Chef recipes should be taken with a stone of salt
From time to time I'll be offering chef recipes that I think you might enjoy. But it needs to be said that chefs are notoriously bad at scaling recipes to a manageable serving size, say converting a recipe that serves 60 to one that serves 6. It's not always simple math. Chefs also take a lot for granted. They assume basic knowledge of the home cook, and they underestimate the literalness that some readers approach a recipe. I once published my recipe for limoncello, which calls for lemon peels to soak in a jar of grain alcohol for up to two weeks. I had dozens of queries from readers wanting to know if the jar should be covered or not.
So recipes from restaurants must be taken with a grain of salt, or, as the case may be, a fistful of salt.
Take this one, which I received in a mailer from the Sanctuary condominium family of restaurants recently.
Red Sangria
One jug of red wine
7 quarts simple syrup
2 oz. peach schnapps
4 fresh squeezed lemons
4 fresh squeezed limes
Splash of cranberry
2 5.5 oz. cans of pineapple juice
1 cup of OJ
2 cups of sprite (sic)
Garnish with orange slices.
That last line constitutes the entire set of instructions. But that's not the most confusing part. Let's start with the first ingredient, a jug of red wine. What size jug? I assume something larger than a 1.5 liter bottle, but who can say for certain. Let's just assume you should get the largest jug you can carry.
From time to time I'll be offering chef recipes that I think you might enjoy. But it needs to be said that chefs are notoriously bad at scaling recipes to a manageable serving size, say converting a recipe that serves 60 to one that serves 6. It's not always simple math. Chefs also take a lot for granted. They assume basic knowledge of the home cook, and they underestimate the literalness that some readers approach a recipe. I once published my recipe for limoncello, which calls for lemon peels to soak in a jar of grain alcohol for up to two weeks. I had dozens of queries from readers wanting to know if the jar should be covered or not.
So recipes from restaurants must be taken with a grain of salt, or, as the case may be, a fistful of salt.
Take this one, which I received in a mailer from the Sanctuary condominium family of restaurants recently.
Red Sangria
One jug of red wine
7 quarts simple syrup
2 oz. peach schnapps
4 fresh squeezed lemons
4 fresh squeezed limes
Splash of cranberry
2 5.5 oz. cans of pineapple juice
1 cup of OJ
2 cups of sprite (sic)
Garnish with orange slices.
That last line constitutes the entire set of instructions. But that's not the most confusing part. Let's start with the first ingredient, a jug of red wine. What size jug? I assume something larger than a 1.5 liter bottle, but who can say for certain. Let's just assume you should get the largest jug you can carry.
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