Sure, most people would agree that lots of recipes include useless and unrealistic points. But it drives me crazy to have someone try a recipe of mine and admit that they didn't perform a certain step, or substituted an inferior product for an integral ingredient, or used metal when glass was specified, etc . . . and then they wonder why it didn't turn out like it should!

Recipes are written to get the most ideal results with ingredients and equipment, and while many people scoff at parts of them, there still ARE people who literally don't know anything about cooking. I read cookbooks like novels every night, and I take lots of recipes with a grain of salt, lol. But I'm sure I once wondered about:

("Remove the stems," it says, "and reserve them for another purpose."
Uh, huh. Anybody here ever seen a recipe that says, "take half a pound of mushroom stemsÂ..")

. . . and now I know to throw them in the freezer and use them when making stock. I don't mean to rain on your parade; I know where you're coming from ~ but it's really hard work to write a recipe, believe it or not. It's kind of like trying to write a story that would interest kindergarteners as well as professors . . . and appeal to their opposite palates at the same time:)

I make a mean mushroom soup out of mushroom stems if I have "another use" for the tops.
And I always peel and core a tomato when I need just one...even when I slice it for a sandwich....even if the directions don't specify.
And I KNOW who writes those recipes....home economists who write recipes, who are steeped in theory and don't know much about hands on stuff...
But, in their defense, I helped edit and write the instruction book for an appliance many many years ago....and was told not to take any "common sense" for granted. To write the directions so a chimpanzee could follow them, if a chimpanzee could read.

I perfectly understand that their are some that when reading "thicken the pan drippings with 1/4 cup of flour," would dump it in and wonder why they got lumps and liquid. Or a friend, who as a young bride made a sauce not knowing that a garlic CLOVE was not the same as a garlic HEAD. And I believe there are certain phrases meant to enhance the "yum factor"...as in "simmer until the juices begin to flow", or perhaps "simmer in butter until a rich golden brown".
I would further guess that easily 80% of the recipes, perhaps more, of the recipes in a monthly magazine are never made....either in the test kitchens or by the reader.
Linda C

When I give instructions for preparing something I write it as though the reader has no previous knowledge of the subject. That way the directions can be used by both a novice and a more experienced person. I don't at all mind reading overly explicit instructions but I do get very annoyed when steps are left out because it often results in something being done incorrectly and turning out badly. I refer not just to recipes but as well to other types of instructions such as for using technical devices.

Linda you must have seen me many years ago as a young bride when I made a veal casserole using a whole head of garlic because I didn't know what was a "clove" LOL! That was sure one good and tasty casserole but nobody could stand near us until the following week!
(In those days garlic was rarely used in our part of Canada as it was considered foul and smelly.)

SharonCb

I've often read recipes and wondered why so much then realize its becouse of all the reason's given by the rest of you. But what really gets me is when reading a review of a recipe great but I did this and this and this. I can see "twicking" a recipe once you tried it but the first time? Oh well
Sheila

I've pretty much been cooking without recipes since we moved to Holland a few months ago. I used to follow recipes to the letter, and didn't do much improvising. But since we've been here I have not found many ingredients I'm used to cooking with, so I've been winging it, and I have to admit that I've done well.

The issue about writing down a recipe now happens when my husband and I have a WOW moment and he says "you have to write down how you made this so you can make it again". So I try to reconstruct my process, specifying ingredients/measurements/techniques/timing. It's not that easy. I always cooked from recipes before so that I had the same result every time (we liked it the first time, we want it again mindset...)

I'm having fun, improvising. But I do appreciate well-crafted recipes. They've made me into the cook I am today.

seagrass

I think most magazines use "testers" --- like me... to test the proposed recipes for their magazines. You can't believe how hard it can be to come up with 12 (or 24) NEW, GOOD recipes every month. And, as has already been said, how difficult it is to make sure EVERY reader/cook can understand exactly what the directions are.

GardenLad, I understand what you are saying too. I always kind of assume that if you are cooking something from Gourmet magazine, you know a little bit about cooking at least. I know very few beginning cooks who would pick up "Gourmet", they'd be more likely to pick up one of those "Quick and Simple" magazines or something similar.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there are people out there who are so certain about their ability that even though they don't know enough to boil an egg, they believe they can make that recipe from "Gourmet". (shrug)

I would think something like "Gourmet" would appeal to a more experienced audience and not need such specific instruction.

My question is why recipes say things like "in a small bowl" when it doesn't really impact the recipe at all, it just makes a small amount. I could use the dishpan to beat those 2 eggs and not compromise the recipe, so why do I need to be instructed to use a "small bowl"? Instructions for the sake of filling the page?

Being the contentious type I am, I tend to think, "heck, I'm not even going to use a BOWL, I'm going to beat those eggs in a pie plate, so there". LOL

Annie

The one I love is "cover with a clean cloth". No thanks, think I'll use a filthy dirty one!

I must be a real recipe sinner.... I read those recipes and if it's something I decide to make, I reread it to figure how to cut out steps (w/o compromising the outcome). I hate excessive dirty dishes and I really don't like to waste time.
So sometimes I just say to myself... that's silly, but I guess they have to put it that way for beginner cooks....

Nancy

Annie and Chase, those are both perfect examples of what I'm talking about.

Being overly precise to make sure the reader understands you is one thing (and, yes, for those who mentioned it, I do know what it takes to write recipes; even worse, to translate recipes---sorry, reciepts---from the 16-18th centuries). But getting down to minutia, like what size pan to use is something else altogether.

Seems to me that beginners who don't understand the why of certain procedures only get more confused. Using Annie's egg example, not only do they say "in a small bowl," they often say, "with a whisk."

And if I don't have a whisk, does that mean I can't beat those eggs? I mean, God forbid I should beat them with a fork in a dishpan! Obviously, the recipe won't work if I do that, and I may as well cover with a filthy, dirty cloth.

> maybe there are people out there who are so certain about their ability that even though they don't know enough to boil an egg, they believe they can make that recipe from "Gourmet". (shrug) Ever watched any of the cooking reality shows? Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, or In Search of the Next Food Network Star? You wouldn't even question whether there are such folks, when you consider that the majority of contestents on those shows hadn't a clue as to the basics of working in a kitchen; or even basic cookery techniques.

During the Food Network starsearch, for instance, about half the contestents couldn't do basic knifework.

On the one and only episode of Hell's Kitchen I watched (one episode was two too many) one of the contestents, who in real life was a pizza chef (whatever that means), didn't get his service done because he had neglected to turn on the gas to his stove. And, apparently, it never occured to him to periodically check to see how things were coming along.

Good grief! This clown had ambitions of running the kitchen in a multi-million dollar restarant?

I'm sure someone like that would have no trouble with the idea that he could follow any recipe ever written.

"Three scallions, white part and some of the green, chopped."

What are they doing with the rest of those green tops? Throwing them away?

I hope they throw away the limp and floppy ends of the onion....some of the green is OK...but often the last 2 or 3 inches is limp, floppy and tough.
Linda C

I wrote a recipe column for a local newspaper a few years ago, and you would be amazed at the detail some peple seem to need. People would call or e-mail me with the darndest quesitons ... When a recipe said, "cover with a clean towel," a lady called and asked if it had to be a towel, could it be a cloth the same size that she cut from an old sheet for cooking purposes. That was one of the more intelligent questions.

Recipes used to be on the order of a set of ingredients, then, "proceed as usual." End of recipe. Generally speaking, people really don't know as much aobut cooking as they used to. They have to be interested to know as much as people did a hundred years ago.

As far as substituting, when I give somebdoy a recipe, I include this poem along with it.

I didn't have potatoes, so I substituted rice,
I didn't have paprika, so I used another spice,
I didn't have tomato sauce, I used tomato paste,
A whole can...not half a can - I don't believe in waste!
A friend gave me the recipe
She said you couldn't beat it!
But there must be something wrong with it
I couldn't even eat it!

Sometimes I get more irked that the recipe calls for a special ingredient that I don't keep on hand, and only uses a very small portion of the package. I have to love a recipe deep down to my soul to make it twice in rapid succession, so off I go to start a search for another recipe that uses the ingredient.

Another thing, is seeing a recipe and being excited to try it, to find out most of it is pre-packaged and the recipe is only adding a little to it. I don't mean bagged salad or something like that, but rather a pasta dish that calls for a package of creamed spinach, a package of frozen tetrazini, and a jar of roasted red peppers. I should have checked the recipes better before I bought the magazine, but I was seduced by the pictures.

Ya know, Dances, you can always make those convenience products from scratch if you want.

Personally, I prefer the freshness of home-made, and would never even consider buying something like a jar of roasted red peppers etc.

I do agree with your feelings about using just a small amount of a special product. I just went through that with tamarind. Needed just a walnut-sized piece of pulp, but the smallest package was a full pound.

Leafy: Nothing surprises me when it comes to how much people need to have their hands held. I remember a story Friend Wife and I did, "In Search of the Perfect Crabcake." Basically, it was a tour of Maryland's Eastern Shore based on food tripping.

Folks repeated that trip all summer. With copies of the article clutched in their hands they'd visit only the restaurants we mentioned, and would order, in each one, exactly what we had eaten there.

Gardenlad, I like to start from scratch too. I am amazed at the recipes that call for a can of cream of something soup, whcn it is just as easy to make a quick white sauce and add fresh mushrooms or celery or whatever. It tastes better to do that, and you don't get all the ugly additives and MSG that is in the canned goop. That's right, not soup, but goop. :-6

LOL at the story of the crabcakes. People have no imagination, sometimes, but maybe the new trippers went back later for something else.

Maybe they did go back. My guess would be that most did not.

It's like that recent movie about the Napa wine country. We finally saw the film, and couldn't understand what the shouting was about. If that influenced all those people to tour the wine country, and to sample the wines they drank, well.....and awful lot of people need to get out more.

But it's been our experience as travel and food writers that most people _do_ need their hands held. They are afraid to try anything on their own.

Of course, that's what keeps travel agents---not to mention travel writers---in business. So I shouldn't really complain about it.

The stems of a mushroom can be used for the same recipe just dice em up or surve with a meat loaf or a steak or burger,its all good

Absolutely, Tommy. We all know that you can use those things. The question is, what do those writers think you're supposed to do with them.

My favorite, with mushrooms, was a recipe for deuxelles that said to discard the stems. Are they kidding? Is there anyone in the world who can tell the difference between caps and stems when they've been minced, sauteed, and wrung out?

Gardenlad, no argument from here about the topic at hand, just a slight question. When you spoke about the movie were you referring to Sideways? If so, you're about 450 miles too far north. That movie was about the wine country in the Santa Rita Hills and the San Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara, not Napa.

Just shows you how underwhelmed we were by both the film (which didn't go anywhere) and the idea that it influenced people to follow in their footsteps.

Besides which, it's all just California to me. :>)

My 8th grade teacher gave us a homework assignment to write a paper on how to make a pb&j sandwich. So we did. The next day in class, he proceded to make one according to some poor child's paper. Needless to say, he never opened the bag of bread, just smeared it with pb and then j. He then attempted to take a bite of the whole wrapped mess. Thirty years later, and a career which includes writing professionally, I still remember his great lesson.
Jo

I appreciate the preciseness of the written recipes. I have been cooking for 37 years. Have well over 300 recipe books. Some were my grandmother's and mom's. I do not like it when the recipe has not been tested. You write to book manuf. and find out there is a mistake. I canned some Sweet Gerkin pickles one time which came out less than I wanted them to, only to find out that the recipe had a "mistake." I found out from the Home Economist I bought the book from, afterward!!!!! I had rather the writer of recipes err on the side of too much information than not enough. If they didn't give us enough information we would gripe about that also.