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The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

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Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#21

Post by Tade0 »

Here's an opposite example: I have a friend who has amazing grit[0]. One time he figured that the cheesecake he's making would use some improvement so he experimented with a sort of an evolutionary algorithm where he would change one or two things, note the results and combine some of the changes on another try(or that's how I understood his process).

After over forty instances he has perfected the cheesecake. It's now much better than store bought in terms of taste and also usually better looking. The recipe itself isn't secret, but you'd be hard pressed to replicate his work. Apparently it's rather the skill than the procedure that makes it so great.

[0] He rewrote "The Hobbit" in Tengwar several times using a fountain pen.

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#22

Post by aaachilless »

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…

The humanity in this comment is invigorating. I appreciate the time you took to share it!

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#23

Post by jraby3 »

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 was a really fun read and now I'm dying to try your secret family recipe brownies.

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#24

Post by Nition »

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…

I've always been a fan of the Edmonds Cookbook coconut chocolate brownie recipe, if you ever want to try out a non-boxed recipe. I see it can be found online here: http://edmondscooking.co.nz/recipes/slices-squares/coconut-c...

One bonus of the Edmonds recipe is it also uses only ingredients you probably already have (except maybe the desiccated coconut).

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#25

Post by elvinyung »

Tade0 wrote: post #21

Here's an opposite example: I have a friend who has amazing grit[0]. One time he figured that the cheesecake he's making would use some improvement so he experimented with a sort of an evolutionary algorithm where he would change one or two things, note the results and combine some of the changes on another try(or that's how I understood his process). After over forty instances he has perfected the cheesecake. It's n…

When you say Tengwar, do you mean English transliterated into Tengwar, or Sindarin/Quenya?

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#26

Post by elvinyung »

girvo wrote: post #18
mc32 wrote: post #11

I like the story --I don't recall where I heard it or perhaps read it. Someone recounting the story of finding out their grandma's delicious marinara sauce was not made with tomatoes from the garden but rather plain old store bought canned tomatoes --but prepared just right.

A note for people using tinned tomatoes: buy the whole ones, not the diced ones, and dice them in the can yourself. Makes a large difference in flavour, the quality of the tomatoes they use for whole is better than for diced :)

It's actually more complicated than that. Here's the Serious Eats analysis about different types of canned tomatoes: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/canned-tomato-types-and-...

TL;DR: Pre-diced canned tomatoes are bad because calcium chloride (a firming agent), combined with a larger surface area, makes it not break down properly when cooking.

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#27

Post by 8_hours_ago »

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 family’s “famous” chocolate cake recipe is from the side of the Hershey’s Cocoa container. It is way better than any other chocolate cake, even from baking cookbooks. I should write it down in case they ever change it...

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#28

Post by elvinyung »

zerocrates wrote: post #2

On the "fudge guy" who was using the recipe from the marshmallow container, or the Toll House cookies winning 2 of the top spots: there's a lot more to good results than just the recipe. Equipment, skill, the idiosyncratic ways you don't follow the recipe or fill in where it's underspecified... Don't necessarily give in to the temptation to ascribe the phenomenon merely to irrationality or sentiment. Plus, it must be…

Totally accidentally shilling for SE right now, but I learned a bunch of really cool tricks for cookies from an analysis about the different variables in cookies [1] that basically let me basically "build" my own secret recipe. Stuff like browning the butter before mixing it into the dough, resting dough overnight, using precise mixes of egg/flour, using chopped chocolate instead of chips, etc.

[1] https://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/12/the-food-lab-the-best...

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#29

Post by draugadrotten »

elvinyung wrote: post #26
girvo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A note for people using tinned tomatoes: buy the whole ones, not the diced ones, and dice them in the can yourself. Makes a large difference in flavour, the quality of the tomatoes they use for whole is better than for diced :)

It's actually more complicated than that. Here's the Serious Eats analysis about different types of canned tomatoes: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/canned-tomato-types-and-... TL;DR: Pre-diced canned tomatoes are bad because calcium chloride (a firming agent), combined with a larger surface area, makes it not break down properly when cooking.

Different tomatoes taste quite different too. One brand which is great for pasta and pizza is Mutti. (I am unaffiliated, just a happy customer.)

https://www.mutti-parma.com/us/#!/our-tomato-fields-and-your...

Re: The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’

#30

Post by Tade0 »

elvinyung wrote: post #25
Tade0 wrote: post #21

Here's an opposite example: I have a friend who has amazing grit[0]. One time he figured that the cheesecake he's making would use some improvement so he experimented with a sort of an evolutionary algorithm where he would change one or two things, note the results and combine some of the changes on another try(or that's how I understood his process). After over forty instances he has perfected the cheesecake. It's n…

When you say Tengwar, do you mean English transliterated into Tengwar, or Sindarin/Quenya?

Transliteration only, since most of his works were meant as gifts, so he wanted them to be readable.

Also this wasn't done in english, but that's just a minor detail.

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