Book of Days Tales

Today is International Jazz Day, proclaimed in 2011 “to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe.” Upon his designation as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue on July 22, 2011, Herbie Hancock announced his intention to create an International Day celebrating the diplomatic role of jazz music. In November 2011, following a favorable recommendation by the 187^th Executive Board, UNESCO’s General Conference officially proclaimed April 30^th as International Jazz Day, recognizing jazz as “a means to develop and increase intercultural exchanges and understanding between cultures for the purpose of mutual comprehension and tolerance.” The date of April 30^th was initially proposed to position International Jazz Day as the culmination of the Smithsonian Institution’s April Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), though no formal connection exists between JAM and International Jazz Day.

For Jazz Day I suggest you indulge in some jazz cooking. This concept will be at the heart of my new Chameleon Cooking book when I get around to it. Jazz cooking, or chameleon cooking as I call it, involves taking a basic recipe and improvising with it. I’ll just start you off here. I’ll begin with shepherd’s pie or cottage pie. This is an extremely traditional English dish of ground meat and vegetables placed in casserole, topped with a layer of mashed potato, and baked. The difference between shepherd’s pie and cottage pie is that shepherd’s pie uses ground lamb and cottage pie uses ground beef, although modern cooks often mix the names up. The fact that you can use beef or lamb is the opening note in my improvisation.

I don’t use a recipe for cottage pie, and I make it all the time. I brown off some ground beef and onions in a skillet, add stock to cover, add in some vegetables (typically peas and carrots, but I also like mushrooms), simmer until the meat is cooked and the vegetables are tender, then thicken the stock with some flour. Meanwhile, I peel and dice some potatoes, boil them until they are very tender, then mash them with some cream and butter. Final step is to assemble the pie by placing the meat mixture in a casserole, and then spreading the mashed potato on top. Usually I draw lines with a fork in the potatoes, and dot the top with some butter. I put the pie in a hot oven for about 30 minutes, or until the potato topping is golden and a little crisp. Done it a thousand times.

Without too much difficulty you can see where improvisation can come in. The other day I made what I called (mentally) “swineherd’s pie” using ground pork and pork kidneys for the meat. That ought to tell you that you can use ground steak and kidney too and make a version of steak and kidney pie (omitting the peas and carrots). You can make a chicken pie, or a turkey pie, or even a fish pie. You should change the gravy in accordance, of course, but have at it.

We can get a lot funkier than swapping out the meat, though. Changing the vegetables to suit your tastes is obvious. I often use leeks in place of, or in addition to, onions, and use whatever mushrooms I can get my hands on. In Asia that gives me plenty of scope. I like spinach in a cottage pie also. You can use celery, parsnip, turnip . . . whatever you want.

We are still just getting started. The topping does not have to be simple mashed potato. I often add in minced leeks (because I am a leek nut). You can also add in grated cheese. There is no end to the possibilities when using just mashed potatoes as the base. But why stop there? Make a mix of mashed potato and turnip or carrot or swede. Or forget the potato entirely and just use mashed turnip (or what you will) as the topping. Improvise.