Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by dj_mc_merlin » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:32 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #324

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, just personal experience. I started learning Linux as a young teenager and have broken dozens of installations (breaking system python, deleting /usr/ via rsync, doing an incomplete system update, writing a love letter to my boot sector, etc. etc.) Eventually I have failed in so many ways that there are not a lot of ways I can fail now that I don't know how to rescue myself from. Also I've learned what not do to…

> Why else would you use Linux? Because you just want to get work done, or play your game or browse the web etc? Yes, learning Linux is fun (for the kind of people who find this fun). But we don't expect people who just want to get on with their lives to eg break Windows or MacOS a lot, either.

I'm pretty close to this at work since about 1/3rd of my job is helping the non-Linux people deal with Linux. Programming is their 2nd language so to speak, and the use of Linux is incidental, it's just what's easiest to give them to keep everything in our company compatible.

They require a person who knows Linux in order to keep working. It's not optional -- they just wouldn't be able to get everything running otherwise without it breaking every couple of days. The fixes they find without us usually end up masking the problem and causing a truly unfixable problem later.

This is one of the biggest flaws of Linux IMO -- you have to dedicate yourself to learning it to be able to use it as a daily driver effectively.

So: if you don't have to, and you don't know how, you shouldn't use Linux at all. There's no point, just use macOS. The macOS people eventually fix their problem on their own anyway since it's so standardized.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by shakna » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:33 AM UTC

capableweb wrote: post #334

TomK32 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me save you from scrolling through 64 pages: pdftk 54372.pdf cat 65-end output weber-grilling-meat.pdf

Let me save you a few characters in the future friend: In both Firefox and Chrome (probably Safari too) there is a page number at the top of the page when you open the PDF. Here you can manually type in a number. Open up the PDF and enter "65" and it'll take you directly to the page you enter.

Well, they do both use PDF.js [0].

[0] https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by dbspin » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:33 AM UTC

GuB-42 wrote: post #331

henrikschroder wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if I needed more fuel on the fire of my burning hatred for recipe collections. Everyone who is interested in cooking should do themselves a favour and buy a proper cookbook. Something that starts with the basics, and works itself up to full meals. It should have cheat-sheets for basic ways to cook all your staples, here's all the ways you can cook a potato, with times and temperature. Here's all the ways you can s…

> A timer can never replace the knowledge of how something is supposed to look, feel, and smell when it's done or not. I tend to disagree on that one, unless you are particularly experienced, or naturally gifted, measuring tools (timers, scales, thermometers,...) will give you the best results. At least for me, that's the case. And if you can't follow a recipe to the letter, without knowledge of how things are suppos…

I think you're leaving out the extent to which cooking is an analogue process. Your particular ovens temperature envelope, the rate at which your pan or wok heats (due to its thickness and composition), the specifics of the varieties of plant or cuts of meat you're cooking, the quality or specifics of the spices or oils you're using. I'm no chef, but it seems like these can all make quite substantial changes in cooking times, sauce thickness, flavour profiles etc etc, and all necessitate observation and analogue adjustment of cooking processes.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by cperciva » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:34 AM UTC

jaclaz wrote: post #309

rutierut wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is just my experience, but I've almost never seen a recipe book where the recipes are not accompanied by pictures of the result?

Cannot say for recipe books, but for illustrations for ads and/or for restaurant posters, the "traditional" way was to not use food at all, or use only partially actual food, the rest being artificial. Very likely this has changed but once there were specialized artists that made mock-ups (often using wax, but not only), besides the ready-made props (usually plastic). And then there is an endless list of non-food ing…

I'm inclined to give food photographers a pass on the "non-food ingredients" thing. Most of these fall into the category of "make something which looks like food but lasts longer" -- fake ice cream which doesn't melt, fake milk which doesn't soak into cereal, fake syrup which doesn't soak into pancakes, et cetera. It's not a matter of making something which looks better than real food -- it's just that photoshoots have a unique need when it comes to how long the food lasts. If you're eating pancakes, they should never stay on your plate for the amount of time a professional photographer would want to spend with them.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by capableweb » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:36 AM UTC

MereInterest wrote: post #311

fps_doug wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use recipe websites. When I want to try something new, I read a handful of recipes there, usually those with high user ratings. But what I really pay attention to is the writing style. If it's just a dry "do this then that then that", it might very well be some stuff someone made up on the spot. But if people go into detail, like "yes this seems like an awful lot of butter, but trust me, this is how the real thing…

Even when comparing across several recipes, I can still run into issues. For example, about five years ago I wanted to make banket, a Dutch almond pastry. I found several recipes online, compared them, and started testing them out. Every single one of them had a runny filling. Worse, most of the recipes were just copies of each other, sometimes with unit conversions, but the same wrong recipe. I ended up experimentin…

There is so many variables that could ruin it that it's hard to know exactly what went wrong. As an example, I've had relatives come visit me from a very humid place when I lived in a very dry place, and trying to cook the same way they do it at home but everything turning out differently, just because of the humidity of the air and the hardness of the water used.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by dagw » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:36 AM UTC

jsmith99 wrote: post #304

than3 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No such book actually exists. There's a french book that covers basic/common procedures and a reader's digest book but those are about it; and they definitely are not beginner oriented.

Harold McGee's books are classics: informed by modern science but intended for home cooks and covering all common ingredients and techniques. They're more like reference books then something readable though.

Harold McGee has two main book. On Food and Cooking is his more famous and 'hard core' book and definitely not something I would recommend to beginner cooks. The ratio of scientific background to useful advice is much more geared towards someone who really wants to deeply understand cooking. It also spends a lot of time talking about the history and anthropology of cooking, which while interesting, isn't useful if you just want to learn how to make a tastier omelet.

The Key To Good Cooking on the other hand is a much better book for home cooks and focuses entirely on practical ingredients and techniques and is organised in a way that makes it much easier to find exactly the advice you need as you need it.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by r_hoods_ghost » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:37 AM UTC

rightbyte wrote: post #306

isaacfrond wrote: post #131

My sister in law writes recipes. She has a recipe column in a newspaper and wrote a few high quality recipe books. I saw them in a bookstore. So she's reasonable successful. Her pieces are charming, her recipes inspiring. The thing is. At a birthday party when I was talking to her, she confessed to me that she never actually tries her recipes. When it's time to do a new piece, she sits down at her computer and makes…

The 'shittification' is almost universal. I have suspected many internet recipes are never tried, but books too ... If there are pictures, are those 'fake' too, as in the author did not care how it tastes? Atleast the dish was made once? This is why you buy recipe books that was written in the 70s or prior. The base collection style of books.

Except a lot of recipe books from the 1950s to 1970s involve tins of mushroom soup, condensed milk, and jelly rather than real ingredients.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by walthamstow » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:37 AM UTC

maccard wrote: post #167

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is different. If you learn enough about Linux, you can install Arch in 15-20minutes no problem. Especially since learning about Linux means reinstalling your OS many times until you finally learn how to keep it clean and rescue it from any situation. You are not going to be able to cook chicken in 3-4minutes per side like so many recipes claim. It's just not possible to have a good outside temperature and a good…

> You are not going to be able to cook chicken in 3-4minutes per side like so many recipes claim. Sure you are. meat thermometer, hot pan and a butterflied breast [0] will give you evenly cooked chicken in about 8 minutes. [0] https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-butterfly-chicke...

Preheating the pan is part of the cooking time, IMO. In your recipe I would heat my pan for a good 3-4 mins to be sure the temp stays high after the chicken goes in.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by al_be_back » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:38 AM UTC

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Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Post by mindentropy » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:39 AM UTC

santialbo wrote: post #186

bruckie wrote: post #110

Recipe writers are still lying about cooking time in 2023. I signed up for a Hello Fresh promo recently to get some new meal ideas, and it's making me feel like the slowest cook on the planet. I reliably exceed their stated prep and cooking times by 100-200%. Tonight's "40 minute" recipe took about 70 minutes, and that was with a family member helping out with some of the prep and cooking. I wonder if they collect an…

Prepping everything can take a lot of time if you are not experienced. Time for things like chopping an onion can vary from 1 minute to 5 very easily.

My experience is similar to yours. Prepping takes the longest time for me. I feel that cooking is all about prepping as the actual cooking on the stove takes a lot less time. Many recipes just mention the actual cooking time and some very vague prep time.