I have done it again. I made something last fall that turned out fantastic, something I rarely make, better than ever before, and I didn't take notes on what I did. Tried tonight to make the same thing, with a recipe for it online. Wasn't nearly as good. Lesson learned.
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I just took a note...
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I do stuff like that all the time...no measurements, either no recipe or I alter the recipe, and I can’t replicate it next time. I don’t even remember all the things that turned out really well, oftentimes they’re just experiments. I definitely need to take notes.Comment
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Taking notes not going to happenComment
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Amen. My wife made an awesome marinara sauce once, better than Prego (and I love Prego traditional, could drink it) and didn't write it down. She hasn't been able to duplicate it since.Comment
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The problem with notes... many food items have great variability, either from season to season or item to item even. Those summer tomatoes from the farmer's market may make the best sauce, but you won't be able to make it as good with tomatoes harvested a couple weeks later, or different varietals. Slight temperature variations change proofing times, yeast activity, and more, so the same bread may come out differently based on seasons, even if the process is replicated to the letter.
And that's before the context of tasting comes into play. My wine palate has a great deal of variability from year to year. I notice certain things taste better or different on different days. Just consider how some food tastes smokier the next day, because you were outside with the smoker the day you cooked it, and your sense of smoke is, for lack of a better word, smoked on the day of service. You have a shower and a sleep, and that pork butt leftover tastes smokier.
I like taking notes, but I have come to accept that everything I make is context dependent to a greater or lesser degree, and each meal is to be enjoyed for itself and likely never repeated.
Of course, if you use nothing but processed foods in your cooking, you will have much less variation. But variance is the spice of (statistical) life.Comment
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I keep all my recipes in Google Drive. Any notes or variations are added in a different color font. This allows me to keep track of various changes as I go along. If somethings comes out not as good as expected, I have a point I can go back to. It's easy to add pictures, links back to the original online author of the recipe.
I also copy and paste a list of ingredients into Google Keep and have a checklist I can tick off on my phone when at the store.
This smartphone thing is going to be popular.
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Agreed. I keep a culinary journal and record even small things, like a slight change in oven temperature or duration of roasting or baking. When smoking a record of ambient temperature is also valuable.Comment
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I find that I do keep small notes on my Fireboard sessions but rarely go back and look at them. I am a recipe horder though, I really like the app called Paprika 3, super easy to copy interweb recipes and organize them. Other than that it's a lot of seat of the pants remembering.Comment
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I keep lots of notes. Maybe too many? Nice to have especially when learning a new technique like Sous Vide.Comment
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