How to read a recipe

Before you start

1. Read the whole thing to the end. Every experienced cook has been caught by "meanwhile, the dough you made yesterday" in the fourth paragraph.
2. Check the equipment. A 20cm tin is not a 23cm tin, and the difference changes the baking time by a third.
3. Check the timings against your evening. "Chill for four hours" and "rest overnight" appear in the middle of methods surprisingly often.
4. Check you have everything, including the things assumed — salt, oil, a lemon.
5. Note which steps are irreversible. Adding all the liquid at once, or all the sugar, is where recipes go wrong permanently.
6. Weigh out and prepare what you can before turning on the heat, particularly for anything fast. See mise en place.

What to distrust

Timings

Every time. Ovens vary by 20°C, pans conduct differently, and quantities differ. Treat times as approximate and the sensory cue as the real instruction.

"Caramelise the onions for 10 minutes"

It takes 40 or more. See onions not browning.

"Season to taste"

This is the most important instruction and the least specific. It usually means more salt than you would add unprompted.

"Medium heat"

Means whatever it meant on the author's hob. Watch the food, not the dial.

Cup measures for flour

Vary by up to a third depending on how the cup is filled. Use weights for baking.

"Serves 4"

Optimistic more often than not.

Reading the sensory cues

Where a recipe gives both a time and a description, the description is the instruction and the time is a hint.

• "Until golden", "until fragrant", "until it coats the back of a spoon", "until it springs back" — these are the real tests.
• Where a recipe gives only a time, work out what the cue should be and use that instead.
• Where a recipe gives a range — "20 to 25 minutes" — the author is telling you they are unsure. Start checking at the bottom of the range.
• Where two recipes for the same thing disagree wildly on a quantity, one of them is probably a typo. Compare a third.
• Trust ratios more than absolute quantities. Ratios travel between kitchens; times do not.

Adapting to your kitchen

• Get an oven thermometer. Most domestic ovens are out by 10–20°C, and every baking recipe assumes yours is accurate.
• Learn your hob. Note which ring is fierce and which is gentle, and where "medium" actually sits.
• Fan ovens run effectively hotter. Reduce by about 20°C from a conventional temperature unless the recipe already specifies fan.
• Note what you changed and what happened, on the recipe itself. This is how a recipe becomes yours.
• Make it as written the first time, then adjust. Changing three things at once tells you nothing about which one mattered.
• Scaling up rarely scales linearly — seasoning, cooking time and pan size all behave differently at volume.

Common questions