Recipe instructions and quantities you routinely ignore

[Fat Guy]

I quadruple the pepper. Double or triple the vanilla. Never sift.

You?

[Chris Hennes]

Recipes that give a specific quantity of salt are ignored if it's possible to season to taste instead. Exceptions for things like dry rubs, etc.

[heidih]

Cinnamon is always increased. Of course if I sourced some really good stuff that would change. Pepper and salt are always to taste- I go with instinct- if original amount sounds low I start with it, if sounds high I back off, and then adjust.

[robirdstx]

Number of servings. I can usually cut the portions in half and still have a good sized serving.

[feedmec00kies]

Salt and pepper to taste, and I usually increase the garlic unless it won't be cooked or brined after the garlic is added.

[ChrisZ]

I never buy or use unsalted butter, I end up adding salt anyway, even in desserts.

I never use baking paper to line cake tins, I just grease the tins with butter and dust with flour. I've never had anything stick (all my baking trays are non-stick anyway, so maybe that's why!)

I'm not too hung up about using superfine sugar (caster sugar) when creaming butter/sugar for cakes. I even read somewhere (Herve This? not McGee...) that regular sugar introduces more air than superfine sugar and is actually better, despite most cake recipes specifying a superfine sugar.

[nickrey]

Despite the oft quoted precision of measurement in baking, there are far too many variables to rely exclusively on the quoted amounts. Different types of flour alone make rigid measurement a fallacy.

In all my cooking, I use measures as a guide when first making a recipe and adjust proportions to make the product either of an appropriate consistency or to taste they way I want it to be.

Let's face it, many recipes are adjusted down from commercial quantities. Unless they have been tested many time under different conditions, they are unlikely to work perfectly every time. It's where the art and craft come into their own in cooking.

[nakji]

I never buy unsalted butter either. I just can't be bothered.

One thing I enjoy doing when with other Canadians is asking them how they like to prepare their Kraft Dinner. It seems most have an opinion on the issue. Hardly anyone (maybe even no one?) I've talked to follows the exact proportions on the box. Most seem to hew to the dry side; that is, they cut the milk down (or out) and add more butter/margarine. My father-in-law uses two packets of cheese mix for every one box of noodles, orphaning boxes of noodles. Heaven knows where they end up. Another friend uses the whole packet of cheese, but only half the box of noodles.

I haven't had it myself since I lived with my parents, but at the time, I liked it the way my mom made it: soupy, with double the milk.

[Darienne]

Interesting topic. I'm looking forward to reading all the answers.

Thanks for the tip about the pepper and vanilla, FG. I never thought of ignoring the vanilla allotment, although I admit I never actually 'measure' it, just slurp in an approximate amount.

I always up the cinnamon. And I always cut at least 1/4 of the sugar prescribed.

Always add salt and substitute some of the sugar with corn syrup or invert sugar in making ice cream...or add a bit of booze.

Never measure quantities when making spaghetti sauces, ratatouille, bechamels, etc. Just use what I have pretty much. Might explain why I am not an expert cook.

[Kerry Beal]

Unsalted butter for me too - only one recipe in my current repertoire really needs it - and that is the Pierre Herme lemon cream. Something about the sheer quantity of butter in the recipe that tastes distinctly salty if you use the salted version.

For recipes I make a lot I rarely measure things like salt, baking powder, baking soda - I kind of know how much in my hand is equivalent. I can eyeball the amount of butter that is X tablespoons or cups and cut it off the block. Always wonder about people who insist that they hate baking because it's so precise. Not a ton of precision in my house - and I bake rather well, if I do say so myself.

Egg size - extra large is what I buy - and what I use, regardless of the specifications the recipe calls for. I like the jumbo even better if I can get them.

Instructions for mixing things together - are a rough guide at best. I gotta love the thermomix where often as not - I just bung in everything together and hit the buttons. Can't recall the last time I made cookie dough following the directions.

[weinoo]

I never buy unsalted butter either. I just can't be bothered.

How is it a bother? Do you have to go to an "unsalted butter shop?"

Of course most recipes are just guidelines. But when using a pastry or bread recipe for the first time, I like to stick to the recipe. Then, after I sample the finished product, I can riff away to my heart's delight.

[Fat Guy]

Most of the butter around here is also salted. I actually think it's better, because unless your butter is just a couple of days out of the cow the salt makes it taste fresher to me. (I also keep butter in the freezer to help avoid development of off flavors.) The only time I use sweet butter is if I get some from a farmer's market, and even then I usually add salt, although I don't really use that kind of butter in baking.

On the issue of egg size, I find that unless a recipe uses a zillion eggs there's no reason to adjust for egg size -- and maybe not even then. However, after years of using jumbos, not long ago I switched to large eggs. At the market I use, and I imagine this is true a lot of places, the large eggs are the freshest (based on examination of the Julian date on the box) probably because they have the highest turnover. (Who are all these people using large eggs? I feel like everybody I know uses the bigger sizes.) I have to do some arithmetic to see how they compare in terms of price. Large eggs are always a lot cheaper per dozen but I'm not sure how they compare if you account for less volume. Then again if you don't adjust recipes for volume (I don't in baking, but if I'm making omelets I use, say, three larges for two jumbos) then that comparison is academic -- it's the per-egg cost that matters and large eggs are cheaper. If something is cheaper and better, I tend to go with it, which is why I'm a large-egg user these days.

[Fat Guy]

Speaking for myself on the issue of bother, I find it annoying to have both salted and unsalted butter in stock because then I have to check labels instead of being able just to grab butter. It also doubles the inventory requirements if you keep both types around, not that butter takes a ton of space.

[Fat Guy]

I never thought of ignoring the vanilla allotment

I don't do a lot of baking -- the division of labor in our house is generally I cook/she bakes -- but when I do vanilla and salt are my secret weapons. In chocolate-chip cookies, for example, if you use a ton of extra vanilla and a little extra salt, most people are like, "Wow, these cookies are so great." The fancier vanilla extracts are more concentrated than supermarket-level stuff, but still I'll generally double those. I've never been able to compute the strength of my homemade vanilla extract, but I use a lot of that too.

[Prawncrackers]

The instruction to "add one de-seeded chilli pepper" regularly translates to "add as many chilli peppers as you have available".

[BadRabbit]

I never scald milk except in breadmaking and ice cream.

I never sift under any circumstances.

I never pay attention to listed salt quantities except in baked preperations.

I double the onion always. If a savory dish doesn't have onion (or shallots, leeks, etc...), I'm going to add some.

[mkayahara]

I always laugh when I see recipes call for a specific amount of oil for sweating vegetables or searing meat. I just pour in oil until there's a thin layer on the bottom of the pan.

[SobaAddict70]

If you do use salted butter, you have to adjust the amount of salt you add to your dish in the end.

I use unsalted primarily.

I tend to ignore recipes outright, instead basing it on "feel" -- unless it's something I haven't made before. In that case, I'll follow a recipe once or twice just to get a sense of how the dish is made, then proceed from there.

[Katie Meadow]

Seems to me that 90 percent of all recipes that specify salted or unsalted butter call for UNsalted. I never buy salted butter any more. I just adjust for salt as needed. I never pay attention to the amount of oil called for when sauteing onions, etc. I do what works for whatever is going in the pot, adding oil as necessary.

I often cut back on sugar and cinnamon. For me, a little cinnamon goes a long way. I prefer it in rubs or savory foods rather than sweet ones. For apple pie I usually cut it in half.

In my experience, no potato salad meant to serve fewer than 15 people has EVER needed 3/4 cup of mayo.

But the number one recipe direction that I ignore is the specification to add carrot, celery, peppers or garlic at the same time as the onion when sauteing. I like to soften my onions slowly, and they take more time. After a few minutes the carrot and celery or peppers go in. And the garlic goes in only a minute or two before the rest of the ingredients are soft.

[Porthos]

I always laugh when I see recipes call for a specific amount of oil for sweating vegetables or searing meat. I just pour in oil until there's a thin layer on the bottom of the pan.

Same here.

[Porthos]

How is it a bother? Do you have to go to an "unsalted butter shop?"

For me the "bother" is the cost. I'm buying 4lbs of butter at Costco and they only sell salted, at least in my area. Unsalted in my market is at least double the cost. Since virtually all the recipes I use butter in call for adding salt I just use salted butter.

[Alcuin]

For a lot of Chinese and some other Asian dishes, I prefer to add sugar to taste rather than follow the recipe. I find some I like just a little bit less most of the time so that it just adds richness and not a perceptible sweetness which I don't really like. This goes for some drinks recipes too-I like it a bit drier than some of the esteemed cocktailians whose books I turn too.

[Alex]

If it's not a bread, pastry, or dessert item, everything is negotiable--within limits, of course.

[Chris Hennes]

Oh, cocktails. I always ignore the amount of whatever the sweet ingredient is (cointreau, simple syrup, etc.), and generally start by cutting it in half.

[weinoo]

Seems to me that 90 percent of all recipes that specify salted or unsalted butter call for UNsalted. I never buy salted butter any more. I just adjust for salt as needed.

Exactly. Maybe even higher than that.

How is it a bother? Do you have to go to an "unsalted butter shop?"

For me the "bother" is the cost. I'm buying 4lbs of butter at Costco and they only sell salted, at least in my area. Unsalted in my market is at least double the cost. Since virtually all the recipes I use butter in call for adding salt I just use salted butter.

Sorry to hear that. For me, they're both available in the same quantities everywhere I shop, and they cost exactly the same.

Plus, I don't know that you'd find many pastry chefs using salted butter. For instance, Nick Malgieri states:

In all the recipes that call for butter I mean unsalted butter.

King Arthur:

Unsalted butter...it's what our recipes are written for and the one we prefer.

Baking With Julia:

Professional bakers rarely use salted butter, preferring to be able to control the amount of salt they use in a recipe...all the recipes in this book call for unsalted butter.

Etc.