Would you like to know how to enjoy cooking? Do you hate to cook? Many people hate to cook. What do you hate about cooking? For many people, the answer is they hate to measure and worry about having to be precise.
Is that you? Then, I have a secret to tell you: Measuring just isn’t that big a deal. It doesn’t have to be precise. Most of the time, I base my recipe on what is on hand, rather than a specific measure. And it works out.
Baking, now that is another thing all together. Most of the time, cooking is not rocket science. But baking comes close to it. Especially if you’re making a soufflé! All cooking is about chemical reactions. But baking requires more precision. Oven temperature matters. Quantities matter. And whatever you do, don’t forget the eggs.
When I was 9 or 10 and was baking my first cake, using a recipe the family had used for years, I made a cake that came out very dry. Almost inedible. When I thought back on what I had done, I realized that I had forgotten the eggs. Don’t ever do that when baking a cake.
Cooking is not rocket science, but baking is close! #WhatsCookingWithBarbara Click To Tweet
But cooking is different. Some recipes might not do well if you forget the egg, but precise measuring isn’t so critical. You still should do some measuring, though. You don’t want to add three times the salt, for example. Otherwise your guests will need gallons of water to go with your meal.
How To Enjoy Cooking?
Relax. Make it fun. Don’t sweat the measuring too much. Close is good enough. Experiment. What’s the worst that can happen?
My experience, though, is that if you can follow directions, you really can’t mess thing up. In all the years I’ve been cooking, I can think of only one meal that was actually inedible. To begin with, it was Liver & Onions. I made it because my then husband said he liked Liver & Onions. It was my first time to make it and I was 21 or 22 at the time. It turned out so bad that we didn’t even eat it.
What’s your biggest cooking challenge? Tell us in the comments!
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