Subtle sabotage... or the missing key ingredient!

K

Kimchee

Guest
We went to a potluck the other weekend, and discovered the Indian dish Chicken Biryani.... YUM!

So my wife asked the woman who made it (a co-worker) to send her the recipe. Since the co-worker is from India, we were excited to get her
"authentic family recipe"!

Made it last night, decided it was good.... but not nearly as good as what we had at the pot luck.

So I went googling to see what other recipes used in the dish.
Discovered that it has a LOT of regional variations, but that there was one
KEY ingredient that the co-worker left out of her recipe...

YOGURT.
Every recipe I found used yogurt either in the chicken marinade or in the cooking process. Not a drop was in this lady's recipe!
Now, I don't really think she deliberately left the ingredient out of her recipe, but......... ;)

On the plus side, I get to make it again before too long!
Moral of the story... for unfamiliar, somewhat complex recipes received from someone, I will be googling them before making them, LOLOLOL!
 

FryBoy

New member
Some people do that with disturbing frequency. Ego, I guess, or more likely insecurity or just plain meanness. I think I may have encountered the phenomenon even here.

Reminds me of the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in which Ray's mother left out ingredients in her prized recipe, then ridiculed Ray's wife Debra for her inability to cook. When Ray found his mom's secret stash of recipes and discovered her trick, his mom gave Debra a jar labeled Oregano that actually contained marjoram or something.

Bottom line -- don't blame yourself if a recipe someone gives you turns out to be a flop.
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
Some people do that with disturbing frequency. Ego, I guess, or more likely insecurity or just plain meanness. I think I may have encountered the phenomenon even here.

Reminds me of the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in which Ray's mother left out ingredients in her prized recipe, then ridiculed Ray's wife Debra for her inability to cook. When Ray found his mom's secret stash of recipes and discovered her trick, his mom gave Debra a jar labeled Oregano that actually contained marjoram or something.

Bottom line -- don't blame yourself if a recipe someone gives you turns out to be a flop.

FB, I KNEW I recalled the episode in which you speak, so I had to do some deep searching.:lol:


37. "Marie's Meatballs" January 19, 1998
W: Susan van Allen D: Brian K. Robert P: Stewart A. Lyons
(prod. no. 9715)
[a small amount of juice] [TV-PG-L]

When Marie shows up at dinner time with her famous meatballs, Ray is torn
between eating them and what Debra made. Debra gives him the choice, and
he makes the wrong one: the meatballs. That night, Debra is unhappy with
him and laments that she is not as good a cook as Marie. Ray talks to
Marie about helping Debra, and she agrees bringing over a box of ingredients.
She tells Debra that the most important ingredient is "the love," although
the wine she drinks while making it can't hurt. Debra makes meatballs, which
Ray tells her he loves, but she catches him spitting them out. That night,
she sneaks into Marie's house and, with Robert's help, finds the recipe.
Her meatballs followed the recipe, so she concludes that she just cannot
cook -- until she discovers that bottle of basil is really tarragon. Ray
confronts his mother, and she admits that she pulled the deception, because
she felt that if Debra could cook as well as she does, Ray would not come
over anymore. Marie gives Debra most of her recipes (which would have gone
to her on Marie's death anyway) the next day.

In a side story, someone keeps leaving small amounts of juice in the bottom
of the bottle instead of finishing it.

Guests: none
 

FryBoy

New member
Good point, however oregano & marjoram are the same thing.
Not quite. As noted by www.cookthink.com,
Marjoram is oregano's calmer, sweeter fraternal twin. Oregano = zesty + peppery + lemony. Marjoram = delicate + floral + round. The two are often used interchangeably but if you get up in their mix you'll see some big differences.

Want to test the difference? Get a fresh sprig of marjoram and a fresh sprig of oregano. Tear an oregano leaf in half. Hold it up to your nose. Smell that piney resin? That jolt? It's sharp, isn't it? Almost one note.

Okay, wait a few minutes, then do the same thing with the marjoram. Smell the complexity? The spice is still there but it's perfumed, heady. Almost soapy. (If you use too much of it, that soapiness can take over a soup or sauce.)

So, can you use one in place of the other? Sure. If you use oregano when a recipe calls for marjoram (or vice versa), the flavors of the dish won't be wildly different. Still, we like to honor and explore the subtle character differences between the two.
 

Miniman

Mini man - maxi food
Gold Site Supporter
Thanks Fryboy - I had always been told that they were the same. I will now be investigating.
 

FryBoy

New member
Thanks Fryboy - I had always been told that they were the same. I will now be investigating.
If you have a jar of each, just open them and take a sniff. Although they're similar, they're also quite different, or at least they are to my nose.

Oregano is one of my favorite or at least most used spices as it's essential in Italian and Mexican cooking, both of which I make often. But it's very easy to overdo. Oregano has a strong, slightly bitter and harsh or sharp flavor; too much and that's about all you taste. Marjoram, OTOH, is much milder, even subtle, lacking the punch of oregano.

Marjoram is wonderful in many things, but it's not a great substitute for oregano in strong sauces -- and vice versa: IMHO oregano is too much for some dishes that call for marjoram. Consequently, I keep both on hand and generally won't substitute one for the other. But any port in a storm, so if I'm out of one, I will use the other and adjust the amount accordingly.

I've attached a couple of my favorite recipes, one that uses a lot of oregano and another that relies on marjoram.
 

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