OK, I know there’s about a million home cooks out there who are ready to grab their pitchforks and burn me at the stake, so let me clarify my title: why do quantities in recipes suck? You’ll notice that I almost never give exact quantities for recipes appearing on my site, and there’s a reason for that. Because you won’t really progress as a chef if that’s what you rely on!
One quick disclaimer: This article is talking about recipes for cooking. Not baking. Baking is a whole different monster, which requires precise measurement of all ingredients. Or, as my current chef once put it: “Cooking is an Art. Baking is a Science. I f***ing hate baking.” (I don’t hate baking, but you get the point).
Look, recipes can be good to a degree, especially when you’re first starting out. But it is oh-so-critical that you don’t let yourself become a Recipe Zombie! (Or Recipe Robot, if you prefer). Recipe Zombies are bound eternally to their cookbooks and little recipe index cards! Once you take those away, they can’t cook anything! They are powerless! (Unlike real zombies, which require severe trauma to the head to be rendered powerless. Don’t mix the two up.) You get where I’m going with this, right? You can end up relying far too much on recipes, and not nearly enough upon your own senses, your own creativity, and your own logic. And those are the things that will define you as a chef.
If you really want to progress as a chef, learn to let your tongue be your guide! Learn to eyeball quantities and adjust on the fly! That is what will truly give you freedom in the kitchen and knowledge from your experiences. Here’s a challenge for the next time you cook something you’re not familiar with: you can look at a recipe to get the basic ingredients, and I’ll even let you look at the quantities once to get a general idea of them. (And that’s only if you’re really not familiar with the dish). OK, if there are a lot of ingredients, write down the names. Just the names. Now go make the dish without using any measuring utensils! And you are not allowed to look at the recipe’s quantities again, only at your ingredients list! When you are tempted to check the quantities, just stop and think for a second. Think about the ingredient you’re adding. Think how much should be added for best flavor. Then add, taste, and adjust as necessary. After you ace the dish (and it might take a try or two, but these will lessen with practice), then you can think about ways you can improve upon it by adding your own personal touches. Nothing too crazy, though – it’s best to just try one new variational ingredient at a time, unless you really know what you’re doing.
This all may seem scary at first, but trust me, it’s the way to go! Soon enough, I promise you will be addicted to freestyle cooking. Recipes will still have their place, but it will be mainly for giving you new ideas or basic outlines of dishes. When it comes to the actual preparation, though, you won’t let them push you around! Always remember, you are the master of the recipe – it is there to serve you, not the other way around!