Do you measure when you cook (not bake), or eyeball it all?

[Rabrrrrrr]

I see recipes posted here and they're often accompanied by actual measurements in cups and teaspoons etc. in the recipe.

Certainly for baking having exact measurements is quite important.

But I'm curious how many people actually measure the onions they cut up, or the amount of butter, or salt and pepper, cups of stock, teaspons of minced shallot, cups of potatoes, tablespoons of creme fraiche, etc.

I don't. I just eyeball everything, and then when people ask me how I made something, I have to say stuff like "Well, take a pile of diced onions and cook 'em up in a couple tablespoons of butter and olive oil then add a few diced carrots...(etc.)...and add some thyme, rosemary, and pepper to make it taste right." Or whatever.

Which also means my foods generally taste a bit different each time, based on my eyeballing and also how I feel at the moment (I'm in a leek mood, let's add more of those...). To me, that's exciting!

Really frustrates my sister because she doesn't enjoy cooking but loves what I cook but I can't give her a recipe. Or the few times I've cooked there using recipes (because, of course, we must have receipes!), I give her the recipe and then tell her I changed most of it ("Well, I don't like this spice so much so I used less of it, we didn't have this so I used that, and I used a different cheese because I think gruyere really kicks up and fets is too greek tasting, and I always add more garlic than called for, oh and I probably used more pepper than called for, reduced the amount of water, and added more shrimp."

[rogerashton]

1. eyeball

stewed eyeballs are great with potatos, celery and a little white pepper. And wine, of course.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Do you boil them first?

:-)

[Cuban_Liberal]

3. A pinch of this, a handful of that, a heaping cup of something else.

Unless it's a new recipe, I usually eyeball it. :)

[tridim]

4. I'll measure only if I'm using a recipe

which is rarely, and even then only the first time I use it. Freeform cooking is so much more fun and it's the only way to create happy accidents.

[xultar]

5. Ditto! n/t

[put out]

6. Yes, same here, but then I can't recreate the happy accident.

But when it comes together! Yeah! Nothing better.

[VelmaD]

7. I mostly bake...so I follow directions exactly...

this is REALLY important with things that involves yeast, baking powder or baking soda. :-)

Because I'm so retentive about it when I bake it spills over to when I cook. My best friend loves to tease me about how I always measure everything out exactly.

[amazona]

8. eyeball

It allows me to take advantage of what I have in the garden, what's on sale, what I feel like having more of, etc. Hey, sometimes I want some capers in the tuna sauce, and sometimes I don't. Anyway, sometimes you have to use up a bit of cheese or fish or whatever, and it just makes sense to play.

People who have to anal retentively follow a recipe must spend a fortune if you ask me. You have to be able to say, hmmm, no shallots in the garden today, but if I saute some garlic and some onion, yeah, that's it...

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Real chefs eyeball

And they can't write down a recipe, since they make it up as they go along.

[GOPisEvil]

10. Eyeball.

I add a little more of the stuff I like and put in a little less (or subtitute) for stuff I don't like as much.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. I can see it now,

GOPisEvil is thinking, "Hmmmm.... I don't like green peppers...but I *DO* like gin! Why not?!"


I'm glad to see we have a lot of eyeballers!

Wonder what the response at freerepublic would be?

[Kahuna]

11. I only measure for baking. Otherwise, I wing it...

:7

[mike_c]

13. measure?

What's that?