I'm in a bad mood.
Half a cup or 200g. Who the fuck knows? How about "a little of this, a little of that?" A true cook does not waste time measuring. Notice I am not saying "baker." Those motherfuckers have to be spot on.
But if you like to cook, after a while, 1T of something becomes meaningless, unless it's a new recipe. You already know whether to insert two or twelve cloves of garlic, or whether they have to be crushed or diced. You just know. Coq au Vin? Whip out the mental recipe for the recipe. You know that 2 T of garlic is going to overwhelm 3 cups of sauce for Dish X, or know that it's not going to be enough. You know that if you put four jalapeños in the taco sauce that zero people are going to eat it, no matter how much you like hot food. You know that now, so you adjust.
You form a mental lattice of a recipe before you cook it, assigning each taste and each texture to its certain place. How will the potatoes taste if I fuck up the timing? Will it ruin the dish? Christ, several times I've made this, the sauce curdled. That can't happen this time. No goddamn uber-chef looking over my shoulder this time. It'll be only me to blame, and these motherfuckers don't even know how to scramble an egg. But it'll be my ass.
Sometimes 1/2 t of brown sugar is important. But if you have the instinct, which doesn't mean you have to be professional—just experienced—you'll know from just looking at it that it works or doesn't.
The rest of the time you just have to find out.
I never measure. Well, I judge by eye and instinct, which I suppose is a form of measuring. There's just no point if you have even a decent feel for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat kills me is people who measure every little thing. Like a guy I saw one time measuring out four cups of water in which to boil the noodles for Kraft Dinner. Like -- if you used 3.5 cups your meal would be ruined?
Or people measuring things like the amount of fresh basil in tomato sauce. Just toss it in! If there's too much just call it pesto!
On my blog I used to be very vague about measurements when it came to recipes, referring to a toss of this and a glug of that. I still think that way but I've taken to guessing what the amounts are in teaspoons and ounces in order to accomodate those poor souls who want to eat well but who can't manage without their precision instruments.
Here's an example of the way I used to do it, all glugs and scratches:
Blork's Salsa
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ReplyDelete(Sorry, had a pesky typo in the last)
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic! (the salsa recipe, I mean.)
Okay, I was a little harsh, maybe, because if you're unsure of the exact composition of something and can't picture the taste relationships beforehand from a recipe (I often think of it as like reading a musical score; obviously someone who can't read music will just see black squiggles) you're going to want a roadmap on how to do it. And obviously, the difference between 450 degrees for 30 minutes is going to be different than 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
But some of the inane stuff--like specifying the quantity of water to boil pasta in, as you pointed out--is ridiculous.
By the way, Kraft Dinner tastes lousy if you only use 3.5 cups. It's got to be 3.75.
very nice salsa recipe that blork has got...i dont usually measure either. my late grandma also used to only say a bit of this, a bit of that. and everyone in the family would ask: how much is a bit exactly? my grandma would become very mad "a bit is a bit! how do i know exacty?!". what i gave in my recipes was also rough estimates/guesses. sometimes it's helpful to have measurements - esp for people doing the cuisine/recipe the first time. i remember i read a recipe once, every seasoning measurements were v detailed, but the author forgot to mention how much of the main ingredient (chicken cubes in that case) he'd used for those precise amounts of seasoning!
ReplyDeleteThe other thing to consider is where personal taste comes into it. Notwithstanding the occasional recipe that is very precisely articulated as someone's specific artisitic vision, most of the time it's up to the chef to decide.
ReplyDeleteFor example, it always cracks me up when I see a chili recipe that calls for a teaspoon of chili powder. A teaspoon? (Mind you, I never use such recipes verbatim anyway.)
Well, like I said, it's a bit like reading music. I can usually tell from just a quick rundown of the list of ingredients whether it will be worth making at all.
ReplyDeleteI think when the precise measures come in handy is when you get a massive recipe, like one for a particularly complex biriyani, say, and you can't be bothered to parse all the spices. But even in that case, I'll ignore the "1 tsp. turmeric" and pretty much throw in as much as I see fit.
Another time I might go strictly by the numbers is if I'm making the recipe for the first time and can't visualize the final result.
Or if I'm doing one by those motherfucking bakers.
I'm one of those baker chicks. I like things measured. I like to know with 100% certainty that i'm not wasting my time and that the pastry, cookie, cake will actually turn out.
ReplyDeleteThis extends to my "cooking" where i don't measure water, perhaps, or most spices. But i'm pretty likely to meausure ground beef... i want my meatloaf to be the same everytime. It's obsessive compulsiveness, perhaps. Maybe all of us bakers are a little bit ... crazy ...
Hate them baker chicks. They ride along on their hogs waving their baguettes as if to remind me why I can't bake a Pillsbury Ultra-chip Deluxe.
ReplyDeleteah, the mixed metaphors of hogs, bakers and pillsbury.
ReplyDeletedid "you" make a 5-step valentine's day cake for someone? one that involved fucking choux pastry and a flan sponge cake? If you did, you'd have had to measure everything. Ever try to buy one of those awful sponge flan cakes in FEBRUARY? I had to make it from scratch. lots of egg whites. just watching all those yolks go down the drain.
but then there's last weekend, when i made a lemon curd tart that involved (no kidding) 18 eggs. Holy jesus. It scored good points. Better than the rhubarb custard pie i made the weekend before. we put the leftovers from that in the back alley and even the homeless man wouldn't touch it. eventually the birds ate it.
Okay, I promise, no more baker chick yolks.
ReplyDeletewow! making a valentines day cake all by herself! that is very impressive...would shelley mind sharing her full-of-love-cake recipe?
ReplyDeletei could share the recipe. it'd take a bit of time to compile the bits. first let me show you the trial and error process by way of a link to my website where i've just put up a flash slide show documenting the darn thing. http://www.totheletter.ca/flash1.valentinesday.htm
ReplyDeletethen if you still want the recipe, i'll be happy to get it ready for you :)
thanks for the link - let me check it out......
ReplyDeleteOK. Here's the link to the Valentine's Day Cake recipe(s), with story and explanations included.
ReplyDeleteI've not made this available for public display on my website yet (or on the montrealfood site) as I haven't checked it for typos (hey, i only started to put this together this morning, about 5 hrs ago, i'm still in my pyjamas at 2:18 pm, haven't started work yet).
http://www.totheletter.ca/pdf%20files/Gateau%20St%20Honore.pdf
Any and all feedback welcome.
"one that involved fucking choux pastry"?
ReplyDeleteNo comment.
But, baking is different than cooking, and needs to be more precise. I'm actually considering buying a scale, because all I see these days for ingredients are in grams.
yes, the one with fucking choux pastry, that's the recipe link i provided.
ReplyDeletefunny you should mention a scale... in a future rant of mine (flash show, write up, pictures) i'll talk about how i discovered the best bread recipe and how i MUST weigh the flour every time... I just use the same postal scale i have in my office.
ah many thanks for the recipe - the cake looks really amazing!!!! (and very challenging!!!=P)
ReplyDelete