Finding recipes online is easy, but ensuring that they are great isn't always as simple. Of course the EYB Library is full of well-tested recipes from trusted sources, but occasionally you may stumble across a recipe whose provenance isn't well known. For these recipes, Epicurious (through Yahoo! Food) has provided a list of five signs that indicate a recipe won't work.
Most of the signs are signs of omission: leaving out ingredients, mismatches between the ingredient list and the directions, or omitting special equipment needed to make the dish. Other signs require more interpretation. For instance, one sign is the inclusion of rambling or confusing paragraphs, noting that "if the recipe you're looking at doesn't make sense on the first (or even the second) read, it's a good sign that it's probably missing other essential information for success." However, one person's rambling may be another person's charming prose.
In other posts we've discussed the optimistic times posted with some recipe instructions (for example caramelizing onions), and this too is a sign that the recipe may be headed for disaster. If the recipe has time estimates but no instructions about what to look for at the end of the time period (e.g. color, aroma, viscosity, or sounds), you might want to look for a different recipe.
What signs tip you off that a recipe isn't going to work?
5 comments
Julia
nicolthepickle
It's a basic, but it should be mentioned.
sir_ken_g
I don't know that I would call them "bad" but recipes from writers published abroad who are not familiar with the US ingredient names and availability are a problem. Likewise ethnic recipes written by those not natives to the culture - nor well traveled are suspect.
tsusan
veronicafrance