What's The Difference?

Different, But the Same!

 

Ever notice how two people can make the exact same recipe and it turns out different?  I do.

 

I notice it most when I get a family recipe that I just loved as a kid.  Then I make it and it’s just not the same.  Did my tastes for things change over the years?  Maybe!  Or maybe it’s something in that dreaded “season to taste” or “dash of” line that you see in many, many recipes.  Maybe a manufacturer changed an ingredient.  Ya know, like using corn syrup instead of sugar.  There could be many, many reasons. 

 

I stumbled on one a while back.   One of my wife’s and my favorites is goulash.  It’s easy to prepare and always good.  We make it at least once a month.  She usually makes it. 

 

So awhile back, I tell her, “I’ll cook dinner, what d’ya want?”  Goulash.  It’s the recipe from my post "Scrambling Hamburger" . 

 

It turned out good, but we both noticed that something was different.  We decided to investigate. 

 

I pulled out the recipe and we started going through it.  The recipe calls for a medium onion.  Maybe that was it.  Did I use brown when she uses white or red.  Maybe my onion was a bigger medium than hers.  How about the medium green pepper.  Hmmm, maybe we should change the recipe to being more exact.  Maybe ¼ or ½ cup of each and specify brown, white, or red.  But, my wife says that wasn’t it.  She uses whatever’s available but she likes the idea of exact measurement because sometimes if the onion or pepper seem to be a little big, she’ll not put it all in. 

 

We moved on down the recipe.  Maybe it was a different brand chili powder.  If you read my post on "Chili Dogs", you know that all chili powder isn’t created equal.  Nope, we both used McCormick’s. 

 

Continuing on, we both had used the same amount Tabasco and the same brand (S&W) Mexican style tomatoes.  The only thing we could figure was that it had to be the hamburger.  Maybe I used a leaner mix than she did.  Sure, that must have been it, because we decided, it seemed a little dryer. 

 

Then yesterday, we once again decided on making some goulash.  We did it together.  That was when we found the missing ingredient. 

 

Amazingly the answer is GREASE!  She doesn’t brown the hamburger  using my scrambling hamburger method.  We discovered that when you use my method the hamburger grease is mostly discarded with the water.  That’s good right?  But, hey we want that flavor.  She drains the hamburger after browning but that good fatty flavor stays there which we decided what was missing. 

 

What other recipes did this affect?

 

We decided chili was probably better with the grease, but we both liked tacos and burritos to have less.  Less with a Bolognese spaghetti sauce. 

 

It all comes down to what I’ve been saying for years.  Ya gotta experiment and figure out what you like. 

 

So, for me, lessons learned:  Be more specific on how much of each ingredient.  Be more specific on methods. 

 

I hope this post gave you some food for thought or visa versa.  Hahahaha!

 

Enjoy!