Measurments?

[Lefty]

I know this will cause a little dysfunction between us, but, should we be using exact measurements? Example, 1/4 cup of eggs. or 1/2 a cup of onion. Eggs are a unmeasurable example, onions are called small medium or large, I could go on, but I think you guys get the idea. I would much more like a recipe that said 1/2 cup of eggs, or 3/4 cup of onion, ... it makes things that are not measurable more realistic. Let me know what you think.

 

[DanMcG]

I prefer to use weight measurements if I'm going for constant repetitive results...say when I make a certain type of sausage. But I agree with ya, you need a base line, unless you're a pinch of this and a pinch of that type cook then it doesn't matter

 

[ChowderMan]

actually, eggs are "measureable"

they are graded by weight into pewee, small, medium, large, jumbo.

which is nice but meaningless if you're getting eggs from a local chicken coop....

stuff like medium / large onion is in all probability within the "to taste" boundaries of most recipes.

there are situations where specifics are indeed valuable - a summer salad with 4,5,6 "chopped" ingredients - I definitely find "1 cup chopped celery" a better guideline than "3 ribs" - green peppers, same - regardless of large/medium/small fruit size, how it's opened&trimmed can drastically affect how much "diced" anything goes into the bowl.

like cole slaw - "one head of green cabbage" - dang they ain't never seen the cabbages in my shopping rounds - little ones to beanbagchair size . . . .

 

[QSis]

Let me know what you think.

I think you can loosen up about most recipes, Lefty my dear.

With some exceptions, you can think of recipes as starting points, guidelines, approximations. Do not be held captive by the

Use what you have and what you like.

I never use "half a can of mushroom soup", I use the whole thing, for heaven's sake.

If a recipe calls for a "medium onion" and I have a large one, I might use half of it, or the whole onion, if a lot of onion sounds good.

Lee

 

[lilbopeep]

I think you can loosen up about most recipes, Lefty my dear.

With some exceptions, you can think of recipes as starting points, guidelines, approximations. Do not be held captive by the

Use what you have and what you like.

I never use "half a can of mushroom soup", I use the whole thing, for heaven's sake.

If a recipe calls for a "medium onion" and I have a large one, I might use half of it, or the whole onion, if a lot of onion sounds good.

Lee

I agree

 

[Cooksie]

Great topic, Lefty
We need some more food talk going on.

I don't think exact measurements in home cooking (baking may be a different story) are all that important. I'd never measure eggs, so I just like a recipe to call for a specific number of eggs instead of ?/? cup of eggs. Ingredients like chopped celery and onion are a different matter. I like the recipe to give the cup measurement for those, but I'm not going to measure those either . I can chop a pile of onions or celery and tell when I've got about a cup, and 1 tablespoon more or less isn't going to make or break the final product.

Maybe it comes down to the cook's personality. Are you a technical type of person who likes exact with no gray areas, or are you a more creative type of person who likes to put your own spin on it. I don't think either, technical or creative, makes a better cook. It's just different strokes for different folks.

 

[Lefty]

I am actually a creative non-exact person. This post came after watching a few cooking shows and noticing one persons this was another persons that. So I thought to bring it up here. When I write a recipe I try and be descriptive enough to give my reader a very close idea of what worked for me. I love adding () with extra notes.

 

[ChowderMan]

the problem I see with rigidly following a recipe for a specific dish is:

if you succeed, it tastes the same every time.

now,,, I have a few sacred cows, but by and large I actually like it that my ad-hoc stir fry - for example - is not identical to the last one. something about variety and spices of life . . .

baking is different. getting (too) creative when baking can produce major flops. ratios need to be "right" or darn close to it for many baked items to work.