9. Worse, they only give you the quantities of ingredients on each page, not the methods!
8. Even better, to quit my job to do that.
7. Cos' even after having given a cake recipe (with personal detailed explanations on the how-to), one can't seem to reproduce it.
6. Cos' we're not attending a science class or conducting experiments, but to produce presentable, edible, tasty, satisfying dishes and pastries. Consistently.
5. And this takes a lot more, physically and mentally, than to say, "I added a Tbsps more of baking powder and .... guess what?" Yeah, what?
4. Cos' you ignore the accumulation of experience and knowledge into penning these recipes where you can learn a lot from.
3. And in future, if an improvement can be had, that we're too dumb to know how to tweak the recipes. Of cos' provided the mistake wasn't yours to begin with, by not applying the right techniques or the techniques correctly. And how do we do that in the first place? Walk before run?
2. Cos' you can be a great concert pianist just by learning how to read music scores. Really!
1. Just follow loh. Sorry, Singaporean joke!
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Like I said, these are just samples, I'm sure you can do much better. Way better.
7 comments:
Hmmmmm...I detect a subtle dose of sardonicism in this entry!
Did someone actually make this remark to you?
If so, it was a asinine remark made by someone who isn't just thoughtless, but ignorant.
Ignore lah!
Are you saying that it is OK to say to someone who has undergone formal training at LCB that the school teaches you to “just follow recipes” simply because “following recipes” is actually very HARD to do? If so, then you have completely missed the point in this entry.
Firstly, it is wrong for whoever to suggest that LCB teaches its students to “just follow recipes” – cooking isn’t just about following recipes in the first place. The school teaches high-level cooking techniques to produce quality food using time-tested recipes. This is not equivalent to “just following recipes”. “Just following recipes” is what amateurs like you and me do at home; and even if you get the recipe right, it does not mean that you have grasped the right cooking techniques.
It is also not OK to compare the difficulty of following recipes by celebrity cooks in the likes of Nigella Lawson, Ramsey and what-not leisurely at home with the level of skill required to produce complicated French recipes in a professional kitchen precisely, consistently and timely.
Yes, I am mistaken. And no, I am not offended because this isn't about me.
Kok - when you start cooking professionally, don't you ever dare take credit when your customer compliments your cooking. Because you're "just following LCB recipe only". Ok, I have to stop being rude in your blog. You're always free to delete my comments!
Ok, well, i was quite surprised and amused when i first heard the remark, not that i was particularly offended, I know where I stand. So I decided to write up a comical piece to put up.
But it made me think what the difference it makes from when I used to follow recipes from cookbooks, to what I cook these days after my course. I think I can get the flavors tighter, break down the various steps to prep (organisation and time and portions management), right techniques ....e.g. a cookbook will tell you, sweat the chopped onions for 5 mins on med heat, but I know now how sweated onions should look and taste like, before I move on the next step, sometimes it takes a lower heat, maybe with a lid on, maybe longer than 5 mins... depends on the variety of onions used or your equipment. Developing a keen eye and taste is impt. Another e.g. is that some cookbooks will tell you 'mix the melted chocolate and yolks, into the whipped cream', but I know that you should not melt choc beyond 60C or so (loses flavor), and yolks start to cook and coagulate at that temp too, so u'll get lumps of yolks, and when the mixture is too hot, the cold whipped cream will just melt away and you get a fallen thick mousse instead of a light airy one. Too cold and the chocolate will solidify and form lumps upon contact with cold whipped cream. That I should also first 'lighten' the choc mixture with a dollop of wh cream, fold through, in order to let the mixture be more 'receptive', before adding the rest. Have a good weekend.
I learnt alot just working beside you in the kitchen. I realised that my cuts into the base of the tomatoes are too deep whenever I de-skin them, ending up removing too much of the flesh. And that I've been scraping the sides of the mixing bowl when transferring genoise batter into the baking mould which breaks the air bubbles in the batter. Loads of other stuff as well!
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