Creativity in the Kitchen

Posted on January 22, 2009 by onlinepastrychef
Sure, she can cook. But can she draw?

Sure, she can cook. But can she draw?

Here’s kind of a funny thing.  A couple of weeks ago, someone emailed me and told me that they were interested in becoming a pastry chef, but that someone told them they would have to be creative in order to succeed.  They wanted to know if that meant they needed to be able to draw, because they couldn’t.  Then, earlier today, I received another email from a different person who asked almost the same question.

So, there are at least two people out there in the world who found me, out of all the baking and pastry folks out there on the Hinternet, to ask this question.  I can only imagine that there are a lot of other folks out there who haven’t found me yet (gasp!) or just don’t know where to go for answers.  If you are a)someone who is wondering how creative/artistic you need to be to become a pastry chef or b) know someone who has this issue, or c) is so addicted to this blog that you just can’t look away, I’m talking to you.

Here’s the deal:  creativity and the ability to draw are two different things.  Well, maybe the ability to draw is a subset of creativity, but the inability to draw does not define ones’ creativity.

I’m not sure that it takes a lot of creativity to make a pot of rice, but it certainly takes some creativity to turn that pot of rice into something special.  This kind of goes along with yesterday’s post:  you have got to learn the basics and become confident enough in your techniques and abilities in the kitchen to let your creativity shine through.  It might seem creative to toss a bunch of different ingredients into said rice, but to ensure that the outcome will taste good, you have to understand flavor profiles and how flavors work together–or against each other.

Everything comes back to the basics.  Without them, you don’t have a firm foundation from which to launch creative experiments.

Let’s assume for a moment that we have all got a really good handle on the basics of cooking and baking.  We know our ingredients, we understand and can perform all of the techniques and methods necessary for cooking.  Right, then.  Let’s talk about creativity.

Way back up at the beginning of this post, I said that the original questioner was told that they would need to be creative in order to succeed.  Yes, I think you must be creative in order to succeed as a professional.  Do I think that you need to be creative to follow a recipe?  No, and that’s what I’ve been saying:  a recipe is just one way of doing something that someone just happened to write down.  Following a recipe to the letter is just borrowing someone else’s creativity.

Here’s what I think.  Competence will buy you good, solid, edible results.  Add creativity to competence, and you’re onto something really special.  Competence will assure that you’ve got the right proportion of ingredients mixed in the right way to make an edible end-product.  Adding creativity to that will allow you to add that little extra something to elevate the dish from good to great.  It might be that you use a different mixing method; it might be that you added an unexpected but tasty ingredient or two; it could even be that you present the dish in a whole new way, giving it your own spin, or perhaps deconstructing it on the plate.  Whatever spark that your creativity brought to the dish will make it stand out from the ordinary.

Can you learn to be creative?  I don’t think so.  I think you can learn to be competent, but creativity is inherent.  It can be nurtured and expanded upon, but the original seed of creativity must be there.  That’s why, when you go for an interview at a high-end restaurant, you are given a mystery basket and told to make something using all the ingredients in the basket.  I think I can say with complete confidence that the chef will never, ever meet you at the door with an easel and some charcoal and ask you to draw them a picture of your favorite dish.

Whoa, two philosophical posts in a row.  Weigh in with your thoughts on creativity and cooking, or beg me to “just stop it and write about chocolate!”  Either way, I appreciate the comments.

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About onlinepastrychef

Former Special Education teacher turned pastry chef. Now I marry my two passions by teaching people how to cook and bake through my website, blog and my video series.
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  • http://www.thedailyspud.com Daily Spud

    I have managed to learn that creativity and drawing are not one and the same thing but, you know what, it took me a while – it’s clearly a very common misconception!

    Meanwhile (because I like whereof you blog, whether it’s about creativity or chocolate) I’ve made mention of you over at my place, so if you’d care to head on over to my blog at your leisure…

  • linda

    I agree that knowledge of the basics is the beginning of creativity. If I don’t know how one ingredient affects another one and have a working knowledge of the science of baking or cooking, I’ll never be creative – I’ll constantly be making expensive and time-consuming science fair projects. I have found that as a pastry chef, a great deal of my creativity goes into using the ingredients I have on hand and turning disasters (always someone else’s!) into something beautiful and edible. Those beautiful bananas in your kitchen are soon going to be rotting slime, so you’d better figure out something wonderful to do with them or you’re wasting food and consequently money. I make pastries for a living – many hours a week. I probably spend less than 10 minutes a month drawing anything! With experience comes freedom. Freedom from recipes and freedom to create. And – at the end of the day – it’s all about taste.

  • http://beyond-ramen.blogspot.com Chris

    Your dichotomy of cooking based on competence and creativity is interesting and, in my opinion, quite accurate. However, I’ve met plenty of people (i.e. mothers) who are exceptionally competent, yet don’t stray very far from their usual repertoire; their cooking is still delicious, even without a hint of creativity.
    Keep it up Jenni – these posts are about as enticing as your food ones.
    Psssst: I really want to make a fruit tart, but am torn as to what fruit I should use as filling. Any suggestions? :)

  • http://blog.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com Drew Kime

    I have to disagree with one thing you said: “I think you can learn to be competent, but creativity is inherent.”

    In your coconut rice example, you just combined things that you knew *should* work, in a way that you hadn’t seen done before. I think creativity comes from deep understanding of the basics. *Why* do we add cream of tartar to egg whites for a meringue? *Why* do we use brown sugar instead of white? *Why* do we grill one cut of beef and braise a different cut?

    That’s why the “basket of ingredients” method is such a good test. If you can look at a selection that you’ve never seen in one dish before, but figure out what *should* work, then you have a deep understanding of the basics.

    You can be competent at following recipes without ever knowing why those ingredients work together. Or you can be the most creative person in the world, but without an understanding of the fundamentals you won’t create great new dishes.

  • http://www.livinginthekitchenwithpuppies.blogspot.com Natashya

    I have a daughter in a visual arts program in university who can’t cook. I can’t draw a straight line but I can cook. I don’t think the two are always connected.
    I think of myself as creative.. but I still can’t draw. :)

  • http://www.tanglednoodle.blogspot.com Tangled Noodle

    Daily Spud alerted me to this post in a comment on my most recent entry “Crouching Tiger, Cooking Dolphin” where I asked if nature or nurture determined cooking skills. I’d love to get your take on it!

    I’d like to consider myself creative, at least when it comes to writing and crafting. However, I tend to box myself into a recipe, following it to the letter rather than allowing any creativity to jump in and yell, “Hey, how about trying this!”. On occasion, it does get my attention but too often I tamp it down. It may be tied into a fear of failure. But then again, failure is a learning opportunity, isn’t it?

  • http://blog.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/02/cookbook-giveaway.html Drew Kime

    Tangled Noodle, I think you have it exactly when you say it’s a fear of failure. Creativity is not so much the ability to come up with new ideas, as the confidence to actually *try* them.

    Confidence comes from knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. Fearlessness — not the same thing — comes from a realization of the low impact of failure. (Ooh, your soufflé fell, the world won’t end.)

    Just plain fearlessness can lead to spectacular originality. Or spectacular failure. (Oh, it was an *anchovy* soufflé. Okay then.) Confidence leads to boldness, and to constantly expanding horizons of knowledge.

    Instead of trying to be creative with a brand new recipe, start with one you already know well. Maybe brown sugar instead of white in your chocolate chip cookies. How does that change them? Or thyme instead of oregano in your spaghetti sauce, what will that taste like?

    Most creative success builds on a foundation of knowledge. The most creative people generally have the deepest, widest foundation on which to build.

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