Challenge engineering

I have two announcements to make:

1. I’ll be running the Cookbook Challenge this month--it's that time again.

2. I’ll be cheating.

Perhaps I should explain that second one.

Most of my cookbooks are either in storage (along with all my other stuff), or in Boston. I do have a small selection here—just enough to make a random selection possible, as the Cookbook Challenge was originally conceived. But I’ve decided that what I really want to do is delve into one of the cookbooks that I took out of the local library a few weeks ago and have been browsing through ever since. I need a reason to focus on making some of the recipes, to see if it’s worth investing in. So I’m going to bend the rules this once and choose the cookbook deliberately, rather than randomly.

Here it is:

America’s Best Lost Recipes by the Editors of Cook’s Country (Cook's Illustrated's sister magazine)

There’s some tempting stuff in there. (Some bizarre stuff too.)

As always, I'd be happy to have some company. How long has it been since you’ve delved into some of your cookbooks? You can pick one too, or you can do the usual random selection:

1. Count up the number of cookbooks you have. (Include magazines, clipping binders, electronic folders—whatever you've got that you want to explore further.)

2. When you've got a total, pick a number between one and that number. (Better yet, if you can, have someone else do it for you, to ensure that it's really random.)

3. Count through your cookbooks until you get to that number, and pull out the randomly selected cookbook, magazine, folder, etc. (You could also pull names out of a hat if you want to really get serious, but this is quicker.)

4. Commit to cooking at least one new recipe from that resource in the next month. Five, if you want to really challenge yourself.

5. Tell about what you discovered—send me an email, post about it yourself, comment here. I’ll update through the month with what I’m making. Did you discover a new favorite? Or is your choice headed to BookMooch?