Internet recipes that don't turn out

[XCashier]

So, I'm trying to eat healthier. And rather than buy expensive cook books where you end up liking maybe one recipe, I look online and try recipes there.

I print off the recipes, buy the ingredients, follow the recipe to the letter. For example, I printed off a Brown Rice and Lentil Casserole recipe that sounded delicious and had a picture that looked pretty good. Used the exact measurements, cooked it at the exact time and temperature called for...and it's soupy gravel.

I know I'm no master chef. All I want is something that tastes good, is healthy and is reasonably simple to make. I don't have money to waste on food that doesn't turn out nor time to "tweak" every recipe I see that should be correct as written.

Screw this, I'm making mac & cheese.

[mjr]

I've had that happen before, as well. I think sometimes it has to do with altitude, oven temp (oven temps can be off), cookware being used, and just cook times being wrong (i.e. they give you a specific instead of a range).

[AmbrosiaWriter]

When I find an online recipe I tend to scan through the comments on it like on allrecipes.com - you just gotta realize some people will be like "This recipe is amazing but I changed <insert changing the entire recipe so it's completely new>." Or "This recipe is awful I made it <insert completely different ingredients and cook time."

A lot of times thought they'll be really useful because they might go "Following it to the letter ended up giving me sludge soup, I tried again <with slight alterations> and it came out perfect!"

So try that website, because a lot of people will have done the tweaking and figuring out for you.

[Greenday]

Other than basic tweaks to things I already know, the only thing I've looked up was homemade alfredo sauce. Basically just heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and butter. It honest to God was the best tasting alfredo sauce I've ever had in my life. 15-20 minutes later, I was in the bathroom dying from the amount of dairy I just had but totally worth it.

[KabeRinnaul]

Sometimes the problem is the recipe includes some amount of pre-setup (to use an easy example, using cold pre-cooked rice rather than making some fresh) that the recipe author thinks is too obvious/commonplace to mention, but the actual average reader wouldn't think about.

[XCashier]

Sometimes the problem is the recipe includes some amount of pre-setup (to use an easy example, using cold pre-cooked rice rather than making some fresh) that the recipe author thinks is too obvious/commonplace to mention, but the actual average reader wouldn't think about.

This is often the case; I've run across a lot of recipes that you can't tell if you're supposed to cook ingredients beforehand or use raw.

I put the casserole in the fridge for a couple of days. The rice and lentils soaked up the excess liquid and it's a lot better. I think next time I'll try it in a crock pot; I do my best cooking in a crock pot.

[Racket_Man]

I hate to say I have stayed away from the internet recipes. I since I am now single again after being married for 20 years and then an 11 year cohabitation situation I have begun to cook more than just pre-prepared box type meals (GF passed 9 months ago after a 6 year degenerative brain disease). My Ex-wife had this old country kitchen cookbook (originally published in 1953) that her and I loved using many years before. I found a decent copy on Amazon for a great price = My first house warming gift to myself LOL (next is battery packs for my power tools after all of the ones I bought 10 years ago finally died). This book contains tried and true recipes that I know work and are fairly simple to execute.

[HYHYBT]

This reminds me of Grandma, especially the part about the comments. It wasn't an internet recipe, but one out of a magazine that it had given a prize. She got her expectations up high. When she mixed up the batter, she thought it was too runny, so she added a bunch of extra flour or something. The final result was a cake that was too dry, which of course was the fault of the recipe, not the modification.

[mjr]

Other than basic tweaks to things I already know, the only thing I've looked up was homemade alfredo sauce. Basically just heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and butter. It honest to God was the best tasting alfredo sauce I've ever had in my life. 15-20 minutes later, I was in the bathroom dying from the amount of dairy I just had but totally worth it.

Have you tried it with different Parmesans? I know that you can get Parm that's been aged different times. Some is sharper than others, I think.

But yeah, homemade alfredo sauce rocks. My wife made some once for a turkey roulade. I couldn't get enough.

Over Christmas, I actually made a risotto in a crock pot. It actually turned out really, really well. Took over four hours, though. but worth it!

[Naaman]

I hate to say I have stayed away from the internet recipes. I since I am now single again after being married for 20 years and then an 11 year cohabitation situation I have begun to cook more than just pre-prepared box type meals (GF passed 9 months ago after a 6 year degenerative brain disease). My Ex-wife had this old country kitchen cookbook (originally published in 1953) that her and I loved using many years before. I found a decent copy on Amazon for a great price = My first house warming gift to myself LOL (next is battery packs for my power tools after all of the ones I bought 10 years ago finally died). This book contains tried and true recipes that I know work and are fairly simple to execute.

Best stuff I've found online is probably Alton Brown (they don't show him in the UK). I believe most of his stuff is accessible from the US on YouTube. He doesn't just show you recipes he explains why you're doing something... and sock puppets. Another good one is signing up for Americas Test Kitchen, get the months freebie and rampage through the site and stay signed up to the newsletter - stuff that's featured in the e-mails is normally fully viewable for a couple of weeks after.

If you're able to see it the BBC archive is pretty good, get some Jamie Oliver for healthy & easy dishes. Just resist the urge to beat him with a Thesaurus.

As for books, check the thrift stores for stuff published by Ted Smart, you'll normally find they have good solid recipes with plenty of relevant pictures

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Yeah, I find that a lot. The one I did just last night had me using a 2-to-1 ratio of flour to butter in a roux. Normally one would use a 3-to-2 ratio.

What their recipe made was not a roux, but something resembling a dry cookie dough. I scrapped the roux and made it the normal way and got better results.

When I find an online recipe I tend to scan through the comments on it like on allrecipes.com - you just gotta realize some people will be like "This recipe is amazing but I changed <insert changing the entire recipe so it's completely new>." Or "This recipe is awful I made it <insert completely different ingredients and cook time."

I do that a lot myself. A lot of times a recipe calls for some ingredient I can't get out here in the sticks unless I order it from online. Their comments for "I couldn't find "X" so I substituted "Y" and it was yummy" are a great help.

Sadly, far too many of their comments are "I didn't have "X", "Y", or "Z" so I substituted [some ingredient that makes no damn sense]. I also didn't have the time to do [step] and so I just glopped all the ingredients into the pot and put it into the hands of fate and what I got was something that tasted like ass. The recipe sucked and the person who posted it was a freaking moron"

Really folks? You don't' get any of the ingredients, don't follow the steps and it's the fault of the recipe and the author?

Baffling.

[Tanasi]

I'm a big fan of Alton Brown, he and his test cooks actually work out the details and will give warnings. He'll even answer some questions on Twitter.
I also like ATK and Cook's Country. I don't have the current season's recipes but I do have the past seasons and I've generally had good luck. Except for baking you can fudge a little on most recipes but don't forget you fudged when it doesn't work out. Another good source that is free is Recipe Secrets. They're a great bunch of folks especially Kitchen Witch. If you sign up with them be prepared to get deluged with email as that 's how the site owner pays for it and makes his living. I've also been getting a lot of recipes off of face book lately but before we make something my youngest daughter and I carefully go over it and try to see where we might go wrong and compensate. This past December my daughter graduated with her bachelors degree in education (she's 18) but now she's going to go to culinary school this fall to get her "chefin" license. She wants to teach home-ec type classes in schools that no-longer can teach home-ec type classes.