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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)

#301

Post by TomK32 »

SSLy wrote: post #238
lldb wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly a cookbook, but the manual for our weber gas grill has proved shockingly useful in cooking most meats to near perfection. Has tables for thickness, cuts, etc.

> manual Saving people a click https://weber.mizecx.com/knowledge/s3/retrieve?path=knowledg... PDF page 65 onwards

Let me save you from scrolling through 64 pages:

    pdftk 54372.pdf cat 65-end output weber-grilling-meat.pdf

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

#302

Post by jamestimmins »

cnity wrote: post #223
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.

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

Second this. The Food Lab is great and by getting into the science of cooking, it made it approachable in a way that may resonate with the HN crowd.

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

#303

Post by jtc331 »

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…

This is why I find America’s Test Kitchen so helpful: they’ve tried everything repeatedly, and because of that it’s rare to find one of their recipes that doesn’t work.

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

#304

Post by jsmith99 »

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.

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.

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

#305

Post by [deleted] »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #158
onion2k wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Temperatures expressed without a unit are in Kelvin, so 212 is really cold. It's -78.07°F.

No, temperatures without a unit are not temperatures. When I was teaching 20 ago I would have given you a 2 for that. I happen to have a PhD in so I am knowledgeable about that matter.

[deleted]

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

#306

Post by rightbyte »

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.

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

#307

Post by denton-scratch »

onli wrote: post #75
Larrikin wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name the brand and model of your amazing 5 dollar slow cooker and give us some recipes to use in it. Or people could just read dozens of reviews of a hundred year cooking vessel where they always complain about the price but reluctantly admit its better. Spending lots of money on cooking supplies as a novice is fraught with landmines of people wasting money, but out right dismissals of spending any money is also usua…

Every knife is sharp if you sharpen it. There is never a need to spend $300 on one.

> Every knife is sharp if you sharpen it.

That's not consistent with my experience. Some knives will never take a good edge. But not all knives actually need a good edge. There are evidently different kinds of "stainless steel"; some kinds are immune to sharpening, some are quite good. But if I want a really sharp kitchen knife, it has to be carbon steel.

Carbon steel knives rust/pit easily - you have to clean them and dry them, you can't just leave them to dry in the sun.

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

#308

Post by flir »

kevsim wrote: post #182
palotasb wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> she claims that virtually all recipe books are made like this Most recipe books have pictures, how are those created then?

Gotta say, not really looking forward to GPT generated recipes rendered by Stable Diffusion.

I've found it surprisingly good. It seems to understand how flavours are paired at least well enough to take a stab at balance. It does tend to default to American cuisine though.

Ask it for something bizarre like sweet and sour potatoes and see how it does.

Or a recipe that combines anchovies and strawberries, that's a good one.

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

#309

Post by jaclaz »

rutierut wrote: post #151
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…

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 ingredients that are used because they come out great in photography, example:

https://petapixel.com/2018/11/30/tricks-food-photographers-u...

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

#310

Post by rightbyte »

fps_doug wrote: post #292
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…

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…

One would guess the "story mode" recipes are the made up ones? Sounds like a inaccurate rule of thumb.
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