Beware of recipes on the Internet

[Mad Cook]

Saw some Amalfi lemons in the greengrocers this afternoon so after discussion with the owner bought one to try.

Had a look on-line for recipes and found a recipe for lemon tart. Said recipe involves a 9inch pastry case with a filling which, requires 6 Amalfi lemons, 4 whole eggs plus NINE egg yolks and half a pound each of butter and sugar.

And how many does this tart serve? It quite clearly states "Serves 2" !!!!

And immediately prior to serving you are instructed to sieve "ice flour" over the filling and grill until bubbling. I can only assume that this means icing sugar as rice flour wouldn't work and I can't find any reference to "ice flour" on google.

I think this is a lesson in taking internet recipes with a pinch of salt. It was on an apparently reliable cookery channel site too!

 

[Andy M.]

I've had the same type of experiences with poor recipes on the internet. Every website and blogger who post's Julia Child's recipe for French onion soup has a different version of the actual recipe in her cookbook.

 

[Blackitty]

Being new at all this, I've had much more success with cookbook recipes than the ones I find online.

I have no grand desire to pay for things I can get for free, so online recipes - I was all about them. When it doesn't work out, though, I can't be sure if it was me or the recipe, so I'm sticking with cookbooks for the most part. Having a decent selection meant plunking down a big (for me) chunk of cash on eBay and amazon, but I'm glad I have them.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I try to use the Rocklobster method, I read 4 or 5 recipes for the item I'm interested in and come up with my own version.

Anybody heard from that lobster lately, I miss his posts!

I hope all is well in his end of the ocean!

 

[taxlady]

I try to use the Rocklobster method, I read 4 or 5 recipes for the item I'm interested in and come up with my own version.

Anybody heard from that lobster lately, I miss his posts!

I hope all is well in his end of the ocean!

I tend to use that method too.

Yeah, I wonder what he's up to. I haven't seen him here since I came back. I miss his posts too.

 

[Addie]

Didn't we just have such a problem the other day? The recipe called for self rising flour for bread making. An experienced cook would have questioned that immediately.

At least new cooks know to look for forums such as ours to seek advice and gain know-how. And the very best advice any of us can give them is this thread. We often give several versions of solutions for their questions. But in the end it is an education that they are getting. There is more than one way to skin a cat as the saying goes. And we as a whole, show them all the ways to go about it.

 

[Andy M.]

I also collect several versions of a recipe and compare them. Then I make a composite recipe to cook from.

Cookbooks tend to be more reliable as the recipes are tested a written. You can't count on every person with a website to check and recheck recipes and test their preparation then their transcription to the internet.

If I'm looking for a special recipe, I search reputable websites and ignore blogs. I have found some very good recipes from blogs but that's more haphazard and I hate the way most blogs are structured so I avoid them.

 

[Addie]

I tend to use that method too.

Yeah, I wonder what he's up to. I haven't seen him here since I came back. I miss his posts too.

The last time he posted was February 19 of this year. So he hasn't been gone too long.

 

[Kayelle]

I try to use the Rocklobster method, I read 4 or 5 recipes for the item I'm interested in and come up with my own version.

Anybody heard from that lobster lately, I miss his posts!

I hope all is well in his end of the ocean!

I usually do the same, and rarely use a cookbook anymore.

I heard from Rocklobster a while ago and he was fine but really busy. I miss him too.

 

[Addie]

I also collect several versions of a recipe and compare them. Then I make a composite recipe to cook from.

Cookbooks tend to be more reliable as the recipes are tested a written. You can't count on every person with a website to check and recheck recipes and test their preparation then their transcription to the internet.

If I'm looking for a special recipe, I search reputable websites and ignore blogs. I have found some very good recipes from blogs but that's more haphazard and I hate the way most blogs are structured so I avoid them.

When I have looked at blogs, I find a lot of typos and missing ingredients in the recipes. I also notice that they haven't tested their recipe more than once. Some times they mention how the recipe came about due to an accident. There's nothing wrong with that. But did they do the recipe more than once or twice with the same results? And the blogs go on and on about their lives. Tell me about the food. I don't care where you and your girlfriends had lunch.

When a publisher decides to publish a cookbook, they have along with the author, a lot of folks to test each and every recipe to make sure it works in the home kitchen. They don't have kids underfoot, have to stop everything to take the kids to soccer ball practice. The folks who work on the recipes are experienced cooks who do this for a living. I can't ever recall finding a recipe in a cookbook that had something wrong with it.

 

[RPCookin]

I try to use the Rocklobster method, I read 4 or 5 recipes for the item I'm interested in and come up with my own version.

Anybody heard from that lobster lately, I miss his posts!

I hope all is well in his end of the ocean!

I do this a lot. Sometimes I mostly want some detail of the process, or to see what options there are in the process. Other times I'm short some ingredient or seasoning, and need to see if what I do have will do the job.

I also collect several versions of a recipe and compare them. Then I make a composite recipe to cook from.

Cookbooks tend to be more reliable as the recipes are tested a written. You can't count on every person with a website to check and recheck recipes and test their preparation then their transcription to the internet.

If I'm looking for a special recipe, I search reputable websites and ignore blogs. I have found some very good recipes from blogs but that's more haphazard and I hate the way most blogs are structured so I avoid them.

I like sites like All Recipes, because of the user comments and suggestions. I can quickly get a feel for whether it's something I want to do or not. I always have to shake my head about some of the extremely negative comments, often from someone who made pretty silly changes in the recipe (leaving out a key ingredient, or adding something that changed it beyond recognition, etc) and then didn't understand that it wasn't designed to work that way.

 

[Cheryl J]

I agree, I go to Allrecipes often for a particular dish I'm looking for. I scroll through the ingredients and decide if it's something I want to make, with my own little changes, or not. At least it's a base to go by.

I also find it funny when a reviewer makes changes to the original recipe to where it's no longer recognizable as the original, and posts their review on it.

 

[Dawgluver]

Beware of recipes on the internet

I figure recipes are ideas. I too usually gather a few on the interwebs and combine them, or take them as "hints."

Unless it's baking, which I really don't care for. Then I just don't make it. I make an occasional exception for banana bread.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Not so much in their books, but Celebrity chefs on TV have made a mistake or two when describing the proper technique for making things.

To be fair, there are good bloggers who really test their recipes, or use tried and true recipes that they've been using for a while. But as has been said, there are bloggers who really know very little about cooking, but think they have all the answers. Occasionally, on DC, we have had those people as well. They usually go away fairly quickly.

In cooking, as in all things, a good dose of humility will allow you to post intelligent, well thought out posts, and to learn from others. Now, I have to go make bread dough for home made pizza pasties tonight (like calzones, only better).

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Dawgluver]

I also find it funny when a reviewer makes changes to the original recipe to where it's no longer recognizable as the original, and posts their review on it.

Drives me nuts. "I didn't have any canned tomatoes, so I substituted artichoke hearts. I also subbed sugar for the vinegar. It was awful, one star."

 

[Zhizara]

I don't use cookbooks any more either.

I review lots of online recipes usually to find a substitute for a usual ingredient I don't want to use, or, more often to find the combination of spices that sound good to me.

 

[Cheryl J]

Drives me nuts. "I didn't have any canned tomatoes, so I substituted artichoke hearts. I also subbed sugar for the vinegar. It was awful, one star."

Exactly!

 

[Gravy Queen]

I know it's so easy to google a recipe but I too now am wary. I suppose there is a reason why cook books /writers/chefs are successful because it is a skill , which you can learn , but to be able to teach people and to get good results I think is a real skill . There are so many bloggers now that I think a half decent recipe can easily get muddled . What makes sense in your head or in your kitchen may not make sense to others . Not everyone speaks English and there can be a little lost in translation (or a lot ) . My favourite cook in the UK is Delia Smith , she did indeed teach me how to cook and has written a series of How to Cook books which are exactly what anyone starting from scratch would need . You also can't assume that everyone would know what an ingredient or method is , or how to substitute or adapt if an ingredient isn't available . When the recipe is on the Internet then obviously we are viewing it from all over . It's a little minefield .

 

[Desmond]

Well done Andy M.
I do the same and have made great curries. I have even had an Indian women complement me on my recipes. What Andy M does is great as it becomes his recipe to modify as he wants and publish as a solid recipe. I have put my first recipe in the ethnic forum Chicken Korma. Hope to get feedback.

 

[CWS4322]

This is why we have to test the recipes the Chefs develop for the company for which I cook for the photographer. I usually test the recipe first, or an element of the recipe to see if the steps are all there or if it works. I had a problem with the amounts in a recipe for Parisian gnocchi--if I hadn't tested how to make those first, the photographer would have been waiting for me to resolve that. I don't think I've tested one recipe where everything has been right or that didn't need to be tweaked to so that the instructions were clear or add tools needed to the tools list. When I develop a recipe, I have others test it as written before we schedule the photoshoot.