Recipes. I was looking at some recipes on Pinterest because I fancied some new ideas for the new year. And Pinterest is full of attractive pictures of delicious food.
But it soon became clear that many pinners had a different view to what constituted a recipe than me. I sort of felt there should be a minimum of 'made' ingredients, and that something needed to be done to the ingredients besides opening a pack and heating them. Seems not, at least on Pinterest. After my shock that there are people in the world that think a pack of ravioli covered in tomato soup and heated is a recipe (add grated cheese to ring the changes!) I was confronted by recipes where the main ingredient was "cake mix", "pancake mix" or even "butterscotch pudding mix".
Examples on this board ...
Examples on this board ...
I don't expect people to be making their own cheese, whipping up their own mayonnaise, or hand baking bread every day (though it's nice to try it and maybe do it sometimes) but to me a recipe involves more than just some "food combining" "compiling" or "warming". It involves doing stuff to some basics.
I'm not such a snob (I am a snob just not so much of one...) that I shun any pre-made foods, or avoid any shortcut. I use tinned beans, bought pasta, tomato purée in a tube and a myriad of other handy things but I don't call beans on toast a "recipe"...even if I add some Worcester sauce (which is yum by the way) I don't start a recipe with "buy some ready made ..." (Though of course the option is always there to use some ready made bits as a shortcut, eh Nigella?) but I don't add it to the recipe.
So. Things I have learned from Pinterest: not everyone can cook, there are people who think packet mix is a recipe, you can fry everything, and I'm a judgey judgey person.
Do not get me started on what things Pinterest thinks you can fry...pasta is just the beginning, pizza? Yep, Oreos? Apparently...and so it goes on.
I have discovered that i need to add the term "from scratch" to any recipe search on Pinterest. And in doing so I have discovered a great blog http://www.tastesbetterfromscratch.com/ where there are some great recipes.
Some basics that I try and keep in the cupboard all the time include (but are not restricted to); cheese, butter, milk, eggs, flour, pasta (dried, yes I know), lentils, raisins, sugar, honey, oil, ...
I took to twitter with my rant and I'm not alone. Where do you draw the line? What is a basic to you? Is pancake mix a lazy mix too far or a pantry staple? Can you fry cake? What's your favourite recipe? I genuinely want to know, I still need ideas.
