Do You Care if a Recipe is Authentic?

[karadekoolaid]

Top one on the right: exactly the same as the one in my parent's house.
Bottom one (Kenwood): same as my brother's.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Hey - as you say, if it looks and tastes good, I'm all for it.
However, I think it's a total lack of creativity to create a dish and not have the innovative sense to call it something new!
To give you a ridiculous example: how about you go to a restaurant, order Fish & Chips, and get served rollmops with Doritos?

I know what Doritos are, but what's a rollmop?

 

[TastyReuben]

These are what I grew up with a what my inlaws still have.

That’s what we had in both our houses in the UK in the ‘90’s.

 

[PabloLerntKochen]

Rollmops is a German specialty and probably named differently in the other northern countries with a coast. Im not sure but I think it's a premature herring filet rolled together like a wrap and filled with some preserved onions and pickled cucumber. After the filling It's marinated for days in a vinegar marinade, after this process it's edible for months

 

[JAS_OH1]

Worst of all, he puts chickpeas in his chili.

CD

Well I could handle some cream in carbonara or chorizo in paella (ducking to avoid being hit with eggs and rotten tomatoes) but chickpeas in chili is horrific!

 

[JAS_OH1]

I don't really care, ultimately, if a recipe is authentic or not - but I do prefer people who write or make videos showcasing their recipes let us know if it is authentic or not. It's not a matter of red onion vs yellow onion - sometimes for ingredients you have to use what is at hand. But, say, a lasagna is not mac and cheese with tomato sauce. Definitionally - all wrong. (Yes, this has been done on YouTube.)

Terminology matters. But within rational bounds (we can argue about "rational") most authentic recipes have some leeway hither and yon. And if an ingredient isn't available - it is fine to punt. And to declare where one has punted.

And it is really a simple matter to name the dish you made something that reflects on any significant changes one has made - hence, that mac and cheese with tomato sauce instead of lasagna; and hence cottage pie (made with beef) over shepherd's pie (made with lamb). In so many cases, it's a matter of communicating.

One of my cousins makes lasagna with cheddar cheese, LOL. She mentioned it to me when she ate mine (which had mozz, ricotta, and parm). I suppose if she put it in front of me I would eat it, but...it's not lasagna!

 

[blades]

Just to make life fun, some/most UK cookers separate the grill from the oven. The grill will traditionally have a drop down door and several shelving levels very close together, that door is left open when the grill is in use. It can be at the very top of the cooker or immediately above the oven. The oven will have a swing door and obviously closed when in use. That's assuming the cooker is a free standing cooker.

These are what I grew up with an what my inlaws still have.

View attachment 100910View attachment 100911View attachment 100912
In this one, the grill is the first door down... it also acts as a warning drawer.

The more modern versions put the grill between the oven and the rings for safety reasons!

View attachment 100909

Life only started to combine them when they started with built-in ovens such as I have now.

Even my last tenancy place here in Aus had a free standing gas oven with grill at the top.

Aha! The riddle is solved. What you have pictured there as a grill is called a salamander in a U.S. commercial kitchen. Larger commercial kitchens will have a stack of them. No kidding . It is a broiler to most of us and a salamander at the restaurant. You won't see them in U.S. homes. Instead American home ovens have heat sources top and bottom. The top one is selected in the broil mode. So I now understand why things are cooked under the grill in the UK.

 

[caseydog]

after this process it's edible for months

I'm not sure I'd find it edible at any time, based on the description.

CD

 

[JAS_OH1]

Aha! The riddle is solved. What you have pictured there as a grill is called a salamander in a U.S. commercial kitchen. Larger commercial kitchens will have a stack of them. No kidding . It is a broiler to most of us and a salamander at the restaurant. You won't see them in U.S. homes. Instead American home ovens have heat sources top and bottom. The top one is selected in the broil mode. So I now understand why things are cooked under the grill in the UK.

You'll find a lot of interesting differences between English food/cooking terminology in the US and other countries. I've learned a lot about that over the past few years of being a CB member.
Do you call it Grilling or Barbecue
UK to US & US to UK Definitions

 

[JAS_OH1]

Rollmops is a German specialty and probably named differently in the other northern countries with a coast. Im not sure but I think it's a premature herring filet rolled together like a wrap and filled with some preserved onions and pickled cucumber. After the filling It's marinated for days in a vinegar marinade, after this process it's edible for months

And here I thought it had something to do with mopping floors! Sounds about as appealing.

 

[karadekoolaid]

And here I thought it had something to do with mopping floors! Sounds about as appealing.

I've eaten them. Imagine a chewy ceviche. they actually taste good!

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Yes I do care very much if a recipe is authentic. I’m not referring only to Italian food of course, in general I really like to find out the culinary traditions of other countries. When it happened to me to see a recipe “my way”, I welcomed it, yet I wonder afterwards “ ok but what is the origin, where it comes from, what is its story, why it is called like that, why that ingredient rather than another one?” and so on.

 

[blades]

One of my cousins makes lasagna with cheddar cheese, LOL. She mentioned it to me when she ate mine (which had mozz, ricotta, and parm). I suppose if she put it in front of me I would eat it, but...it's not lasagna!

Yours sounds way better.

 

[blades]

Curious. Is it disreputable to eat fish and chips with tartar sauce? We make fish and chips regularly here and yes I make a tartar sauce for it.

 

[TastyReuben]

Curious. Is it disreputable to eat fish and chips with tartar sauce? We make fish and chips regularly here and yes I make a tartar sauce for it.

Just one person’s observation: When we lived in the UK in the 1990’s, it wasn’t all that common to see tartar sauce served with fish and chips, at least the places we went.

Now, when we go back for a visit, it seems it’s almost always served with tartar sauce on the side.