Writing Up/Working from Recipes (Real-Life Time for Prepping and Cooking)

Mountain Cat

Mountain Cat

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The thing that annoys me: I see a recipe that takes (say) 30 minutes to make. According to the source.

And the cookbook or web site source says:

>> Peel and slice your onions.
>> De-seed your tomatoes.
>> Chop your peppers. (Oh, you may even be pre-roasting them, too..)
.>> Pre-strain your tomatillos through a fine sieved sieve.
>> Chop up the beef cut you'll be using, into 1/4 inch bits.
>> Mash and eviscerate your garlic cloves.

REST before you eat.

Cook everything in your skillet for 25 minutes. (AND then, we may put timings in...)

Recipe MAY take 30 minutes after the above all happens. BUT THAT DOES NOT HELP A HOME COOK trying to find a good meal for a night. Who does not have the time to do all the extra stuff.

I'm just curious as to why recipes don't give some sort of timing from a rational cooking/food-prepping beginning?
 
The whole "30-minute meals" lie bothers me no end. I did a bit of research and found that, among the two celebrity chefs who have a 30-minute-meal culture established, they (or rather, their organizations) have answered the criticism regarding time to prepare their "fast" meals with these "pointers:"

1. The time doesn't include food prep (washing and chopping/slicing/dicing)

2. The time doesn't include measuring with spoons/cups, but assumed the home cook is practiced enough to be able to eyeball all measurements

3. The time doesn't include gathering ingredients

4. The time doesn't include reading the recipe, with the assumption that the home cook will, over time, memorize the recipe, which will speed up time immensely

That's why I think the whole 30-minute meal movement is a farce, frankly.
 
Jamie Oliver has a TV series of 30 minute recipes. They are cooked in real time including the prepping, resting etc. so are quite accurate (if speedy). But I've noticed he does seem to create a lot of washing up!

Mountain Cat - is this thread about timings in recipes or more general - if its mainly about timings, maybe amend the title to reflect this?
 
morning glory said:
Jamie Oliver has a TV series of 30 minute recipes. They are cooked in real time including the prepping, resting etc. so are quite accurate (if speedy). But I've noticed he does seem to create a lot of washing up
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I wonder if this is the same show DH watches. He says that Jamie says he is only using 5 ingredients and then goes and uses more. Every time he watches it I hear DH in the other room counting how many ingredients Jamie uses. lol
 
Jamie Oliver's team (via some news article) was the group that said if you're reading the recipe, it's going to take more than 30 minutes, and recipes should be memorized in order to reach the 30 minute mark.
 
cookieee said:
I wonder if this is the same show DH watches. He says that Jamie says he is only using 5 ingredients and then goes and uses more. Every time he watches it I hear DH in the other room counting how many ingredients Jamie uses. lol
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I think that's another series.
 
TastyReuben said:
if you're reading the recipe, it's going to take more than 30 minutes, and recipes should be memorized in order to reach the 30 minute mark.
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I'm sure that is true - he is confident and very speedy. Most inexperienced home cooks would take much longer. But I suppose he is encouraging people to cook rather than buy in a 'ready meal' or eat fast food and showing that it doesn't have to take hours to cook from scratch. So I commend him for that.
 
I think this is a good example MC. I just came across a recipe in one of my binders. It says, at the very bottom of the recipe: Your time in the kitchen: 20 minute; ready to serve in 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Ok, now, the cake takes 40 - 45 minutes to bake, cools for 5 minutes. The most time here is 50 minutes. So, 100 min. (1hr. 40 min.) minus 50 min = 50 min. What the heck happened to the 30 min left over? lol
 
TastyReuben said:
The whole "30-minute meals" lie bothers me no end. I did a bit of research and found that, among the two celebrity chefs who have a 30-minute-meal culture established, they (or rather, their organizations) have answered the criticism regarding time to prepare their "fast" meals with these "pointers:"

1. The time doesn't include food prep (washing and chopping/slicing/dicing)

2. The time doesn't include measuring with spoons/cups, but assumed the home cook is practiced enough to be able to eyeball all measurements

3. The time doesn't include gathering ingredients

4. The time doesn't include reading the recipe, with the assumption that the home cook will, over time, memorize the recipe, which will speed up time immensely

That's why I think the whole 30-minute meal movement is a farce, frankly.
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I can deal with #3 not being included - although this also does take me TIME. I do try to take into account any other time-using variables when I am posting my own recipes. Just because -- they DO take time and are essential.

Most folk don't have a pre-minced pile of, say, onions or peppers, to hand.
 
Mountain Cat said:
I can deal with #3 not being included - although this also does take me TIME. I do try to take into account any other time-using variables when I am posting my own recipes. Just because -- they DO take time and are essential.

Most folk don't have a pre-minced pile of, say, onions or peppers, to hand.
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Right - and it can take me 30 minutes just to get two teaspoons of fresh thyme off the twigs and minced! :laugh:

Another thing I forgot to mention, both chefs were proponents of largely ditching mise en place and embracing what one called a "meanwhile" approach - prepping ingredients as they come up in the directions. For example, don't cube your potatoes at the start, do it during the 8-10 minutes it takes to sweat the onions.

That's never worked well for me, because I'm slow anyway, and I'm not ripping through those potatoes at light speed, and if it wait until the onions are cooking, then those onions are probably going to burn.
 
TastyReuben said:
Right - and it can take me 30 minutes just to get two teaspoons of fresh thyme off the twigs and minced! :laugh:

Another thing I forgot to mention, both chefs were proponents of largely ditching mise en place and embracing what one called a "meanwhile" approach - prepping ingredients as they come up in the directions. For example, don't cube your potatoes at the start, do it during the 8-10 minutes it takes to sweat the onions.

That's never worked well for me, because I'm slow anyway, and I'm not ripping through those potatoes at light speed, and if it wait until the onions are cooking, then those onions are probably going to burn.
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Likewise!!
 
I generally skim through a recipe and add up given times, then approximate prep time. I do the meanwhile approach unless it's a stir fry type recipe, then everything gets done beforehand. Craig, on the other hand, is not quite as speedy as I am.
 
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TastyReuben said:
Right - and it can take me 30 minutes just to get two teaspoons of fresh thyme off the twigs and minced! :laugh:

Another thing I forgot to mention, both chefs were proponents of largely ditching mise en place and embracing what one called a "meanwhile" approach - prepping ingredients as they come up in the directions. For example, don't cube your potatoes at the start, do it during the 8-10 minutes it takes to sweat the onions.

That's never worked well for me, because I'm slow anyway, and I'm not ripping through those potatoes at light speed, and if it wait until the onions are cooking, then those onions are probably going to burn.
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I agree completely. But, that is based on knowing myself well. I need to do mise en place, or I will mess something up, or at the least, get stressed out. The "prep and cook as you go" method doesn't work for me.

The best recipes seem to separate prep time from cooking time. The cooking time is going to be pretty cut and dry. The prep time will depend on the individual cook. I can't prep ingredients at Jamie Oliver speed, so I need to add some minutes to the prep time.

CD
 
morning glory said:
I'm sure that is true - he is confident and very speedy. Most inexperienced home cooks would take much longer. But I suppose he is encouraging people to cook rather than buy in a 'ready meal' or eat fast food and showing that it doesn't have to take hours to cook from scratch. So I commend him for that.
Click to expand...

I do appreciate that Jamie Oliver inspires people to cook fresh at home, but viewers need to be realistic, and understand that his pace is that of a professional restaurant chef. I'd like to see him (and other TV chefs) say things like, "Don't worry if you can't dice an onion in ten seconds, go at your pace."

CD
 
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