Published Recipe Discrepancies

[BreezyCooking]

Anyone besides me find this annoying???

I've gotten used to it while trying many Martha Stewart recipes, but just came across it again while trying a new Rachael Ray recipe for tonight's supper - "Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms".

One of her listed ingredients is:

"1/3 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano, (2 handfuls)"


Now I'm sorry, but I don't care how small your hands are. There is no way that 1/3 cup comes even remotely close to two handfuls of cheese. That's just ridiculous. Two handfuls are more like two cups.


While I've been cooking enough to realize this & can sort of "go with the flow" as far as the cheese, Ms. Ray is supposed to be speaking to the masses - as does Martha Stewart with her "everyday" recipes - & this sort of thing shouldn't be tolerated.

Some of these famous "cooks/chefs" need to step back from their bank accounts & start paying more attention to the recipes bearing their names.

Am I alone in this, or am I just being too picky?

[Katie E]

I've seen it, too, Breezy and fortunately, like you and I who are experienced cooks, we see the discrepancies and can act to correct them. A less experienced cook would not necessarily catch the inconsistencies, wind up with a failed or bad-tasting dish and end up frustrated. That's unfortunate.

I've received several issues of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and have been less than impressed with it. I've cooked some of the dishes and, frankly, was quite disappointed.

[GB]

I enjoy the way RR does that actually. Don't forget who her show is aimed at. She is talking to people who most likely do not cook often and feel intimidated by the process. They work and need to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. They have families and would rather be spending time with them then washing dishes.

Rachael is basically saying that it really isn't that important to measure these things exactly. If you use a 1/3 cup of cheese then the recipe will work. If you use 2 cups of cheese it will still work. There is no reason to stress out about it. There is also no reason to dirty up a measuring cup. Reach in and throw in some cheese. How ever much you use it fine.

[BreezyCooking]

GB - I definitely agree with the premise.

But there's a HUGE difference between 1/3 cup of cheese & 2 handfulls. If the recipe had read "1/3 cup or a palmful or even 1 handful I wouldn't have a problem - but TWO handful's of cheese vs. 1/3 cup? All that's doing is confusing new cooks bigtime.

And I made the recipe tonight - adapting it bigtime. And I have to say that two handfulls of cheese would have been WAY too much. The stuffing would have been GLUE.

[GB]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

And I made the recipe tonight - adapting it bigtime. And I have to say that two handfulls of cheese would have been WAY too much. The stuffing would have been GLUE.

That is your opinion and for you it is 100% correct, but I can promise you will complete confidence that there are many out there who would disagree and think that 2 handfuls was great or that 3 would even be better.

[GB]

Just for the heck of it I just pulled out a handful of shredded cheeses and measured it. It was a moderate handful. Not as much as I could have grabbed, but not a small handful either. It came to a hair over 1/3 of a cup.

[SurvivorGirl]

Originally Posted by GB

I enjoy the way RR does that actually. Don't forget who her show is aimed at. She is talking to people who most likely do not cook often and feel intimidated by the process. They work and need to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. They have families and would rather be spending time with them then washing dishes.

I completly agree with you on this one!

[BreezyCooking]

I'm not saying that if you like more cheese in your stuffing that that's a bad thing. All I'm saying is that it's wrong to equate 1/3 cup to 2 handfulls. Unless the cheese is tightly packed, it's way overstated.

Believe me, I LOVE toying with recipes, & do it all the time. But to say that 1/3 cup of grated cheese is the equivalent of 2 handfulls is misleading.

[GB]

That is just the thing though. She is not saying they are equivalent. She is saying it doesn't matter. She is saying that you can use 1/3 cup or you can use 2 handfuls and you will still have an edible end result.

[Caine]

Well, just get a bowl full of grated cheese and try to grab a handful and see how much it amounts to. Grated cheese will run through every opening it can find in your little fist. I bet you don;t get much more than 1/3 cup.

As far as Martha baby, she has been known to purposely leave an ingredient or two out of her posted recipes so you can't duplicate it.