Krypsis > wrote:

>On 3/06/2011 10:25 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>>

-snip-
>> If you are concerned about being off a few grams per kilo figuring
>> cooking times, you are going to drive yourself crazy. The oven is not
>> accurate enough anyway, not to mention the density of the meat, moisture
>> content and stuff that throws off such calculations.
>>
>> For centuries, we just added ingredients until the recipe "looked right".
>
>My wife still operates that way. Explains why the set of scales she was
>given languished in the cupboard for over 5 years. I will make use of
>them however.

While I agree with Ed about not obsessing over getting ingredients
*just so* for most recipes-- the 'until it looks right' method only
works for recipes you're familiar with.

I'd love to see what I'd have come up with if someone told me to take
some eggs, lemon, flour, olive oil and baking powder- mix them until
they look right - cook, enjoy. It might have taken me a while to
come up with Torcolo.

Weights and measures help us communicate. I would say that at least
half of my cooking is [more or less] following a recipe. Baking
requires it to a certain extent.

The rest of what *we* eat is as much [more than?] 'adventure' as
fuel. I might have a couple dozen 'regulars' that I put together
on the fly-- but I'm a lot more likely to try something new-- and
for that I thank being able to use a scale to see what the other guy
was eating.

Jim