on Jun 16th, 2008Recipe deal breakers
I’m normal! At the very least, I’m not alone. Certain things in recipes make me put them down or turn the page, never to make them. They’re my recipe deal breakers and I hope you’ll share yours.
A week and a half ago Kim Severson wrote about this in The New York Times, a fun piece that’s gotten comments from people around the world. I was delighted to see that about half share my refusal to use processed foods, canned cream soups, Cool Whip and more than a smidgen of cilantro. Some won’t even use a smidgen. What amazed me were people who won’t use a recipe if it includes the words meanwhile or set aside. And one wouldn’t follow a recipe written in paragraphs. A numbered, list please.
For me, fussiness and extra steps can be a deal breaker, one reason I streamline any recipe when I can, especially if I’m going to post it. A few years ago I had a baking book from the library, written by someone whose recipes always work for me. It was autumn and since I love cranberries, I looked for cranberry pies. As I recall there were two and each one began with 12 ounces of cranberries, cut in half. The book went back to the library, cranberry recipes untried.
Ingredients, especially herbs and spices, that can only be found online are a deal breaker. So are liqueurs I can’t find in miniature. And when the directions are so bossy I’d feel like a criminal for leaving something out or substituting, I take a pass.
Recipes specifying an odd-sized pan, such as a 6″ springform, that I’d only use for that recipe send me away. I have a recipe for cheesecake made in the pressure cooker that I’d love to try but with four springforms on hand, all larger than the requisite 6″, I’ll never know if the technique works.
Other deal breakers for me:
- Any recipe that starts with Wrap a brick in aluminum foil… (Jacques, how could you?)
- Set the oven as high as it will go and turn on the exhaust…
- In a fourth pan…
- Working in batches…
And often, but not always, a recipe that begins Three days before serving… doesn’t get made.
So what are your recipe deal breakers? Please share.
My favorite comment at The Times is this one:
I recall a recipe from Elizabeth David (I believe it was in her “French Country Cooking”) which began - began, mind you - with the instructions: “Roast a saddle of lamb in the usual way…”— David, Toronto
Yep, that’s a deal breaker.
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Fussiness, too many ingredients, too many small proportions to fiddle with, obscure items that make a disproportionate dent in the budget. While I often love reading about such enterprises, and can dream of making them, it won’t happen here in my cramped cooking space and my schedule. Someday, when I have the kitchen of my dreams, perhaps. Just not during these years of graduate school and urban living.
KISS is the m.o. at this time in my life for very practical reasons; also, precise oven temps are not something my oven can help out with at this time.
Healthy food can be easy and simple and beautiful. I’d rather have Robusto slathered with organic fig spread than just about anything, so I guess I am too easy to please.
Blue Smoke of Paradise’s last blog post..For My Father
I think I am fairly resilient, with the ABSOLUTE EXCEPTION of recipes that have cream of what-freaking-ever soup, prepared salad dressing, cool whip, etc, but I also don’t use recipes that have mayonnaise or sour cream (except for stroganoff) as an ingredient. That is just because those two items gross me out (to use a technical term…heh) so I do not want to have any exposure to them.
I don’t mind a lot of ingredients, unless some of them are difficult to find. I also don’t mind if it states ‘a pinch of’, etc, because I take a great deal of poetic license in my cooking and my recipes.
Sometimes I see a recipe that might pique my interest but it has massive amounts of butter or sugar so I might take it on, with my own revisions.
If there are so many completely separate steps that, by the time I have finished cooking, I no longer have interest in the results - that is a good sign that it is a recipe I would prefer to avoid.
Canned “cream of” soups… blech. I’m usually not a fan of casseroles, unless by some miracle they appear to be both tasty and not calorie-laden.
I live in an apartment, so any outdoor grilling recipe that doesn’t give me some inkling of a grill pan/broiler alternative doesn’t get made. Even if they do I usually skip it anyway, since you just can’t get that charcoal flavor in a grill pan. (I do rip out and save the good ones for my ’someday’ file)
I don’t mind making something with several separate steps, but it probably won’t go into heavy rotation… I most prefer recipes that you only need to follow once or twice before you can make them from memory. Now several *pans*, that’s a problem. No more than 3 total, unless it’s a special occasion.
I actually don’t mind obscure spices that I have to order online… I use Penzey’s Spices, which are always fresh and usually as cheap as the supermarket (and no, I don’t work for them) I love having a full and varied spice rack! (I also adore scads of cilantro)
My pet peeve is stir-fry recipes. All you really need is one good recipe for a go-to stir-fry sauce. Other than that, uhhhhh… it’s stir-fry. Meat, veggies, sauce, cook together, put over rice. I don’t need three new recipes in every magazine with different variations on meat, veggies, sauce, rice. (*cough*Rachel Ray*cough*)
Too many ingredients. I just don’t have time to deal with it.
Also, things that require multiple pans and simulaneous preps.
bug_girl’s last blog post..Teach the Controversy
@ blue - I hear you about the ingredients. When a recipe calls for, say, 1 TB of fresh thyme and I don’t have any, I use 1 tsp dried. But a few commenters at the Times said dried herbs are their deal breakers - it’s fresh or nothing. If I were still in Manhattan, where fresh herbs are sold loose, I might (probably would) feel the same. But here in the Little Snowball, where they’re in $2 plastic containers and often iffy quality, um…no. Not always.
Most home ovens are off by at least 25 degrees. A $3 oven thermometer will be your best friend.
@ chickenbutt - I think we were separated at birth. As for:
If there are so many completely separate steps that, by the time I have finished cooking, I no longer have interest in the results - that is a good sign that it is a recipe I would prefer to avoid.
And the other half of that equation is recipes that go on and on and on…to the point that when I’m at step 14 or 15 I have to check back to remind myself what exactly the recipe is for. For special occasions I will make recipes that run 3 to 5 pages. But those times are few and far between!
@ Stella - No problem with the Penzey’s plug. They’re on my useful links page and I like their cinnamon very much. But if it’s Sunday and I’m scouting recipes for the week and one needs an herb that might not be here even by Friday, well, it’s just not worth it.
I live in an apartment, so any outdoor grilling recipe that doesn’t give me some inkling of a grill pan/broiler alternative doesn’t get made. Even if they do I usually skip it anyway, since you just can’t get that charcoal flavor in a grill pan.
Oh, yes. After 20+ years in Manhattan, I know what you mean and still love my grill pan to bits. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a grilling recipe that can’t be done indoors with notes to that effect. The good thing is a hot, hot grill pan will produce the Maillard effect just as well as an outdoor grill, and that’s where much of the flavor and taste is.
There’s just no room in a big-city apartment for storing kitchen toys.
@ bug girl I am so with you about the pans. When I read a recipe through and realize all 4 burners are in use and there are still several steps to go…it’s a deal breaker!
Much as I like Alton Brown, he’s notorious for using every pan and bowl in the kitchen. I don’t make his recipes.
Several years ago Martha Stewart was doing a live presentation on simplifying gourmet cooking for working women. When she said, “meanwhile, have someone else in your kitchen prepare…” she was actually booed.
Recipes that require servants don’t see the light of day in my house. Seriously.
raincoaster’s last blog post..Note To Self
I’ve honestly never thought it through to that extent. I don’t think I’ve even used a recipe for a while. When I cook at all, I just sort of make stuff. But I’ve seen some which are truly frightening: “More than 5 ingredients”! Instructions like “Fold”! “Whisk”! “Blanch”!
Ones I’ll actually use are like this: “Chop up this amount of this thing; stir it into that thing, and put the new thing into the oven for an hour while you read that new sci-fi novel.” Now that’s a GOOD recipe!
MusEditions’s last blog post..Wave1: A wave of peace
@ rain - Now there’s a candidate for YouTube. Maybe she’s more in touch with the rest of us now that she’s been locked away someplace other than her ivory tower…
@ Muse - Whew, for a second I thought you’d taken up cooking in a big way! Your recipe works; don’t forget what Ruhlman said - A recipe is sheet music.
Thanks for stopping by, ladies!
Peanuts, or peanut butter in the ingredient list. I recently found out I am quite allergic to them. *SAD* Now I can’t try that dish I’ve been wanting to try, muglitawny (sp?) soup. Peanuts are so tastey, but the Mr. can’t eat them either now, lest he give me the “kiss of death”. *sigh*
KatK’s last blog post..Er, what?!
Oh, kat, I feel for you. A dear friend is deathly allergic to peanuts. You know what she misses most? Peanut butter.