Ja-lene Clark:
Just Add One More Thing...

After writing and working in front of a computer all day, I find that cooking is a great stress reducer. Cooking is a form of meditation for me. Concentrating on what step or thing comes next takes my mind away from distracting thoughts and clears my focus.

I learned how to cook from many wonderful people. My Mom taught me about cooking for a family—things like meal planning, budgeting for food, and how to prepare holiday meals. Mom taught me what kinds of foods blend together to make a meal. Like spaghetti is served with salad and bread, not mashed potatoes. Chicken and dumplings are always served with cornbread.

My Dad is also beloved in our family because he is a master at cooking for BIG gatherings… Dad can prepare a meal to feed 100 people and make it look simple and taste unforgettable. Dad taught me how to make more extravagant things like chocolate pie with homemade whipped cream (from scratch, no instant pudding fillings or pre-package cream), crème brulee, zucchini bread and Texas-style barbeque for a crowd.

Cooking with Intention

While in Los Angeles, I was invited to dinner at a chic Indian restaurant by my girlfriend and the man she was dating. I agreed but felt out of my element. I was raised in the South on Texas cuisine and had little experience with Indian foods. Once I had sampled Indian cuisine in New York City and experienced the most horrible case of heartburn afterwards. So naturally I was hesitant about eating anything on that menu. My girlfriend’s date presented himself as an expert in Indian food. He was excited to explain to me all about ayurvedic meals and how intentional the preparers were with the delivery of tastes in a specific order. He said that if I would eat things in a certain order I wouldn’t suffer later on. I found that confusing. I didn’t want to seem ignorant, but at that time I just had not been exposed to the idea of ayurvedic meals and could barely pronounce it much less understand the concept.  

He went on and on about how much intention and love was put into the blending of ingredients when cooking ayurvedic. I listened earnestly and then asked him if he had ever eaten Southern food. He asked; “Southern India?” I giggled and said, “No! Southern, like Texan!” He admitted that he had not (actually, I recall him gasping when I clarified that question.) I compared what he had taught me about intention when the Indians prepared food to my own grandmother making pickles. Making pickles was a task that took Maw Maw weeks to do and required that she tended to the pickles each day so they would be delicious in the end--not too bitter and perfectly crisp. The pickles Maw Maw made had the perfect blend of fresh dill that she had grown in her own garden mixed with vinegar, spices, love and devotion. 

After our dinner that night my California friends and I agreed that whether we prepared our food Indian style or Texas style, the key was adding in the right amount of devotion and love to the action of preparing food.

I can recall visions of my grandmother in the kitchen putting together meals for us…an extra large brood of eight children, plus spouses, plus grandchildren. Most vividly I remember Maw Maw frying chicken in a cast iron skillet and how she mixed hot bacon grease with vinegar to make the most wonderful salad dressing. Today many people would think this kind of diet unhealthy, but when Maw Maw cooked it, I think it was infused with something that fed more than your stomach.

What my family taught me about cooking is precious. My memories of the times we have spent in the kitchen in conversation while preparing meals are also special.

One More Thing...

My family has most definitely influenced my cooking, but I must say that it was my mother-in-law Jane who gave me the ultimate secret to this art.

Jane, (we all affectingly called her Grandmother) had six children. She subscribed to the same theory that my Dad does about enticing grown children to visit their parents more often: “If you feed them WELL they will come back!” As I look at how my parents and my in-laws kept our family seeing each other regularly into adulthood through disagreements and hurt feelings that naturally happen within families, I understand “fed well” is a key ingredient.

My husband Tom loved his mother’s cooking and she was happy to cook his favorite things for him. It gave both of them a great deal of pleasure. My son Jerry loved Grandmother’s yeast rolls. There was something special about those rolls. As a child I remember Jerry happily eating 4-5 rolls and not a bite of the other dishes that made up the meal. Jane’s rolls were made from store-bought frozen dough balls that anyone could buy at the grocery store. What made those rolls so special? They rose perfectly and uniformly, were golden brown in the right places and soft on the bottom with just a hint of crisp outside.  Yum! Jane shared her secret to great rolls with us. She put on a pair of disposable rubber gloves, put a dab of Crisco shortening in the palm of her hand and rolled the frozen dough balls in her hands before placing them in a greased muffin tin to rise.  That special technique kept the rolls from sticking to the pan, helped them to brown more evenly and also created the touch of crisp we all loved.

Jane went on to share that her philosophy on cooking was simple: follow the recipe then just add one more thing. I found her insight to be profound, practical and significant. After she shared that idea with me I started experimenting more with food. In the past I had followed the directions precisely, but soon after learning this wisdom I began to become more experimental. If I messed something up then we could always have a sandwich for supper. I considered what I was cooking and looked into the pantry to figure out what creative things I could add in touches or bits. As I got better at adding just one thing, soon I was adding two things, three things and then I became so confident that didn’t need to strictly follow recipes any longer.

Today I know that what Jane taught me was not only the secret to cooking, it was a secret to doing anything well in life. That simple concept can be applied to anything we do. We begin whatever we are to do by following guidelines that have worked well for others. Then we add in our own unique flavor until it belongs to us. Thus we become experts and more excited about our own creativity. I am so thankful that my mother-in-law Jane taught me this secret.

So next time you read a recipe, think like Jane and try adding just one more thing. I know that it will add wonderful things to your meals and your life.

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