What are your biggest pet peeves with "recipes"?
 

I love to look for new and exciting recipes. When I have a partcular cut of meat or am just looking for something different to make I have a bunch of sites that I like to surf for ideas. I have two HUGE pet peeves that I constantly run into.

#1

When looking for curry dishes many of the recipes will give you the ingredient list and then say:
2 tblsp mild curry powder

WHAT A COPOUT!!!

Premade curry powders have a wide range of flavors. Not all will give you the taste you might be looking for. Curry is actually just a spice blend. In East India they do not have curry powders, they have spices you blend to create a flavor. There are spice blends for chicken, others for pork or seafood. They all differ depending on what you are trying to achieve. Saying ADD CURRY POWDER is way too general as the resulting flavor can be very different than it should.

#2

I love to do rib rubs, smoke bacon, pulled pork, etc.
Reading through a recipe that gives you a list of seasonings and then at the bottom says:

1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

WHAT????

Give the frikkin recipe to a BBQ sauce that will compliment the other seasonings you've put on the meat. If your going to suggest any sauce will do then scrap the recipe and just baste the thing in whatever you like. It renders the whole recipe usless.

Drives me crazy.

I typically use recipes more as a guideline and tend to combine one or 2 or 3 together to get the desired result.

What bothers you the most about written recipes? Lack of specitivity? Exotic ingredients that are expensive and you will probably not use again? Long prep time?
Short cooking time? Uses lots of pots and pans?

Tell me your GRIPES!!

Not being able to find the ingredients in my area. :(. It happens a lot. I also want it to be very specific. My grandmother used to tell me a pinch of this or a dash of that. They don't sell those measurements at Walmart. :)

Thats mine also. I have been looknig for capers so I could make a recipe cant find the to save my life

Are you sure you are looking in the right section? Most capers are pickled and are found where pickles, olives and artichoke hearts are kept.

My biggest pet peeve is having to buy a certain spice that I’ve never needed before and then I end up hating the recipe, and I have this bottle of spice that I’ll never need again, but I have to wait at least 4 years before I can through it away. :p

Sugarmama, you sound like such a great cook!

no I have een looking in produce thanks. Capers are supposed to be a powerful antioxidant that prevents cancer according to Dr Oz so I wanted to just add it to dishes

:D Lisa, I agree totally with your #1 and #2 :)

Plus, to me, if you're going to add 'a curry powder' or 'bbq sauce' - you might as well use 'a pre-made bottled sauce' in the first place?

There are a lot of excellent ones around I know, but I always feel I'm kind of fooling myself, if the whole basis of what I'm making isn't all made by me. Pre-made is wonderful for speed and when time is tight - but I always own up to it...and Andy always knows....;) :eek: :D Sally x

:D Great on pizza, too....!!!! :D x

country cooks:);) got to love em

a dash = 1/8 teaspoon (more often is refering to liquid)
a pinch= 1/6 teaspoon

Well yeah!! Now I know! :D

I have to tell a story. As you know I cook mostly from scratch. I am a country cook.. sort of

Anyway.. when my girls were little I made a recipe I found in a French cookbook.... I ground fresh french bread to make a wonderful seasoned bread crumb mixture and made a sauce. It was very good.

My girls came home and when dinner was served they said "oh yum Shake and Bake!!"

I was pissed:mad:

:sidesplt::sidesplt::sidesplt::sidesplt::sidesplt:

Capers are usually sold by pickles, or alternately, I just ordered a big jar off from Amazon!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE capers!

I actually found a set of measuring spoons at Ross with those exact measurements :wink:

I had to google to find out what a caper is! :eek: haha love living in my little town. :D

My grandmother would have loved them! :D