[geeks] Poaching an Egg

[Rick Hamell]

der Mouse wrote:
>> I disagree with this.  In my opinion cooking is an art.  Using
>> precise measurements and temperatures takes the fun out of combining
>> random ingredients and seeing what happens.
> 
> If that's why you cook, then, sure, wing it.
> 
>> Does doing this add anything to the taste of the food?  Asking
>> seriously as I will go out of my way to make food taste good.
> 
> In my experience, it depends on what you're doing.
> 
> Most cooking is relatively insensitive to exact amounts of ingredients
> and can be fudged to taste.  But some - notably some of the more
> finicky baking - is relatively sensitive to small variations.
> 
> Furthermore, there's "learn the rules before you try breaking them".
> While that phrasing is slightly inappropriate, there is some truth in
> it for this situation; I won't wing something I don't already have a
> fair bit of experience at - unless I really don't much care how it
> turns out, of course.

True. I guess having grown up on a farm and learning to cook from the 
grandparents might have colored my cooking experience and abilities. 
Family recipes passed down verbally do not have any precise 
instructions, and still taste fine after 30+ years of making them. Even 
now when I see something like x amount of y, I just eyeball it and toss 
it in, which has irritated and driven many an ex out of the kitchen when 
I was cooking.

Anecdotal; I had some friends who were of the Odd Couple type. One 
cooked the same way I do. The other was really anal about it. We 
measured out the ingredients each used for the same set of recipes and 
found that the friend who eyeballed it was 90% of the time exactly right 
on measurements. The rest of the time it was a pretty minuscule difference.

-- 
Rick Hamell
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