How to Find a Reliable Recipe
By any definition, Hidden Valley Ranch Sauce is the ultimate foolproof recipe. If you give a million people a bag of seasoning, a 16-ounce can of sour cream, and a spoonful each, they have a million perfect sauce batches. This is the sequence.
Unfortunately, most of the recipes are not as simple or as profitable, but such reliability is not as rare as one might think. Finding the right thing in the wild is actually quite easy if you know what to look out for and, more importantly, what to avoid.
Think like a recipe maker
You don’t need to be a professional blacksmith to figure out a reliable recipe when you see one – it’s a skill that can be learned. The secret is to know where the recipes usually go south so you can avoid them at all costs.
All reliable recipes have the following qualities:
- No baking
- Clear, understandable instructions
- At least one mass-produced ingredient
If this is not the list you were expecting, trust me when I say that every item has a reason. When I need a recipe that works for everyone, I use these basic guidelines when designing it. I would like to tell you why.
Ovens are assholes
Recipe makers know ovens cause more problems than all other common kitchen equipment put together. Almost everyone has one, but not two work the same way . Hot spots, unreliable temperature readings and erratic heat cycles of all types of plague kilns in unique, unpredictable combinations. Add to that the complexity of baking utensils and it only gets worse: glass, ceramics, and metal store and conduct heat differently, which affects how the recipe is made – and these critical heat retention and thermal conductivity properties also vary from brand to brand. brand. Fun!
The combination of all these individual quirks brings incredible variability to the recipe. That doesn’t necessarily mean disaster – casseroles and baked sauces are known to be good – but generally, new recipes in the oven are the exact opposite of infallibility. If you want a guaranteed quick soak, look for cooker, microwave, instant , or deep fryer recipes instead.
Leave no room for misinterpretation
Murphy’s Law on Prescription Development states that any instruction that could be misinterpreted will be incorrect. Even if I am not developing a reliable 10 minute recipe, I try to write the instructions as if I were doing it.
This does not mean that all recipes are unmistakably three lines or shorter. They can be as complex as you like. Much more important is that the instructions have for you a flawless and unambiguous meaning at first glance. If you are in third reading and still not quite sure what the author wants you to do in step 4, go ahead – there are better options.
Shift the focus to ingredients
Recipe consumers tend to get hung up on ingredient lists and nothing else. This usually takes the form of replacement questions that are both valid and – please don’t yell at me – wrong. Some substitutions work better than others, but the major complications arise from the equipment and technique, not from the ingredients. Everyone’s kitchen is equipped with different household appliances, and everyone’s brain works a little differently; if anything, the ingredients are the only common denominator. For proof, take a look at the stories of any recipe developer on Instagram: every reposted dish was made with the same ingredients, but no two versions are exactly the same.
Processed ingredients are the top common denominator because the amount is known. You know exactly what you get every time, and that’s the essence of reliable recipes.
This does not mean adding ranch or onion soup to all recipes. (But I’ll support you if you do.) Instead, find your own version of the ranch mix: the flavorful, massive ingredient that makes everything tastier for you . Olives, anchovies, better than broth , canned marinara sauce, sriracha, instant pudding and even Cool Whip all fit this description, like so many others. If you are looking for simple recipes with these ingredients, you are on your way to delicious and reliable success.