Thread: "Jimmy Tango" recipes...

"ChattyCathy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:nYTin.2353$[email protected]..
> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...
> --
> Cheers
> Chatty Cathy

I don't think as recipe can be too complicated - I do however think one can
so distort the flavor of the base ingredient one can ruin the the dish.


--
Dimitri

Searing

http://kitchenguide.wordpress.com.

"ChattyCathy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:nYTin.2353$[email protected]..
> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...
> --
> Cheers
> Chatty Cathy

Depends, if I'm trying to put dinner on the table during the week, then too
complicated would be anything that would take longer than an hour to
complete, from fridge to plate, or anything so demanding I could
simultaneously prepare sides or make a salad.

During the weekend I'll usually welcome the challenge, schedule permitting.
Some of the stuff I've done has been 3 hours of intensive prep and cooking
for one dish (butternut squash and wild mushroom lasagna). More than that I
think I would have felt like it was too much.

Jon

"Zeppo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> "ChattyCathy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:nYTin.2353$[email protected]..
>> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>>
>> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
>> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
>> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>>
>> Just curious...
>> --
>> Cheers
>> Chatty Cathy
>
> Depends, if I'm trying to put dinner on the table during the week, then
> too complicated would be anything that would take longer than an hour to
> complete, from fridge to plate, or anything so demanding I could
> simultaneously prepare sides or make a salad.


Sorry, make that *couldn't* simultaneously prepare sides or make a salad.

Jon

In article <nYTin.2353$[email protected]>,
ChattyCathy <[email protected]> wrote:

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...

<grins> I'm sure you have seen my cookalong series. It's hardly 4
ingredients.;-) Too many steps may turn me off, but never the number
of ingredients unless one or more of them turns me off.

http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmele...along11012009#
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>
[email protected]
Subscribe: [email protected]

ChattyCathy wrote:

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...

When it's more work than it's worth. I've never been tempted to make
strudel from scratch.




Brian

--
Day 392 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project

ChattyCathy <[email protected]> news:nYTin.2353$ao7.40
@newsfe21.iad: in rec.food.cooking

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...

Anything to do with baking from scratch except artisan bread.

Michael

--
"Like all great divas, I owe everything to the kindness of gay men."
~Margaret Cho

You can find me at: - michael at lonergan dot us dot com

On Mar 1, 12:46*pm, ChattyCathy <cathy1...@mailinator.com> wrote:
> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.


"4 ingredients (and none of them out of a can)" is good. So is five
or six "ingredients (and none of them out of a can)." Too many
ingredients, and flavors get muddled, and it becomes slop.

I guess I didn't really answer the question.
>
> Just curious...
> --
> Cheers
> Chatty Cathy

--Bryan

On Mon 01 Mar 2010 11:46:37a, ChattyCathy told us...

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...

When I have the time, the complexity of ingredients, method, or
instructions are of no consequence. However, I don't like dealing with
recipes that require a huge amount of last minute preparation before
serving, particularly if entertaining.

I don't like being rushed, so coming home after work to prepare a complete
meal usually means recipes that have fewer ingredients, easier preparation,
and quicker cooking time.

I love to bake, and baking bread is therapeutic for me. I also love baking
cakes and pies. However, making and stretching strudel dough and the
endless rolling and folding of puff pastry are both tedious and time
consuming. Although I make them occasionally, I don't enjoy making those.

--

~~ If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it. ~~

~~ A mind is a terrible thing to lose. ~~

************************************************** ********

Wayne Boatwright

In article <nYTin.2353$[email protected]>,
ChattyCathy <[email protected]> wrote:

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?

I put mashed potatoes right on the edge. Their saving grace is that I
can cook them ahead of time, put them in a shallow bowl with a big gob
of butter on top, refrigerate, clean up the utensils and reheat them
while the rest of the dinner is being prepared. Lucky for them.

leo

Dimitri wrote:

>
> I don't think as recipe can be too complicated - I do however think
> one can so distort the flavor of the base ingredient one can ruin the
> the dish.
>
>

When you say 'distort the flavor' do you mean by adding stuff you
shouldn't or by adding too much of a certain herb/spice that is listed
in the ingredients?

FWIW, a recipe only seems "too complicated" to me if it contains a whole
bunch of ingredients I have to 'hunt down' (or simply cannot obtain in
my neck of the woods). I don't find a 'long' list of ingredients
daunting and I'm not too fussy about prep time; I quite enjoy it, in
fact. Obviously it depends whether I'm cooking for guests and am
strapped for time, or whether I've got the time to chop, chop, chop
<eg>. I keep quite a wide variety of (dried) herbs and spices at hand -
and if a recipe calls for sesame seeds, star anise or cardamom, for
example, I usually have some ;-)
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Food Snob® wrote:

>
> "4 ingredients (and none of them out of a can)" is good. So is five
> or six "ingredients (and none of them out of a can)." Too many
> ingredients, and flavors get muddled, and it becomes slop.

Not always, Bryan. Take the recipe I use for Green Curry Paste; it has a
list of 11 ingredients and still has a great flavor (and quite
a 'bite')...

Green Curry Paste

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
6 Fresh green chillies - chopped
1 tablespoon Chopped lemon grass
1 teaspoon Chopped coriander root
1 tablespoon Chopped shallots
1 tablespoon Chopped garlic
1 teaspoon Chopped galangal
7 Peppercorns
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Shrimp paste

Place the cumin and coriander seeds in a pan, without adding any oil.
Dry-fry them, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes until they are aromatic and
slightly browned.

Pound them with the remaining ingredients to produce a fine paste.

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Default User wrote:

> When it's more work than it's worth. I've never been tempted to make
> strudel from scratch.

Well, makes some sense, but at least once in a lifetime one should try it. I
did it a couple of times from scratch, the other times I buy frozen or
refrigerated pastry from the shop and just take care of the filling.
--
Vilco
Don't think pink: drink rosè

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:46:37 +0200, ChattyCathy wrote:

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?

Any recipe that calls for saffron.

Recipes that require fresh produce, eg. tomatoes, out of season.

Recipes that call for items that require a special trip to the store.

Recipes that call for equipment/hardware I don't have and won't buy because
it's only used once or twice a year.



--
Posting from groups.google.com or www.foodbanter.com or other web-forums
dramatically reduces the chance of your post being read.
Use the real usenet!
Eternal-september is free, <http://www.eternal-september.org/>.

On Mar 2, 1:27*am, ChattyCathy <cathy1...@mailinator.com> wrote:
> Food Snob® wrote:
>
> > "4 ingredients (and none of them out of a can)" *is good. *So is five
> > or six "ingredients (and none of them out of a can)." *Too many
> > ingredients, and flavors get muddled, and it becomes slop.
>
> Not always, Bryan. Take the recipe I use for Green Curry Paste; it has a
> list of 11 ingredients and still has a great flavor (and quite
> a 'bite')...
>
> Green Curry Paste
>
> 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
> 1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
> 6 Fresh green chillies - chopped
> 1 tablespoon Chopped lemon grass
> 1 teaspoon Chopped coriander root
> 1 tablespoon Chopped shallots
> 1 tablespoon Chopped garlic
> 1 teaspoon Chopped galangal
> 7 Peppercorns
> 1 teaspoon Salt
> 1 teaspoon Shrimp paste
>
> Place the cumin and coriander seeds in a pan, without adding any oil.
> Dry-fry them, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes until they are aromatic and
> slightly browned.
>
> Pound them with the remaining ingredients to produce a fine paste.

Curries are nearly always like that, no?

In the USA, we have billboards along rural stretches of highways
advertising motels. Sometimes they will say, "American owned," which
translates into, not owned by folks from the Indian subcontinent. It
would be easy to think, typical American racism, but really what it
means is that the place doesn't smell like curry. Also, and this is a
stereotype I have also found to be true, Pakistani and Indian owned
motels are also much more likely to be heavily perfumed from cleaning
chemicals, and often it's a mix of the two that makes staying there
really unpleasant. I am not racist, but I won't stay in a motel that
reeks of curry, heavy cleaning chemicals or both. I will also pay a
bit extra to make a reservation at a motel that is completely smoke
free.

I'm curious, how many of the non-N. Americans who read/post here have
come over here to the USA and/or Canada to experience our wide open
spaces? Particularly the American Southwest is spectacular, and I
don't know about airfare, but once one gets here, it's not very
expensive. Two people can easily get a rental car, lodging, food, pay
for gasoline and pay small entry fees to some parks (many are free)
for around $200-300/day, less if you sleep in a tent--or in your seat
on a train--every other day or so. USA Dollars are pretty cheap right
now, and rail passes are cheap too:
http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/selectpass

I'm not a hugely patriotic person, but I really encourage folks who
have never vacationed here to consider it, and consider it a privilege
to get to offer travel tips to visitors on a budget.
>
> --
> Cheers
> Chatty Cathy

--Bryan

ChattyCathy wrote:
> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?

Oh, never, but it will often become too complicated for the
circumstances. That is, I like complicated recipes, but wouldn't try
them on company, or if I needed to get a meal on the table in an hour.
And I'm more likely to try something if the ingredients aren't very
expensive, because that's just the way our finances are at the moment,
so I'm unlikely to make steak tartare even though I'd like to, and so
on. (Plus, I tend to take a while to try stuff that uses equipment I
don't have, because I talk myself out of spending money on new kitchen
equipment. For the longest time, I didn't make candy because I didn't
get around to buying a thermometer and didn't want to do it the old way.)

>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.

I have sort of made a little hobby out of learning to cook things that
seemed too fussy or hard at first -- English toffee, challah, ice cream
from custard, cream puffs, things like that -- but none of them has
turned out to be very difficult at all, so it makes me braver for the
next thing.

I'd really like to learn to make croissants and/or puff pastry next.

Serene

--
"I tend to come down on the side of autonomy. Once people are grown up,
I believe they have the right to go to hell in the handbasket of their
choosing." -- Pat Kight, on alt.polyamory

> ChattyCathy wrote:
> > When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?

It has less to do with the recipe and more to do with my state of
mind, schedule, work load, health, etc. When I am exhausted, burned
out, busy, going 80 different directions at once, I am more likely to
stick with simpler preparations.

Regards,
Ranee @ Arabian Knits

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/

ChattyCathy <[email protected]> wrote in news:nYTin.2353$ao7.40
@newsfe21.iad:

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>


It doesn't.


A recipe is written down. If you can't follow it..... you can't read.

Ergo......... get out of the frikken kitchen!!!


--
Peter Lucas
Brisbane
Australia

Killfile all Google Groups posters.........

http://improve-usenet.org/

http://improve-usenet.org/filters_bg.html

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:46:37 +0200, ChattyCathy wrote:

> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>
> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>
> Just curious...

i shy away from recipes involving deep-frying, or which rely on herbs i
don't have (a fairly long list) or don't like (tarragon, say, or cilantro).

calling onion or garlic powder might cause me to look at them askance as
well.

your pal,
blake

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 15:44:28 -0500, Zeppo wrote:

> "Zeppo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
>> "ChattyCathy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:nYTin.2353$[email protected]..
>>> When does a recipe become "too complicated" for you?
>>>
>>> When it involves more than 4 ingredients (and none of them out of a
>>> can)? Or if the method/instructions are longer than 2 lines? Or maybe
>>> if it takes more than 3 minutes prep.? Or whatever.
>>>
>>> Just curious...
>>> --
>>> Cheers
>>> Chatty Cathy
>>
>> Depends, if I'm trying to put dinner on the table during the week, then
>> too complicated would be anything that would take longer than an hour to
>> complete, from fridge to plate, or anything so demanding I could
>> simultaneously prepare sides or make a salad.
>
> Sorry, make that *couldn't* simultaneously prepare sides or make a salad.
>
> Jon

i took your meaning.

your pal,
blake