For me it’s time signatures in music. I grew up playing instruments, played in several orchestras, etc. But no matter how many times someone tries to explain time signatures to me, it makes no sense. I don’t understand why people place such importance on it. To me, notes have a pitch and a duration, maybe some dynamics. That’s it. I don’t understand why people try to needlessly complicate it. It doesn’t give you anything.
My wife will hear a song and go “Oh neat, it’s in 5/8.” And I’m like “How tf do you know that, and why does it matter?”
Okay so first of all let’s talk about short recipes. Which are basically notes to self; like going through my grandmother’s old recipe book I found a note card with a recipe for “pecan cookie bars” which was little more than a list of ingredients, an oven temp and a time. Was I supposed to mix the pecans into the batter or scatter them on top? Was I supposed to dollop them onto a cookie sheet, or bake them in a pan? If a pan, what size? Invariably, this note card was written at a baby shower in 1974 by someone who was chewing on one of said cookie bars and had that kind of context, and just jotted down the ingredients.
Those are useless to you unless you’re B. Dylan Hollis.
Most other recipes, especially those found in cookbooks which are definitely meant to communicate to people who aren’t familiar with the dish yet, ARE in chronological order. The ingredients list is a step you do before the “procedure.” There’s a concept called Mise En Place, it’s a phrase from an obscure, obsolete Earth language called French, it directly translates to “put in place.” The process:
Read the recipe through, so you have an understanding of the full process and what is needed when.
Gather all ingredients, cookware and utensils you will need.
Prep the ingredients including washing, peeling, slicing, chopping and pre-measuring into individual bowls.
Organize them in the order they are called for. Clean up from the prep process, store unused portions of ingredients, bin scraps, clean and put away measuring and chopping tools so you have a clear, clean and sanitary work space.
Cook. Execute the steps of the recipe devoting your full attention to the process.
Some recipes will separate stages, especially if there’s a large lull in time between steps. For example, a cake recipe might intend for you to make the icing while the cake is baking. These usually do have ingredients lists and procedures separated into sections, though some don’t and you’re expected to read and understand the process before you start cooking.
You may note that I did mention that I have my mise en place before I start cooking. My struggle is entirely in your Step 1: Read the recipe. Making the recipe I can do, I cook and bake every day. Reading it is the struggle.
My ideal cookbook would look like python documentation: “This
functionstep has these inputs and these outputs. Here is the typical use case.”I mean…they do that already?
Every recipe I’ve seen will either be written “in a large bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.” Meaning all of the ingredients you’ve portioned out. If the recipe calls for the same ingredient in more than one step, it will say so. “Mix 2 cups of flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl.” Then it’ll specify “add remaining flour” or “add 1 cup flour” in some later step. Some might also mention that in the ingredients list, like “1 1/3 cup sliced strawberries, 2/3 cup for cake, 2/3 cup for topping.”
I just wish 99% of the web page around the recipe would fuck off. I want a ONE SENTENCE description of the dish as it might appear on a restaurant menu, the time to prep and cook, the yield/portion size, the parts list and procedure. I don’t want a fake story of someone’s travels or family life, I don’t want a geography lecture, and if you’re going to write a long form essay on the process a la the script for an episode of a cooking show, put that AFTER the recipe itself, not before. Let me see the damn parts list in the top mile or so of the page.
That’s fine for cooking, where I’ll have it all in front of me, but doesn’t help with reading. I just can’t visualize it, or maybe I just can’t remember it.
See, that actually IS helpful to me, and probably why I prefer certain recipe websites to cookbooks.
Possibly related question: Are you one of those folks without a mind’s eye? What’s the space catholic term for it? aphantasia?
No, I have a mind’s eye. If the recipe says “stir until the sauce reaches a creamy, glossy texture” I can picture it perfectly.