Sunday nights are Anime nights here in the house. We settle down in front of the television (Yes. We do.) and spend the evening watching Japanese animation, with English subtitles, and eating Japanese food that I have prepared.
I have a favorite Japanese cookbook. It’s one of those cookbooks that serves as both cookbook and textbook, and I have learned about Japanese ingredients and techniques that are not common in Western/European cooking. I have fun recreating the Japanese foods my family and I love. The forward was written by Ming Tsai. It’s awesome.
But even the best cookbook can do you wrong. I recently cooked a delicious Japanese vegetable dish with shredded carrots and a flavorful sauce that glazes them. I read the ingredient list, and set each ingredient out in a little dish, because the cooking moves fast and there’s not a lot of time for measuring on the fly.
I quickly skimmed the recipe instructions, got a handle on what was supposed to happen, and started cooking, only to find myself dashing to the cupboard for another small bowl, and then to the sink for some water, because it was not listed in the ingredient list, and I didn’t notice it in my quick look at the instructions.
This is one of my pet peeves in recipe-writing.
Water is an ingredient. If you expect me to use water in the cooking method, with a list of other ingredients, then include it in the list. It’s so frustrating to set out all my ingredients, measured and weighed, only to be caught off guard by the random mention of water just as I’m getting into a great cooking rhythm.
My next pet peeve is closely related to the first one.
List the ingredients in the order that you want me to use them. In the cases when I do not set out all my ingredients in advance, I need the ingredients list to tell me in what order I will need them. When I read the instructions, and find they ask for the ingredients in an order different from how they’re listed, I get lost in the ingredients list and then can’t find my place in the instructions, and it’s a stressful moment. Home cooking should not be stressful.
The next one is not as annoying, but is still disruptive of the cooking process, especially if it’s the first time I’m trying a recipe.
Either describe how ingredients are prepped in the ingredients list, or in the cooking instructions. Be consistent. Some recipes tell you how to prepare the fruits and vegetables in the ingredients list, so you can have them all ready to go when it’s time to use them. Some recipes include the prep instructions with the cooking instructions. Either one is fine in a recipe. But mixing the two approaches ends up breaking up the flow of the cooking process, as you grab an ingredient, only to find it’s not ready to be used yet, and your food is already cooking.
Yes, the first rule of cooking a new recipe is READ IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH AT LEAST ONCE. Yes. But even this very good suggestion cannot make up for sloppy recipe-writing. There are many reasons why cooks may not glean all the details of a recipe from a quick read-through, and following a recipe while cooking is using a lot of brain power, which might be tough after a long day at work, with the family buzzing around you, dividing your attention even further.
Why am I telling you all of this, if you don’t actually write recipes? Well, I’m guessing that if you’re here, you read them, probably. I’m hoping that my highlighting of these examples of problematic recipe-writing offers you the knowledge to be a better recipe reader, which will ultimately make you a better home cook. I am also hoping that this provides you with the room to be gentle with yourself when a recipe doesn’t work out, because it was too hard to follow. It may not have been totally your fault, and it certainly does not mean you can’t cook.
Do you have any recipe pet peeves? I’d love to hear them. Share them in the comments!