Remember that the american cup system was all about getting the proportions of the ingredients right and not about the weight.
The just didnt bother to adapt to actual measurements once weighing scales were widely available. (unlike the rest of the world)

You know how some people are dyslexic? I am the culinary equivalent of that.

There is always a good recipe wort to try: Toast. Butter. Marmite. (A few grapes and almonds with it )

Cooking is chemistry and math, really. Try to see the flavors decompose in your mouth to parts when you taste/chew. When you cook, do the opposite: feel the flavors mix together in your imagination as you stir. Or when you read the recipe, you will not need to measure 2nd time you cook it.

It is just about decoding what you coded in long time ago. Rewrite it. Perception - what's causing it.

Although there are a few things I cannot overwrite, shrimp, frogs, oysters. Nope.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

MC - you can lead a horse to water. It may drink but you can't teach it brain surgery.

Marmite.... I know that I loved it as a kid so when I found a glass in a cupboard I opened it, stuck a finger in, licked said finger and spent the next 20 minutes franticall scraping the vile taste off my tongue.

Beef barley soup (in a pressure cooker) makes about 3 liters.
500 g huft or whatever beef (or more or less)
2 Liters beef bullion (I used reconstituted from powder)
400g can crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion
3 carrots
3 ribs of celery
1 Cup (sorry!) barley. Guess you could measure in a tea cup.
Handful of thyme (dried or fresh)
Pepper
Chili (we used jalapeño)
White wine (I just filled 1/2 the tomato can) - 3 dl maybe?
Salt as needed

Chop the onion, carrot, celery (I chop mine into smallish bits in the food processor)
Brown the meat in a little oil. My beef was in 2 250g chunks.
Toss everything into the pot. I chopped up the Chili and removed the seeds.
Cook under high pressure 25 minutes, release naturally.

If the barley‘s not done enough, you may need to do more time. Shred the meat with two forks, toss back into pot.

Adjust for salt. Enjoy.

I added no extra salt because I used beef bullion granules (slow food). I make my own chicken stock and it‘s great, but beef eludes me.

I imagine you could do this via slow cooking too, or regular simmer. You could probably use red wine or no wine.

I read through a number of barley soup recipes last night and this is what I adapted.

Washcloth helps. Naw, I'd stick my finger there again and then to the peanut butter jar right after.

I have heard that soooo many times. Like. Every class.

One has to start by small steps, that's all. And pay attention to quantities and effects. I do most stuff just with ingredients, quantities I adjust as I feel it. Pancakes, all. Your brain will calculate all by itself, you just have to make a sufficient amount of mistakes which, if you measure, you will never make. Capisce?

The best way is cooking with kids, they think throwing stuff together and actually creating something great, sans the mode d'emploi, is a huuuuge partisan fun.

Crepes: a bit of flour, egg in a middle, a bit of salt (I add a pinch of raising powder), quite a bit of milk. You cannot mess it up.

__________________
"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

I think writing down recipes precisely is still very important if you want to repeat them. Emphasizing essential parts is the difference between good and bad recipes.
So, here is my calf liver and Merlot terrine, maybe canning food will soon be popular again . Livers are almost as good as avocados in many nutritional values and they are locally sourced and have good impact on local economy. Just be careful with quantities it if you have problems with cholesterol.
1300 g calf’s liver, 400 g lardon, 1l Merlot, 200g bone bouillon, 250 g shallots, ½ garlic, 3 eggs, 13 g sea salt, 4 g thyme, 13 g black pepper, 100 ml Fig Brandy (min 40%)
Cut liver and lardon into cubes. Soak shallots in warm water and peel the skin, cut in half or quarters. Clean garlic. Run everything trough mincer (coarse plate).
Reduce wine and bouillon by boiling, to cca 250 ml.
Mix all the ingredients.
Wash the canning glasses thoroughly and dry them in oven (140°C), wipe the glasses with generous quantity of brandy. Drink some brandy. Use the the rest of it for some more cleaning*.
Fill carefully almost to the top. Shake the glasses to avoid air pockets. Close the glasses. Put them in water bath and simmer for 3 hours. They should be under the water all the time, if necessary weight them down.

Canned meat like this could stay good for a year.
*cleanliness is really important, we have all learned that, didn't we?
** yes, I just found my spelling error on label

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The baking smells coming out of the area when I sat on my balcony just now were totally new, motivating and delicious .
Think that I may learn how to bake.

Completely with you on that

You can sing a melody you hear from a radio...I am sure you can. You can eventually cook something you like to order somrwhere, by just making enough mistakes.

Baking is awesome. Gratin!

Anyone has a good simple gratin?

Last week I half cooked pasta and coliflower with a bit of bouillon and garlic, salt. Put it in a baking dish with parmazan on top, plus bacon and herbs, a bit of olive oil on top. 20min in the oven at 200°C. Really nice, kid recipe.

Be careful with metals and chemicals. Tinfoil is aluminium. Can of beer is shitload of chemicals on top of... aluminium (paint on the outside, plastic coat on the inside) which are definitely NOT rated for stay in 200C for any length of time. You are lacing you chicken with at least endocrine disruptors and god knows what else.

Nice, anyone with veggie / fish options?

You make it sound like a bad thing.

Recipe worth a try

Lemon Madeleines!

I threw them together for the 1st time, glad this downtime is proving quite creative. Awesome simple recipe: flour (I used really course wheat semolina, cca nutela glass amount), 2 eggs, sugar, salt, baking powder (not much, added a bit of b. soda too), sunflower oil or butter, fresh lemon juice + zest and a bit of fresh tangerine zest. Make it somewhat liquidy (like muffins, madeleines are pretty much muffins with more butter and less baking powder to get that cookie feeling), fill 12 madeleine forms, bake at 200°C for 12-13min. Drink fat milk with it. Yum.

__________________
"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

I take that risk.....life is deathly anyway... I rather want to come skidding round the corner once my time is up, yelling...wow what a ride it was!


So I take my chances with my roast chicken

Two-ingredient dough it is today, I think aside of pizza I will make some herbs and parmesan twists for laters, too.

https://www.thegunnysack.com/two-ing...dough-recipes/

Lovely, simple and child friendly.