Can I Have That Recipe?

So often someone comes to my house for dinner, or I go to theirs, and one of us asks, ‘can I have that recipe?’.  Sometimes the recipe is from a cookbook, or website, and then it’s easy, they look it up and either have success or not, but when you give someone a recipe you essentially made-up, either verbally,or you try to remember what you did and write it down for them. Inevitably either way, they make it and then they call to say that it didn’t taste like they remember, or it wasn’t as good, or it was even better. Why is it that two people can follow the same recipe and get different results? 

I think this should be a pitch for yet another competition show on Food Network “Follow That Recipe” in which contestants are given a meal, and then given the recipes used for the meal, and they need to recreate it exactly. If nothing else it would be instructive for all of us trying to write recipe that other people can follow and get the same results! When I write a recipe, in fact when I write anything, I do my best to be super-clear. I try to anticipate errors that the reader could make. One in particular is the potential problem you encounter if you’re using items that get chopped or diced—there is about a 25% difference in weight between a half cup of pecans, chopped, and a half cup of chopped pecans! 

As a recipe writer you try to be vigilant about these nuances, but as a recipe reader, you need to be attentive too. Professional bakers swear by weighing rather than measuring ingredients, something I try to do, but I also understand not everyone has a scale. Once you’ve gotten your mise en place together—oh, wait, here’s another opportunity for the reader to encounter a misstep. Recently I made a chocolate cake from Fran Costigan’s excellent cookbook, Vegan Chocolate, and because I was rushing I didn’t get all my ingredients together, and measured out, and I omitted a key ingredient. UGH! It’s at these moments I hear my friend Pat say “if you don’t have time to do it right, what makes you think you have time to do it over?” and there I was having to do it over, with expensive chocolate! 

I am someone who often takes  responsibility for things outside my ‘circle of influence’ and when I give or publish a recipe and the person making it has poor results I feel as if I have failed them, sure it is my fault. Unfortunately for all of us, it’s often difficult to tell who is at fault. I try to test recipes, to make sure I measure as I go (something I don’t normally do when I just cook) and pay very close attention to the sort of details like exact timing, and what things look like as I go. This type of cooking requires a level of discipline I don’t excel at… so if you have problems with my recipes, please tell me! It may be that I made an error, or it may be that you didn’t understand my directions, either way, I’d like to know so I can fix it, or help you.

I have been cooking for about forty years, developing both good and bad habits. I was trained to do things in a particular way, and I try to be faithful to those techniques, and yet, it’s hard to know for sure how or where I’ve strayed. When you do something over and over you do a lot of things without being conscious of every action; you forget that many things that are second nature to you, need to be illustrated to someone starting out on their culinary journey. I try to create recipes that are accessible to anyone, and to demystify a lot of techniques and make them less intimidating. I invite you to my world of simple, relaxed, and fun cooking, a place where exact measurements aren’t critical, where there is room for you to add your personal touch and make these recipes your own.

If I made it, and you like it, you are welcome to the recipe! If you want to know how to make something, ask me, and I will try to give you the tools to make it with confidence.  Just because I can make a spun sugar cage, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather make a perfect crème brûlée.  I can make a perfect clear consommé, but who cares? I am a home cook, not a restaurant chef, and I like making great, simple, food that you’ll want to make for your family. I want to make something that is so wonderful, that you want the recipe, and so easy that when you make it you taste it, smile and say to yourself, wow, mine is even better!