My grandma wouldn’t give me her recipe for my favorite dessert and she died:( My aunts try to reassure me by saying she probably didn’t have a recipe she probably felt it out.
That’s why one day I insisted on standing next to my grandma to take notes. I‘m glad I did because otherwise her „I don’t have a recipe“ noodle dish would have been lost forever.
my grandma’s famous brownies turned out to be box mix with chopped walnuts added 😂 and the box mix ingredients changed so they’re just not the same anymore.
i came up with my own deeply indulgent recipe that i prefer anyways.
When I asked for the recipe (fudge) my grandma legit sent me a cutout from the back of a marshmallow fluff jar. I am 100% certain that’s not the recipe she used.
You might have been provided a “less-ipe”. In communities where recipes are closely guarded, social pressures may force one to share what would be a personal secret. So they give an adulterated version ensuring only they, the original recipe holder can produce the beloved result.
Cooking allows for a lot of “feeling it out”. For example, most spices you aren’t really going to taste a difference between a tsp and a tbsp of the same spice. Just knowing what spices go into the dish you are making can often be enough.
For example, taco seasoning is onions, cumin, oragano, chili pepper, and paprika. By far, the cumin and onions drive the flavor, you could almost leave out everything else. With that in mind, it mostly ends up being just the technique. Brown the onions, toast the spices, brown the meat. The actual amount of spices that goes in won’t make a huge difference one way or another. What does make a difference is if you grind your cumin instead of using preground (that’s true for most seed spices).
Technique is often the most important thing vs exact ingredient measuring. The exception to this is baking. You must measure (preferably by weight) your flour and liquids. You can eventually do it by feel, but it’s hard. You’ll get much better results with a scale. Even then, it’s mostly just the process of targeting the right hydration. 70% does well for a lot of white breads (For every 1 gram of flour add 0.7g of liquid).
No problem. I’ve definitely seen a lot of baking articles that somehow try and make this simple concept unbelievably convoluted.
The only other thing to know is that 1 mL of water = 1 gram of water. Which means 170g of water == 170 mL of water (At STP… blah blah blah. It’s not super important to hit exactly 70% you can hit 75% or 65% and you’ll be fine. It’s close enough to true).
My grandma wouldn’t give me her recipe for my favorite dessert and she died:( My aunts try to reassure me by saying she probably didn’t have a recipe she probably felt it out.
That’s why one day I insisted on standing next to my grandma to take notes. I‘m glad I did because otherwise her „I don’t have a recipe“ noodle dish would have been lost forever.
my grandma’s famous brownies turned out to be box mix with chopped walnuts added 😂 and the box mix ingredients changed so they’re just not the same anymore.
i came up with my own deeply indulgent recipe that i prefer anyways.
When I asked for the recipe (fudge) my grandma legit sent me a cutout from the back of a marshmallow fluff jar. I am 100% certain that’s not the recipe she used.
You might have been provided a “less-ipe”. In communities where recipes are closely guarded, social pressures may force one to share what would be a personal secret. So they give an adulterated version ensuring only they, the original recipe holder can produce the beloved result.
God people are stupid. Oh no. Can’t give or my special recipe! No one will remember me!
It’s very likely:( I know some people who are holding out on their kids for that reason.
i actually “caught” my grandma using the box mix. my aunt, her daughter, acted like i was foolish for being surprised 🤷🏻
That’s some pretty solid evidence. Caught in the act!
The secret ingredient was dust, dander, and flop sweat.
Source: my grandmother’s kitchen. No disrespect granny, but your kitchen hygiene was awful.
I wonder if all great cooks “feel it out” or if that’s just something I tell myself to help my disorganized ass sleep at night.
Cooking allows for a lot of “feeling it out”. For example, most spices you aren’t really going to taste a difference between a tsp and a tbsp of the same spice. Just knowing what spices go into the dish you are making can often be enough.
For example, taco seasoning is onions, cumin, oragano, chili pepper, and paprika. By far, the cumin and onions drive the flavor, you could almost leave out everything else. With that in mind, it mostly ends up being just the technique. Brown the onions, toast the spices, brown the meat. The actual amount of spices that goes in won’t make a huge difference one way or another. What does make a difference is if you grind your cumin instead of using preground (that’s true for most seed spices).
Technique is often the most important thing vs exact ingredient measuring. The exception to this is baking. You must measure (preferably by weight) your flour and liquids. You can eventually do it by feel, but it’s hard. You’ll get much better results with a scale. Even then, it’s mostly just the process of targeting the right hydration. 70% does well for a lot of white breads (For every 1 gram of flour add 0.7g of liquid).
Thank you for the best and simplest explanation of doing __% hydration for dough that I’ve seen.
No problem. I’ve definitely seen a lot of baking articles that somehow try and make this simple concept unbelievably convoluted.
The only other thing to know is that 1 mL of water = 1 gram of water. Which means 170g of water == 170 mL of water (At STP… blah blah blah. It’s not super important to hit exactly 70% you can hit 75% or 65% and you’ll be fine. It’s close enough to true).