I made the butter-swim biscuit recipe from The Kitchn website yesterday, at Poppy's request. I was reminded as I was reading it how stupid the first instruction is in the recipe.
You're supposed to melt the large quantity of butter that goes in the baking pan. The recipe suggests microwaving the butter or melting it on the stovetop.
But the oven is supposed to be heating up to 400 degrees, and the melted butter is immediately poured into the baking pan and then swirled around to coat the pan.
So why, in the name of all that is efficient, wouldn't you just put the butter in the pan and put the pan in the heating oven to melt the butter instead of using a whole other dish and another step?
Silly.
I will give credit to that same recipe, however, for listing the ingredient amounts in the instructions. I dislike having to look back to a separate ingredient list to find out how much of anything I need to add as I'm going through the recipe instructions.
Do you have any recipe pet peeves?
10 comments:
I prefer when ingredients are listed in order of use. Don't tell me one tsp of salt at the beginning when I'm supposed to sprinkle it on at the end.
And sometimes they say things like mix until creamy. Okay- what kind of creamy? Martha Stewart's recipes are good- they have mix until light, pale, fluffy, about 5 minutes. That's a much better guide. ( I'd rush everything otherwise.)
Did you like the biscuits?
My family loves them. They're much denser and heavier than baking powder biscuits, and the buttermilk flavor is pretty pronounced. I like that I don't have to put out butter for everyone.
I tend to rush the creaming step too. It's helpful for me to have a time listed for creaming. Not that I always go a full five minutes or whatever, but at least then I know I shouldn't just mix until combined, which is my default.
I learned this common sense trick you mentioned from Other Kristen (Frugal Girl), in her Dutch baby/pfannekuchen recipe). She says “ To start off, place 2 tablespoons of butter into a 9-inch pie plate. Place the plate into a cold oven and turn it on to 400 degrees. The pan will be hot and the butter melted by the time you're finished with the rest of the pancake prep.”.
For a while, there were 2 Kristen/Kristins on my team at work, so when referring to the one I wasn’t talking with, I would say, “Other Kristen said…”.
I like how The Kitchn has written this recipe, with the ingredients listed first, so you can make sure you have everything, but then the measurements are also listed in the narrative. Specificity is helpful for those of us who aren’t overly confident in their cooking abilities. 🙂
Cheryl in IL
My peeve is a printing peeve in some cookbooks, which sometimes put part of a recipe on one page--and then I have to flip back and forth to the next page with inevitably buttery fingers to finish the recipe. Mil
My pet peeve is the number of dishes, measuring utensils, etc. required as if you’re not still going to have to do the dishes and clean up. I read through the recipe, and see where I can lessen the number of items used. For example, if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup measures, I’ll just use the 1/4 cup measure and do it twice. Much less trouble IMHO. I also will see if I can do the dry ingredients with a measuring spoon and then use it for wet ingredients. It’s a game! Yes, I have a dishwasher, but still!
Cooking Pet peeve; just says "salt to taste" in a recipes that includes raw ingredients that you cant reasonably taste until the end. A rookie cook needs a ball park. If you add at end to correct that its bland, its not the same
I'm with everyone else with regards to extra dishes to do. For example, my cole slaw recipe calls for putting the cabbage mixture in a big bowl and then making the dressing in a small bowl, then combining. I always make the dressing in the big bowl, add the cabbage mixture and then combine. One less dish to wash. There are many recipes like that. Or too many ingredients. My lemon meringue pie recipe calls for three egg yolks in the filling, but six egg whites in the meringue. I make the meringue with three egg whites and it's plenty. No need to waste the extra yolks.
Same as you. Scrolling up on my IPad will sometimes take be out of the loop which is very frustrating.
Post a Comment