Reading Recipes

The hardest part of this endeavor is transcribing what I cook into a recipe (conversely the most time consuming part is researching the history and ingredient information I put before the recipes, and the most annoying part is taking photos of food I hope to in fact eat).

Writing recipes has made me better at reading recipes, and I thought I'd share a few tips that should apply to not only my directions, but everyone's. These aren't the usual "do all your prep first" kindergarten obviousness, but aids in reading the recipe before you even begin.

Be aware of implied steps. My recipes have less of these than others, as I try to cover the details, not because I think you are an idiot and need to know how to cook pasta or blanche vegetables, but because I want a thorough and complete account of the recipe. Other recipes leave much more to inference. One thing I tend not spell out is cleaning your produce, but you still need to do it.

Measure the right stuff. There is a difference between the following two sets of ingredients. These:

1 pound green peas, shelled
1 cup Italian parsley, minced

Are different than these:

1 pound shelled green peas
1 cup minced Italian parsley

The first is a pound of green peas in their shell, which you are then to shell, and a cup of Italian parsley, which is about a handful, which you are then to mince. Conversely, the second is a pound of shelled green peas, almost double as many as in the first direction, and a cup of minced parsley, which is a staggering amount of herb.

Why do recipes employ both approaches? Usually for ease, sometimes for necessity. In this case, the first set of ingredients is easier to work with than the second. Asking for a pound of green peas in their shells gives you something you can weigh and measure at your market, before you start shelling. Similarly, asking for a cup of Italian parsley is a precise way of saying about a handful. Other times, it is necessity. I cannot request a 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, which you then finely grate. But I can ask you to grate cheddar cheese until you have a half cup's worth.

Be mindful of adjectives. When I ask for finely-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, its because that is the consistency I want for ideal mouthfeel, or because I feel a fine grate best incorporates the cheese into the dish. If your cheese is already grated, or you use a microplane and can only coarsely grate the cheese, you might decide not to comply. But note your proportions are thus going to be very far off if I measure by volume: A cup of finely-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano is three-to-four times as much cheese by weight as a cup of coarsely-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Adjust accordingly.

Aim for intent. Figure out what the recipes is aiming for and cook toward that aim, not the specific directions. For example, if you are making a puréed soup and a recipe calls for you to thin the blended vegetables with two cups of stock and that seems way too little for the amount of purée you have, then add a little more stock. The goal isn't to add two cups, but to add the right amount, which the recipe author believes is two cups. I try to use "about" in my recipes when the size of an input might vary. Similarly, try to deduce what the goal of each timed step is and worry about that, not the time it takes. I hate recipes that say "saute for 60 seconds." I always try to write my steps as "saute until fragrant, about 60 seconds." If you drop the garlic in the pan and your heat is too high and your garlic is minced too fine and it starts to turn color within 10 seconds, then move on to the next step.