Recipe Challenge: Someone else's favourite recipe
I decided to attempt a new recipe just for my friend's birthday last week. Apparently lemon meringue pie is their favourite, so I got hold of the recipe the family usually uses, and gave it a try.
The recipe had three parts: the pastry, the filling, and the meringue. I had been told it was a pretty easy recipe, or was I told that it was straightforward? Either way, I was expecting the newness to be hard, not following the recipe.
Lesson 1: Old recipes may assume knowledge.
After the list of ingredients for each part, there was the instruction to set the oven at the appropriate of three different heat measurements (depending on your location and/or style of oven, I suppose), and a comment about which type of dish best suited the recipe. Then the first step of the recipe was, and I quote, "Start by making the pastry and chilling it in the fridge for 20 minutes."
Shock. Then amusement. Then gratitude that I've made pastry before, and so had some idea of what to do. NOT a recipe for a baking beginner!
Lesson 2: Not everyone words a recipe to make the best use of your time while following it.
I have been spoiled by Jamie Oliver in particular, who is very clear on what you should do while something is in the oven or simmering away or any other quiet time in cooking. And so, I could have made better use of the time the pastry was in the fridge and/or in the oven to make the lemon filling - or at least to start on it!
Lesson 3: Just because something isn't labelled as something you know, doesn't mean it isn't.
And so I think I made my first lemon curd without realising what I was going to achieve until it was done! Though to be sure, I'd probably need to compare the recipe to one specifically for lemon curd. I spent half of the time I was following this section of the recipe wondering if I was actually making a curd. And afterwards wondered if I could exchange limes for lemons and what that might taste like.
Lesson 4: Rushing to accomplish a step will likely lead to a mistake.
Luckily my mistake was non-catastrophic. I simply tried to pour in my lemon juice onto the hot mixture plus egg yolks too quickly, spilling some of it over the stove top, the bench, and down the front of the cupboards below! Argh! All that hard work of juicing lemons, and so much of it splashed away!
Lesson 5: Sometimes when people say 'you'll know when you've achieved a task', you might not!
I've only attempted meringues a few times, and have never felt happy with the results. So when I was told that I'd know once I'd gotten the egg whites to the 'stiff peaks' stage, and yet I had no real idea of what that might look like - and didn't feel like I saw it - I had to go with the fact that I thought it might be right... And Googled to try to find some images!
Lesson 6: The proof is in the pudding!
Ultimately, I had no way of knowing whether I'd achieved the recipe or not until my friend tasted it. The joy at hearing it was perfect! Well, that or it was at least good enough, and my friend was being a bit polite as well... But everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I liked it, so definitely a recipe I'd be willing to try again!
The recipe had three parts: the pastry, the filling, and the meringue. I had been told it was a pretty easy recipe, or was I told that it was straightforward? Either way, I was expecting the newness to be hard, not following the recipe.
Lesson 1: Old recipes may assume knowledge.
After the list of ingredients for each part, there was the instruction to set the oven at the appropriate of three different heat measurements (depending on your location and/or style of oven, I suppose), and a comment about which type of dish best suited the recipe. Then the first step of the recipe was, and I quote, "Start by making the pastry and chilling it in the fridge for 20 minutes."
Shock. Then amusement. Then gratitude that I've made pastry before, and so had some idea of what to do. NOT a recipe for a baking beginner!
Lesson 2: Not everyone words a recipe to make the best use of your time while following it.
I have been spoiled by Jamie Oliver in particular, who is very clear on what you should do while something is in the oven or simmering away or any other quiet time in cooking. And so, I could have made better use of the time the pastry was in the fridge and/or in the oven to make the lemon filling - or at least to start on it!
Lesson 3: Just because something isn't labelled as something you know, doesn't mean it isn't.
And so I think I made my first lemon curd without realising what I was going to achieve until it was done! Though to be sure, I'd probably need to compare the recipe to one specifically for lemon curd. I spent half of the time I was following this section of the recipe wondering if I was actually making a curd. And afterwards wondered if I could exchange limes for lemons and what that might taste like.
Lesson 4: Rushing to accomplish a step will likely lead to a mistake.
Luckily my mistake was non-catastrophic. I simply tried to pour in my lemon juice onto the hot mixture plus egg yolks too quickly, spilling some of it over the stove top, the bench, and down the front of the cupboards below! Argh! All that hard work of juicing lemons, and so much of it splashed away!
Lesson 5: Sometimes when people say 'you'll know when you've achieved a task', you might not!
I've only attempted meringues a few times, and have never felt happy with the results. So when I was told that I'd know once I'd gotten the egg whites to the 'stiff peaks' stage, and yet I had no real idea of what that might look like - and didn't feel like I saw it - I had to go with the fact that I thought it might be right... And Googled to try to find some images!
Lesson 6: The proof is in the pudding!
Ultimately, I had no way of knowing whether I'd achieved the recipe or not until my friend tasted it. The joy at hearing it was perfect! Well, that or it was at least good enough, and my friend was being a bit polite as well... But everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I liked it, so definitely a recipe I'd be willing to try again!
It really was perfect, I wasn't being polite! 🙂
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm so glad!
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