Mini Post: Haste

An ode to Dune

Editor’s note: Apologies for two posts in a row with no pictures of pastries. I promise we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming starting next week!

Dune, the 1965 Sci-Fi novel by Frank Herbert has grown to be one of my favorite books. Although I was initially mired in its bizarre language and byzantine politics, I now appreciate the incredible depth and nuance of world building that Herbert achieved in a single novel.

One of my favorite verses from Dune is the “Litany against fear” recited by the mysterious Bene Gesserit order to calm themselves in time of danger:¹

I must not fear. 

Fear is the mind-killer. 

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. 

I will face my fear. 

I will permit it to pass over me and through me. 

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. 

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. 

Only I will remain.

Perhaps one of my most hard-won (and still on-going) learnings from pastry school is that trying to rush in the kitchen is always a bad idea. As tempting as it is to try and speed up various processes, the reality is that high-quality pastry requires a certain amount of time. Trying to rush things invariably leads to mistakes (see, for example, my attempts to make frozen desserts or cheesecake). And yet it is so tempting to try to move faster when you’re watching the precious minutes until service time slip by, knowing full well your pastries will not be complete in time.

While I’ve experienced this lesson so. many. times. over the past 3 months, it’s only in the last few weeks that I’ve really started to internalize the learning. Now, when Chef calls out “30 minutes to service,” I still feel the rising panic in my stomach, but I’m getting a little better at calming my motions and not trying to jump several steps ahead.

To help canonicalize this learning (and as a useful tool to force myself to slow down), I have created the “Litany against haste” which I literally recite, under my breath, when I feel the creeping rush of panic starting to sneak up on me.

Here it is, for your enjoyment:

I must not rush.

Haste is the quality-killer.

Haste is the frenzy that brings total ruin.

When I hear the panic that breaths “Faster”, I will resist.

I will pause, think, and move calmly.

And remember that no pastry can change the laws of physics.

When the panic has gone, there will be quiet.

Only crumbs will remain.

1. Didn’t I tell you that the language and politics were baffling?!