Granny loved to bake. The trouble was that most of her recipes didn't exist anywhere except in her own head...as far as I know. I have a copy of her poundcake recipe and there are no instructions, just a list of ingredients. Not even measurements. I managed through trial and error to figure out the proportions and can make a reasonably good replica of her poundcake now, but the teacakes are utterly lost to me. When I asked her once how she made them she began, "Take a piece of butter about the size of an egg..." When I asked how much that was, she couldn't even tell me. She'd made the cookies for years and never did have a written recipe. She just knew what was required. She made biscuits much the same. She began with a dough bowl about half full of flour and then added in an eyeballed measurement of shortening and just so much buttermilk, then after she'd broken the shortening into smaller pieces in that pool of buttermilk with her hands, she'd start pulling in a little flour from the sides of the dough bowl until the biscuit dough 'felt right' as she'd say.
I finally found both a poundcake and biscuit recipe that worked for me, one that was properly written out with measurements. I still measure carefully for the poundcake but when I'm making biscuits, I tend to make them with more casual measurements.
I think we all have recipes that we've been making for years upon years. I don't really need to see the recipe. I know exactly what is required and in what quantity. I know the recipe so well that I can make them almost automatically. I mean even to the point that I can measure by eye. And it works out just fine for a time but as weeks and months go by, I begin to get mixed results. Eight times out of ten it's fine. Then my results may start to drop to seven times out of ten. I know then it's time for me to go back to basics and measure.
I've found it very helpful to do what I'd been doing automatically and then use my measuring tools to determine just how far off I have gotten from the original measurements. I'll go right ahead and cup my hand and pour out what I think is a teaspoon of salt, and then take the measuring spoon and measure what I've poured into my hand. I'll fill a pan with water to a certain level that I think might be 2 cups and then pour that water into a measuring cup and measure it. Often the differences are so subtle that I can notice only a barely discernible difference in how the recipe is meant to be. But if I'm off enough in several ingredients the whole recipe ends up being compromised and may or may not turn out well.
I've watched many and many a vlog or short videos where a cook will add in a bit more vanilla. Why does this make a difference? For one thing, even a teaspoon difference in wet ingredients is going to change a batter somewhat, but it will most assuredly be detrimental if you're adding a tablespoon or two instead of a teaspoon. Even if the texture is okay the flavor will be altered. For another, those extra two teaspoons of vanilla run the cost of the recipe up, and if you're working with a budget little things like that add up.
You wouldn't dream of adding an extra egg, but if the recipe calls for a medium egg and you're using extra large or jumbo eggs this week, you're essentially doing just that. It makes a difference. Most recipes don't even mention the size of eggs anymore but I clearly recall reading recipes that did mention what sized egg was used to test the recipe.
I'm going to work harder to not only remember my most used recipes but to measure every time I make them so that I don't waste money or food in the future.
I'm also watching how much dish detergent (my dishwasher only requires 1 tablespoon of powder), shampoo (I only need about a dime-sized portion at most for my thin, short hair), and even toilet paper. I get into the habit of winding the paper around my hand at times and it's not altogether necessary to use quite that much. Letting water run is another bad habit of mine. Face cleansers and moisturizers can be used a little more sparingly. I want to get enough to do the job but I don't need to slather it on thick either. I'm trying to be mindful of not wasting anything, not just because it's financially smart but because I don't want to waste needlessly.
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8 comments:
What a great idea! I've gotten bad about not measuring salt as I should when seasoning dishes - especially with the different levels of saltiness in kosher salt vs sea salt, etc. and it's gotten me in trouble with things that are just too salty for my taste.
The water running is also a bad habit of mine - especially when washing my face in the evenings.
I shall have to be more concious of this.
I am terrible at "eyeballing" things; always have been. So I always measure when cooking and baking. I don't feel comfortable otherwise. I actually prefer to weigh ingredients for the best accuracy.
The only thing I can "eyeball" is salting/peppering a fried egg, LOL!
Letting water run while doing dishes was a terrible habit of mine. But I have been working hard to not let it run full speed, but just at a trickle. My dream is to have a foot-operated switch for turning water on/off, instead of always grabbing the faucet handle. That device is real! Sadly, my sink cabinet won't accomodate one. :^(
I pretty much measure ingredients for baking. The exception might be spices/herbs, which I'm pretty confident about just pouring into my hand.
However, I'm one who does use extra vanilla, or will add vanilla (pancakes!). Oftentimes I'll just add it to the measuring cup first, then add the milk or whatever the fluid ingredient is, so it all measures what it's supposed to. I make my own vanilla, which is far less expensive than purchasing it already extracted.
I have a recipe from one of my grandmothers for zweiback, a white bread bun we always had at her house for holidays. She wrote the ingredients for me, then, "make a soft dough". And that was it. No shaping or baking instructions. One of my regrets is not going to her house and asking her to teach me to make them. She didn't enjoy cooking or baking, but was good at it because that was her responsibility as a homemaker.
I clicked on a YouTube video that was titled something like 30 things you don’t need in your home.
Since I’m decluttering, I looked into it. But before I watched it, I read her comments to see what other people said about it.
Apparently three of the things she said to get rid of were books, laundry baskets, and measuring spoons. She apparently doesn’t bake because you certainly do need to measure some ingredients, unless you are just really good at eyeballing things like your Granny.
My dishwasher cup recently got clogged, even though I have been trying not to put in too much of the powder. So when I emptied out a food product that came in a nice plastic canister with a little scoop, I poured my powdered dishwasher soap into it and drew a line on the scoop where to fill it. I think I had put too much soap in once, and it somehow sealed the dispenser where it wasn’t opening during the wash cycle. So that’s another reason not to use too much.
Terri, you are singing my song! Also, I've been cooking for about 60 years now and I have learned to read the recipe and measure ingredients when baking. I can cook other things off the top of my head, but I've learned the hard way not to wing it too much when baking.
Many years ago I was asked to bring a batch of cowboy cookies to a Boy Scout event. Those are the big cookies that contain everything but the kitchen sink. I'd never made them before. The recipe called for one cup of corn syrup--I thought. It actually called for one TABLESPOON of corn syrup. This is when I decided to always check the recipe when baking, LOL.
My great aunts were wonderful cooks but there are no recipes and they are long gone from this earth now along with their recipes. If you asked Aunt Grace it was a little of this and a little of that. Aunt Bonnie made the best bread but she never measured anything. I truly wish I had Aunt grace's stuffed meatloaf recipe. It was a 13 x 9 pan of a layer of meatloaf a layer of stuffing and another layer of meatloaf. Attempts to recreate it have been less than good.
That old vanilla bottle has a way of gushing out and one day I sloshed in so much in a batch of muffins that we referred to them as boozy muffins since we make our own vanilla out of vodka.
Breda Gantt on Youtube makes biscuits the way you describe and has many videos on how to do it. I really want to give it try since some friends have told me they could never make a good biscuit until they watched her and adopted her method.
Trying to comment …. Fourth try!
While not the same, but similar, I get frustrated with craft patterns that don’t provide explicit instructions. My daughter wanted me to knit her a hat. She got instructions from the lady she bought the yarn from… “decrease slowly.” Now what does that mean? Am I to take my time or what? LOL
I do follow directions and measure carefully when baking! Not so much for other cooking.
Fingers crossed!
I do noodles, pizza crust bisucits and some breads without measuring. When you make it all the time you know when it's correct. Measuring doesn't always do that as if your flour is dryer than normal or the kitchen is humid it will change what is needed.
The hardest was writting out the recipe for my pasta sauce I canned yearly when the kids moved out.
Eggs are usually large eggs in recipes which weighs 2 oz. You can google it as Wikipedia has it. Since I get free eggs from the Amish I was advised to weigh the egg when following a recipe.
Now craft patterns give me headaches with they don't say exactly what them mean
Blessed Be
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