Measure Twice, Mix Once – A Non-Rant
May 7, 2009
This non-rant does not pertain to baking; baking recipes are actually formulas and should pretty much be followed as written. A long time ago I heard Charlie Trotter, famed Chicago chef, explain why he doesn’t measure ingredients when he cooks. He said that while he wanted the food to come out great, he didn’t want a carbon copy of the dish each time. This theory differs from all the fast food restaurants who strive for extreme consistency. I guess that is why Micky D gets $4.98 for a “value meal” and Charlie Trotter gets your weekly paycheck.
What made me think of this is a birthday party meal I had this past weekend. My granddaughter turned one and my daughter-in-law made a really good spaghetti dinner to celebrate. She used the recipe that appears on our website, emealsforyou.com, which is my father’s recipe from many years ago. Fairly new to cooking she followed the recipe exactly… so when I tasted the first bite it tasted exactly as it had 30 years ago, big, strong memories of sauces past. When I make the sauce today I tend to put some of this and some of that; keeping to the basic recipe but not precisely measuring, so the taste is different each time.
I guess the bottom line here is if you want something to taste like you remember it; then follow the recipe and measure. To mix it up a little, cook like my grandmother, some of this and some of that. It always amazed me how her hand’s shape changed to approximate the different measurements. Anyway, measure or not just get in the kitchen and cook!
Entry Filed under: Rants, Semi-Rants and Non-Rants. Tags: cooking consistency, measuring, spaghetti dinner, spaghetti sauce.
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