Composing dishes and assembling ingredients is one of the essential parts of my life. Today, I was reminded of something to avoid—gingerbread construction. What is gingerbread construction? I believe it is a new term I coined today while walking the sandy, wind and ocean-swept beaches of Fire Island. Looking at many of the beach houses and cottages, I noticed a style and pattern. These buildings all had a base structure with additions and offshoots added at a later date; not integrated into the style of the homes but rather stuck or glued on like additions to a child’s gingerbread house with lots of royal icing. The idea and need for these improvements are probably justified, though a seamless integration into the existing structure is not apparent; just as children dress up and accessorize their own constructions.
I then began to think about cooking and ingredients and the assemblage of dishes, and these thoughts of gingerbread construction became hitched onto my train of ideas. I have previously compiled ingredients in a manner similar to the beach homes I observed. What became reawakened in my thought process was that an assemblage of ingredients must blend naturally and seamlessly. I certainly find pleasure and intrigue in the construction of dishes with last-minute additions; yet in retrospect, and now with forethought, these additions and new looks at the whole should be a new dish rather than a concept glued onto a solid and sound structure.
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