How to understand the effect of individual ingredients of recipes?
I like cooking and I try different recipes from web/book. But I am not satisfied by just cooking using recipes, I want to understand what tastes individual ingredients bring to a recipe and what alternatives do I have for different ingredients of recipes that I cook so that I can experiment safely i.e replacing ingredients with there alternatives to produce slightly different taste or removing some ingredients altogether.
Is there any resource on the web that I can consult for this? I know I can learn this by experimenting and tasting individual ingredients but I need something that can give me a starting point upon which I can build my own knowledge.
Best Answer
This is an overly broad question which may get closed by some here for that reason. For the future you may want to limit your questions to specifics goals or issues. It is often helpful to include what you have already tried.
As for general resources YouTube and other sites offer a variety of videos where experts will teach and demonstrate a variety of techniques. If you search Google or YouTube for "Alton Brown" and any of a variety of topics you are likely to find a video that will be helpful. Here is an episode from Alton Brown on Shish-Ka-Bob as an example.
Your profile indicates that you are in Pakistan, some of the best resources I can suggest come not directly from the internet but from television, much of which is also available via YouTube, Hulu and other internet sites. Also The Food Network website is a great resource.
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How do different ingredients affect baking?
While substitutions can be made, varying the proportions of ingredients in a recipe alters the texture and flavor of the finished product. Flour provides the structure in baked goods. Wheat flour contains proteins that interact with each other when mixed with water, forming gluten.Why it is important to learn the different ingredients in every standard recipes?
Standardized recipes produce a consistent quality and yield every time when the exact procedures, equipment, and ingredients are used and help ensure that the best possible food items are produced every time The advantages of standardization to a food service include the same consistency of food prepared everytime and ...How do you interpret recipes?
How to Read a RecipeWhat are the 5 things a recipe will tell you?
Remember recipe parts & resources.- Yield. The yield tells the number and size of servings the recipe will make.
- List of Ingredients & Amounts.
- Step By Step Directions for Mixing & Handling. The recipe should have directions for how to prepare it. ...
- Equipment (Container Size & Type) ...
- Temperature & Time.
Intro to Understanding Baking Ingredients - Fluffnpuff Pastry Baking Basics
More answers regarding how to understand the effect of individual ingredients of recipes?
Answer 2
Doin't know about the web, but a great book is 'The Flavour Thesaurus' by Niki Segnit. What goes with what, why, what else can you use, etc.
Answer 3
A good book for baking specifically is Baking Illustrated - they break down the results of altering one ingredient at a time in their test kitchen before each recipe so you understand why they chose the ingredients they did.
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