Recipes? Pah!

[jennyjj01]

OK. throwing this out there after a bit of a cooking session.... Indulge me, please. There is a footnote:- Scathing feedback invited.

We all watch TV chefs preparing their wonderful creations and we read recipes or watch youtube videos for inspiration.
BUT we never quite have ALL the listed ingredients. Who does? And if you buy ingredient .xxx, what are the chances you will use it all before it goes bad? Who really uses half a pak choi from the back of the fridge? And who slings it?

Well Jenny says ' WING IT! BE MAVERICK. SAY 'STUFF IT'. IMPROVISE!. No recipe is PURE. TV chefs DO wing it, they just don't 'fess up.

Use what you have, don't drive 20 miles to get something you never even heard of!

I just knocked up some chick-pea curry as per AL's kitchen.

Fresh white onions. Sod it, I had some red ones. Al's base gravy, mentioned half way through the you-tube vid: None to hand but I had a load of leftover frozen gravy from when I did his pre-cooked Lamb. Couldn't lay my hands on any tomato puree without diving deep into the stash, so pureed some skinned fresh tomatoes and squeezed some ketchup over the top*. Found a frozen green chilli in the freezer. Chopped it up and lobbed it in, because, just because. You get my drift.

Chickpeas. did I measure or weigh them? Did I buggery.

So, I watched about 4 different you-tube vids and read maybe 3 or 4 recipes online. Were any two the same? Were they hell?

Feeling very maverick, and slightly intoxicated, I just went with the flow. Yeah, we needed some spices, but when you watch the experts, do they measure them with Dunelm measure spoons? Nooooooo.

I won't ever be able to reproduce this, but dammit, I have a big pan of delish chickpea curry! It may taste rubbish tomorrow, but I doubt it.

Swear to god, this is how cooking is supposed to be. Not perfect replication every time, but food that is in the moment ( a bit like sex?**). Recipes that may be great or not so great, but from the heart. You see tv chefs say 'Season it to taste' Do you think that would be required if recipes were perfect?

What I'm saying is, and I welcome any challenge?

#1 Essential: If you put your heart into it and pay lip service to recipes, you, and your loved ones will enjoy it. If they don't, then let them cook!

#2 If you want next weeks batch to be identical, then ignore me and go work for Heinz or your local restaurant.

#3. It's just food. Enjoy it.

Sorry. Rant over.


*So. I'm an animal. Bite me.
** maybe a bit too far. Sorry.


Oh. boy I may regret this post when the replies come in.

[GillyBee]

I do this so often that I catch #&*! from the family. The usual complaint is that the first one is nice as I followed the recipe. I then make again and am told it is no longer nice and what did I change. This happens even when I changed nothing! How they will cope if S really does hit the supply chain fan I really don't know.

[pseudonym]

You're not the only one.

I have recently fell down the Rabbit hole that is Youtube and found these fellows:

https://www.youtube.com/c/SORTEDFood/videos

Remind me of a young Jamie Oliver when he was single and with his mates and gf.

I've adapted some of their recipes to suit my dietary needs.

The frozen and canned episodes were inspiring.

[korolev]

I tend to work under the premise that if you like the ingredients then the meal will turn out ok. Obviously tinned tomatos with ice cream is a no-no but you get the point.

[jennyjj01]

I have recently fell down the Rabbit hole that is Youtube and found these fellows:

https://www.youtube.com/c/SORTEDFood/videos

LOL. Thanks for that. My first impression is that they are a bit pretentious with their brioche buns and wagu steak meal kits, but sifting through it now, I realise I'm just common as muck.

Just having a go of their Vegan Zinger burger: Not because I'm vegan, but because I like experimenting with seitan* and finding uses for my stored pulses.

A reminder of a few channels...

Sorted. Recipe Channel

BOSH Vegan recipes for vegan inspired recipes, including this great recipe for vegan STEAK
and Al's kitchen for British Indian Restaurant recipes

* for seitan get your gluten from holland and barratts in their buy one get one half price offer.

[jennyjj01]

https://www.youtube.com/c/SORTEDFood/videos

Just having a go of their Vegan Zinger burger: Not because I'm vegan, but because I like experimenting with seitan* and finding uses for my stored pulses.

Inspired by SORTED making a vegan Zinger Burger I just made a batch of seiten and chickpea fake chicken portions. I used a slightly different recipe from this site. I substituted in chicken stock.

In this prepared state, they can now be treated as part cooked chicken and used in any meal.

Some are destined to become fake chicken nuggets. Some will be fake chicken zinger burgers, some in a sweet and sour and some will go in a curry. I plan to sneak this into family meals.

The incredible thing is how cheap and easy they were. About £1.50 made this batch of 8 portions. using 300g of chickpeas and 300g of gluten. Fantastic use of chickpeas from the stash.

I can confirm that although a bit flavourless at the moment, they have a great meaty texture. More photos to follow.

[Jerseyspud]

I rarely follow recipes. I just chuck it in if I figure it tastes nice and go from there. Drives my teen up the wall

'teach me to cook that mum'

Erm yeah there's the ingredients... I don't use amounts.... Knock yourself out

[ForgeCorvus]

Spud:
Reminds me of a conversation with my Mum.
She "...... and then add flour"
I "What kind?"
She "Whatever you've got"
I " OK...... So, how much?"
She "Until it looks right.... It depends on how much milk "
I " That would be the milk that we add next then?"


As a re-enactor some of our folks spend a lot of time trying to cook in Period, the thing is before Mrs Beeton any kind of measurement seem to be lacking..... Come to think of it, standardised ingredients are fairly short too

[Cocotte]

I make salsa at home because 2 litres costs almost as much as those 2 finger sized jars.
I have never taken a measurement and have never had 2 a like.

However, that said, my missus has a friend who wings every...single...meal. They're awful. She has almost no sense of smell which makes a massive difference to her standard of taste.
She's made semla (a light and fluffy cream and marzipan pastry) that was comparable to a rock.
Her mint chocolate cake was a mint version of peanut brittle.
Roast potatoes were boiled in oil.
She doesn't help of my low opinion of vegan food

[jennyjj01]

I make salsa at home because 2 litres costs almost as much as those 2 finger sized jars.
I have never taken a measurement and have never had 2 a like.

However, that said, my missus has a friend who wings every...single...meal. They're awful. She has almost no sense of smell which makes a massive difference to her standard of taste.

Making our own just saves SOOO MUCH. I used to love jars of curry pastes and cook in sauces and sachets of seasoning, but once you realise how incredibly little is in them, it's a revelation. Just look at the cost / kilo on every convenience food.

Ah!
Well, maybe my cooking is rubbish too.

Consistency is over-rated, ( a bit like sex ) but if every wing-it meal is awful, well, that must grate.

Something to be said for being open to feedback. The most valuable feedback is criticism. And get your experiments in NOW!

Some vegan food makes a nice change. To us non-vegans, a supposedly vegan meat substitute, seasoned with OXO might be as good as meat.