Mouthing Off | My home cooking has improved, but no thanks to YouTube chefs or food blogs – keeping recipes simple is the key
- Whether it’s cheeseburger salad or a goat’s cheese brownie, outlandish and complex dishes you find online are not all they are cracked up to be
- Sticking to tried and trusted recipes can be every bit as rewarding – and don’t be afraid to put your own twist on them
You can find recipes for practically anything now, even dishes you don’t think would exist. They are on the web. Try it – make up something and type it into Google.
Cheeseburger salad? There are pages and pages of them, including variations like a low-carb, gluten-free Big Mac salad. Goat’s cheese dessert? You bet. Now refine your search to be more specific. Do you want goat’s cheese cheesecake, brownie, pudding or mousse?
Interest in home cooking has exploded while much of the world has been stuck at home in coronavirus detention. I am no exception. I’m not big on too complex and time-consuming recipes, though. Give me something requiring less than half a dozen ingredients and that won’t take over an hour to make, and I will give it a shot.
This spring, I’ve attempted quite a few dishes I’ve never tackled before. Dan dan noodles is quite simple and easy to make. Kimchi cubano sandwiches are an awesome way to use up leftover roast pork and old cheese slices that are drying up and turning mouldy at the edges.
As we become savvy online searchers, certain things become painfully obvious if you browse enough sites. A lot of blogs wrap their recipes cloyingly around memories of their grandmothers and childhood tales. After reading a few, it becomes annoying to scroll past a preface that starts, “I remember coming home after school and being greeted by the wonderful smell as mom prepared one of our family’s favourite …”
