6 ms·

You have eloquently elaborated on a truth I came to realize many years ago: Cooking well (from a recipe) is the art of having enough experience to know what un

You have eloquently elaborated on a truth I came to realize many years ago: Cooking well (from a recipe) is the art of having enough experience to know what unwritten assumptions the recipe author has made.

lmilcin 5y ago
You have put it very well. I am stealing this one:)
manquer 5y ago
That is true for any concise set of directions. I mean if I give a developer some instructions, or read some from stackoverflow , they only work the best if I already somewhat familiar or expert knowledge to understand it. Cooking shouldn't be any different. Writing small user apps doesn't translate to building apps for millions of users, the same way cooking for your family doesn't translate to cooking in a restaurant or wedding, or to how McDonald's ( google of the cooking world ?) should cook.
- Zababa 5y ago
  > McDonald's ( google of the cooking world ?) should cook Having worked at a cook at McDonald's, I don't know if I would call it "google of the cooking world". From my experience, McDonald's cooking is highly streamlined and focused on reproducing the same experience at some level (for example French McDonald's is not the same as American McDonald's but the fries and Big mac are still relatively the same).
ErrantX 5y ago
I'd add. Its also the art of understanding how to cook a recipe to your own palate. Or in other words; those assumptions are often very personal and therefore you need to develop and refine them for you as well.
lebuffon 5y ago
Sounds like programming. :) ...having enough experience to know what unwritten assumptions the O/S author, language author, spec writer has made.
mcspiff 5y ago
To add to that excellent point, I’ve personally found while I’m learning it’s easier to stick to a small number of authors for recipes. Since the same author will tend to make the same assumptions, you kind of perfect their style (or your take on it at least). Like all things cooking, ymmv of course.
- walshemj 5y ago
  I find Felicity Cloake in the guardian a useful resource. She takes a recipe and try's out various different recipes to work out the best version eg CTM (Chiken Tika Masala)
  - denton-scratch 5y ago
    Cloake suits my way of cooking! Her "How to cook the perfect..." series is my go-to for classic dishes. She takes advice from multiple cooks and books, and distils her "perfect" recipe from there. That is how I cook; I read multiple recipes, and take the advice I like best. Cloake makes that easy. She had a recipe for croque monsieur up recently; it's spot-on.
  - __turbobrew__ 5y ago
    Cooks Illustrated is good for this too. They try a bunch of recipe permutations and them explain why they designed the recipe to function in a certain way.
base698 5y ago
And having the knowledge to correct when something isn't as expected. Example would be vegetables leech more water and you need to reduce or increase heat to dry it out. Maybe the tomatoes aren't as acidic as usual in the soup and you need to add more acid.

lmilcin 5y ago

You have put it very well. I am stealing this one:)

manquer 5y ago

That is true for any concise set of directions. I mean if I give a developer some instructions, or read some from stackoverflow , they only work the best if I already somewhat familiar or expert knowledge to understand it. Cooking shouldn't be any different. Writing small user apps doesn't translate to building apps for millions of users, the same way cooking for your family doesn't translate to cooking in a restaurant or wedding, or to how McDonald's ( google of the cooking world ?) should cook.

Zababa 5y ago
> McDonald's ( google of the cooking world ?) should cook Having worked at a cook at McDonald's, I don't know if I would call it "google of the cooking world". From my experience, McDonald's cooking is highly streamlined and focused on reproducing the same experience at some level (for example French McDonald's is not the same as American McDonald's but the fries and Big mac are still relatively the same).

ErrantX 5y ago

I'd add. Its also the art of understanding how to cook a recipe to your own palate. Or in other words; those assumptions are often very personal and therefore you need to develop and refine them for you as well.

lebuffon 5y ago

Sounds like programming. :) ...having enough experience to know what unwritten assumptions the O/S author, language author, spec writer has made.

mcspiff 5y ago

To add to that excellent point, I’ve personally found while I’m learning it’s easier to stick to a small number of authors for recipes. Since the same author will tend to make the same assumptions, you kind of perfect their style (or your take on it at least). Like all things cooking, ymmv of course.

walshemj 5y ago
I find Felicity Cloake in the guardian a useful resource. She takes a recipe and try's out various different recipes to work out the best version eg CTM (Chiken Tika Masala)
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  Cloake suits my way of cooking! Her "How to cook the perfect..." series is my go-to for classic dishes. She takes advice from multiple cooks and books, and distils her "perfect" recipe from there. That is how I cook; I read multiple recipes, and take the advice I like best. Cloake makes that easy. She had a recipe for croque monsieur up recently; it's spot-on.
- __turbobrew__ 5y ago
  Cooks Illustrated is good for this too. They try a bunch of recipe permutations and them explain why they designed the recipe to function in a certain way.

base698 5y ago

And having the knowledge to correct when something isn't as expected. Example would be vegetables leech more water and you need to reduce or increase heat to dry it out. Maybe the tomatoes aren't as acidic as usual in the soup and you need to add more acid.