How to Read a Recipe
Photo by: Nat Magloire
Preparing a written recipe seems like a no brainer, right? But home cooks near and far have seen countless recipes go left because of incorrect procedure. Here are some of my suggested guidelines that will teach you how to look at any recipe and duplicate that delectable goodness, just like your favorite chefs!
Step 1. Read the Recipe: You may be thinking, “Duh, Dev…” But hey now, let me explain. A well written recipe is more than just a set of ingredients and directions to make a dish. Recipes will often offer context, nuances, quirks, and stories that will help you better understand how to make the most successful dish possible. Read the headlines, ingredients, and directions a few times to make sure you have a full understanding of what is required before you jump into the fire.
Step 2. Gather your equipment: Equipment can be a tricky one. Some recipes you just may not have the tools to make, and that’s okay! Simply bookmark it for later. Also, most recipes don’t exactly lay out every single piece of equipment you will be using. As a general rule, recipe authors will only list “special equipment”, relying on the home cook to have what we call Kitchen Essentials. Some recipes may offer equipment alternatives — for example, in the absence of a wok you could cook fried rice in a cast iron skillet. This is all relative to the cook and the recipe at hand, so always double check and see if you have the tools to make your desired dish.
Step 3. Check Your Refrigerator and Pantry: I can’t tell you how many times where I was so excited to make a new recipe that I went out and spent hella money on ingredients… Ingredients I had right in my house! Food costs and time spent are the top complaints I hear from people that refrain from cooking at home. A quick check to see what you do and don’t need for a recipe can save you plenty of time, money, and frustration. Begin this step by gathering all of your ingredients and setting them aside. Once that’s done, simply make a grocery list for what you still need to grab. Can I get an AMEN for efficiency! Woop, woop.
Step 4. Prep all of your ingredients: This one is arguably the most important! Think about it like this, making something new is already sort of stressful, right? You’ve invested money into ingredients, or you may have a special guest coming over… So why add to that stress by trying to perform multiple culinary skills at once? The ingredients list of a recipe not only informs you on the measurements and amounts, but also how the ingredient should be prepped. For example:
2 Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
6 Tbsp. Unsalted butter, cubed, and very cold, plus more, melted, for brushing
The bolded action steps are things that you can take care of before anything ever hits the heat. Cooking this way will tremendously expedite the cooking process, make things more enjoyable, and overall prevent mistakes!
Step 5. Cooking Indicators Take Priority to Cooking Times: The fact of the matter is this. Pay more attention to cooking indicators, and less attention to cooking times. A recipe may say “fry for 6-8 minutes” but subsequently, it will also say “or until golden brown” giving you a visual cue in addition to the timed instruction. So if your fries are golden brown at 5 minutes, but the recipe says fry for 6-8 minutes… well, you know what to do.
If anything, learn to read recipes for what they are, an expression of the author’s creativity. Even if a recipe is something you may not like or be able to make, try not to skip over it. You may find new and otherwise unseen details about your favorites chefs that inspire you in ways outside of the kitchen. Now, happy recipe reading peeps! Go get in that kitchen, and #SpiceYaLife