Are you a measurer or a thrower?
What's your cooking style? Obvious, baked goods require a bit more precision, but how do you deal with your ingredients in a stove top or oven-baked recipe?
I never reach for a measuring device unless I'm following some new, strange recipe. But even then, I'll throw in random ingredients, taste, and adjust along the way so that the finished product rarely matches the ingredient list of the original. (My room is always a mess, by the way.) How about everyone else? :)
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37 Comments:
I'm a thrower, for the most part, as long as I'm familiar with a recipe/concept. For new stuff, I do try to keep to the recipe a little closer though. This might explain why I have yet to really try my hand at baking? haha.
joyyy at 6:12PM on 07/24/08
Agreed; if I am comfortable with the recipe. (interesting topic by the way)
I guess you could say that I 'eye-ball' seasonings. Sometimes my batches of; say, Chili are various sizes--so measuring doesn't make sense.
I've seen TV chefs/cooks count while they pour liquids. I used to do that when I bartended, but have not risked trying it with soya sauce for example.
But HEY! why not?!
hungrychristel at 6:13PM on 07/24/08
Throw, taste, adjust, add some more garlic . . . more black pepper . . . yeah, that's about right.
ride&cook at 6:13PM on 07/24/08
Thrower.
izatryt at 6:21PM on 07/24/08
Baking - I might swap ingredients, but I basically follow a recipe. I will measure flour for sure, and "eyeball" (sounds so RR) most of the rest.
Cooking - Recipes are merely inspiration, and I usually want to see what various recipes for ____ recommend as far as oven temp and cooking time using _lbs. of ____ as the main ingredient. Then, I add what sounds good and never think to write it down when it turns out great.
If it's something I've made before or feel confident about, I don't even use a recipe - just go ahead and create.
So, I guess you'd call me a thrower.
PerkyMac at 6:23PM on 07/24/08
I'm cautious with new recipes & measure followed by tasting. Next time, I'm a thrower, so I'll add or subtract ingredients & or seasonings.
JEP at 6:23PM on 07/24/08
Thrower except when baking.
Blue Iris at 6:40PM on 07/24/08
Thrower.
I don't know the last time I used a measuring spoon.
For baking it is a tad more precise, as I measure flours and sugars, but the rest is palm-of-the-hand measured.
sadiepix at 6:55PM on 07/24/08
I'm with mostly everyone else, I measure the first few times, then I'm a thrower. But with baking come my OCD tendencies!
Even before Rachael Ray, Julia Child used to measure a lot in her palms. I'm a big fan of this because once you do it a few times you know you're using close to the same amount all the time. (Unless of course you "Hulk out" and your fists enlarge spontaneously!)
bobcatsteph3 at 7:00PM on 07/24/08
creative thrower....lol
onepercent99 at 7:00PM on 07/24/08
This is why I don't bake much. I have always been a 'thrower'. Lately though I have been trying to pay attention to how much of a given thing I 'throw' into the pot, so I can reproduce good results.
Now my husband is the baker in the house, and I'm sure that's because he is so careful to follow measurements precisely, and uses the different measuring cups for dry ingredients and wet. He even weighs flour instead of measuring it.
I think of cooking as an art, and baking as a science.
AliceBlue at 7:03PM on 07/24/08
I am a total 'thrower' - except when it comes to baking which must be precise.
bircham at 7:23PM on 07/24/08
Hee...I neglected to mention that my original post is a perfect hypocrisy. :) I totally throw when I bake too! I just try to maintain a good consistency and texture in the dough, and if it looks too wet or too dry, I throw some more. Anyone else do this when baking?
Pammeh at 7:26PM on 07/24/08
thrower, for sure. Recipes are used for general ideas, but I'll toss in whatever spices or extra veggies to make my own creation (not to mention the fact that I hate using teaspoons and tablespoons to measure spices...). For baked goods, I'll measure oils and baking powders, flour is generally right, and sugar is usually under what is called for. Again, spices are estimated and I usually throw in some cinnamon to whatever I'm baking!
luswim06 at 7:38PM on 07/24/08
When it comes to seasonings, I"m definitely a thrower... and I have the bad habit of never writing my recipes down which makes them impossible to reproduce accurately..
cambriana at 8:44PM on 07/24/08
I always "throw" when baking with yeast, but when doing cakes I'm very careful because cake baking terrifies me. Breads are very forgiving.
ReneeC at 9:08PM on 07/24/08
I'm definitely a thrower (except baking). Makes it difficult when people ask for recipes.
buffy at 10:21PM on 07/24/08
I am a eyeballer. I taste, throw, eyeball, smell and then taste again. Cooking is a multi sensory enterprise.
JerzeeTomato at 10:42PM on 07/24/08
I tend to be mostly with JEP, I think. If a recipe looks good and comes from a credible source, I follow it precisely and taste as I go -- but I generally won't modify it the first time around. I wait to see how it all plays out in the end.
The second time around? I'm a thrower, for sure.
Baking? Always precise. In fact, I wish recipes included WEIGHTS and not purely MEASURES. (I used to be a baker -- measures are generally useless.)
tmj529 at 1:05AM on 07/25/08
You've been reading my mail. Except with baked goods and new recipes, I'm a thrower. Over the years I've developed the ability to know what a "teaspoon" looks like in my palm so that keeps the throwing under a bit of control. Cavalier yes; reckless no. My "room" is cleaned as I go. A messy kitchen slows me down, stifles my creativity and appetite.
czken at 3:34AM on 07/25/08
Yes.
Cassaendra at 7:51AM on 07/25/08
I'm a thrower - and even when I look up a recipe, I usually find two or three that *mostly* please me and then use elements of them all and eyeball, guesstimate, etc.
I do measure when baking, but only to get the proportions right, and with anything that doesn't seem to need measuring, like vanilla or nuts or whatnot, let the throwing begin.
wellred at 8:21AM on 07/25/08
I'm in the "cooking is an art, baking is a science" club so throwing first, measuring second. I wouldn't hesitate to sub hazelnuts for walnuts if applicable but otherwise, I keep close to a baking recipe.
chiff0nade at 8:36AM on 07/25/08
I am, by all means, a thrower. I'm pretty lax when I bake too, unless it's a cake - like everybody else said, I certainly make an effort to keep the proportions right, but there is no way I am going to measure 12 Tbsp of butter, there is just no way!
That said, several years ago my husband started insisting that I write down my recipes (he is very sweet and still declares after every meal, "Yet another triumph!", and we've been together for almost 6 years now). I started off just by writing down the ingredients I threw in, then proceeded to add approximate quantities...what can I tell you, it's a challenging process for me, but on the plus side, I can actually share a recipe now, and it makes me really happy!
brooke29 at 11:48AM on 07/25/08
1st time: measurer
2nd time: thrower
bessfour at 2:43PM on 07/25/08
always a measurer for baking.
for cooking, mostly a thrower. i rarely cook from recipes unless i bake.
cybercita at 4:04PM on 07/25/08
Cooking: thrower, unless it's something really specific like a spice rub for meat, in which case I measure so that the taste combination is correct.
Baking: mostly measurer, but possibly the messiest, least accurate measurer the world has known.
I had a home economics teacher in junior high that STRICTLY enforced careful, perfect measuring for baking. As in, you lost a letter grade on an assignment if she saw you, say, level off a measuring cup of flour with your finger or using liquid measure for dry. I think it created an aversion to perfection in my style of measurement.
savecara at 4:25PM on 07/25/08
I'm totally a measurer. I don't trust myself to "measure with my eyes".
Chew on That at 4:40PM on 07/25/08
Thrower. My grandmother made delicious German and Ukrainian peasant food and never measured a thing. I don't think she had measuring cups or the like in her house, and probably wouldn't have known what they were for. If you're making simple food, you don't need to measure. I just adopted my grandmother's kitchen philosophy.
minstrel at 4:35PM on 07/26/08
Somewhat of a measurer in baking, except for bread. It was a wonderful day when I finally learned that bread is NOT rocket science, and environmental factors will always affect the amount of flour that a bread dough needs.
In general cooking...absolutely a thrower except for my dry rub for smoking pork. I adapted from another recipe, and the measurements worked.
I did a cookie exchange class for a "cooking school" last December. The "leader" took one look at all my measuring cups and explained to all that's the reason she doesn't bake - she hates to measure.
thewrighttaste at 1:53PM on 07/27/08
A thrower. I can't abide by the extra time, not to mention the extra utensils/equip that you need to wash to measure things out to the tee.
Where you had none before, suddenly you have measuring spoons, measuring cups and little bowls of what not to wash along with your pots and pans.
I do things by taste, and no, I don't really bake that often where the throw method probably wouldn't work so well.
fuuchan at 1:18AM on 07/28/08
Total and unapologetic measurer, for every kind of cooking. For the things I learned to cook without recipes (tomato sauce, for example) I always stick to the same proportions I learned. For everything else, even when I don't need to refer back to the printed recipe, I measure.
Bakerloo Line at 2:47PM on 07/29/08
Thrower. And I don't bake.
Kerosena at 3:10PM on 07/29/08
i definately consider recipes 'suggestions' and feel free to follow my taste buds and modify as necessary. so a thrower for sure
nightmoon at 10:43PM on 07/30/08
Thrower unless baking.
pjracz10 at 5:46PM on 08/03/08
I'm in the thrower club, for both. I learned to bake from watching my Dad and my Grandma both of whom are in the "throw what looks right on the countertop and pour the liquid atop" club when they bake stuff. This sort of thing makes me real meeeh toward baking. It's a piece o' cake - literally XD
feriorrenna at 6:26PM on 08/03/08
If you ever take a look at any of my "recipes" my measurements go something like this: a smidge of this, a drizzle of that, a good handful of this, a buttload of that...I've been trying to better quantify for friends who ask me for recipes, but I'm genetically a thrower.
wookie at 6:54PM on 08/03/08