— Jackie Sarlitt

You know, uh, hopefully the, the recipe is written in a way where it'll give you a hint. Uh, you know, for example, if it says a cup of chopped parsley, then I would read that as chop the parsley first, and then measure your cup. Okay? Uh, and generally speaking, I would say that you're going to chop first. Uh, but, you know, keep in mind that when it comes to, uh, flavorings like fresh herbs, uh, if a, if a, uh, a measurement is given, you know, like a cup, there's always a plus or minus, okay? Uh, of that measurement, uh, it is never a hard measurement, and it, and it shouldn't be, right? Um, you know, how much you, uh, chop the, uh, herbs will, uh, uh, uh, affect how much goes into the cup, how much you compress that herb into the cup will affect the density. And, uh, and then your own palate preference, right? Will affect how much of, of the herb you wanna add to the dish. So, start out right, as you know, as a loose starting point with chopping your herbs, and then going along with a recipe measurement. Make that recipe, see how you like the results, understand the recipe at that level, and then do it again. And this is where repetition and experience is so important, uh, to your understanding and confidence in the kitchen. Okay? Uh, at Rouxbe, you know, what we say is, uh, that a recipe is, is merely a suggestion. And, uh, you know, we certainly have a lot of recipes and, and give you a lot of recipes, but therefore, practice of the cooking methods and ancillary techniques that we emphasize in our courses, okay? Um, if you were to give, you know, a recipe to 10 different cooks, there's a a pretty good chance you're gonna get 10 different versions of that item. And that's the way it is, okay? Uh, based upon a person's experience, based upon their tools, their equipment, the quality of their ingredients, and other factors, the results will differ. So it's gonna be, uh, you know, up to you to prepare a dish more than once, uh, and then understand it, and then make changes to suit your situation. Okay? Um, you know, when I may, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll use me as an example, but I've heard this from other students as well. When I make a recipe for the first time, and I am not so keen on the results, um, I, I've, uh, first thing I think is that, oh, hey, okay, I, you know, um, I, I, maybe the way the author intended this doesn't quite match with my palate, so I need to make it again to tweak the results. Um, what I hear from students sometimes is, oh, this is a, a lousy recipe. It's poorly written, the dish didn't taste good. Okay? Whereas what we need to do is we, you have to come back to the cutting board and prepare it again, and make adjustments and make it our own. Okay? That's the process of cooking. Um, while I agree there are some poorly written recipes out there, um, usually it's gonna be a situation where the cook needs to do it a few times to figure it out, okay? And, uh, so hopefully that gives you, uh, some perspective and the inclination to experiment and, uh, keep honing your skills. All right. Thank you.