Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

atlasobscura.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 166 posts

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#121

Post by LoSboccacc »

blahedo wrote: post #17

I can do them one better: my family has a meta -secret recipe. It didn't used to be secret, but it became secret through no effort or intent of our own. For a long time, decades at this point, my mom has been known for the brownies she brings to events (and, by extension, that my sister and I bring to events). People would rave about them and demand the secret, which my mom, my sister, and I would all freely give out…

my secret familiy recipe is cheesy rice with sausages. It's secret because it only comes out good if you add to the mix kraft cheese, which is widely regarded around here between cheapening out on your guests and not caring about using quality ingredients.

so I just use it and people love it, but I literally can't tell them or they'd think I'm serving them rubbish

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#122

Post by LoSboccacc »

e40 wrote: post #66
blahedo wrote: post #17

I can do them one better: my family has a meta -secret recipe. It didn't used to be secret, but it became secret through no effort or intent of our own. For a long time, decades at this point, my mom has been known for the brownies she brings to events (and, by extension, that my sister and I bring to events). People would rave about them and demand the secret, which my mom, my sister, and I would all freely give out…

they had changed the instructions of how to prepare them Is the quantity now the only difference?

it's actually a big difference. lower quantity in the same tray will make less volume and overcook faster and even adjusting time to avoid overcooking since the volume/surface ratio is different they'd be well cooked but still more dry

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#123

Post by Pulcinella »

beat wrote: post #112

Book recommendation, if you're into this stuff... The Cooking Gene - A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South , by Michael W Twitty. I'm currently halfway through, and it's fascinating. It delves deep into the roots of pre-20th century recipes and food traditions, and how African, European, and Native American cooking techniques and ingredients (along with the social structures of slavery)…

I’ll also add the recommendations I usually make.

Anyone interested in learning to cook, Americas Test Kitchen Cooking School (And also Cooks Illustrated Cooking Science and Science of Good Cooking) would probably be good for much of HN's audience. It is much more of a cooking "textbook" than most cookbooks. It explains what you are doing and why you do it instead of just a big list of recipes. There is also Modernist Cuisine but those are really pricey.

These books tackle the “science” side of cooking rather than your recommendation’s history side. Both are, of course, excellent approaches and are much better than your standard cook book’s vomit of recipes with no context.

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#124

Post by nugi »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #111
blahedo wrote: post #17

I can do them one better: my family has a meta -secret recipe. It didn't used to be secret, but it became secret through no effort or intent of our own. For a long time, decades at this point, my mom has been known for the brownies she brings to events (and, by extension, that my sister and I bring to events). People would rave about them and demand the secret, which my mom, my sister, and I would all freely give out…

That is an awesome story. Although I am a bit leery of the 'Nutrition value' argument. It sounds like the manufacturer wanted to do what everyone else seems to do which is reduce the quantity of product in the same size box rather than raise the price, and when they did that the 'old' recipe would not work correctly. Which they "fixed".

Well, smaller brownies, less calories. So perhaps both are 'reasonable', and compatible hypothesises.

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#125

Post by neogodless »

pfooti wrote: post #81
neogodless wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a direct reply to you, but on the topic of the Toll House recipe, and on experimentation - I am lactose intolerant. I rely heavily on Smart Balance as one of few margarine products that doesn't contain dairy and actually behaves and tastes like butter. With the Toll House recipe (that I once believed was my mom's secret family recipe), I'm able to do a perfect 1-1 swap of butter/Smart Balance, and replace milk ch…

Not to be that guy, but if you have that much if a reaction to butter, you are probably allergic to milk proteins rather than lactose intolerant. Butter (and most cheese) is very low in lactose. Of course, everyone is different (I'm lactose intolerant myself, so I avoid milk and cottage / ricotta cheese, but can eat butter and curd cheeses)

I don't think my original comment was the place to elaborate on the various processes I took to identify my intolerance! However, suffice it to say that I can consume some low-lactose items such as hard/dry cheeses with minimal effects, but when I cook or bake with butter, my body seems to react with some mild aversion. The problem, in this specific case, might be the massive quantity of chocolate chip cookies I tend to consume...

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#126

Post by nlawalker »

Shivetya wrote: post #55
white-flame wrote: post #3

My mom made the best pie crust anybody who ate it ever tasted. Her recipe came from a Crisco label. One of the steps specifically said to slowly stir a liquid into the mix with a fork. Everybody else who attempted the recipe used a spoon and didn't get anywhere near the proper texture. So her difference was simply that others wouldn't follow the directions exactly.

it never ceases to amaze me the people who won't follow a recipe then complain it is not a good recipe. the number of people whom I led down the road of cooking; this is especially true for techies who seem adverse or even scared to try; is quite long and it came down to one thing. start with simple recipes. follow exactly. then work your way to complex items and personal variations but the key to understanding cooki…

This is a common trope on recipe sites that allow comments or reviews.

"I halved the amount of butter it called for and added 3 tbsp of cinnamon and 4 cloves of garlic. This recipe is awful, one star."

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#127

Post by e40 »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #122
e40 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they had changed the instructions of how to prepare them Is the quantity now the only difference?

it's actually a big difference. lower quantity in the same tray will make less volume and overcook faster and even adjusting time to avoid overcooking since the volume/surface ratio is different they'd be well cooked but still more dry

I'm sure it's a big difference, but people here want to know how to make these brownies!!

So, if we do the 1.25 thing and follow the instructions, they'll be perfect?

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#128

Post by ValentineC »

dmckeon wrote: post #114
0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new recipe had different amounts of every ingredient and it just did not come out right. So what are the right amounts if you please? PS. I've heard of people adding an egg to a box of cake mix when it isn't required.

There is a marketing story of a company that created a cake mix with everything in the box: "just add water and bake". Sales were poor, and market research and perhaps focus groups determined that people felt slightly guilty that they weren't doing enough work in creating a cake - so the company went back, removed the egg components from the mix, changed the instructions, and sales rebounded.

It's also somewhat similar to the "IKEA effect": https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105774081...

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#129

Post by e15ctr0n »

majos wrote: post #96

My grandmother found some old family recipes from pre-independence India. I've never made any of them because they're sometimes denominated in units that no longer exist (a "viss" for example), and some of them are even measured in currency ("buy 10 rupees of x"). Maybe I could try and account for inflation and local prices 100? years ago but...I'm not optimistic.

You might want to talk to the editor of the website India of the Past [0] who collects not only old recipes [1] but also interesting facts on how much money bought how many items [2][3].

[0] http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories

[1] Recipes | http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories/read-contr...

[2] Old Lahore | You could buy up to 25 seers of flour for one rupee, and gold was only Rs 17 a tola. | http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories/read-contr...

[3] Pindi Memoirs by a Sikh Son of the Soil Part 3 | Asli ghee was Rs. 14 for a tin. Eggs were two annas a dozen, and bananas were eight annas per dozen. Gold was Rs. 22 per tola (about 10 grams). | http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories/read-contr...

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#130

Post by LoSboccacc »

e40 wrote: post #127
LoSboccacc wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's actually a big difference. lower quantity in the same tray will make less volume and overcook faster and even adjusting time to avoid overcooking since the volume/surface ratio is different they'd be well cooked but still more dry

I'm sure it's a big difference, but people here want to know how to make these brownies!! So, if we do the 1.25 thing and follow the instructions, they'll be perfect?

there's only one way to tell! double blinded study with repetitions!
Post reply on HN