altho I agree stuff like ‘medium onion’ or ‘large tomato’ is … ah, ‘interesting’ . . .
but usually those descriptions are for stuff like stews / etc. where a bit more or less doesn’t matter.
where it bugs me - making something like a fruit pie / tart / dish.
how much do you need for 2 cups of diced apples . . . yeah, having a weight would really help out.
I can guesstimate for the loss of peel and core, and if I buy too many, I’ll just eat the apple…
and even more curiouser . . . for stuff like stuffed pastas, recipes often do specify the meat ingredient by weight…
A good question. I’m someone who would be more inclined to add drier ingredients to the wet ones (ex. salad dressing), so if the ingredients were reversed, I’d just end up adding them in the order that made sense to me anyway. I wonder if there is a commonly accepted “style guide” for recipe writing?
3 Likes
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
24
So, there was this chicken recipe that I’d read. It said it needed to be marinated. So, about 4.30, I got started in the kitchen ready to prep for dinner at 7.30. And re-read the recipe which told me to prepare the marinade and then “put the chicken in the fridge till tomorrow”. Yes, I know I should have read it properly first time and maybe I did. Anyway, it got three hours marinating, not twenty four.
2 Likes
BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
25
Perhaps the most asinine I’ve come across is in a recipe in “The Chocolate Bible” (not by RLB) that calls for “a cup of cake crumbs”. This in a book by three European bakers who start off by saying that to bake is to measure, and then give you measurements in cups.
I once had an in-law who offered to help me bake, but refused to weigh or sift flour. It was a “get out of my kitchen” moment. I don’t understand the resistance to buying or using a scale.
1 Like
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
26
Their American publishers may well have required it to be “translated” for the local market.
Marcella Hazan is a good example of cookbook translation. Apparently, she wrote in Italian and used metric measures. Then her husband, an Italian American, translated into American English and using cup measurements. When her classic cookbook was subsequently published in the UK, it was re-translated, by Anna de Conte, into British English and using the original metric quantities.
The mistake I tend to make is not adding the food coloring to the wet ingredients (when I want to dye a cake). Unless its a really wet batter, I have to add the food coloring to the wet ingredients before adding the wet to the dry.
I had to make a “Barbie” themed cake for my girlfriend to take to a party and almost forgot to add the food coloring to the wet ingredients.
BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
28
Reminds me, checking into a hotel in London, I was asked, “Would you like a y-cup coal?” My response, “I beg your pardon?” . The question was repeated, to which I said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you”. So she asked, “Would you like us to coal you to wyke you up?”. Then it hit me, she was asking if I wanted a wake-up call. Then she explained that she was Australian. And here I was wondering why I had trouble understanding a Brit when my teachers in high school were mostly English!
Honestly, I’d just prefer metic. Perhaps there’s a conversion app somewhere. Who knew a miniscus could be so … important outside of a high school chem lab?
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
31
I first visited the States in 1980. On the early trips, I was often asked if I was from New Zealand. It always struck me as weird - my accent is nothing like a New Zealand one. Eventually, I worked out what was probably happening. Firstly, folk didnt recognise my northwestern accent as being English - back in those days, Americans would not have heard too many regional accents from British TV programmes. And, secondly, they didnt really know what a Kiwi accent was either. So, put two and two together and got five. Then there was the guy in Toronto who asked if I was Scottish. FFS.
Works both ways. I used to volunteer at the local hospital , working on an information desk at the main entrance. Guy comes up to the desk and asks for directions to where he was going. Very distinctive accent, I thought. “Which part of Canada are you from?”, I ask. He was American. I apologise, sheepishly.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
35
True. But I think it was when Oasis became popular in the 90s that folk started to recognise a Manchester accent. I’ve mentioned this story before but worth a second mention. My friend Paul is a lawyer in Kentucky. He has another Brit friend who lives in my metro area. Now Paul says he can understand my accent (middle class from the south of the area) well, so long as I don’t speak too quickly. But he really struggles with the other guy (working class from the north of the area). Less than 20 miles and really significant differences in our accents.
A cup is a cup, just for liquids it can be easier to have a bit of rim above to avoid splashing. I use my dry cups for everything thru 3 C of ingredient, but often use my 4 C glass “wet cups” measure for everything (dry and wet) over 3 C.
I used to complain about this until my baking buddy pointed out that the ring holding the set together is removable (sometimes takes a pliers and some prying). A couple un-connected sets of measuring spoons stored in one divided portion of the drawer make it reasonably easy to find a dry one when needed.
I have two sets I just don’t want to have to wash two sets lol. And I use curtain rings to keep them together so they are easy to separate.
I guess I’m just lazy.
