June 8, 2008
INCLUSION OF ANY AQUATIC CREATURE:
Recipe Deal Breakers: When Step 2 Is ‘Corral Pig’ (KIM SEVERSON, 6/04/08, NY Times)
I WAS reading a recipe for apple strudel when I came to a sentence that stopped me cold: “If you don’t have a helper,” it began.Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2008 10:02 AMIf a dish needs a helper, I need to move on.
Although I didn’t end up with a strudel, I did end up on a quest. I began asking good cooks I know about recipe deal breakers — those ingredients or instructions that make them throw down the whisk and walk away.
Whether for reasons practical or psychological, even the most experienced cooks have an ingredient, technique or phrase that will make them bypass a recipe.
The oven in summer.
Baking powder.
Recipes (other than marinade) requiring ingredients that must be prepared long before you begin preparing the meal.
Posted by: Patrick H at June 8, 2008 12:39 PM“Serves 18” gives some pause.
I remember a joke recipe for cookies that ended, "Makes four dozen if entertaining guests, or three if stuffing yourself."
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at June 8, 2008 12:52 PMI don't have a firm line, but once it gets past about 15 ingredients I start to lose interest.
As I've gotten more experienced with cooking, though, I'm less likely to be afraid of changing the recipe to suit me. I just discovered a great recipe for pulled pork that involves cooking it for hours in orange juice and water, but it called for orange zest as well. It seemed like zest wouldn't make any difference at all, given the volume of ingredients and lengthy cooking time. So I just used proportionately more orange juice and it was fine. I doubt if the creator of the dish would notice the missing zest.
My most recent discovery: how to make gyro meat at home, without a vertical roaster. Delicious with a tzatziki sauce recipe I also found. I'll send 'em in if anyone is interested.
Posted by: PapayaSF at June 8, 2008 3:17 PM