Patel

Vodka sauce is made with varying amounts of tomato paste to achieve a certain final taste. Not enough paste and you end up with a weak thin sauce. Too much paste and your sauce becomes thick and heavy. It is a balance of concentrated tomato, creaminess, and the booziness from the vodka. Most cooks mixes … Read more

For beef barley soup, barley change when cooked. It goes from small and plain to big and puffed-up. It pulls in the broth around it and swell as it heats. This changes not only texture, but overall volume of your meal. What is the key to the balance? Too little barley make the soup thin, … Read more

There’s more to determining the proper amount of cheese than simply considering the package size. Consider the sauce, crust, toppings, and what the cheese do in the oven. If you don’t use enough cheese it feels sparse on a pizza. Use too much cheese and you’ll have burnt cheese around the edge and a soggy … Read more

When planning a bake, you know how many grams of flour to use for a loaf of bread, or so you think, right? What about your hydration or your starter? What about your pan size or what happens in the oven? The answer change as each of these factors does. After cooling on the rack, … Read more

The sour cream gives banana bread a subtle tanginess, plus moisture; otherwise the crumb would of been lifeless. Recipes usually specify how much is needed (and they don’t vary), but play around with it, depending on your bananas, flour, and what kind of consistency you prefer. Too little will result in a slice that’s dry … Read more

Adding nutmeg to your macaroni and cheese doesn’t call attention to itself; instead, it rounds out the flavors of the dairy components. It’s that little something that takes the sauce from tasting flat to being more complete, particularly if the cream is rich or the cheese are sharp. Add too much spice and dish starts … Read more

You may be asking what oregano oil is. It’s got quite a pungent odor to it but adds an interesting twist to everyday foods! The key are to get the flavor right without overdoing it on the spiciness. With this tool, you calculate how many drops or teaspoons go in your dish, then it translates … Read more

Adding citrus to the ceviche help ensure that it’s adequately cured in acidic juices. Ideally, the citrus will give a bright taste (not a sour one) while pulling some of moisture out of the fish/shellfish to ensure an even cure. If you add too much juice, your dish will be watery by the time it … Read more

Stroganoff is another dish where Paprika is a key ingredient. It adds some beef and mushroom notes but without overpowering the sour cream. When the amount of cream changes (and also the sauce volume & batch size), that’s where the paprika comes in: you don’t want to guess your way into a balanced meal! Stroganoff … Read more

The marinade has to be balanced, getting it right decides whether your dinner tastes balanced or just salty. How many times have you heard others complain about their meat being bland or briny? They uses a lot of soy sauce, right? And then they wonder what happened? Marinades are complex: the amount of soy sauce … Read more