Dining Duet

You’ve probably noticed that most of our recipes serve 4–6, and Yom Tov season recipes will serve more. If you think about it, these serving sizes work for the median-size family of Family Table readers, and I imagine that people with larger or smaller families can just alter the recipe as necessary. But a few months ago I had the idea of doing a series dedicated to dinners for two, to make things simpler for our older and younger demographics.

Making things easier for people is a tricky game, and it led me to think about other variations we o­ er to recipes, be it regarding food allergies, cost-effective ingredient swapping, or other changes. I’ve come to notice that while variations might seem helpful, they often end up being these open-ended “make-your-own” type recipes. Simply put, people are less likely to latch on to a recipe that requires them to make changes.

My takeaway? We often think we want more choice, but an abundance of choice actually overwhelms us. There’s a part of us that just wants to be told what to do, what to make, what to put on the menu. So for the most part, I discourage recipes that, at their core, have you creating your own recipe, albeit with guidelines. By the same token, though, I walk a fine line between trying to keep the recipes as broad as possible to address the largest group and still making those same recipes structured and inspired.

Either way, I think Brynie’s recipes will be a hit among the newlyweds and the empty nesters, and — if you alter them just a bit — everyone in between.