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Besides the fact already mentioned that there's 2 completely different sizes of tablespoon, TV/internet chefs generally lie about the quantities and times of ev
by injb 6y ago
Besides the fact already mentioned that there's 2 completely different sizes of tablespoon, TV/internet chefs generally lie about the quantities and times of everything. How many times have you heard them say things like "cook the onions until they're dark brown - about 15 minutes", or "this step seals the juices inside the steak" or similar nonsense. I don't know why they do it, but they do.
- enumjorge 6y agoThe bigger treacheries in my book are the overly optimistic prep times, especially when it comes to chopping and dicing ingredients. Perhaps I’m just very slow, but it almost always takes me twice as long as listed on the recipe to prep ingredients.
- lucb1e 6y agoTwice as long sounds about right. Optimistic even in some cases like when it calls for a sweet potato since that's irregularly shaped and needs to be pealed and chopped and is quite hard. Maybe we need a "banana for scale" equivalent in cooking, where chopping time is defined as N times pealing a banana / chopping an onion. Or we just keep doubling the prep time of everything written in cook books, recipe websites, etc...
- kevinmchugh 6y agoYour knives may be due for sharpening, and you might benefit from a different grip. Youtube is pretty good for knife skills. Here's my favorite video on the internet: https://youtu.be/1y5h1pDHhzs https://youtu.be/1y5h1pDHhzs
- jasonpeacock 6y agoHeck, they don't even include the prep times in their estimates. "Dinner in 30 minutes!" ...assuming you already have all the veggies cleaned & chopped, and the oven pre-heated.
- SAI_Peregrinus 6y agoPrep time doesn't include chopping or measuring ingredients. You need to have the ingredients ready before the prep time starts. This is stupid, but people are used to it and like faster recipes so more and more of what should be prep gets hidden in the ingredient descriptions. So if a recipe says "1/4tsp salt", the time to measure out that salt isn't part of the prep. If it says "10 carrots, peeled and diced", that's not part of the prep. But if in its ingredients it says "10 carrots" and in the steps says "peel and dice the carrots" then that time is part of the prep.
- etrautmann 6y agowhile that is ridiculous, I suppose the differences in prep methods (hand chop vs. food processor) could lead to large variance in prep times, though anything is better than assuming no time for the preprocessing.
- Spinnaker_ 6y agoYou can always buy a large bag of onions, watch some youtube videos, and spend the afternoon improving your knife skills. I've learned to keep my mouth shut while watching others prep food. Compared to someone who has worked in a kitchen the average person is shockingly slow and inefficient. It's like when you watch someone using a computer that doesn't know about ctrl+c ctrl+v, or two finger types in https://www.google.com https://www.google.com to start their search.
- mattmanser 6y agoHere in the UK one of our TV chefs is Jamie Oliver. He took a bit of a hit and ridicule in the papers when he brought out a TV/book series called '30 minute meals' and when people tried it most recipes took an hour.
- jmnicolas 6y agoIt's because TV chefs don't measure anything, they go by experience and they usually get it right. However they have to give you some measures because between what you think is a good amount of sugar and what he had in mind there might be a tremendous difference.
- vidanay 6y agoDon't get me started on their "pinch of salt" that is more salt than I use in a week of cooking.
- taeric 6y agoYou should use more salt. :)
- vidanay 6y agoNot according to my cardiologist :-/
- taeric 6y ago:( I thought the modern take was that salt was over vilified. That said, I do not recommend ignoring a doctor. Best of luck keeping your health under control!
- vidanay 6y agoTY! Salt for an average person most likely is over exaggerated. But once you already have hypertension, you need to watch it.
- jmnicolas 6y agoI'm not a cardiologist but I've read somewhere that when you have hypertension it usually isn't salt the problem but a lack of potassium (sodium and potassium have to be in balance in your body, can't remember the ratio). The recommended thing was to eat a lot greens (particularly big salads) to have loads of potassium (not recommended in pills, might be dangerous). YMMV, don't sue me etc ;)
- jamil7 6y agoThey always BS on the onion thing, especially for certain recipes, like a the bases for a lot of indian dishes they'll say 1 onion for 20 minutes when what you actually want is 3 onions for 40 minutes.
- m463 6y agoall my life... well, since chemistry class... I've wondered why recipes just aren't that precise. My mom would smile and just handle it and I always wondered if it was a way to keep the menfolk out of the kitchen. (I'm glad I can still buy pants by waist size and length)
- Tarq0n 6y agoBaking requires precision, regular cooking really doesn't. It's not an exact science, once you have some experience seasoning things you'll be able to eyeball the quantities as well. Stuff like the grind size of your salt can affect how much you should use, so just volume or weight won't transfer between kitchens. Also tasting and adjusting is always preferable to using pre-set amounts.
- Jaxan 6y agoFor cooking times: I notice that in winter stuff takes longer to cook/fry (if I have the window open). This is of course because it’s simply colder in the kitchen! So it is very hard to make recipes precise, as they depend on all the tools, And the humidity, temperature, etc of the kitchen.
- Balgair 6y agoAltitude really affects cooking too. I've lived at ~10k feet before and the cooking and baking times really are affected. For instance, water boiled at 88 C, not 100 C.
- thatguy0900 6y agoIt really doesn't matter. Once you get experience cooking you can just improvise most things and know what flavors will work together in what amounts. As mentioned elsewhere baking is entirely different, though.
- Tomte 6y ago> "cook the onions until they're dark brown - about 15 minutes" See also https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/05/how-to-cook-onions-why-recipe-writers-lie-and-lie-about-how-long-they-take-to-caramelize.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/05/how-to-cook-onions-...
- Spinnaker_ 6y agoProperly diced, and cooked in a heavy pan, you can brown onions in 15 minutes. Most people miss those two important steps though. And recipe authors mistakenly think the general population has the proper technique and equipment. Coarsely chopped onion in a dinky frying pan will take much longer.