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-- Mr. Eng asked one of his parents’ former employees how much baking soda a particular recipe called for. He said, “A cup.” ... “Like a coffee cup?” “No, this

-- Mr. Eng asked one of his parents’ former employees how much baking soda a particular recipe called for. He said, “A cup.” ... “Like a coffee cup?” “No, this one cup that we had at the shop.” The cup, naturally, had been thrown out. This is so hilariously like my Chinese mother-in-law, get angry recreating her receipt at my house because why would anyone not using her "standard" sized cups (giveaways at the mall). She is not the only one, so is my grandma and mom.

jimmies 7y ago
I have a Nepali friend who was at the time doing a Ph.D. in biology. Part of his daily routine is to do DNA/RNA extraction, which is highly time-consuming and precise. It involves using pipettes to transfer a minuscule amount of stuff from one tube to another, wait for hours, spin it, add some enzymes, spin it, etc. Sometimes you do what you're instructed to do from the kit and the extraction still doesn't produce a useable result. He had a pretty snuggly relationship with his advisor, and from time to time would bring his food to the lab to share. He told me one day, the advisor decided to ask him how to make the food. Like any biologist, she came to his house with a notebook, fully expected to be able to take notes. She expected him to show her the recipes like what you do in the DNA extraction. Instead, what he told her was... put a reasonable amount of this herb and that herb into the pot, then cook until done. She got frustrated and threw the notebook away and gave up the dream of cooking Nepali food. I am Vietnamese and there's that special Vietnamese dipping sauce recipe that I wanted to make to treat my Chinese friend at the time I stayed at her place. I got really frustrated when I was following a recipe to make it and couldn't get it right and wasted 3/4 of what I bought. My friend was like... so... let me try. And she just mixed shit randomly, tasted it, and tried adding more shit by her instinct, and it worked! I do enjoy cooking by the book from time to time. At the same time, there is a lot of Asian food that is made by instinct. It is part of what made the food interesting. It made the food part of an envolving species instead of being fixated. BTW, learning from mistakes, my biologist friend now has a website with real recipes you can sorta follow, please like and subscribe™ if you want to make Nepali food: https://avikarn.com/foodblog/ https://avikarn.com/foodblog/
- h2odragon 7y ago
  I've taken several invented recipes to the full formality of 1/10 gram weights and full timed instructions and such. That process is difficult; "it needs a pinch more salt, weigh out 0.2g, try, 0.1g more, ... mark it +0.25g for the next batch." It is nice when someone can replicate you dish without your input.
  - shalmanese 7y ago
    Don't weigh what went in, weigh what's left over. Before cooking something, weigh out exactly, for example, 10g of salt, 100g of oil, etc. At the end of the preparation, reweigh the ingredients and the difference is what went into the dish. This is much easier than weighing 0.2g at a time.
- mc32 7y ago
  Centuries old recipes for English[1] food is pretty terse and makes assumptions too (like you know what and how to make some base for the recipe). The detailed recipes are a modern take which make minimal assumptions so that most novices can read one and follow instructions. [1]http://www.medievalcuisine.com/site/medievalcuisine/Euriol/recipe-index/sambocade http://www.medievalcuisine.com/site/medievalcuisine/Euriol/r...
- ConfusedDog 7y ago
  The Egg Ramen Pad Thai must be really good... I'd add some stir-fried bacon bits. https://avikarn.com/food/2019-07-27-ramen/ https://avikarn.com/food/2019-07-27-ramen/
- moate 7y ago
  >>I do enjoy cooking by the book from time to time. At the same time, there is a lot of Asian food that is made by instinct. There's nothing unique about "Asian" food in this regard. You can codify anything culinary, and you will get a stable result (more or less. Some produce is better seasonally, old meat doesn't taste as good, etc but that's all cuisines). You can also cook "from the hip" and make things that fit your personal tastes.
- 7y ago
equalunique 7y ago
I used to work at a small Thai restraint. Much of the secret recipes were all on a sheet where "a cup" didn't mean a full 240ml vessel, but actually the entire capacity of "some cup" in the back of the kitchen. The kicker was that the cup in question was actually a measuring cup sized to hold over a quart! So in reality, the liquid measurements in the recipes were actually double what a layperson would interpret them to be. Now I wonder, was that intentional security through obscurity?

jimmies 7y ago

I have a Nepali friend who was at the time doing a Ph.D. in biology. Part of his daily routine is to do DNA/RNA extraction, which is highly time-consuming and precise. It involves using pipettes to transfer a minuscule amount of stuff from one tube to another, wait for hours, spin it, add some enzymes, spin it, etc. Sometimes you do what you're instructed to do from the kit and the extraction still doesn't produce a useable result. He had a pretty snuggly relationship with his advisor, and from time to time would bring his food to the lab to share. He told me one day, the advisor decided to ask him how to make the food. Like any biologist, she came to his house with a notebook, fully expected to be able to take notes. She expected him to show her the recipes like what you do in the DNA extraction. Instead, what he told her was... put a reasonable amount of this herb and that herb into the pot, then cook until done. She got frustrated and threw the notebook away and gave up the dream of cooking Nepali food. I am Vietnamese and there's that special Vietnamese dipping sauce recipe that I wanted to make to treat my Chinese friend at the time I stayed at her place. I got really frustrated when I was following a recipe to make it and couldn't get it right and wasted 3/4 of what I bought. My friend was like... so... let me try. And she just mixed shit randomly, tasted it, and tried adding more shit by her instinct, and it worked! I do enjoy cooking by the book from time to time. At the same time, there is a lot of Asian food that is made by instinct. It is part of what made the food interesting. It made the food part of an envolving species instead of being fixated. BTW, learning from mistakes, my biologist friend now has a website with real recipes you can sorta follow, please like and subscribe™ if you want to make Nepali food: https://avikarn.com/foodblog/ https://avikarn.com/foodblog/

h2odragon 7y ago
I've taken several invented recipes to the full formality of 1/10 gram weights and full timed instructions and such. That process is difficult; "it needs a pinch more salt, weigh out 0.2g, try, 0.1g more, ... mark it +0.25g for the next batch." It is nice when someone can replicate you dish without your input.
- shalmanese 7y ago
  Don't weigh what went in, weigh what's left over. Before cooking something, weigh out exactly, for example, 10g of salt, 100g of oil, etc. At the end of the preparation, reweigh the ingredients and the difference is what went into the dish. This is much easier than weighing 0.2g at a time.
mc32 7y ago
Centuries old recipes for English[1] food is pretty terse and makes assumptions too (like you know what and how to make some base for the recipe). The detailed recipes are a modern take which make minimal assumptions so that most novices can read one and follow instructions. [1]http://www.medievalcuisine.com/site/medievalcuisine/Euriol/recipe-index/sambocade http://www.medievalcuisine.com/site/medievalcuisine/Euriol/r...
ConfusedDog 7y ago
The Egg Ramen Pad Thai must be really good... I'd add some stir-fried bacon bits. https://avikarn.com/food/2019-07-27-ramen/ https://avikarn.com/food/2019-07-27-ramen/
moate 7y ago
>>I do enjoy cooking by the book from time to time. At the same time, there is a lot of Asian food that is made by instinct. There's nothing unique about "Asian" food in this regard. You can codify anything culinary, and you will get a stable result (more or less. Some produce is better seasonally, old meat doesn't taste as good, etc but that's all cuisines). You can also cook "from the hip" and make things that fit your personal tastes.
7y ago

equalunique 7y ago

I used to work at a small Thai restraint. Much of the secret recipes were all on a sheet where "a cup" didn't mean a full 240ml vessel, but actually the entire capacity of "some cup" in the back of the kitchen. The kicker was that the cup in question was actually a measuring cup sized to hold over a quart! So in reality, the liquid measurements in the recipes were actually double what a layperson would interpret them to be. Now I wonder, was that intentional security through obscurity?