Sharing Recipes

[Greg Who Cooks]

As recipe users we are forced to rely on our judgement on what the original chef created or intended to communicate. As recipe creators we are obligated to communicate well, and to choose a style and measurement system to communicate our recipes to the general public.

I never had a single problem at all recreating a Julia Child recipe. Admittedly she wasn't here to say I got it right, but in spirit I think I did get it right! I'm channeling Julia!

 

[CWS4322]

Here in Canada, one often sees recipes with both the metric and the Imperial amounts given. When editing, the standard is to provide the metric unit of measure first, followed by the Imperial unit of measure enclosed in parentheses (brackets if you are Canadian). I find it interesting that in technical documents, we put the metric first and the Imperial in ( ), but in recipes, the Imperial unit of measure is first, followed by the metric in ( ).

 

[buckytom]

i couldn't disagree with you more on these topics, cerise.

i think members should post recipes in whatever form or standard that they like. it's up to the person who reads and wishes to replicate the recipe to make any necessary conversions. if a term used is slang or not very obvious as to the weight, volume, or amount, then it's again up to the reader to ask for a definition that they would understand. it's called discuss cooking for a reason.

asking everyone to include measurements understood in the u.s. is sort of rude in a way to all of the folks not from the u.s..
it might have been better stated that you wish that all recipes are posted in avoirdupois/imperial as well as metric to be fair to everyone.

and as far as curtailing slang, colloquialisms, quintessentials , and inside jokes, well, not all threads are for everyone of which to be a part. it's a big community with lots of different friendships and an occasional lack thereof, so you can't be in the middle of everything.

just my 2 centavos.

 

[CWS4322]

BuckyTom--I agree with you in principle. I live in a metric society, but was raised in the US. I have lived in Germany and spent 2 months in Stockholm, so I've had to deal with other units of measure (the temperature of the oven is what always got the best of me) and cultures.

This is discuss cooking and the discussions do go off the rails every now and again. The jokes, slang, etc. make this forum interesting and one of the things that keeps me coming back. The other is the camaraderie. I have the feeling that if I were able to buzz on down to joisey and drop in, we'd have a lot of things in common, the same is true if I could get out to MT or over to Wales or other places in between.

I have learned so much from DCers and I've stretched my cooking skills thanks to the inspiration I've found here. I have cried tears for the losses DCers have suffered, done the "high five" at the successes reported, felt as if I was there on vacation with those who have shared their vac photos...I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

Cerise--I understand the frustration. I have had to look up ingredients, tools, and terminology as I've read through various posts. With the Internet right behind the forum, it doesn't take me long and if I can't find the answer or don't understand, I ask. I think that you've been given a couple of good resources to consult when s/one posts a recipe with a measurement you don't recognize (I still struggle over the term castor sugar when I encounter it in recipes and having to convert C to F re: oven temperatures or sourdough starter temps).

I think it is fair to say that DCers come from all walks of life and from a global community. That is one of the things that makes this forum so much fun (and interesting). Embrace the differences, enjoy them! Life's too short to get hung up on the little things.

 

[Gravy Queen]

I asked "If possible... can you post in U.S. measurements as well." It was a request to the poster of a recipe. One can make a point, w/o being a smart alec. I wasn't asking for exact or precise measurements either.

Slang had nothing to do w/ wording in a recipe. Please reread. Thank you.

As the title of the thread was Sharing Recipes I assumed slang was part of this.

So, you are basically asking people not to use slang or foreign greetings ? I find that incredibly insular. I wouldnt dream of asking members of other countries not to use their own language.

As for slang, so far I don't know who is using slang and who isnt. I don't use slang - if I did, even those from the UK wouldnt understand me. In every country, every county, every city, we use our own colloquialisms. On a forum, we use terms we are familiar with, not necessarily slang.

I find the charm, and the fun with this particular forum is that we learn different things from each other, and playing with the language we speak can be part of that fun. There are cookery terms here I don't understand, so I just ask if I dont get it.