Reading, Writing, and Using Recipes - Part 2: Grab a Pencil

This installment is extremely overdue, but I promise it'll get you thinking.

Last time, I talked about what a recipe is, and I concluded that it is primarily a guide, a set of assembly instructions.  I also concluded that recipes don't really teach the user how to cook, but one could use them as teaching supplemental material and rewriting a recipe can certainly help with this.

For those that already know how to cook and are looking to become more efficient when following a recipe, a rewrite can be a great boon.

Whatever the case, what rewriting a recipe does is help to ensure that you, the cook, know exactly what you're supposed to do, that you understand what to do with the ingredients both in the preparation stage and the cooking stage.

Rewriting does not mean simply copying the recipe verbatim, however.  While this might help you to memorize a recipe, it may not necessarily help you to understand how to execute a recipe.

Let's use a recipe for the Tunisian spice paste, harissa, as an example:

• 1 tbsp whole caraway seeds
• 2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
• 2 tsp whole cardamom seeds
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 oz small dried chiles, such as Chili de Arbol, Thai chilies, etc.
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 oz garlic cloves, chopped
• 4-6 oz olive oil

Toast caraway, coriander, cardamom, peppercorns in saute pan over med. heat.  Allow them to cool, then grind together.  Toast the chiles over low heat, then add them to the spices and grind together.  Grind the salt and garlic into a paste using a mortar and pestle, add to the spice/chile mix, and grind together.  Drizzle in the oil while still grinding until thick paste is formed.

When I began rewriting recipes, I started by simply writing down the ingredients and then the instructions in my own shorthand.  

Toast caraway, coriander, cardamom, peppercorns in saute pan, med. heat.  Cool.  Grind together.  Toast the chiles, low heat.  Add to spices, grind together.  Grind salt and garlic into a paste, add to spice/chile mix, grind together.  Drizzle in the oil while still grinding until thick paste is formed.

By writing down the ingredients, you can become familiar with what ingredients you'll need to use and what you'll need to buy if you don't have them.  This means you'll also be less likely to forget ingredients while in the middle of cooking.

As for the instructional part, most everyone has seen recipes that have paragraphs written in nice, complete sentences that are, more or less, grammatically correct.  Sometimes there is more than one paragraph, and sometimes the paragraphs have several sentences.  And sometimes those sentences are long, as they often add details like what tools to use and about how long to cook something.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this.  Instructions of this ilk are pleasant to read and rather complete.  The point of these instructions is to let you, the cook, know what you'll be doing with what and when, so the more information the better, right?  But I have found that using these recipes during the actual act of cooking is difficult because finding the next step requires scanning these paragraphs to find where I've left off, meaning I had to quickly weed through what I'd already read.

By writing the recipe in your own shorthand, you can accomplish at least three things.  First, the act of writing will, again, allow you to become familiar with the instructions.  Second, by using your own shorthand, you show that you have an understanding of the original instructions.  Third, you increase the chances of more easily being able to find your place in the instructions while cooking.

All of this is very important because understanding what you're supposed to be doing in order to execute a specific dish will allow you an easier time during cooking.  An easier time during cooking means you'll more easily become familiar with some of the methods and techniques which you'll find used in many, many other recipes.

All of this is, of course, assuming that you, the one doing the rewrite, will be the one to use the recipe.  Your shorthand should reflect just how much detail you'll need to know.  If you know how to execute the risotto method, then there's no need to write out all of the steps to making a risotto if part of your recipe involves a risotto, right?  After all, it would be just more text to wade through.  The same goes for anything you already know how to do, and know how to do it well.  The less text you have to read during cooking, the better.

However, if you're writing for someone else, you may want to be more detailed in your rewrite.  Let's use the risotto example.  If you know how to execute the risotto method, you might write your instructions down for a mushroom risotto as follows:

Add butter and olive oil, med.-med.high heat.  Add mushrooms.  Saute until browned.  Remove half, add onions, sweat.  Add rice, stir to coat.  Risotto method.  After last turn, add remaining mushrooms.  Add salt and Parmesan to taste.

Now, this might be your version of a few different recipes that you've borrowed from in order to produce a mushroom risotto that you really like.  And your friend likes it, too, and wants the recipe.  He or she has never made a risotto before.  They may not know what a "turn" is.  They may not know what to look for during cooking.  So, as you write out the recipe for them, their lack of risotto experience is something to keep in mind, and thusly you give them instructions that perhaps read like this:

Bring chicken stock to a boil in a separate pot, then simmer.  In another pan, add olive oil and butter over med.-med.high heat until butter is melted but not brown.  Add mushrooms.  Saute until browned, tossing occasionally to prevent burning, but not too often to prevent searing.  Remove half, reduce to med. heat, add onions, sweat until translucent.  Add rice, stir to coat.  Add 1/3 of chicken stock, stirring frequently until absorbed.  Repeat with another 1/3 of stock.  Repeat, adding most of the last 1/3.  Check texture, making sure rice is al dente.  Add remaining mushrooms, stir in.  Add salt and Parmesan to taste.

That's a pretty basic example of how to construct a risotto, modified to include sauteed mushrooms.  An attempt was made to keep it simple and easy to understand while providing enough detail to give the inexperienced cook clues to look for so they can, hopefully, reproduce the dish.  Experience will hone the cook's skills but the recipe is a good starting point.

Knowing your audience, whether it's you or someone else, will determine how you write or rewrite your recipes.  Once you've determined how to write something, you can either leave it at that or you can take it one step further and play with the format of your recipe.

But that's a subject for next time.