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Yeah my mother cooks with a bit of "splash of this dash of that" approach. Thing is that can work really well when you've an organised mind and approach because your splash and dash are precise to you, you just don't think or know how to convey them to others (or have no need and thus never make them formal). My mother's really are splashes and dashes of a random nature which can be very hard to interpret. 1 cup of flour can vary a lot when you use different cups and even a mug!



Certainly its these little experience things that make huge differences and its a goldmine if you ever find someone willing to teach you them and/or write them down for others.

Otherwise the only other option is experimentation and repetition. If you've an organised approach you can achieve a lot if you dedicate yourself to it because you can structure your little changes and subtle elements and spot them to repeat.

Also learning your oven.

Some are hotter, others cooler. And the ‘sweet spot’ in terms of shelf placement also varies.

Once you’ve figured that out, things markedly improved. Even if it involves ‘OK, so many minutes with the shelf here, then a very. very quick change around so the shelf is [i]there[/i).

Still not sure that fully explains my knack for just sort of getting it right after a couple of tries though ;’

Best thing to cook with is an aga - horribly inefficient on oil [they were born of a time when home heating oils were better quality and significantly cheaper - these days not only is it way more expensive its also not filtered as well and you really see this in carbon build up inside which you never got in the past]. They tend to achieve a much better unified heat over the whole cooking area and they are simple too. You've got a hot oven and a slightly less hot oven to cook with. None of that "gasmarks" and stuff and moving temperatures up and down and left and right - its hot oven and slightly less hot (ok its roasting and cooking ovens). Plus the hot plats on top are the BEST at toasting.



The electric is good, don't get me wrong, but you've got to move most things 180 degrees around to get an even cook over the whole surface.

See, that’s the problem my wife has; she can actually cook quite well, but she tends to follow recipes slavishly, particularly in terms of timing, rather than looking at colour/texture/consistency, which sometimes leads to...disappointment.

funniy about this thread, cooking is another passion of mine and i contemplated to start a recipe and cooking thread during the lockdown period.

Still unsure if i should do it.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Jadenim wrote:
See, that’s the problem my wife has; she can actually cook quite well, but she tends to follow recipes slavishly, particularly in terms of timing, rather than looking at colour/texture/consistency, which sometimes leads to...disappointment.

"recipes are there to be changed" Grandma of mine.

Defo do it!

Starting to feel some benefits of a more ‘aware’ diet. My visits to the Smallest Room is testament, and I’m just feeling more energy overall. Which is pleasing.

Dunno about actual weight though, as I neither own nor want to own scales.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Defo do it!

Starting to feel some benefits of a more ‘aware’ diet. My visits to the Smallest Room is testament, and I’m just feeling more energy overall. Which is pleasing.

Dunno about actual weight though, as I neither own nor want to own scales.

Easy enough to tell by the fit of your clothes changing over time.

Not Online!!! wrote:
funniy about this thread, cooking is another passion of mine and i contemplated to start a recipe and cooking thread during the lockdown period.

Still unsure if i should do it.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Jadenim wrote:
See, that’s the problem my wife has; she can actually cook quite well, but she tends to follow recipes slavishly, particularly in terms of timing, rather than looking at colour/texture/consistency, which sometimes leads to...disappointment.

"recipes are there to be changed" Grandma of mine.

Recipe threads have shown up here in the past, always nice to see what people are cooking.

My mom will follow a new recipe to the letter the first time she makes it. After that, the gloves are off and she will tweak it as appropriate.

Learning at someone’s side is a great boon to being a decent cook yourself. You pick up things that might not be written down, or even cant’s be. I can tell you that you can gauge how well done meat on the grill is (touch your fingers to your thumb and feel the firmness of the thumb muscle; it will give you a range approximating rare-well done) but that’s no substitute to poking something and saying [i]that[//i] is done. Same with doughs. Too sticky? Needs more kneading? A lot of tactile cues are best learned hands-on.

Baking is a different skill-set to cooking. With cooking, you can get away with improvising and adjusting recipes to taste and in many cases, experimentation can yield wonders. With baking, it's all about precision. You have to measure ingredients precisely and cook things precisely otherwise it invariably goes wrong. Just the slightest difference in the amount of flour or baking powder used, for example, can result in a cake not rising properly and leads to frustration. Cooking is an art, baking is a science in that respect. One thing that irritates the hell out of me when looking online for recipes is this annoying habit (mainly from US websites, sadly) of using 'a cup' as a unit of measurement. Who the hell measures a baking recipe in 'cups'? What is a cup anyway? I have dozens of cups in the cupboard and they are all different volumes and sizes. And don't get me started on Delia Smith who prefers to express rice measurements as liquid volumes for some ungodly reason.

Baking is a science, but at the same time there is room to tweak things even there. It's just that you can't just tweak things at random and you've got to have a fundamental understanding of the balance of ingredients and how they relate to each other. Experimenting with science is totally a thing and sometimes you want to pour the "wrong" amount in just to see what does happen.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Defo do it!

Starting to feel some benefits of a more ‘aware’ diet. My visits to the Smallest Room is testament, and I’m just feeling more energy overall. Which is pleasing.

Dunno about actual weight though, as I neither own nor want to own scales.

it is done.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Nevelon wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
funniy about this thread, cooking is another passion of mine and i contemplated to start a recipe and cooking thread during the lockdown period.

Still unsure if i should do it.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Jadenim wrote:
See, that’s the problem my wife has; she can actually cook quite well, but she tends to follow recipes slavishly, particularly in terms of timing, rather than looking at colour/texture/consistency, which sometimes leads to...disappointment.

"recipes are there to be changed" Grandma of mine.

Recipe threads have shown up here in the past, always nice to see what people are cooking.

My mom will follow a new recipe to the letter the first time she makes it. After that, the gloves are off and she will tweak it as appropriate.

Learning at someone’s side is a great boon to being a decent cook yourself. You pick up things that might not be written down, or even cant’s be. I can tell you that you can gauge how well done meat on the grill is (touch your fingers to your thumb and feel the firmness of the thumb muscle; it will give you a range approximating rare-well done) but that’s no substitute to poking something and saying [i]that[//i] is done. Same with doughs. Too sticky? Needs more kneading? A lot of tactile cues are best learned hands-on.

Aye, the elderly are often a great boon in that, have picked up my capabilities from ma and grandma's, allbeit the recipe i started out the other thread is one i more or less adapted out of tastememeory from a Restaurant i went too.

 filbert wrote:
Baking is a different skill-set to cooking. With cooking, you can get away with improvising and adjusting recipes to taste and in many cases, experimentation can yield wonders. With baking, it's all about precision. You have to measure ingredients precisely and cook things precisely otherwise it invariably goes wrong. Just the slightest difference in the amount of flour or baking powder used, for example, can result in a cake not rising properly and leads to frustration. Cooking is an art, baking is a science in that respect. One thing that irritates the hell out of me when looking online for recipes is this annoying habit (mainly from US websites, sadly) of using 'a cup' as a unit of measurement. Who the hell measures a baking recipe in 'cups'? What is a cup anyway? I have dozens of cups in the cupboard and they are all different volumes and sizes. And don't get me started on Delia Smith who prefers to express rice measurements as liquid volumes for some ungodly reason.

But a 'cup' is a standardized unit of measurement? It's 250ml.

The cup system is arguably the baker’s friend, as it’s more ratio based than specific volumes.

 Farseer Anath'lan wrote:


But a 'cup' is a standardized unit of measurement? It's 250ml.

So say 250ml in the recipe then. Then it is clear and unambiguous.

A cup is a useless term of measurement because it entirely depends on how much you fit in the cup and how much you pack it in. A measurement in grams or mls is completely transparent.

 filbert wrote:

 Farseer Anath'lan wrote:


But a 'cup' is a standardized unit of measurement? It's 250ml.

So say 250ml in the recipe then. Then it is clear and unambiguous.

A cup is a useless term of measurement because it entirely depends on how much you fit in the cup and how much you pack it in. A measurement in grams or mls is completely transparent.

Agree. And a lot of serious cooks do list recipes by weight. But a lot of old ones are by volume. Which as you point out is quite variable.

Sometimes old handed down recipes take that farther. My Ex had some from her grandmother that listed some ingredients as a “spoon”. Not a measuring spoon, like a teaspoon or tablespoon. It wasn’t until later, when talking to her aunt (who had inherited her mother’s spoon) that those recipes could be made without a lot of guesswork. Turns out a spoon was a wooden mixing spoon, heaping. So probably closer to a 1/4 cup.

My mom has a similar story about things measured with a “glass”. Turns out it was the glass from a memorial candle that everyone used.

One of these days I should get myself a kitchen scale.

Just wing it. I made some black bean brownies last year. Didn't measure anything out properly, just by eye. First batch, meh. Second batch, tweaked the ingredients, a little less oil, few minutes less in the oven. Perfect.

 filbert wrote:

 Farseer Anath'lan wrote:


But a 'cup' is a standardized unit of measurement? It's 250ml.

So say 250ml in the recipe then. Then it is clear and unambiguous.

A cup is a useless term of measurement because it entirely depends on how much you fit in the cup and how much you pack it in. A measurement in grams or mls is completely transparent.

It's not a useless term of measurement. In baking and cooking, a cup is a precise unit of measurement. It's not just any cup in the house, it's a specific measuring cup, measured either using a liquid measuring cup for liquids or a dry measuring cup for dry ingredients, such as flour, sugar, etc. Dry measuring cups often come in sets with 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup, 1/8 cup.

If it calls for 1 cup of an ingredient, you fill up the measuring cup either by sifting or scooping the ingredient or pouring it into the measuring cup. If it's a dry ingredient, you ensure that the top is completely flat so it's only one cup (you brush any excess off with your hand, a knife, or whatever utensil is handy). If it calls for a heaping cup, then you should scoop the ingredient and leave a heap on the top - it will specify that in the recipe if it is required. If you are supposed to pack as much into the cup as possible, it will specify that in the recipe (brown sugar for example, will sometimes call for a packed cup).

 Hordini wrote:

 filbert wrote:

 Farseer Anath'lan wrote:


But a 'cup' is a standardized unit of measurement? It's 250ml.

So say 250ml in the recipe then. Then it is clear and unambiguous.

A cup is a useless term of measurement because it entirely depends on how much you fit in the cup and how much you pack it in. A measurement in grams or mls is completely transparent.

It's not a useless term of measurement. In baking and cooking, a cup is a precise unit of measurement. It's not just any cup in the house, it's a specific measuring cup, measured either using a liquid measuring cup for liquids or a dry measuring cup for dry ingredients, such as flour, sugar, etc. Dry measuring cups often come in sets with 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup, 1/8 cup.

If it calls for 1 cup of an ingredient, you fill up the measuring cup either by sifting or scooping the ingredient or pouring it into the measuring cup. If it's a dry ingredient, you ensure that the top is completely flat so it's only one cup (you brush any excess off with your hand, a knife, or whatever utensil is handy). If it calls for a heaping cup, then you should scoop the ingredient and leave a heap on the top - it will specify that in the recipe if it is required. If you are supposed to pack as much into the cup as possible, it will specify that in the recipe (brown sugar for example, will sometimes call for a packed cup).

And for flour, you should fluff the flour in the container a bit so it’s a little aerated and not too dense, scoop out with a cup measure, and then level it with a knife across the top, not packing it in.

Because you need to get the correct amount and be consistent with it, so you don’t want it packed -too- much, but also not too little.

A problem that would be solved by weight.

I use cups and teaspoons all the time. But let’s be honest. Baking is a science that requires precision. And for that, weight is far more accurate than volume.

I can play 40k using the old red whippy sticks to measure things. Or I can use an actual tape measure. Both get the job done, one just does it better.

 Nevelon wrote:


And for flour, you should fluff the flour in the container a bit so it’s a little aerated and not too dense, scoop out with a cup measure, and then level it with a knife across the top, not packing it in.

Because you need to get the correct amount and be consistent with it, so you don’t want it packed -too- much, but also not too little.

A problem that would be solved by weight.

I use cups and teaspoons all the time. But let’s be honest. Baking is a science that requires precision. And for that, weight is far more accurate than volume.

I can play 40k using the old red whippy sticks to measure things. Or I can use an actual tape measure. Both get the job done, one just does it better.

I'm not saying weight won't work, because it certainly can, but using cups is extremely convenient and will not give you any trouble as long as you use them properly and consistently. There is a science to baking, yes, but like cooking there is an art to it as well.

 filbert wrote:
One thing that irritates the hell out of me when looking online for recipes is this annoying habit (mainly from US websites, sadly) of using 'a cup' as a unit of measurement. Who the hell measures a baking recipe in 'cups'? What is a cup anyway? I have dozens of cups in the cupboard and they are all different volumes and sizes. And don't get me started on Delia Smith who prefers to express rice measurements as liquid volumes for some ungodly reason.

A 'cup' is a unit of volume measurement in the old British Imperial system. If you poke around in consignment or thrift stores you might find a set of measuring cups. Or you can order them from America where they're still in common use.

To be honest, though, ever since I started using a kitchen scale to weigh out my flour for recipes, I'll never go back to using measuring cups for flour. Sooo much easier with the scale.

Vulcan wrote:

 filbert wrote:
One thing that irritates the hell out of me when looking online for recipes is this annoying habit (mainly from US websites, sadly) of using 'a cup' as a unit of measurement. Who the hell measures a baking recipe in 'cups'? What is a cup anyway? I have dozens of cups in the cupboard and they are all different volumes and sizes. And don't get me started on Delia Smith who prefers to express rice measurements as liquid volumes for some ungodly reason.

A 'cup' is a unit of volume measurement in the old British Imperial system. If you poke around in consignment or thrift stores you might find a set of measuring cups. Or you can order them from America where they're still in common use.

It doesn't matter how or where it originated, it's a pointless and archaic way to measure something for the same reason we don't construct buildings using cubits. A gram, millilitre or ounce or whatever if you insist on using imperial measurements is a known and standardised unit across the globe so that someone from Karachi to Arkansas can accurately reproduce a recipe without having to buy a 'measuring cup' and hoping the guy who made it built it to the same tolerance as the cup owned by the guy who made the recipe. This is of particular importance when you are posting recipes online for others to follow. There is no guarantee a measuring cup in the UK is in any way the same as a US one yet a gram is the same everywhere.

Tannhauser42 wrote:To be honest, though, ever since I started using a kitchen scale to weigh out my flour for recipes, I'll never go back to using measuring cups for flour. Sooo much easier with the scale.

Quite. You can get a digital scale for next to nothing these days and they are invaluable.

 filbert wrote:

Vulcan wrote:

 filbert wrote:
One thing that irritates the hell out of me when looking online for recipes is this annoying habit (mainly from US websites, sadly) of using 'a cup' as a unit of measurement. Who the hell measures a baking recipe in 'cups'? What is a cup anyway? I have dozens of cups in the cupboard and they are all different volumes and sizes. And don't get me started on Delia Smith who prefers to express rice measurements as liquid volumes for some ungodly reason.

A 'cup' is a unit of volume measurement in the old British Imperial system. If you poke around in consignment or thrift stores you might find a set of measuring cups. Or you can order them from America where they're still in common use.

It doesn't matter how or where it originated, it's a pointless and archaic way to measure something for the same reason we don't construct buildings using cubits. A gram, millilitre or ounce or whatever if you insist on using imperial measurements is a known and standardised unit across the globe so that someone from Karachi to Arkansas can accurately reproduce a recipe without having to buy a 'measuring cup' and hoping the guy who made it built it to the same tolerance as the cup owned by the guy who made the recipe. This is of particular importance when you are posting recipes online for others to follow. There is no guarantee a measuring cup in the UK is in any way the same as a US one yet a gram is the same everywhere.

That's just it though. A cup is a standardized measurement used in cooking and baking. Yes, I am aware that the word "cup" can be used for a drinking cup of many different sizes, but in the context of a recipe, a cup is a specific measurement. If you buy a measuring cup labeled with cup measurements on it, you don't have to worry any more about it being "built to the same tolerance" than you would have to worry about a measuring cup labeled with millilitres or ounces on the side. Plenty of cups have markings in cups, millilitres, and ounces on the side and if you are that concerned about it that is the type of cup I would recommend. If you're reading an American recipe and it's referring to a 250ml cup, and you're in the UK and you have a 240ml cup, you can either not worry about it because it's very unlikely to affect the recipe unless you're making a huge amount of something, or you can add an extra 10ml and then still not worry about it.

A foot is a standardized imperial measurement as well, and when talking about measuring in feet no one gets concerned about everyone's feet being different sizes because it's not referring to any random person's foot, it's referring to a defined unit of measurement. You can prefer the metric system and that's fine, you can prefer measuring ingredients by weight, and that's fine. But that doesn't make a cup any less a standardized unit of measurement that is easy to use with a simple measuring cup that is readily available. It's not rocket science or mechanical engineering, if you're worried about the tolerances of a measuring cup you are almost certainly overthinking it.

That's the point though; measuring cups are not made to any standard - it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer - and aren't particularity accurate either. Also, it varies depending on whether you are trying to measure a liquid (and what type) or a solid and it varies by all the variables pointed out already; how much you fit in, whether you pack it tight and so forth.

And yes, it *does* make a massive difference - not with cooking, unless you mistake a teaspoon of chilli for a tablespoon, but with baking, absolutely. I have been baking a lot with my kids recently and I can absolutely assure you that the slightest inaccuracy in some recipes can mean the difference between a nice, moist cake and a dark, un-risen horror.

As I said, it's the whole point of having a standardised unit of measurement. It's why most recipes not from the US use grams, millilitres or whatever.

 filbert wrote:
That's the point though; measuring cups are not made to any standard - it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer - and aren't particularity accurate either. Also, it varies depending on whether you are trying to measure a liquid (and what type) or a solid and it varies by all the variables pointed out already; how much you fit in, whether you pack it tight and so forth.

And yes, it *does* make a massive difference - not with cooking, unless you mistake a teaspoon of chilli for a tablespoon, but with baking, absolutely. I have been baking a lot with my kids recently and I can absolutely assure you that the slightest inaccuracy in some recipes can mean the difference between a nice, moist cake and a dark, un-risen horror.

As I said, it's the whole point of having a standardised unit of measurement. It's why most recipes not from the US use grams, millilitres or whatever.

What do you mean they are not made to any standard? Are you saying that manufacturers are purposely creating measuring cups in which 1 cup is a different amount (other than the previously mentioned 240ml vs 250 ml difference between American and UK cups)?

To be clear, I'm not saying that anyone should switch to measuring cups if they prefer something else. If you like using a scale, or some other means, that's fine. You are right that an inaccuracy in measurement can spoil a cake or other baked dessert or dish. That being said, I have been baking for many years - my first job was as a baker and I've baked at home since I was a kid. I'm not saying I'm God's gift to baking by any means, but I know my way around the kitchen. I have always used measuring cups, even in my previous job as a baker, and have never had an issue caused by inconsistencies in measuring cup tolerances. I think you are significantly overestimating the risk involved with using measuring cups. Have you used measuring cups and had issues with how something turned out that you believe were due to issues with the measuring cups themselves? I'm not trying to minimize your experiences baking or overstate mine - I'm simply saying that I've baked a fair bit with measuring cups, never had nor heard of anyone having an issue due to them, so I am curious if you've actually had an issue with them or if you're just assuming that they would cause an issue?

I have seen more baked goods ruined by things like over mixing, which I would argue falls more into the art side of baking. You definitely need to develop a feel for it.

When you are baking something that requires very very very specific measurements, or it goes completely off the charts messed up, cups are not useful.

I use cups in the UK, but I do it mainly for recipes, if I'm baking, the digital scale comes out. Just adding 'and extra 10ml' is not good enough if the recipe requires precision and accuracy, are you eyeballing that 10ml? Or are you bringing out another measuring device? If its the former you are asking for trouble, if it is the latter it is then inefficient as you are using an additional container.

Cups are great, but not for serious baking.

endlesswaltz123 wrote:
When you are baking something that requires very very very specific measurements, or it goes completely off the charts messed up, cups are not useful.

I use cups in the UK, but I do it mainly for recipes, if I'm baking, the digital scale comes out. Just adding 'and extra 10ml' is not good enough if the recipe requires precision and accuracy, are you eyeballing that 10ml? Or are you bringing out another measuring device? If its the former you are asking for trouble, if it is the latter it is then inefficient as you are using an additional container.

Cups are great, but not for serious baking.

What type of recipe or serious baking have you done in which the tolerance of a measuring cup has caused the baked good to turn out poorly?

I lost quite a bit of weight by cutting out soda. I just drank water, black coffee, and would treat myself maybe twice a week with sweet tea (and I'm very picky about my sweet tea, so it's not like it's always available to tempt me).

By boiling a few eggs and taking them with me to work, I managed to slim down to a weight I hadn't seen since my early 20's (and at this time, I was a Jarhead fresh out of boot camp).

So some basic very simple tips?

-If you are hungry, you need to eat.

-Eat small, eat frequently. If you're eating once a day, your body is panicking and hoarding all the stuff from your food (especially some of the bad stuff) because it's trying to go into survival mode because we evolved to do that when we weren't sure if we'd be getting our next meal.

-Just because you are hungry does not mean you should eat a lot. (Boiled eggs were perfect, because I'd eat one and wait half an hour to see if I was still hungry, and if so- eat another egg).

-Do not mix beef and potatoes. They are 'filling' because they are preventing one another from breaking down properly and just sitting heavily in your stomach.

-Refrain from drinking a beverage as long as you can when you eat. Saliva is a catalyst in your digestive process, so washing that away impairs your ability to process it.

-Check out your turds. If your turds are darker brown and sinking, you've got good fiber. If they're lighter and floating, you might wanna consider a bit more fiber.

-Soda is terrible for you.

-Just walk somewhere once a day, at least. Even if you're walking to go get a pack of smokes or something.

-You need a cheat day once a week.

-Green and red veggies are 'free'- you can pig out on them and get full, they won't make you fat (unless you drench them in butter or something).

 Hordini wrote:

endlesswaltz123 wrote:
When you are baking something that requires very very very specific measurements, or it goes completely off the charts messed up, cups are not useful.

I use cups in the UK, but I do it mainly for recipes, if I'm baking, the digital scale comes out. Just adding 'and extra 10ml' is not good enough if the recipe requires precision and accuracy, are you eyeballing that 10ml? Or are you bringing out another measuring device? If its the former you are asking for trouble, if it is the latter it is then inefficient as you are using an additional container.

Cups are great, but not for serious baking.

What type of recipe or serious baking have you done in which the tolerance of a measuring cup has caused the baked good to turn out poorly?

It's not the measuring cup itself, but how you fill the cup with flour that causes the problems in baking. That's why measuring flour out by weight is more precise, as it allows you to follow the proportions of flour to water to yeast more accurately.

To change a bad diet you need to start cooking for yourself and learning how to cook, otherwise you'll be spending a fortune trying to get healthy options of things which usually aren't that healthy.

Edit: Changing a bad diet is literally like a drug addict coming off drugs. You need to rewire your brain and pick PURPOSE over pleasure. Good luck with it.