About the Recipes

I'll be sharing my favorite recipes from around the world.  They will all be things I've prepared myself, and therefore will be "customized" to my family's tastes and preferences.  To any purists who wish to point out that my recipe may not be the "original," or the "traditional," I will say: "You're right!"  I tend to refashion many traditional recipes according to my whim and fancy, or depending on what I have on hand.  Please feel free to call me out on it.  If you believe your version is better, then please share.  This is about all of us enjoying the art of cooking.  There are really no wrong ways to enjoy good food.

Some of the recipes will be special occasion recipes.  Others will be quick and easy dishes to make on a day when there is hardly time to eat.  Most will be comfy homey dishes you can enjoy any day of the week.

Because of the variety of dishes and the variety of people who may wish to prepare them around the world, I will provide the recipe in US and Metric.  This is a little extra work for me, but I don't mind.  Half the time I have to do it anyway because some of my favourite Spanish recipes from my Mamás are strictly measured by weight.  Having a scale on hand is handy, but I know not everybody does.  You won't have to worry.  I'll take care of that part for you.  There are millions of sources which provide kitchen conversion tables online, if you doubt my math.

The most sensitive recipes for conversion are baked goods, so I refer you to the King Arthur Flour website measuring systems reference.  King Arthur is a great website for those who, like me, love to turn on the oven when the temperature drops and not turn it off again until after the spring thaw.  I highly recommend the King Arthur Flour website.  I've made their bread recipes and I've always been very happy with the results, plus they have an pretty impressive assortment of recipes in their database, not just for bread.  NOTE: Because it's not in stock at the grocery stores here I do not actually use King Arthur flour in my recipes, nor am I saying that you should.  Most of my recipes use ordinary All-Purpose flour [Hvedemel] except where otherwise indicated.  I do use special flours for breads, for example.  Pick whatever brand you like.  You can read more about this and other relevant ingredient information on my ingredients page.  For the most part, just keep in mind that I am not a brand snob.  I use what I can find and whatever is at a good price, without sacrificing quality.

Convert Me is an excellent site if you have any doubts or any recipes you've found which you'll like to convert.  They consider the particular ingredient when converting weight, which is very important.

Keep in mind that kitchen equipment, appliances, and even weather conditions and altitudes can and will affect the product.  No recipe is an absolute guide.  It is merely a reference.  Each of us needs to know the quirks of our equipment and make adjustments to time so that the dish comes out as tasty as it should.

Spices, Herbs, and Seasonings are important enhancements to a recipe, sometimes critical to achieving the desired results, but I make little adjustments for my family's palate and so should you.  The more familiar you are with the particular spice or herb or condiment, the easier it will be for you to increase or decrease the amount I call out in the recipe.  That's perfectly alright and often yields tastier results.  It's your palate.  You're in charge.  On the ingredients page I will suggest some nice substitutions when you  can't get your hands on the particular ingredients called out in the recipe.  Mine will be a limited list, based on experience, and there are other possible substitutions.  The Cook's Thesaurus is a nifty tool which will help you find a substitute for just about anything.  I like it so much that it's on my bookmarks, and I often refer to it.  I'm sure that if you do a quick search you'll find others.

The most important point I should make is that cooking is as much an art as a science.  Sometimes being literal and following the recipe exactly works, sometimes it isn't quite right.  Feel free to make adjustments, and please share whatever improvements you've made.  I'd like to try them too!

No comments:

Post a Comment