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

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

#411

Post by wartijn_ »

denton-scratch wrote: post #251
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…

> They're lying to make it seem easier and to get more clicks on their recipes. Doesn't make sense to me. I certainly don't choose a recipe based on the estimated time-to-complete. In fact I generally click through a bunch of recipes, and pick and choose the ideas that sound as if they'll work. Felicity Cloake does this, in her "How to cook the perfect..." series. She consults a bunch of top cookbooks, tries several…

Does make sense to me. I don’t want to combine recipes rely on my creative cooking skills, because I don’t have those skills.

If I want to make a certain dish I look for recipes, pick one and follow that. If a recipe takes 2 hours to prepare and I don’t want to spend 2 hours in the kitchen, I pick something that doesn’t take as much time.

I would be surprised if that isn’t the way most people use recipes.

But I usually pick a recipe from a cook book I own. Searching for recipes online is a shitty experience.

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

#412

Post by baxtr »

henrikschroder wrote: post #192
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…

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…

Actually… I can recommend ChatGPT. It’s pretty decent for recipes.

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

#413

Post by [deleted] »

dbspin wrote: post #343
GuB-42 wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 cooki…

[deleted]

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

#414

Post by sanitycheck »

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…

...and here's an example of someone whose job can be replaced with ChatGPT.

I realised long ago that most published recipes are not very good, but it's the first time I've heard that the writer doesn't even try them. "Turns out OK" is a terrible bar, if I make up something in my head it'll almost always turn out "OK", if I'm following a recipe it's because I want a better chance of it being better than OK.

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

#415

Post by guillem_lefait »

mindentropy wrote: post #339
Agentlien wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an amateur who enjoys cooking and does it once a day in order to feed my family. One of my biggest learnings is that no matter what I do it takes quite a while to cook a meal. Huge complex meals can take hours to prepare, but even a simple meal usually takes me half an hour - because that's just the time it takes to grab the ingredients, boil water for pasta/rice/potatoes/..., cook and present it. The time it tak…

Exactly what I have experienced. Even whatever time is mentioned in the cookbooks, I was never able to beat it. It takes a minimum of 45 minutes to prepare a decent dish for me. I too am an amateur and I measure my time with my mother's time and I see a difference but not so much. I do not do multitasking if I have something on the stove which requires constant stirring or moving around. Also I found that slow cookin…

My sister was a chef. I cook okay but the very difference with her is 1. the skills, 2. the tools and 3. the ability to do things in parallel. All that means she's a lot faster than me.

1. To chop an onion or a shallot real fast, you need to do it a lot. In restaurant, you can probably chop 100x what you can do at home. Grated carrot with julienne knive ? It seems absurd to me at the time, but in the end that's a training.

2. To not lose time, you need the proper tools (and know how to use them). Sharped knive, flour stifler, ... . For example, my knives are not sharpened often enough, which means I cannot chop vegetables that well.

3. Cooking several things in parrallel will go wrong if you do not know what to look at before things get burned. If you are too "prudent", you will lower the fires and degrade your scalability.

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

#416

Post by aurizon »

Deep fry the onions, same with bacon. Cut so they are separate, but large enough to be removed with the metal grid deep fry pot. Watch as you first dip - the steam flashes off quickly at first. Have the oil under 350 - watch with care as they burn fast. Keep stirring to break clumps and when they reach the brown you want, remove and drain. Same with bacon - m break up clumps. This will give nice crisp bacon - too long and it gets hard - bacon bit stuff. I learned this in the Air Force kitchen when they have a surge and onion loving bacon eaters early in the AM, en masse...

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

#417

Post by j_french »

dmarchand90 wrote: post #194
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…

Could you recommend such a "proper" cookbook

I thought all cookbooks were just recipe collections until I picked up Darina Allen's 'Ballymaloe Cookery Course', a 'proper' cookbook that you could use for life by Ireland's Delia Smith (I guess? not too familiar with Delia)

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

#418

Post by june_twenty »

jraph wrote: post #200
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…

Ah ah, it's like an experienced developer committing code and releasing it without running / testing it first. It would not happen. Right? Right?

You're implying this does happen. Where does this happen? I've never experienced it.

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

#419

Post by dragosion »

My wife's recipes are ALL tested by me. Multiple times. I even used her recipes to cook myself (rare). Her cooking blog and vlog didn't get any attention other than lots of hate for the Borsch vs Borscht debate and others. Her blog: https://www.rednumberone.com/ Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/@rednumberone1

I really wish she made more of these so I can test interesting food - sacrifice man. Tell her to make more. All made real, all photos are made by her and the videos too.

It takes a lot longer to make a recipe for photos and video. Preparation for photos and video recording gives you a strong reason to make-up recipes 10 / day and hope they go well.

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

#420

Post by donohoe »

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…

My wife is a professional recipe writer for magazines, books, restaurants, meal-kit services, and companies.

She absolutely tests the recipes. A huge part of her work is testing for other people in addition to writing them etc. Testing itself is a HUGE industry.

I don’t want to say anything bad about a family member, but please treat your comment as a reflection on her, and not of recipe writers in general.

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