The title of this thread made me think of other ideas, rather than Ian's thoughts about the changes of direction that happen when you get to the kitchen!
Some years ago I submitted a short piece to the Guardian, in response to an article about Elizabeth David. The writer in question had done a very thorough job of demolishing some of her simplest recipes. If I remember correctly, his argument was based on a failure with a dish of courgettes and tomato.
He argued that David was 'vague'. Interestingly, several years later, Chris Patten wrote a similar article, and worried endlessly about cooking the said tomatoes.
My response was a short discourse on the nature of food writing, the intelligent audience that David would have hoped for, and the skills and instincts demanded by good home cooking. At not too much length, I tried to discuss David as she stood for a contemporary reader.
I bloody wish I still had a copy. It took a lot of late night irate thoughts!!!
Edit: it's that word, 'vague'. It still makes me cringe and shudder! Is there someone on the staff of the Guardian who remembers stuffing my earnest response in a file, or a bin?