This post has been updated since it was originally published in 2013
I write a lot of recipes—this one for Pasta with Blue Cheese, Spinach, and Walnuts, for example. And with almost every one, I make decisions about how much to say and how much I’m going to assume you know.
An easy example. I can probably assume you know “dice” means something cut into cubes, so I can write “1 tomato, diced” instead of “1 tomato, cut into cubes.”
But can I tell you to deglaze a pan without explaining what I mean by that? Probably not (unless you’ve read this post).
See, there’s a language to recipes, and most assume you’re fluent in at least the basics, lest each turn into a lesson in Cooking 101.
Perhaps, then, it’d be worthwhile to take a look at a few of those assumptions.
1. You know that “1 cup walnuts, chopped” and “1 cup chopped walnuts” aren’t the same thing.
That comma in the first example indicates that you do something with the walnuts after measuring them. So in the first example, you measure 1 cup of walnuts and then chop them. In the second, you chop first, then measure. With some ingredients, it wouldn’t make a big difference. With others, it absolutely would. A cup of spinach leaves, which are then chopped, for example, would be a lot less spinach than a cup of chopped spinach leaves.
(Am I making you hungry for walnuts and spinach? If so, make some Pasta with Blue Cheese, Spinach, and Walnuts.)
Some recipe writers don’t understand this distinction themselves. I’ll sometimes see something like “1 cup tomatoes, chopped,” which technically means to measure a cup of whole tomatoes and then chop them. But how can you measure a cup-worth of whole tomatoes without chopping them first? You can’t.
2. Speaking of cutting and chopping, you know to cut things into uniform pieces.
If some carrot pieces are larger than others, it means that some will cook up too hard or too soft while the others are just right. And that makes for a less-than-ideal eating experience.
On a related note, you know that the size of a piece of food is related to how long it’ll take to cook. So if a recipe specifies a particular size of the pieces, you know that cutting into any other size means you might have to adjust cooking times.
3. And speaking of measuring, you know that weight and volume are the same for only one ingredient—water.
In other words, an eight-ounce cup of water will weigh eight ounces. But for everything else, all bets are off. When a recipe refers to ounces, it’s typically talking about weight and you measure with a scale. For volume, recipes will refer to volume measurements—teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, quarts, like that—and you use those measuring tools.
4. With very few exceptions, you know it’s best to heat your pan before adding your fat, and then heat your fat before adding your food.
A recipe might say something like “In a medium pan over medium heat, warm the oil.” But you understand to get the pan hot over medium heat first, and then add the oil. Because heating the pan before adding the oil helps prevent sticking.
An exception to pre-heating the pan would be something that burns very easily or quickly—if you’re toasting walnuts for Pasta with Spinach, Blue Cheese, and Walnuts, for example, you might start them in a cold pan and then let it and the nuts come up to temperature more slowly and gently.
5. Related to that, you know most food should be room temperature before cooking it.
If you cook a chicken breast or pork chop right out of the refrigerator, it’s more likely to be overcooked on the outside before it’s done on the inside. It’s also more likely to stick to the pan. So instead, you leave it on the kitchen counter for an hour or so before cooking.
And that doesn’t make you all nutty about food poisoning—you know that have two to four hours, depending on your kitchen’s temperature, before that’s a potential issue.
6. You know to use a pan that’s large enough to leave room around the food, especially for browning.
Food releases moisture as it cooks. So if you crowd the skillet, the moisture can’t escape and you end up steaming instead of searing, sacrificing flavor and texture.
7. You know that “stir occasionally” means to stir often enough to avoid uneven cooking, but not so much that you avoid browning.
I see misunderstandings about this a lot in cooking classes. It’s torture for students to stand at the stovetop and do nothing, so they stir. The result is stir-fry—crisp-tender food without browning’s appealing colors and savory flavors.
8. You know it’s a good idea to have all your ingredients prepared before you start cooking.
When I was a young home cook, I’d prep on the fly. For example, if the first step of the instructions was to cook the onions, I’d chop and measure the onions and start cooking them before I started preparing the second ingredient. This made for some stressful cooking, rushing to get the garlic chopped so I could add them to the onions at the prescribed time.
Now that I’m older, wiser, and a professional, I prep first. Yes, it might take a little longer, but it makes cooking a zillion times more enjoyable—and helps ensure a good outcome.
9. Lastly but perhaps most importantly, you know to read the recipe, maybe two or three times, before you start cooking.
As I sometimes say in cooking class, you want to have a good sense of where you’re going before you get in the car and drive.
Do you have to follow the map exactly? No. It’s okay to get creative, with a driving route or a recipe. But if you do, you know it could affect the outcome. (Don’t get a recipe developer started on how often one of our online recipes gets bashed by someone who made a zillion changes and then blamed us for the disappointing result.)
Bottom line, a recipe can’t tell you every possible thing you might need to know without turning into a tome. But if you know a few basics, it will help you read between the lines.
This post was inspired by two things—“The Most Common Cooking Mistakes” from Cooking Light (now part of Eating Well) and a semi-regular column that Fine Cooking used to run, titled something like “How to Read a Recipe” (but unfortunately, neither is available online any longer).
