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Penny Outskirts



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 8:33 pm    Post subject: Recipes off by heart Reply with quote
    

I've just made some chocolate brownies, and realised that I know the recipe off by heart now

gil
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nut roast, and various others for me.
Cooking on auto-pilot.

hedgewitch



Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

shin beef stew and shepherd's pie, but these are my own recipes.
Oh, and I know by sight the exact amount of crumble to make to fill my usual crumble dish

Gervase



Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I think recipes are like songs or tunes; when you've got to the point where you can do them without thinking about them, then it's time to start experimenting and adding your own interpretation.
I've probably got a few dozen I could do in my sleep, and I'm always farting around with them; changing the odd ingredient here and there, altering the cooking times and tweaking the seasoning. Nothing ever stays the same...my mother's shepherd's pie is like my father's old hammer - unchanged save for two new handles and a new head!

wellington womble



Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 9:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It really worried OH when I said earlier this year, 'Oh, that's ready then' and potted up the jam. He said the year before last I banged around with frozen plates every thirty seconds, muttering curses at people who 'just knew' that it was past setting point!

Hmm - off by heart. Choc brownies (when I make them all the time), bread, bread sauce, scones, pastry, yorkshire pud, stews and things (although they tend to be improvised on what's in the veg box) oatmeal cookies, porridge (by sight) All sorts of chilli, bolegnese, pizza sauce type recipes.

I tend to cook in phases - I'll cook one thing a lot, for a while, and then move on to something else, so I often know my current favourites well, until I ring the changes.

Can I trouble you for your choc brownie recipe, Penny? I love brownies!

Does anyone else write all over their recipe books? 'add extra chilli' 'reduce sugar by half' etc etc etc?

pricey



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

wellington womble wrote:
Does anyone else write all over their recipe books? 'add extra chilli' 'reduce sugar by half' etc etc etc?


I thought I was the only mad one I do it all the time Rita goes mad

hedgewitch



Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

wellington womble wrote:
Does anyone else write all over their recipe books? 'add extra chilli' 'reduce sugar by half' etc etc etc?


My two most written comments in cookery books are just the same Nothing seems hot enough, and everything is too sweet for us

Penny Outskirts



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Adapted from Nigella - my Brownies are:

3 bars of Lidl 59p 74% dark chocolate
One and a half bars 325g ish of butter ( )
500g sugar (any I happen to have - caster, normal, brown, demerara)
6 eggs
225g flour
300g Walnuts if you want them (I usually leave them out, as my lot don't like them)

Melt chocolate and butter until no lumps
Beat eggs and then beat in sugar
Mix chocoalte mixture with egg mixture
Add flour and mix till all smooth
Add walnuts if wanted at this point
Pour into tin/tray. I either use one big roasting dish, lined with greased baking paper, or two smaller square dishes. It doesn't seem to matter much. If it's thicker it just takes longer to cook.

Cook initially for 25 mins at 180 deg, and then look at it. When it's cooked it's gone lighter coloured and crusty on the top, but is still quite gooey inside. I do another 5 mins then check, then another.... when done, it just looks crusty and cracked on the top, yet not wobbly, just a bit gooey underneath.

It will continue to cook when you take it out. If I do get it out and find it's just too gooey when it's cooler, I put it back in again for a bit.

Mmmmmmmmm.......

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45382
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

im more of a technique type of cook rather than recipes
spose i know some dishes so well i never think its a recipe which causes problems when i try to share and list it
i dont often weigh things and tend to think in terms of add enough x to the mixture to make it go y ish and cook it until its done

Fee



Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess I know quite a lot of recipes off by heart now, what a nice thought

I tend to make new stuff up as I go along too, then when I get a request to make it again, I haven't got a clue what I did last time!

I must write recipes down more often!

Though even when I am following a recipe, I tend to be quite loose with my measurements and what I actually put in, including extra stuff if I think it'll work, or haven't got something in...as most people do I'm sure.

Pilsbury



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

at first i thought there was only a few that i would be happy to make straight of but then i realised i have just spent the last 2 weeks typing up just over 100 recipes to renew the menus and only had to look up a couple, and most of them were specific such as lancashire hot ot, and if you wasnt to call it that you need the right stuff in it.
rubbish at cakes and pastry though, look up every recipe everytime pretty much

sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 11:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I reckon I could pretty much get through life without a recipe book now. But cakes and puddings would get very repetitive. Also some recipes are definitive (obviously only in my opinion) so I tend to refer back to the book for those. I've spent ages mucking about with Simon Hopkinson and Lyndsay Bareham's goulash recipe but come to the conclusion that their version is best, so I check the quantities when I'm cooking it. I usually do "Indian" by the book to avoid always making the same thing.

Fee



Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 06 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

sean wrote:
... I usually do "Indian" by the book to avoid always making the same thing.


Hehehe, so easily done isn't it I think I went through university eating exactly the same curry, with different meat/veg.

Erikht



Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 3358

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 06 6:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Aren't recipes something you use in pharmacies?

pricey



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 06 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Are they the one's you brought down last time Penny? If so they are yummmmmmmmy.

You never did give me the recipe, until now

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