See? *That's* what's wrong with cooking. An entire list of ingredients, where it doesn't actually matter what you use, because you just sort of substitute as needed/you feel like, and it usually comes out ok.
No no no, this is what cooking *is*! At least when you account for the fact that I'm cheap and lazy; I use what is on hand as much as I can. (I do my crafting this way a lot too. Good thing I have a lot on hand at any given time.) I'm also willing to settle for second-best. This may be a good or bad thing, I haven't quite decided.
I do, however, appreciate how some recipes (Cook's Illustrated is the most prominent example) pick apart exactly how much baking powder compared to baking soda should be used for the perfect texture, and test sour cream vs. heavy cream vs. who knows what-all... that's why I need to go buy buttermilk and brown sugar tomorrow. (Plus I'm out of regular milk and my yogurt is probably moldy; if it were otherwise I would try substitutions...)
Cook's Illustrated's Gingerbread Muffins and Cranberry-Pecan bread are baking now. I followed the recipes! Except... I added a pinch of cloves to the muffins, following my notes from 3 years ago, and the store was out of dark brown sugar so I used light brown and added 1 T. molasses. But the important stuff is the same.
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See? *That's* what's wrong with cooking. An entire list of ingredients, where it doesn't actually matter what you use, because you just sort of substitute as needed/you feel like, and it usually comes out ok.
This scares me.
*shudderchuckleshudder*
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I do, however, appreciate how some recipes (Cook's Illustrated is the most prominent example) pick apart exactly how much baking powder compared to baking soda should be used for the perfect texture, and test sour cream vs. heavy cream vs. who knows what-all... that's why I need to go buy buttermilk and brown sugar tomorrow. (Plus I'm out of regular milk and my yogurt is probably moldy; if it were otherwise I would try substitutions...)
:) May many happy kitchen adventures be yours!
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Ok, bah, you're right. It's *still* scary. :-)
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Cook's Illustrated's Gingerbread Muffins and Cranberry-Pecan bread are baking now. I followed the recipes! Except... I added a pinch of cloves to the muffins, following my notes from 3 years ago, and the store was out of dark brown sugar so I used light brown and added 1 T. molasses. But the important stuff is the same.
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