Just as our palattes have changed, so should recipes, Steel says.

Tanya Steel: I love classic recipes.  I really do.  I would never cook from them to be honest, because our palates have changed, and our ingredients have changed.  So while I love them – the historian in me loves looking and reading classic recipes, especially from the ‘40s; they’re very interesting – I do feel like it does make sense to update them and to bring them to modern taste in the way that you would do that with, you know, cars, and fashion, and you know art.  So that said, you know, it’s very interesting to learn from classic recipes and to see why, you know,…or … did those recipes, and the point of them, and how they were first created.  So it’s important to kind of know where we came from in order to improve where we are.  So I love looking at them, but I wouldn’t . . .  I don’t generally cook from them.

There’s a recipe on Epicurious that’s from the ‘50s that is a very classic …, and that is definitely one.  I think the best classic recipes really are the ones that are kind of old school recipes like chocolate soufflés; … – those are fantastic; cheese fondues from the ‘30s where you know you’re just talking to _…, and white wine, and then . . . and some shallots and that’s it.  Those are kind of my favorite classics, yeah.  And then bread.  Bread recipes kind of have not evolved for 2,000 years, and that’s what’s fantastic about them.  And I do love using old bread recipes.

Recorded on 1/17/08