Oh this is a great and funny column, worth repeating. Because it sounds like me. I cook with what I have in the house. 🥰 I did make your black bean chili yesterday from Home Cooking with Kate McDermott. I couldn't use garlic or onions because I was feeding yogis. But it was excellent!!! Looking forward to leftovers today. 🥰
Hilarious. My husband cooks like this. Drives me bananas. He calls it “augmenting.” I constantly ask if he could please try a recipe as is just once before “augmenting.”
I’m making your Chai Pie today for NaNoPieMo, 30 Pies in 30 Days challenge. Maybe instead of cardamom I’ll try epazote. They’re kinda the same, right? 🤣
I sometimes find there is no reasoning with newbie or not well practiced bakers. I let them proceed as they want. When their bake is a fail then we can discuss the reasons why. Just went through this with a friend making whole wheat pizza crust. Enjoyed the post as always!
I loved this post then, and now. I'm sure I told you back then about my friend who couldn't understand why her cookies didn't turn out like mine, when she had cut half the sugar out, changed which fat she used, and had carob instead of chocolate. But I also remember the first time you and I corresponded. It was in the FutureLearn class on Royal cooking through the centuries, starting with a hand-raised pie to celebrate the birth of King Henry VIII's only son. The recipe called for cheddar cheese, and you said that you had used (and of course I can't remember) something along the lines of camembert and gorgonzola, because that was what you had in the house. And I asked if you would please adopt me, because who wouldn't want to live somewhere when the pantry staples are such amazing cheese? I mean, I've lived in the house when you could always find Velveeta in the fridge, but not those wonderful cheeses. I made mine (not hand-raised, that's for sure) with Cambozola and aged Romano, and it was so good that it's now my go-to pot luck dish, and I wouldn't dream of following the recipe and using just plain old cheddar. (though I love a sharp cheddar)
😅 So funny and SO true!! I too get aggravated when people post there displeasure with a recipe, only to say their silly substitutes they made and yet still don't know why it didn't come out as expected. Good one, Joe"! 😆
This reminds me of my sister-in-law, whom I dearly love. She would eat something I had made, ask for the recipe, make it at home and then say, "It was good, but not the same." I think she actually believed that people shared recipes but left something out intentionally to preserve their reputation as being the only one who could make that particular dish. Like Joe Yonan's fictitious friend, she would make her own "adaptations" to a recipe, like using margarine instead of butter. It got to be a joke between my mother and me.
Lol! 😂😂😂
Oh this is a great and funny column, worth repeating. Because it sounds like me. I cook with what I have in the house. 🥰 I did make your black bean chili yesterday from Home Cooking with Kate McDermott. I couldn't use garlic or onions because I was feeding yogis. But it was excellent!!! Looking forward to leftovers today. 🥰
Hilarious. My husband cooks like this. Drives me bananas. He calls it “augmenting.” I constantly ask if he could please try a recipe as is just once before “augmenting.”
I’m making your Chai Pie today for NaNoPieMo, 30 Pies in 30 Days challenge. Maybe instead of cardamom I’ll try epazote. They’re kinda the same, right? 🤣
Thanks for the morning giggle, Kate! A great way to start the day 🤣
I sometimes find there is no reasoning with newbie or not well practiced bakers. I let them proceed as they want. When their bake is a fail then we can discuss the reasons why. Just went through this with a friend making whole wheat pizza crust. Enjoyed the post as always!
thanks for a laugh, and the reminder that salt matters, even if we have high blood pressure
Priceless, indeed! Memories of years as a food editor and occasional reader responses a bit like Joe’s imaginary one!
I loved this post then, and now. I'm sure I told you back then about my friend who couldn't understand why her cookies didn't turn out like mine, when she had cut half the sugar out, changed which fat she used, and had carob instead of chocolate. But I also remember the first time you and I corresponded. It was in the FutureLearn class on Royal cooking through the centuries, starting with a hand-raised pie to celebrate the birth of King Henry VIII's only son. The recipe called for cheddar cheese, and you said that you had used (and of course I can't remember) something along the lines of camembert and gorgonzola, because that was what you had in the house. And I asked if you would please adopt me, because who wouldn't want to live somewhere when the pantry staples are such amazing cheese? I mean, I've lived in the house when you could always find Velveeta in the fridge, but not those wonderful cheeses. I made mine (not hand-raised, that's for sure) with Cambozola and aged Romano, and it was so good that it's now my go-to pot luck dish, and I wouldn't dream of following the recipe and using just plain old cheddar. (though I love a sharp cheddar)
This is great! Thank you for such good humor!! 🥰
Spot on!
😅 So funny and SO true!! I too get aggravated when people post there displeasure with a recipe, only to say their silly substitutes they made and yet still don't know why it didn't come out as expected. Good one, Joe"! 😆
This reminds me of my sister-in-law, whom I dearly love. She would eat something I had made, ask for the recipe, make it at home and then say, "It was good, but not the same." I think she actually believed that people shared recipes but left something out intentionally to preserve their reputation as being the only one who could make that particular dish. Like Joe Yonan's fictitious friend, she would make her own "adaptations" to a recipe, like using margarine instead of butter. It got to be a joke between my mother and me.