I didnt stay long in New Jersey, only a year, then I moved to the city of Buffalo to share an apartment with my friend Spike. He soon left to get married and not long after that, I moved to Binghamton, New York, in the fall of 1970. I was set to study computer science at the university while teaching high school math part-time. As you can imagine, my salary was less than in Mahwah and I was to have less free time.

Binghamton is one of the Triple Cities and also home of the speedie. A speedie is perfectly legal and has nothing to do with drugs. Its a combination of marinated pork and lamb in various proportions. Personally, I prefer the pork without the lamb. The meat is placed on metal skewers and then broiled over a charcoal fireor gas grill, if youre a yuppie! It is then served on a slice of Italian bread. Various restaurants in that area sell it and you can purchase the marinated meat at butcher shops and grocery stores in the most cities. Speedies are currently made out of chicken as well. Either type is well worth trying.

By that time I had some practice in cooking and started collecting a few recipes. The secret to any good recipe, in my opinion, has to do with three basic premises:

1) Does it taste good to you?
2) Is it easy for you to make?
3) Is the cost to make it reasonable?

A recipe wont work if there is an ingredient in it that you dont like. If you dont care for liver, no recipe with liver in it will satisfy the first premise. I dont cook dishes that I would not eat myself. If you prepare a dish for dinner guests that you wont eat and they dont like, who is going to eat it? You may ask how to tell if a recipe in a cookbook will be good. Well, look at the ingredients. Then try it yourself. It will give you a very good idea.

The second consideration has to do with effort. After trying a recipe you will know how much work it takes on your part. If it takes quite a bit of effort but the result is extraordinary, you may still want to keep the recipe. Its your decision. Dont confuse effort with the length of time a dish takes from start to finish. For example, sauerbraten takes from four days to a week to get ready, but the effort needed is minimal. Baking your own bread could take an elapsed time of three hours. If you see a recipe that goes on for columns and columns in a book, chances are it wont be worth the effort.

The last consideration is cost. Some ingredients are outrageous in cost. For example, saffron costs more than some illegal drugs. However, it is a wonderful spice and you wont need that much of it a little goes a long way. There are other ingredients that are expensive and you may not be able to get by with just a small amount. You will have to decide on the cost issue. You may be able to substitute an ingredient and save money. The results may be even better than the original recipe.

This brings me to another point. You have to be able to use your judgment, common sense, and past experience when cooking. Not too long ago I tried a recipe for pistachio soup. I like pistachios, the soup could be served hot or cold, and it looked like a good recipe. I made it and the opinion was that it was all right. I agreed but since I had spent a great deal of time with preparation (mostly in shelling those little nuts), I decided to forego the recipe in the future.

On another occasion I tried a recipe for soup with celery and walnuts, among other ingredients. My guests didnt vomit over it, but the general consensus was that it was too crunchy. I should have chopped the celery thinner and ground the walnuts rather than chopping them. Another solution may have been to use a blender, even though the recipe just said to chop the ingredients. In any case, the effort was small, so I might try the recipe again.

I had a minor disaster when I tried a recipe for bouillabaisse. The ingredients listed cost a fortune to begin with and I made the mistake of reheating the soup. The mussels in the dish consequently spoiled and I had to toss it before someone started tossing up. First lesson: use less expensive fish. As long as it is fresh it wont matter. Second lesson: never cook mussels in a stew or soup . . . warm only.

Around the same time, I tried to make salmon bisque. The only mistake I made was to use canned salmon. It was a very big mistake. It was edible, but thats about all. My brother Ken said it tasted chalky but it probably could have been used to clean the toilet. You get the idea. The lesson I learned was that I should have used fresh salmon!

Nevertheless, soups and stews are easy to make and almost a meal in themselves. Add a salad and some bread and voil!