BVR: How to Follow a Recipe (Info)

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How to Follow a Recipe (Info)

 

Recipe By : Martha Rose Shulman, The Best Vegetarian Recipes

Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : 0 Info and Techniques

 

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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-- How to Follow a Recipe --

 

Cooking schools teach cooks to prepare all ingredients ahead and arrange

them in separate containers. This is called a mise en place. It's a good

practice, particularly for beginning cooks. It makes it easier to be

neat and precise as you cook, and you never get into panic because

everything is there in front of you.

 

As you become more experienced and confident, you'll find that you might

not need to prep everything before, that you can actually be measuring

out an ingredient or preparing another while the onions are cooking or

the water is coming to the boil. As my colleague Deborah Madison points

out in her excellent book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, cooking is

not a linear activity. For example, you begin boiling the pasta water

first, although the pasta is the last thing you cook. But to understand

the order and rhythm of cooking you need some experience.

 

1

Read the recipe all the way through first. This is essential, no matter

how much experience you have. After all these years of cooking, I still

regret it if I don't read a recipe through. You'll be able to visualize

the dish, and you won't be hit with surprises while cooking the food.

2

Get out the ingredients called for. You don't necessarily have to

prepare them all, but they should be nearby.

3

Get out the equipment that you'll need (steps 2 and 3 can be reversed).

4

Decide on serving dishes. Will you be serving directly from the pan or

in separate serving dishes? Will you serve the plates in the kitchen or

at the table?

5

Prepare ( " prep " ) the ingredients as instructed, or at least decide what

needs to be prepared first. Measure out seasonings or have them at the

ready with dry measuring spoons.

6

Read through the recipe again, then proceed step by step as directed.

 

Tasting and Seasoning

Following a recipe isn't all there is to cooking. If it were, everybody

would be a good cook. To succeed with a dish, you have to taste. You are

not finished with the dish until you have tasted and approved it. Keep a

special spoon (not the cooking spoon) handy for tasting. Different cooks

taste at different times. I usually taste toward the end of cooking,

while others taste constantly throughout. What I am looking for is

flavor. Think of the best dishes you've ever eaten Their flavors were

vivid. This is how you want your food to taste. If you don't feel that

the flavors linger long enough on your palate, or that the ingredients

are in sharp focus, ask yourself first if there's enough salt. It's very

common for dishes to be undersalted.

Sometimes it's a bit more garlic that's needed, or maybe another

pinch of herbs or a bit of acid, like a sprinkle of lemon juice or peel.

Or does it need a bit more heat? Cayenne or more chile pepper? Remember

that your clove of garlic may be smaller than mine, and the jalapeno I

used to test a recipe might be hotter than yours. In the end, the

flavors of your dish depend on your taste buds.

If you're not exactly sure what the recipe needs, ladle or spoon out

a small amount into a small bowl. Add a little bit of what you think it

needs; for example, sprinkle on a very small amount of salt or a drop of

lemon juice, give the mixture a stir, and taste. You will know when

you've hit it right.

 

Source: Martha Rose Shulman, The Best Vegetarian Recipes, 2001

Typed and MC Formatted by Eruna Schultheiss

 

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