Whip it good!

At the beginning of the month, I received a lovely e-mail from Nic. I’m not sure if it was my heartrending tale of lemon cookies, my overall history of kitchen adventures this year, or the brilliant flash of inspiration (or maybe a combination?), but she had the beginnings of an idea for a widespread new recipe challenge, sort of a “M:PT in the Kitchen.” After lots of Gchatting and Google docs-sharing, we are pleased to introduce Whip It Up, a summer challenge to try new recipes!

The basic idea is that Nic and I will try and post about one new recipe each week for eight weeks, and we’d love for you to join us! Just think: assuming twelve people jump in and try completely independent recipes, we will have collectively tested and shared 96 recipes in two months! I don’t know about you, but the mere prospect of my recipe binder brimming with new possibilities is enough to make my heart aflutter.

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What’s Involved

The challenge will run for eight weeks, from July 6-August 29. Every Friday, Nic or I will post a weekly wrap-up to cull the recipes people have tried.

Every week, there are three simple steps:

1. Cook! The only parameter for the challenge is to try and post about one new recipe each week. The type of dish, cooking method, and quantity are all up to you, and effort is what counts here, not culinary mastery.
2. Post! Write up your experience on your site, including photos if you can. You can be as in-depth as you’d like, but posts should answer the following questions, in addition to providing the recipe itself:
   • Was the recipe easy to follow?
   • Did the dish taste good?
   • Would you make it again?
3. Tell us! E-mail us the post’s permalink, and it will be included in the Friday wrap-up.

But wait, there’s a prize! Every participant who fulfills the challenge will qualify for a raffle to win a choice of three fabulous cookbooks:

• Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, by Marcella Hazan (Nic’s favorite)
• The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (my favorite)
• Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten (because we both love her)

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Excuses, Allayed

“I’m a terrible cook!”
We are serious when we say success doesn’t matter here. Just stick your neck out and try something new, and who knows? You might surprise yourself! Or win a cookbook!

“I don’t think I can keep up that pace!”
Even if you’re not sure that you can try one new recipe each week, sign up and try anyway! The cookbook prize is just an incentive, but we applaud all kitchen adventures, no matter how often they transpire. Heck, one of my new year’s resolutions was to try two recipes per month, so one recipe every week will be a challenge for me, too. Don’t worry, there is no danger of getting voted off the island if you miss a week, so give it a shot!

“I don’t know what to make!”
Nic and I have compiled a list of resources, so browse away! If you have a specific dish in mind, let us know and we can try to help you find a good recipe. We are also providing optional jumping-off points, just in case you are really stumped. For example, instead of trying to whittle down the entire food universe, we might nudge you onto the smaller planet of Salads, but going along with that suggestion is completely voluntary.

“I’m going on vacation!”
In the case of a week away for whatever reason, you can double up on a recipe for the following week. That is, you can “cash in” a maximum of 2 recipes per week. That guideline is to prevent someone from cooking three brand-new, three-course meals, knocking out the 8-recipe minimum, and completely missing the point here. Besides, I think I would go crazy trying to cook nine new recipes in one week, so really, we are saving you the sanity.

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Sign up! E-mail us with your name and website address, and we will add you to the roster. We’re taking names for two weeks, so get out your recipe clippings and e-mail us by Friday, June 27. Grab yourself a badge and join the WIU photo pool, and you are good to go!

Allez cuisine!