Dunnet's Directions



How to Read a RecipeDid you know that baking and cooking are two very different activities? Baking is really a science, with precise measurements of ingredients that are assembled and baked in specific ways. Baking recipes include those for cakes, breads, cookies, pies, cream puffs, popovers, muffins, and bar cookies. Cooking recipes include those for main dishes, soups, salads, side dishes, and many desserts and they are generally more open to adaptation and substitutions1. ?Read the Dang Recipe.Believe it or not, reading a recipe from beginning to end is a big deal. ?First, review the ingredients list and read through the instructions. ?The instructions may have some hidden ingredients (like water), or split the ingredient list in an expected way (like using one egg for a batter and one egg for an egg-wash). ?You want to know the lay of the land. ?Read the dang recipe. ?Trust me.2. ?Respect the Order.Did you know that a recipe’s?ingredient list is usually set up by order of use? ?Yea. ?Success!Here’s the ingredient list to my favorite brownie recipe from Dorie Greenspan.Classic Brownies5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped1/2 cup sugar2 large eggs1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional, but really good)1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt (according to taste)1/3 cup all-purpose flour1 cup chopped walnutsIn this arrangement, the recipe wants us to know that we’ll first be incorporating butter and two types of chocolate. ?Next up will be sugar, eggs, and vanilla, followed by our dry ingredients, and classy extras (walnuts). ?The recipe list is built to help us, help ourselves.3. ?The Comma.The comma is everything when it comes to baking measurements. ?Every cut, chop, or dice instruction after a comma in an ingredient list is to be done?after?the ingredient is measured.For example,?4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped. ?In longhand, this means… go to the store and buy one of those four ounce bars of chocolate, probably that fancy bar of Ghirardelli that’s next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle. ?Buy it. ?Take it home. ?Unwrap it. ?Try not to take a bite because you’re using it for brownies. ?Put it on the counter. ?Chop it. ?Don’t sneak any bites. ?We know it’s hard. ?Place it in the bowl with the butter and follow the rest of the dang instructions.These recipe list does?not?mean chop a bunch of chocolate and measure out 4 ounces and snack on the rest.But wait…. aren’t ounces the same before and after? ?Where this gets tricky is here: ?1 cup sifted flour?vs.?1 cup flour, sifted.Just… respect the comma.The absence of a comma is also revealing.For example,?1 cup chopped walnuts.In longhand, this means… go to the store. ?Splurge on walnuts. ?Take them home. ?Chop them with the same knife you chopped the chocolate with (because why would you dirty another knife?). ?Measure the chopped walnuts in a 1-cup measuring cup and add them to the brownie batter like a boss.One cup of chopped walnuts is very different that one cup of walnuts, chopped. ?Ya heard?4. ?Pack, Soften and Preheat.Recipe lists often request that brown sugar be ‘packed’. ?Take the back of a spoon and firmly (but not totally Hulk -style) press the sugar into the measuring cup. ?Add more sugar and pack until sugar is flush with the top of the measuring cup. ?Boom!Soften butter by allowing it to rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. ?Don’t cheat yourself or the butter by not allowing the butter to soften before combining it with sugar and eggs. ?No one wins. ?We’ll talk at length about creaming butter and sugar soon.Preheat the oven. ?Biscuits hate a 200 degree F oven. ?Biscuits love a 400 degree F oven. ?You love biscuits. ?Preheat the oven!!!!- I won’t always be there to remind you!5. ?Is It Done Yet!?Doneness in recipe instructions are usually described by a time range and visual characteristics.Bake brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. ?You’ve come this far, now it’s up to you to take your treat out of the oven at the right time. ?The time and description should give you confidence by providing you with as estimated time and appearance. ?Trust the process and trust yourself… and standby with the pot holders.Quick Coffeecake3/4 cup?packed1?brown sugar2 teaspoon cinnamon6 tablespoons butter,softened21-1/2 cups?chopped nuts3?OR quick cooking oatmeal2 eggs1 cup?milk41 cup?sugar51/4 cup?salad oil62 cups?flour74 teaspoons?baking powder81/2 teaspoon saltPreheat9?oven to 375 degrees.?Grease10?13x9" pan and set aside.In medium bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and?cream together11?untilblended12. Stir in oatmeal until crumbly. Set aside while preparing batter.Crack eggs into large bowl and beat with a fork until combined. Add milk and mix well with wire whisk or eggbeater. Add sugar and oil and mix with a whisk until blended.Sift13?together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture and mix with a spoon for 20-30 strokes just until combined and all?dry ingredients are moistened14. Pour batter into prepared 13x9" pan. Sprinkle oatmeal mixture evenly over batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes until puffed and?golden brown15, and a?toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean16. Serve warm. 12 servingsThe body of the recipe contains the instructions about combining and heating the ingredients. In the coffeecake recipe above:Packed brown sugar. Brown sugar must be pressed firmly into the measuring cup, then unmolded. The sugar should hold the shape of the cup when it's released.Butter is softened by letting it stand at room temperature for about 1 hour. You can soften butter in a microwave, but it's easy to overheat the butter. If the butter begins to melt, the structure that creates the little air holes in baked goods will be lost and your recipe won't rise as high. The texture will also not be as tender.Chop nuts until the pieces are a uniform size, about 1/4" in diameter. You can do this with a chef's knife or (the method I prefer), a small hand turned nut chopper. Look for the position of the descriptor. If the recipe says 'one cup nuts, chopped' that means measure the nuts, then chop. Oatmeal can be substituted for nuts in many recipes.1 cup milk is measured using the liquid glass measuring cup. Pour the milk into the cup, then bend down so the 1 cup mark is at your eye level. The milk should just touch the 1 cup mark, not be below or above.1 cup sugar is measured using the plastic or metal measuring cup. Spoon sugar into the cup so it's overflowing. Then use the back of a knife or a flat spatula and sweep over the sugar, level with the cup's top edge, so the measuring cup is full to the brim.Salad oil is simply plain, unflavored oil. I like to use safflower oil in baking, although peanut oil and other types will work too. Do NOT use olive oil, as its flavor is too intense for baked goods.Flour is measured carefully in baking. Spoon it lightly into the measuring cup - don't scoop it out using the cup. Don't pack it or shake the cup. When the flour is overflowing the cup, use that knife again to level it off.Baking powder and baking soda are two very different ingredients. Baking powder is baking soda mixed with another ingredient. Baking soda needs to be combined with an acidic ingredient like vinegar or lemon juice. Each produces carbon dioxide. (Don't panic - carbon dioxide is very safe. It's what makes baked goods rise!) Don't pack the baking powder in the spoon - spoon it into the measuring spoon and level off as for flour.All ovens need to be preheated when you're baking. It should only take about 10 minutes for an oven to get to the correct temperature. I highly recommend an oven thermometer, since almost every oven made isn't perfectly accurate.Grease pans by rubbing them with a bit of unsalted shortening or butter, or spraying with nonstick cooking spray. The shortening should be a very thin, even coating over every inside surface - so the pan is shiny. No shortening should be visible. Or spray with nonstick cooking spray lightly and evenly.Cream is a cooking term that means to push shortening and sugar together on the sides of the bowl using the back of a large spoon. This builds small air pockets in the shortening with the sugar crystals and starts to set up the product structure. A mixture is blended when you can't see the separate ingredients any more.Blended means that the mixture is stirred together until the individual components disappear.Sift flour and other dry ingredients by placing them in a sieve and shaking the sieve gently. This removes lumps and blends the ingredients together.Quick breads are mixed just until dry ingredients are moistened. No flour should be visible, but there should be small lumps in the batter. Everything will smooth out during baking! Remember, these instructions are just for quick breads.Baking doneness tests are descriptive. The range of cooking times, in this case 25-35 minutes, has been established in tolerance tests in test kitchens. Begin checking your product at the shortest cooking time. Golden brown means more golden than brown. When breads, cakes and cookies are done, they usually look done. Browse through products at a bakery, and note their color. That's how your homemade goodies should look.The toothpick test is usually used to test for doneness. Stick a clean toothpick into the product near the center and remove it. There shouldn't be any uncooked batter or wetness on the toothpick. If there are small crumbs sticking to the toothpick, that's just fine.I hope this explanation helps in your cooking adventures! If you have a recipe you'd like 'translated', please send it to me and we'll work our way through it. Also please let me know if this discussion was useful to you, or if you need more terms and phrases.Simple Spaghetti1?Tbsp.?olive oil?1 cup?chopped onion?2 cloves garlic,?minced?1/2 pound?ground beef?2?8-ounce?cans tomato sauce?1-1/2 cups water?1?tsp.?salt?1 tsp. dried parsley?1 tsp. dried basil?1/4 tsp. pepper?4?oz.?uncooked?spaghetti pasta, broken in halfHeat?olive oil in heavy skillet over?medium heat?and add onion and garlic. Cook and stir untiltranslucent. Add ground beef and cook and stir until beef is?browned?and vegetables are?tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except for uncooked spaghetti. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, andsimmer?for 3 minutes.Add uncooked spaghetti to the simmering sauce a little at a time, stirring to keep it separated. Cover tightly and simmer for 20-25 minutes over?low heat?or until?pasta is tender, stirring frequently. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 3-4ExplanationsThe very first step in cooking is to read the recipe all the way through, from beginning to end. This way you will know that you have all the ingredients and tools on hand. You will also be able to look up terms you don't understand so cooking proceeds smoothly.?Most good recipes start with the ingredient list, and the ingredients are listed in the order they are used. In this case, the olive oil goes in the pan first, followed by the onions and the garlic.Measurements?in recipes are critical. When a recipe calls for a tablespoon or teaspoon, the author means for you to use actual?measuring utensils, not spoons that you use for eating and serving. Use a graduated cup measure instead of a coffee cup. Use a set of nested measuring cups for dry ingredients, and glass measuring cups for liquid ingredients.Even the order of words in an ingredient list changes the preparation of the foods. For instance, if a recipe calls for "1 cup nuts, chopped", that is different from "1 cup chopped nuts". In the first case, you should measure 1 cup of unchopped shelled nuts first, then chop them. (In the case of walnuts, a 'whole' nut is actually half of the nut. Don't get too literal!) In the second case, the nuts should be chopped first, then measured. The comma placement changes the measuring technique.In the recipe above, the onions are chopped and then?measured. The garlic is minced; that is, cut into very small pieces.Canned ingredients are specified by the weight; 8 ounces of tomato sauce.After you have read the recipe, gather all the ingredients, pots, pans, bowls, and measuring utensils you will need. Go slowly and double check all the steps and ingredients.The body of the recipe contains the instructions about combining and heating the ingredients. In the spaghetti recipe above:Heating?the olive oil means place it in a skillet, turning on the heat to medium, and leaving the oil on the heat for 1-2 minutes, until you can feel the warmth when you hold your hand 3-4" above the pan.The degrees of heat are usually marked on your oven dials. Turn the dial so it points to the lowest part of the heat setting. You can always turn the heat up, but overcooking food is permanent! Medium heat?is right in the middle of the dial.?Low heat?is also marked, and is the bottom 1/4 in the range from off to high.Cooking the onions until?translucent?means the color of the onions changes from pure white to a softer white that is more transparent.Browning?the ground beef means to cook just until the pink or red color disappears. Stir with a fork so the chunk of ground beef breaks up as it cooks and you are left with small uniform pieces. This does NOT mean to cook until the meat turns the color of dark woodwork.Cooking vegetables until?tender?means that when you poke or pierce them with a fork, the tines of the fork slide easily into the flesh, with little resistance.Simmering and boiling are degrees of cooking. A?simmer?means small bubbles rise to the surface of the liquid slowly. Simmering liquid doesn't make much noise. Boiling means large bubbles rise to the surface of the liquid quickly. Boiling liquid is quite noisy.Pasta?is tender?when it is cooked all the way through. To test that, remove one strand of pasta from the sauce, rinse it with cool water and carefully cut it in half. There should be no white areas inside the pasta, or only a thin white line if you like your pasta to have more texture. Then taste it. The pasta should not taste of flour, and the texture should be tender but still firm, called "al dente" in Italian terminology.Stirring?frequently?means to manipulate the ingredients with a spoon every 2-3 minutes. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks and burns.All recipes have a cooking time range. These times are tested using tolerance techniques in test kitchens. Begin testing for doneness at the beginning of the time range. In the recipe above, start checking the tenderness of the spaghetti at 20 minutes. You shouldn't have to cook the dish beyond 25 minutes, although many factors can influence timing. While baking recipes have doneness, just remember to start testing at the beginning of the timing range in?cooking recipes, and remove the food from the heat when it tastes good to you!TOP 10 COMMON RECIPE MISTAKESNot seasoning food to tasteUsing self-rising flour when it is NOT called forSubstituting low or non-fat products for regular onesChanging proportions of ingredients (this includes improper measuring)Not calibrating your oven (e.g. preheating it and ‘peak-a-boo’ cooking)Mistaking baking powder for baking sodaUsing yeast past expiration dateNot understanding recipe termsNot understanding recipe ingredients 10. Skipping steps in recipe (USE A HIGHLIGHTER AS YOU WORK THROUGH THE RECIPE) ................
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