Knowing When to Say When

The more I cook, the more I believe that the most important rule is knowing when to leave well enough alone.

For me, this lesson has been a while in coming. For a long time, I saw my role as a kind of puppet master, stepping in to make the ingredients dance to whatever tune I called.

It didn’t really matter what raw material I brought into my kitchen; my goal was to find a way to improve it. There was no meat that couldn’t be bettered by a little sauce. Or maybe a lot of sauce. In fact (I hate to admit it), it sometimes seems to me now that the sauce was more the point than the meat itself.

Pretty arrogant, when you think about it, bending nature to my will that way.

Pretty tiring, too--both as a cook and as an eater. All that strain, and for so little gain. I now heartily repent all the time wasted twisting and turning good food into something in which the whole was less than the sum of the parts.

In my own defense, most of the time those parts weren’t all that special to begin with. When you’re working with flavor-challenged ingredients, sometimes it takes every trick you know to wind up with something decent.

But today, given the great improvements in the quality of supermarket produce and the profusion of farmers markets, those machinations are rarely necessary.

The most important thing a cook can bring to the kitchen these days is the ability to shop well. Buy good, flavorful ingredients and you’ll be amazed at how little you have to do to them. Shirk on this first step and be prepared to have a fight on your hands.

This recipe for peach cobbler is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. The first time I made it, I had just returned from the farmers market with a couple of sacks full of dead-ripe peaches.

First, there were O’Henrys, big sweet peaches almost orange in color, with a firm, meaty texture. This is an old favorite moderate-to-late variety that can be found in abundance about now.

I had also found something called Indian Blood peaches--not to be confused with the Arkansas Indian peaches. The latter are fuzzy to the point of being hairy, with deep red flesh. These Indian Bloods were small and smooth with a creamy flesh stained with a deep burgundy red, a color combination I associate more with certain old roses than with peaches. They also had a creamy texture and a sweet spiciness that complemented the O’Henrys nicely.

I was wondering how to tart up this cobbler--maybe a little fresh ginger? How about some cardamom?--when I tasted some of the sliced peaches together. How was I going to improve that flavor? Time to step back and get out of the way. Combining the two types of peaches gave me a blend of flavors and textures that made any further messing around unnecessary.

I just added a little sugar and topped it with a buttery, shortcake-like crust. The cobbler was terrific by itself, though as a holdover from my earlier ways, I couldn’t resist serving it with whipped cream flavored with just a little Framboise, a raspberry liqueur.

On the other hand, trying the recipe again, the shopping wasn’t so good. We got one type of peach and, though they were pretty, they were dry and tasteless. To keep the resulting cobbler from being bland as beige demanded all the intervention possible. Some clove, some cinnamon, maybe a little powdered ginger . . . in short, all the usual peach cobbler spices.

Come to think of it, I suppose the second most important rule in cooking is knowing when to step in.

PEACH COBBLER

If you’ve got great peaches, ignore the optional ingredients. If the fruit is less than wonderful, use them--plus anything else that sounds good.

3 pounds peaches

Sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Whipping cream

Cut small, shallow “X” in bottom of each peach, then dip in boiling water and cook until skin just begins to pull away from cut. Drain, rinse in cold water and peel.

Slice peaches and combine in large bowl with 2 tablespoons sugar and optional cloves, cinnamon and lemon juice. Mix well.

Cut chilled butter into small pieces. Combine flour, baking powder and 3 tablespoons sugar in large mixing bowl. Mix well and cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal. Add 3/4 cup whipping cream and stir with fork until mixture holds together. Remove from mixing bowl and knead 2 or 3 times until smooth.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 2 1/2- to 3-inch circles, using biscuit cutter or floured rim of drinking glass. Gather together remaining dough, knead briefly, roll and cut.

Spread peaches evenly in bottom of buttered gratin dish or baking pan. Place dough circles over top, slightly overlapping. Brush top of each dough circle with little cream and sprinkle with some sugar, preferably coarse-grained. Bake at 375 degrees until cobbler is brown and peaches are set, about 30 minutes.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each of 8 servings contains about:

390 calories; 287 mg sodium; 62 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 50 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 1.20 grams fiber.