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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)

#471

Post by Aaargh20318 »

com2kid wrote: post #326
cnity wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference between a cutting board cover and just using another cutting board?

I'm a fan of thick wooden cutting boards, and since my current cutting board ( https://www.frankfurter-brett.de/en/ ) costs an arm and a leg... Also my overpriced cutting board came with a cover for cutting meat. :) Anyway I found it quite useful. And again, I can just throw the cover in the dish washer, and not worry about trying to disinfect a wood cutting board.

What is the point of using a thick wooden board if you’re going to be cutting on the cover ?

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

#472

Post by guerrilla »

misja111 wrote: post #440
guerrilla wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You start it lower abd increasevthe heat after fat is released or just use a cast iron pan.

This won't work. Together with fat, juice is released as well. As long as there is liquid water, temperature won't go over 100C so you're effectively boiling your meat and not browning it. Searing your meat only goes at temperatures that are high enough to immediately evaporate any escaping liquid.

It definitely works in a cast iron pan. Just try it.

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

#473

Post by mmkos »

voytec wrote: post #219
pickledshrimp wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely that can’t be true. Even semi professional chefs need to figure out what flavour combinations need to go together, amounts of each item, etc. Plus every modern recipe has pictures to show what the result should look like. I just don’t believe she would get anything approximating a good result from this.

> Surely that can’t be true (...) every modern recipe has pictures to show what the result should look like You may be looking at glue used as milk, motor oil as sauce or mashed potatoes pretending to be ice cream [1]. (And don't call me Shirley) [1] https://petapixel.com/2018/11/30/tricks-food-photographers-u...

I hate that we do this in so many domains of our lives.. create unrealistic expectations via fake representation and then wonder why so many people are unhappy.

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

#474

Post by vinnyvichy »

iamacyborg wrote: post #316
cnity wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Food Lab covers that kind of thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_Lab

It’s a fantastic book and the author also has a great YouTube channel.

Food and (lab) chemistry: 2 subjects that are better served by video than by text (alone).

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

#475

Post by yellowstuff »

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 has written cookbooks and worked as a recipe tester for cookbooks, blogs, and even the little recipes on the back of bags of flour and stuff. I’m sure not every published recipe was tested, but a lot of them were. Some by me, an inexperienced cook nervously testing recipes for my wife’s book as she watched me like a hawk. At least 2 people tested every recipe in her books.

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

#476

Post by zhte415 »

than3 wrote: post #208
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…

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.

Long been aware of but never used: https://www.cookingforengineers.com/

'Never used' as I get a lot of pleasure tasting and trying myself, picking up tips via browsing bookstores in the past and YouTube or talking to chefs now.

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

#477

Post by jacobp100 »

pbj1968 wrote: post #20

Sifting flour. Sautéing spices “to release the flavor” and then adding them to stew where they’ll simmer for an hour or more. Pretending “restaurant quality” is anything besides twice as much butter and salt as you’d dare use at home. “One tablespoon of olive oil” to brown absurd amounts of meat at high heat. Once you start recognizing recipe BS, you see it everywhere.

Sifting flour is absolutely essential if you’re adding it to a liquid. Sometimes you can get away without sifting if you mix a few dry ingredients first then add liquid on top. If you get it wrong, the flour clumps up tiny grains and never separates. You can end up with really grainy cheese cake

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

#478

Post by [deleted] »

than3 wrote: post #208
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…

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.

[deleted]

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

#479

Post by jterrys »

PeterisP wrote: post #431
jterrys wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really surprised. There's a youtube channel called Chef Jean Pierre. He is a retired Chef that used to run a restaurant since the 1970s, has cookbooks, was featured on PBS, etc. (Some say he has a more colorful past with his cooking school/restaurant business in Florida, but I don't know much). Either way. He's got the consistently longest cooking videos on youtube. He explains that long videos don't do well.…

Video editing is a thing. Something that takes 30 minutes to cook can (and should!) be cut down to 10 minutes of video. You cut five onions, you film how you cut one and edit out the rest. If you stir for 10 minutes watching for certain signs to note when it's done - put in a 30 second show&tell for when it's close to done but not yet; and a 30 second show&tell for when it is ready; and edit out the other 9 minutes.

Yeah but if you're a newbie you're not really seeing the whole thing. That's the problem in my opinion. You're told to stir until golden brown, wait till the jiggle is just right, etc. You edit out the boring bits because that's common TV etiquette but then it doesn't become a cooking video anymore, it's just entertainment. That's the fundamental divergence of cooking content: instructional cooking or cooking as entertainment. One tries to mask itself as the other, because the other is boring. You end up with this weird edutainment content that's barely instructional and ripe with inaccuracies, hence recipes that take three times as long in reality to prepare.

I wager that most people hardly ever try the recipes they see, and of those that do, most suck at cooking. The point at which you start fast forwarding through stuff is the point in which you don't need cooking videos anymore and can just work off a written recipe. People want entertainment, and cooking is one of those easily monetized. non-politicized things on youtube that's just ripe to turn your brain off and follow along.

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

#480

Post by grumple »

I ran into this issue when making french onion soup for the first time. I was so mad. The recipe said something like 45 minutes to cook the onions down. No. It took over 2 hours. Was it delicious at the end? Definitely. But I'd have started earlier and had it with the rest of my meal.
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