A Little Experiment

Yesterday evening my wonderful boyfriend cooked me an amazing dinner. Pasta with artichokes, mushrooms, and onions sauteed in garlic and olive oil, with a parmesan-romano-white wine reduction sauce. And, of course, Ceasar salad for appetizer and mini cannoli for dessert. Simply put, it was delicious.
As we ate, I asked about where he had learned to cook (self-taught) and whether or not he ever used recipes. He replied that he occasionally used recipes, but never with Italian food. He had been cooking Italian for so long (being of Italian descent) and was familiar enough with that particular style of cooking that he didn't need a recipe to create a so-called "authentic" flavor.
Whether not his food was "authentic", I couldn't say, but I recognized its incredible flavor and how comfortable he was with the making of this recipe and it made me think. It occurred to me that, while I am a reasonably competent cook, there is no "genre" of food that I could make that claim about. I don't know the finer details or techniques of any ethnic palate to cook like a native. Though I've dabbled in a variety of regional tastes, from Europe to Asia and back again, I've never really delved into the minutae of any one kind. As a food-obsessed amateur cook, this is unacceptable.
I don't need to master all available food genres (and to do so would rather be against the spirit of specializing), but I would like to find one style that I find particularly pleasant to cook and equally pleasing to eat. But which one? Italian, maybe. I do love pasta and sauces, breads and cheeses. Atkins be damned, carbs are a beautiful thing! However, the world has so much to offer, in terms of cooking. I can't simply decide to be an Italian connesiuer without giving a few other food ethnicities a try.
To that end, I've come up with my next food experiment. For the final four months of 2010, I'm going to devote each month to a regional style of cooking. I'll begin with what I love: Italian. Oh, yes, September will be the month of those pastas and sauces and cheeses. But what of the last three?
October will be the month of Japanese cooking. Miso soup and udon, seaweed wraps and rice. Very vegetarian friendly (except for that pesky love of fish) and one of the healthiest diets on the world, Japanese cooking is one I've long enjoyed when eating out, but not one I've ever really tried to create myself, unless you count topping soba noodles with soy sauce.
November brings us back to Europe and Greek cooking. I love Mediterranean cooking, but that's far too broad, including everything from Greek to Moroccan to Spanish and Egyptian. Though I would love to visit the culinary traditions of each of these countries, I'm going to stick with Greek and see what I can come up with, despite its meat-heavy dishes.
December will be devoted to Mexican. It seems only fair that the Western Hemisphere should get at least a little representation in my kitchen. And I've enjoyed what little of genuine Mexican cuisine I've tasted. Plenty of legumes and vegetables here, though no beef or chicken recipes for me.
While I expect to enjoy the first month the best, since Italian has always been a favored cooking style of mine, there's no telling. I might be surprised by what I find in the cooking ouvre of the other countries. I might discover a love and a talent for Asian or Mexican cooking that I didn't know I possessed. But I'm going to find something I'm good at and specialize that I might have my own variation of Tom's Italian cooking: a style of cooking that I can create and call up without a recipe, simply out of familiarity and practice.