What happens when things don’t go as planned? What do you do? Do you give up?
I am speaking of recipes here. Do you give a different version a try? Have you ever had a recipe that you tried and it flopped? OY!!! I sure have.
A lot of recipes are just as much about the ingredients as they are about technique. I have often taken a recipe for something and tried it, didn’t like the end result but still liked the idea, or loved it when I had it somewhere else.
One food that I continue to search for the ultimate recipe for is meatloaf, lowly meatloaf.
There are so many versions with a variety of ways of making and 100’s if not 1000’s of variations on ingredients. Blend or work it too much it is hard and dry, not enough ingredients it is boring and bland, etc., etc.
A few years ago I made what I thought was the perfect meatloaf with what flavors and textures I was looking for. I lost my notes and I have tried to duplicate it again without success. It was before RootsinRecipes.com was formed. I could have typed into my cookbook the recipe, my thoughts, the procedure of how to make it as well as a photo and a big note saying this is the one!!! I have a meat loaf meat blend ( I prefer the mixture of beef, pork, and veal) in my freezer right now to try once again to reach my goal. Even the meat mix varies from recipe to recipe!!!
My friend Donna has a mission for the perfect recipe for macaroni and cheese.
It is another one of those seemingly simple dishes that has many forms. She has tried assorted versions, also, with various techniques and various types of cheeses. She was not particularly happy with any of them. Some were good but not GREAT. Some were dry and others lacked character or the creamy texture she wanted. She is also on a quest for the ultimate, seeming simple, perfect recipe. She is keeping notes in RootsinRecipes.com now.
Our mutual friend Suzie showed up to one of our friend-food-craft get togethers with HER family mac & cheese recipe.
Donna went nuts. “This is it!”, she said!! Creamy, moist, so flavorful.
She has recorded it in her RootsinRecipes.com cookbook. Good grief if this one gets lost!!!
Her son is getting married and she wants to print her family cookbook for him for a wedding gift. In it will be her old favorites from grandmother & mother as well as her favorites from her own research and experiment.
Lastly, I have been taking an on-line Spanish course (a result of covid & staying at home). One of the lessons was on how to order food. They used Latin foods in the dialog. Of course being a foodie and intensely curious I looked up some of the unfamiliar food names. One was called “alegria”. It is an amaranth candy. I decided I had to look up a recipe because it sounded so interesting and I had never used the amaranth seed in any cooking.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
I tried this seeming simple recipe using sugar and molasses and popped amaranth seed.
“It didn’t go right!!
It is one of those recipes that most of it is about technique, not ingredients!!!
It was supposed to come out like a rice crispy treat, pressed into a pan and cut into squares. It tasted good but mine crumbled apart and made a big mess.
They also say "if you don’t succeed try, try again!" I will do that and then I will make notes in my rootsinrecipes.com cookbook along with the failed version so I don’t forget what didn’t go right.
FOOD+FAMILY=LOVE
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