we need another pair of eyes. Sometimes we need a new perspective. Sometimes we need a little help.
Whatever you do, never give up. Never stop trying and believing! Never be too proud, too sure, too scared, or too embarrassed to ask for help.
It’s never too late to try just one more thing, and it might just make all the difference!
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