The “someday” list

ricotta stuffed zucchini blossoms

People who love to cook are always on the hunt for new recipes. We pore through cookbooks, read dozens of websites, follow chefs on Twitter, and make bookmarks everywhere for dishes that we’d like to try. Some of us keep these lists online, in notebooks, or in a folder filled with pages torn from various magazines. (Of course we index all of them here on EYB.)

But not all of these wonderful inspirations end up on our plates. Maybe it’s a missing ingredient that we never remember to buy, the fact that we can’t find the time for a multi-step recipe, we aren’t sure our family will like it, we’re hesitant to stray from a tried-and-true recipe, or perhaps something more tempting comes along. Yet we don’t get rid of those inspirational recipes (at least I don’t) – they linger in our folders or lists,

I have several of these “I’m going to make that someday” recipes: a fried ricotta-filled zucchini blossom recipe bookmarked online (and pictured at top), a Jacques Pépin raspberry and kirsch jelly roll recipe torn from a magazine and beginning to turn yellow around the edges, a cornstarch ice cream recipe that all of my friends rave about, and an Argentine empanada recipe given to me by a friend. All of them ended up on the list for a reason, and I still aspire to make each and every one. Maybe I’ll try that ice cream recipe tomorrow…but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Which recipes linger in your “someday” list?

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10 Comments

  • TrishaCP  on  June 27, 2015

    The Zuni roast chicken recipe. I never seem to be able to get it together to plan ahead enough to make it. Also, Ottolenghi's soba noodles with mango and eggplant. I know I will love it, but my husband dislikes eggplant, and I never seem to be able to get to it when he is out of town.

  • adrienneyoung  on  June 27, 2015

    Ice cream. I would adore to be able to make ice cream. But do you think I can get it together to make room in the freezer for my ice cream maker? Sigh.

  • sir_ken_g  on  June 27, 2015

    Not many – in fact if I see a great recipe I may cook it that evening.

  • FJT  on  June 27, 2015

    My list is disappearing fast. At the start of the year I challenged myself to make a new recipe every week and so far I've exceeded my goal with 53 recipes crossed off a very long list! Turns out all I needed was to set myself a target.

  • KarinaFrancis  on  June 28, 2015

    I add more to my list than I manage to make. The upside is with the EYB bookmarks, the dishes I may never get to make are neatly organised

  • adelina  on  June 28, 2015

    I'm guilty. I dream of when I am going to have the time to get back to cooking again.

  • darcie_b  on  June 28, 2015

    So I made ice cream today – but not the cornstarch recipe (the one I used is from The Art of French Pastry). I swear I'll make the cornstarch recipe one of these days!

  • eliza  on  June 28, 2015

    I have many on my "to make" list and although I make a lot of new dishes, I seem to add on recipes at an equal or faster rate. Also, some that I finally do get around to making are a disappointment, for example that Zuni chicken one that wasn't really worth the effort and and resulted in a minor burn on the hot pan! Part of the fun is never running out of things to try.

  • hillsboroks  on  June 29, 2015

    I am sure that every cook on EYB has a "someday"list. It is just part of being an avid cook continually on the lookout for something new,nsomething fun and/or something exotic from another corner of the world. I started collecting recipes while in college after I discovered a treasure trove of cookbooks in a dusty corner of the college library, relics from a long forgotten home economics program. It was stress relief for me during finals to browse through an old cookbook and carefully copy interesting foreign recipes onto notecards. I still have all the notecards in a small recipe file box and have made many but not all of them. My big regret now is that I did not write down the names of the cookbooks or the authors. But someday I will cook through them all.

  • chawkins  on  July 2, 2015

    Too many on my someday list, but unfortunately one can only eat so much, especially sweets.

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