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I frequently cook from cookbook or internet recipes and am usually pretty careful about reading through a new recipe to make sure everything makes sense before I commit to it, but occasionally I run up against frustrating instructions.
Last night I was making risotto cakes with shrimp and in spite of following the directions very carefully, there was no way that I was going to be able to scoop out risotto (mixed with egg and grated parm) that only cooled for 30 min, shape it into patties and dredge them in flour then egg then breadcrumbs without them falling apart. I was frustrated and worked through it, but figured out that what really should have happened is that I should have chilled the risotto for several hours to give it a chance to firm up first. (They turned out pretty good, but the entire process was more annoying than enjoyable!)
I feel like the author didn't want the recipe to look like it was going to take 4 hours so they just left out that part of the instructions.
I remember the first time I made cream puffs. You boil water and melt butter into it. Then you stir flour into until it forms a ball. Then the instructions say to beat eggs into it one at a time. I stirred and stirred but the egg didn't want to blend in with the flour.
If I hadn't had my mom there to encourage me to keep going I might have given up and thought the directions were a mistake. Eventually you hit the sweet spot and it blends in. Add the next egg and you're back to square one.
Last night I was looking for a batter for shrimp that will stay crisp when topped with an Asian sauce and brought to the table. There was a perfect picture of crispy, very well-coated shrimp. But the directions just said to dip the shrimp in cornstarch and fry in oil.
Now to me the picture and the directions don't seem congruous with what I've experienced in the past. I might be wrong but I think it would take more than a dip in cornstarch to produce a thick batter. I'll test that assertion on one next time I fry shrimp but I'm skeptical.
And I've told my story about M. Stewart's online pound cake recipe before. I still use her site to get ideas but because of that obviously erroneous recipe I will not use the recipes from her site any more. In fact, I doubt that she has written or compiled them. She can't really do everything it looks like she's doing, can she?
A good cook can sometimes spot the problem while it's still on paper but there are times it appears that someone creative just made something up out of their head without testing the recipe first and you can't catch the flaw until you're in process.
Glad you were able to salvage the recipe. It sounds good.
Not exactly frustrating but a bit annoying....recipes, especially those online from cooks, that go on and on about the recipe, how wonderful it is, what kitchen tools to use, multiple photos etc
Not exactly frustrating but a bit annoying....recipes, especially those online from cooks, that go on and on about the recipe, how wonderful it is, what kitchen tools to use, multiple photos etc
Not exactly frustrating but a bit annoying....recipes, especially those online from cooks, that go on and on about the recipe, how wonderful it is, what kitchen tools to use, multiple photos etc
BEFORE ever listing ingredients and directions.
Ugh - yes! And while cooking, every time my ipad goes to sleep I have to scroll back through that nonsense to find the ingredient list and directions!
.............Last night I was looking for a batter for shrimp that will stay crisp when topped with an Asian sauce and brought to the table. There was a perfect picture of crispy, very well-coated shrimp. But the directions just said to dip the shrimp in cornstarch and fry in oil.
Now to me the picture and the directions don't seem congruous with what I've experienced in the past. I might be wrong but I think it would take more than a dip in cornstarch to produce a thick batter...........
I've got a couple of Asian recipes where the meat or fish is just coated in corn starch and fried in oil. It works fine. Not like it's been cooked in tempura batter, but still rather nice.
If you want a thick crisp batter, I suggest you try a tempura batter.
I remember the first time I made cream puffs. You boil water and melt butter into it. Then you stir flour into until it forms a ball. Then the instructions say to beat eggs into it one at a time. I stirred and stirred but the egg didn't want to blend in with the flour.
If I hadn't had my mom there to encourage me to keep going I might have given up and thought the directions were a mistake. Eventually you hit the sweet spot and it blends in. Add the next egg and you're back to square one.
I make a chocolate pudding pie every year for Christmas. The pudding is made from scratch, and I just about gave up on it too the first time I made it. The recipe says that after whisking for 5 minutes, the pudding will start to thicken. It's not 5 minutes, it's more like 20 minutes.
It was also my mom who encouraged me to keep whisking and see what happens. I think if I was making it alone at home, I would have given up after 15 minutes, thinking I did something wrong.
Not exactly frustrating but a bit annoying....recipes, especially those online from cooks, that go on and on about the recipe, how wonderful it is, what kitchen tools to use, multiple photos etc
BEFORE ever listing ingredients and directions.
Bloggers get paid through affiliate links, so the recipe is at the bottom so that you'll read through the rest and hopefully click on the links to buy a kitchen tool or two on your way to the recipe.
Lots of click- bait online just to get you interested
With ads everywhere
On Facebook im seeing many women talk up
Pinterest. For free recipes
I get really annoyed with pinterest. I Google something, and find what looks like what I want, and I click to get the info/recipe/directions. Turns out to be on someone's pinterest page, and I have to scroll through sometimes hundreds of entries to find the item. I click on it, and it takes me to somebody else's pinterest page, and I give up without ever getting what I came for.
I love canneloni, and got excited when Lydia Bastianich made it on her show. I scribbled down the directions, but then got her cookbook from the library (back in the days before the internet had everything ). Followed the instructions in the book, but realized some directions were missing. Fortunately, they were part of what I wrote down from the show. Sadly, I didn't like the results; the texture was nasty and seasoning was off. I never made canneloni again.
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