Stop! It Can’t Be The Same If It’s Different!

Recently while chatting with a friend we were talking about food, recipes, and good ‘eats’ in general. My friend was trying not to complain, but complaining nicely. (Is there such a thing?) Recently she had copied a recipe from a food magazine another woman shared with her. She was absolutely sure she copied it meticulously yet her product did not turn out at all similar to the sample she had tasted. I thought perhaps her oven was not working properly. Oven was not the problem. I asked if her ingredients were fresh. Yes to that as well. Did you measure very carefully? Of course!  Well come to find out she had substituted one spice for another even though it was a small amount, and totally left out scallions as she didn’t have any on hand! Guess what?  You absolutely cannot expect a recipe to turn out exactly as you think unless you have the exact ingredients and follow the recipe exactly!  If you change something, (drum roll) it will be different!  It is fun to tweak recipes a bit here and there knowing your product will also be different here and there. Perhaps you will like it better, perhaps not. Just don’t be surprised if your adventuresome spirit takes you down a path a bit different than what is scrolled on the 3 x 5 recipe card!