Recipes online - does this drive anyone else crazy?

[littlebug42]

This does irritate me too. I spent a long time one night looking for a dumpling recipe that didn't involve a can of biscuits.

[LucyStoner]

Here's Rachel Ray on bacon.

 

I am not sure why these people get TV shows. If you need a recipe for how to cook bacon, why do you trust yourself to safely use electrical appliances?

[LucyStoner]

That reminds me of a crockpot cookbook I have. My friend and I were musing about it once because it has recipes called things like, "Nana's Perfect Hot Dogs." The "recipe" is something like, "Place 8 thawed hot dogs in the crock pot. Cook for 4 hours on low. Serve on a hot dog roll."

 

 

 

How fortuitous they specify to serve it on a hot dog roll. Without that tidbit, one might serve it on a hamburger bun instead.

 

I am trying though, and failing, to think of the toppings. The recipe says nothing. Do I have to eat it plain or can I add grilled onions and peppers and mustard? What kind of mustard can I use? I just can't be sure unless it's in a recipe.

 

I am having a hard time seeing why someone would think "CROCK POT!" when they think "Now, how will I heat these hotdogs up?"

[stripe]

In this cookbook of old Pillsbury Bake Off winners, the Pillsbury product used is...flour. Current recipes that win their award use all manner of mixes.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Bake-Off-Collection-Pillsburys-Recipes/dp/0470395591/

[WishboneDawn]

i use a recipe for baked beans - how much mustard, molasses, etc . . . .dont forget which veggies i use . . .

 

I'm getting to the recipe-free point with beans. I only started making them regularly in the last year. Like most things, it takes a bit of experience. Some might be born with the bean-flavouring gene but alas, I was not.

[melissad2]

Here's Rachel Ray on bacon.

 

I am not sure why these people get TV shows. If you need a recipe for how to cook bacon, why do you trust yourself to safely use electrical appliances?

 

Have you read the reviews for this "recipe"? HILARIOUS! :lol:

 

I think people have forgotten that they can actually make things like bread, cookies and pie crusts from scratch!

[QueenCat]

That reminds me of a crockpot cookbook I have. My friend and I were musing about it once because it has recipes called things like, "Nana's Perfect Hot Dogs." The "recipe" is something like, "Place 8 thawed hot dogs in the crock pot. Cook for 4 hours on low. Serve on a hot dog roll."

 

Hey Thanks for the incredibly helpful recipe!!! :smilielol5:

 

That is pretty close to absurd! And a waste of paper.

[Matryoshka]

Why would one need a recipe to make baked beans?

 

 

If I ever decided to make my own baked beans, I'd need a recipe. I mean, I know they include beans - I think they start with some kind of small white bean, but not white kidney? And then they have some kind of sugar, probably molasses? But past that I honestly have no idea what goes into baked beans. Spices? Seasonings? Is there meat or bacon? It's got to be more than white beans and molasses (how much?). And are they really baked, or do you just heat them on the cooktop?

 

Now, if I buy a pre-made can of baked beans, then yeah, I open can and heat on stove or in microwave. But someone else made them.

 

So, Bill, how do you make baked beans? :bigear:

[fairfarmhand]

 

 

Velveeta. *shudder* I know a lot of people like it, but I.just.can't.stand.it. Not the flavor, not the texture. Something about it just seems wrong, yet so many recipes call for it.

 

..

Imagine this then...I am on a homesteading forum and in the cheesemaking sub-forum a person asked "How can I make Velveeta cheese from my milk." yep. That person got a lot a grief.

[cathmom]

 

 

Most of my cooking doesn't involve recipes but I am determined to be bothered by this.

You sound like Elizabeth Bennett.

[WishboneDawn]

You sound like Elizabeth Bennett.

 

 

You have just given me the best compliment I have received in ages.

 

Thank you. :D

[Orthodox6]

I look for a baked bean recipe and I get recipes that call for a can of baked beans.

 

I look for a cake recipe and I get recipes that call for cake mixes.

 

I look for an enchilada recipe and I get recipes that call for a can of enchilada sauce.

 

I do not think the word "recipe" means what those people think it means. Argh!

 

 

 

I really agree with you!

 

Perhaps these could be called "food combination instructions" instead of "recipes".

[Orthodox6]

Why would one need a recipe to make baked beans?

 

Bill

 

 

There are different "styles" of baked beans. I still remember an argument with a school friend, during elementary school years, when she staunchly defended the superiority of tomato-based baked beans, and with equal fervor, I defended the superiority of molasses-based baked beans.

[WishboneDawn]

If I ever decided to make my own baked beans, I'd need a recipe. I mean, I know they include beans - I think they start with some kind of small white bean, but not white kidney? And then they have some kind of sugar, probably molasses? But past that I honestly have no idea what goes into baked beans. Spices? Seasonings? Is there meat or bacon? It's got to be more than white beans and molasses (how much?). And are they really baked, or do you just heat them on the cooktop?

 

Now, if I buy a pre-made can of baked beans, then yeah, I open can and heat on stove or in microwave. But someone else made them.

 

So, Bill, how do you make baked beans? :bigear:

 

 

I'm not Bill but....I soak 2 cups of beans overnight. I use navy beans but use what you have. In the morning bring to a boil on the stove top and let them simmer for an hour or two until they're soft. Transfer to a big crock or bean pot and start the flavouring. About 1/2 cup of molasses or honey or maple syrup. 1/2 tsp of salt or so. Add a sliced onion and some bacon (raw or cooked, your choice. If you cook it you'll render out some of the fat and can leave that out of the beans if you wish) or a ham bone or pork. Then add what you will for flavour. Some mustard (dry or prepared), pepper, chili, ginger, worcestershire sauce, kethcup, tomato paste or sauce or diced, sweet chili sauce, garlic. If you're iffy on flavours you could mix everything, from molasses to spices up in a saucepan and have a taste first before you pour in into the beans. Then cover the beans with water and bake them for the afternoon, about 300F for 4-6 hours. Check them occasionally and if they're dry, top up the water.

 

As long as you get them tender enough before baking you can't really mess it up. Beans are forgiving.

[WishboneDawn]

There are different "styles" of baked beans. I still remember an argument with a school friend, during elementary school years, when she staunchly defended the superiority of tomato-based baked beans, and with equal fervor, I defended the superiority of molasses-based baked beans.

 

 

Right on sister.

[Orthodox6]

 

Right on sister.

 

 

Now guess which one of us was a Yankee! :D

[WishboneDawn]

Now guess which one of us was a Yankee! :D

 

 

I'm guessing you? Molasses is what's used traditionally here on the east coast of Canada and Northeastern Americans are pretty close to us in many ways in terms of cultures and tradition.

[Guest]

Well, here's a story that is sad but true. When I was newly married, I remeber calling my SIL and sheepishly asking her how you bake a whole chicken. It's one of the reasons I give my kids ample opportunity to cook "real" meals. The only things I knew how to make from scratch when I moved out was mac & cheese and mashed potatoes. I had no clue how to make roast beef, cjicken, stir fry, chili, ham of anything. In fact, I didn't even realize that making a stir fry from fresh ingrdients was something people did. The only stir fry I was familiar with was the La Choy canned deal. Served with Minute Rice. :p I also remember having a near-breakdown because MIL asked me to bring a pie for Christmas dinner. She assumed that every woman would know how to do this and I was to embarrassed to admit I had no bloomin' clue.

[Spy Car]

 

 

There are different "styles" of baked beans. I still remember an argument with a school friend, during elementary school years, when she staunchly defended the superiority of tomato-based baked beans, and with equal fervor, I defended the superiority of molasses-based baked beans.

 

Which is exactly why one should follow ones own taste-buds (rather than a fixed recipie) when making a dish like baked beans.

 

One of the biggest problems holding people back from becoming very good cooks is the wide spread belief that there are "magic recipies" they ought to be following meticulously, when really it makes a great deal more sense to adjust the ingredients and seasonings to ones palate.

 

If we we cook using our sense of taste (which means we actually taste the food) and adjust the seasoning based and ideal we have in mind and/or what we perceive as "missing" we build up our culinary intelligence. Adding seasonings based on measurements predetermined in a recipie may build "laboratory skills" but adds nothing to "food IQ" is you are not tasting what each ingredient adds to the dish (and asking yourself if that predetermined amount is in line with ones own taste).

 

Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spy Car]

 

 

I'm not Bill but....I soak 2 cups of beans overnight. I use navy beans but use what you have. In the morning bring to a boil on the stove top and let them simmer for an hour or two until they're soft. Transfer to a big crock or bean pot and start the flavouring. About 1/2 cup of molasses or honey or maple syrup. 1/2 tsp of salt or so. Add a sliced onion and some bacon (raw or cooked, your choice. If you cook it you'll render out some of the fat and can leave that out of the beans if you wish) or a ham bone or pork. Then add what you will for flavour. Some mustard (dry or prepared), pepper, chili, ginger, worcestershire sauce, kethcup, tomato paste or sauce or diced, sweet chili sauce, garlic. If you're iffy on flavours you could mix everything, from molasses to spices up in a saucepan and have a taste first before you pour in into the beans. Then cover the beans with water and bake them for the afternoon, about 300F for 4-6 hours. Check them occasionally and if they're dry, top up the water.

 

As long as you get them tender enough before baking you can't really mess it up. Beans are forgiving.

 

Told you you didn't need a recipie ;) :D

 

Bill

[Orthodox6]

Bill, you are preaching to the choir, if you'll allow the reply. Recipies are essential for a beginning cook or baker. I had to develop a knowledge base and an experience base before I could cook by instinct as I now have done for many years.

[stripe]

Why would one need a recipe to make baked beans?

 

Bill

 

No, the question is, why would one make baked beans? Yuck. My grandma made me listen to a long description of some baked beans she has been making recently, and I just wanted her to save her breath. There was no way I would ever make them.

 

All baked beans I have ever had, feature both tomato and molasses.

[WishboneDawn]

Told you you didn't need a recipie ;) :D

 

Bill

 

 

:D

 

Most of my frustration came from past experiences when I was learning what I liked in beans. Which made the canned beans recipes even more frustrating.

[Spy Car]

Bill, you are preaching to the choir, if you'll allow the reply. Recipies are essential for a beginning cook or baker. I had to develop a knowledge base and an experience base before I could cook by instinct as I now have done for many years.

 

Baking is a little different, as unless one truly masters the art and science of baking, one can have some true disasters if proportions are off.

 

But with baked beans? No. Not if one uses ones sense of taste.

 

I think following recipies holds back beginning cooks. Nothing wrong with scanning a few (and seeing one has the traditional "salt pork," another has bacon, another has ham bone) just to see there is no one "right answer."

 

The sooner beginning cooks get used to the idea they can trust their own taste buds the better IMO.

 

Bill

 

 

 

[WishboneDawn]

 

But baked beans does not lend itself well to this sort of thing because what are you supposed to do? Pull it in and out of the oven and taste it 100 times? The sauce you'd make to pour onto the beans would be pretty cloying until the whole thing is baked.

 

I personally enjoy following recipes (although 90% of the time I tweak them). I can cook plenty of things without, but as decent of a cook I think I am I sometimes like to taste what other people come up with.

 

The sauce would give you an idea though and that's where you start.

 

The other part of becoming less reliant on recipes though is simply failing at times. I've made some suppers that have failed. Generally they get remade into something else - right now I've got the remnants of a pork stew that no one liked in a big frying pan with some sweet chili sauce and seasonings for lunch.

[Spy Car]

If a sauce tastes "cloying" it probably is.

 

 

[Spy Car]

I like adding a clove or two to baked beans. Not a clove of garlic, but the spice "clove."

 

Not too much so you notice it in a big way. But as a foil in the background to the molasses.

 

Bill

[LucyStoner]

One of the greatest gifts my dad ever gave me was teaching me to cook from scratch by doing/watching. I do read recipes but usually just for ideas on various flavor profiles or looking to tease out something I tasted so I can make it at home. I don't usually go by the recipe exactly and there are very few things I can't glean out how to make more or less just by eating them. My husband can play music by ear, I can cook by hunch/taste.

 

I didn't really know what a huge plus it was that I had learned to cook until I started taking pies to potluck or whatnot and people would ask where I bought it and I would say I made it. Then they would ask where I bought the crust and I would say I made it. It had never occurred to me to buy stuff like that because I grew up in a house where it was only made.

[Orthodox6]

 

I think technique is important, but yeah I see no big deal following a recipe the first time one makes something (or as many times as they want for that matter).

 

I'm a good cook, but I admit to not being terribly imaginative.

 

Maybe I came across wrong. I think recipes are great! (Don't ask how many cookbooks are in that section of our home library.) I read recipes for ideas -- either use the recipe as it stands, or use it as a base to modify. Invent my own recipes, too. It's a very happy mixture of influences in our kitchen. For example, I've made the same biscuit recipe for decades; there was no need to improve what already was wonderful.

[LucyStoner]

Well, here's a story that is sad but true. When I was newly married, I remeber calling my SIL and sheepishly asking her how you bake a whole chicken. It's one of the reasons I give my kids ample opportunity to cook "real" meals. The only things I knew how to make from scratch when I moved out was mac & cheese and mashed potatoes. I had no clue how to make roast beef, cjicken, stir fry, chili, ham of anything. In fact, I didn't even realize that making a stir fry from fresh ingrdients was something people did. The only stir fry I was familiar with was the La Choy canned deal. Served with Minute Rice. :p I also remember having a near-breakdown because MIL asked me to bring a pie for Christmas dinner. She assumed that every woman would know how to do this and I was to embarrassed to admit I had no bloomin' clue.

 

Too funny. My mom didn't know much of anything about cooking or food when she got married. She was 25. She had no idea that salmon was fish- she thought it was some sort of manufactured product that only came in a can. She could make biscuits and fry bread without a recipe. She could prepare grits and scrambled eggs. She taught herself to do chili, something called rice balls and spaghetti sauce after a while but that was mostly it. My dad did most of the cooking and he never really encouraged her to learn.

 

When I was first married, my paternal grandmother's advice was to go to my MIL and ask her for my husband's favorite recipes. Yes this is old fashioned advice but my grandmother was a wise woman- it made my MIL love me. Well, I got all her recipes she said were hits with my husband, looked through them and promptly realized that with the exception of dinner rolls, I would not be making my MILs recipes. It was all canned this and boxed that and fake cheese here, fake cheese there. I told my husband that I'd eaten too much gov't. cheese as a kid and I wouldn't pay for the pleasure of eating the same thing now for a markup over real cheese. Happily, he preferred my cooking anyways. Still it was good advice to ask and I did modify some of his favorites to be more our speed. My MIL was/is still a fabulous mom, MIL and grandmother. Not everyone needs to like to cook from scratch.

[BrookValley.]

I agree that recipes are great for those just learning to cook or for those of us trying something new (baking aside--baking 90% science, 10% art!), but I also agree with Bill that cooking scared never got anyone anywhere. :laugh: Sometimes, though rarely, I follow a recipe exactly. Many things I don't use a recipe at all (chili, most soups, pasta dishes like lasagna, stir fries, etc.). Sometimes I use a recipe as a starting point and alter as necessary. But I have a poor dear friend who decided to learn to cook as an adult. She cannot, to save her life, do anything but follow a recipe to the letter. She is terrified to do otherwise! Poor gal. She has a stir-fry recipe that she likes, but mushrooms are in the list of ingredients--which she hates. But she refuses to make it without the mushrooms because "it's in the recipe, so I MUST include them." :confused1: No no no! Leave 'em out! It's a stir-fry, for goodness' sake! It will be fine without. Or sub some broccoli, or more carrots, or more tofu or tempeh or, or, or...but no, she's too scared. I'm hoping one day she'll gain enough confidence to at least realize that many recipes can be used as just guidelines, and it's ok to go with your gut (no pun intended) every now and then.

[WishboneDawn]

Baking is a little different, as unless one truly masters the art and science of baking, one can have some true disasters if proportions are off.

 

A good book for that is Ratio by Michael Ruhlman.

[Jayne J]

Its not just on line. My mom had a very old betty crocker cook book, where everything called for plain ingredients. By the 80s, half the recipes called for processed packed crap.

 

I avoid any recipe that calls for that crap. Allrecipes has some of both, but enough to choose from that you can find real food recipes. Simply Recipes has all whole foods. and yes, when i'm searching the web for recipes, i often trust the food network.

 

How about this, from MIL's 1973 Good Housekeeping cookbook:

 

Curry Soup

2 10 1/2 oz. cans condensed cream-of-mushroom soup

2 10 1/2 oz. cans condensed tomato soup

4 soup cans milk

1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder

 

In a medium saucepan and over medium heat, heat all ingredients about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

GAK!!!

[jeninok]

 

 

How fortuitous they specify to serve it on a hot dog roll. Without that tidbit, one might serve it on a hamburger bun instead.

 

I am trying though, and failing, to think of the toppings. The recipe says nothing. Do I have to eat it plain or can I add grilled onions and peppers and mustard? What kind of mustard can I use? I just can't be sure unless it's in a recipe.

 

I am having a hard time seeing why someone would think "CROCK POT!" when they think "Now, how will I heat these hotdogs up?"

 

I will be cooking hot dogs in a crockpot next weekend, there will be 6 nieces and nephews here plus 4 sibling in laws and 2 dear friends, one with their two kids.

 

I can put 2 packages or more of hot dogs in the crockpot and keep them all day for all those hungry kids ranging in age from 2-12

[vonfirmath]

one of my pet peeves is people writing on to food allergy groups asking for subs for canned cream soups to add to casseroles. I just want to tell them to learn to cook real food.

 

PLEASE! Teach me. I have so many casseroles I love that need cream of (something) soup.

And now with a milk allergy I can't use them. I look at my girl's soy milk and think "Surely... there should be a way" but it all seems so overwhelming.

 

Ideally, there should be some way to make large batch of this stuff that I can think package in "Can-equivalent" size packages and bring out when needed (probably by freezing. I'm pretty sure I'm NOT up to canning!)

[stripe]

I like adding a clove or two to baked beans. Not a clove of garlic, but the spice "clove."

 

Not too much so you notice it in a big way. But as a foil in the background to the molasses.

 

Bill

Not to be confused with covering the dish with "foil" in the background to avoid having to eat them.

 

Which I recommend, personally.

[LucyStoner]

 

 

I will be cooking hot dogs in a crockpot next weekend, there will be 6 nieces and nephews here plus 4 sibling in laws and 2 dear friends, one with their two kids.

 

I can put 2 packages or more of hot dogs in the crockpot and keep them all day for all those hungry kids ranging in age from 2-12

 

Cooking for a crowd is a little different than that cooking 6-8 hotdogs in one layer as indicated in the recipe. Using a crockpot as a warming dish for an all day party makes sense. Using it to prepare dinner for my family of 4? Not so much sense when I can use a pan or pot or microwave in less than 5-10 minutes.

[LucyStoner]

 

 

How about this, from MIL's 1973 Good Housekeeping cookbook:

 

Curry Soup

2 10 1/2 oz. cans condensed cream-of-mushroom soup

2 10 1/2 oz. cans condensed tomato soup

4 soup cans milk

1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder

 

In a medium saucepan and over medium heat, heat all ingredients about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

GAK!!!

 

I have several 70s cookbooks I got when my FIL died and they are all equally nasty. I read them for the humor. I recall something that was concocted out of green and orange jello, pimentos, canned Vienna sausages and canned milk. Oh he!! no.

[Jayne J]

 

 

I have several 70s cookbooks I got when my FIL died and they are all equally nasty. I read them for the humor. I recall something that was concocted out of green and orange jello, pimentos, canned Vienna sausages and canned milk. Oh he!! no.

 

 

I don't even know what to say to a recipe that has Vienna sausages AND jello. Speechless.

 

[LucyStoner]

 

 

I don't even know what to say to a recipe that has Vienna sausages AND jello. Speechless.

 

I know, right? What sort of drugs was the author of that recipe on? There is no other sound explanation.

[AdventureMoms]

 

 

PLEASE! Teach me. I have so many casseroles I love that need cream of (something) soup.

And now with a milk allergy I can't use them. I look at my girl's soy milk and think "Surely... there should be a way" but it all seems so overwhelming.

 

Ideally, there should be some way to make large batch of this stuff that I can think package in "Can-equivalent" size packages and bring out when needed (probably by freezing. I'm pretty sure I'm NOT up to canning!)

 

 

http://mustfollowrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/11/dairy-free-cream-of-mushroom-soup.html?m=1

 

You could freeze this in can sized increments ( 1 1/4 cups, or near enough). This is from a dairy allergic friend who says this is the best substitute ever. She freezes in 1/2 cup increments in a muffin tin, then puts the "muffins" in a freezer bag and uses 2 or 3 per can in a recipe. You can sub broccoli for the mushroom to make cream of broccoli, etc.

[stripe]

I have several 70s cookbooks I got when my FIL died and they are all equally nasty. I read them for the humor. I recall something that was concocted out of green and orange jello, pimentos, canned Vienna sausages and canned milk. Oh he!! no.

 

Have you ever seen this website?

The Gallery of Regrettable Food

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

[DianeW88]

I love cooking and I read cookbooks like novels. My favorites are all from the early 1960s and before. Everything is made from scratch and whole ingredients. I also collect old women's magazines like Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens for the same reason. Good Housekeep had an "all pie" issue in the early 1950s. People rave over the pies I make from recipes in that issue. No phony baloney ingredients...that's why. ;)

[DianeW88]

Have you ever seen this website?

The Gallery of Regrettable Food

http://www.lileks.co...titute/gallery/

 

I LOVE James Lileks!!! Love him. Look up his books on Amazon and then buy every. single. one. I have never laughed so hard in my life!!! http://www.amazon.co...ds=james lileks And if you grew up with the hideous home décor of the 70s (plastic molded chairs, anyone?) you HAVE to read his "Interior Desecrations". And then go and find your macramé plant hanger and slip a spider plant into it for nostalgia's sake. ;D

[vonfirmath]

http://mustfollowrec...m-soup.html?m=1

 

You could freeze this in can sized increments ( 1 1/4 cups, or near enough). This is from a dairy allergic friend who says this is the best substitute ever. She freezes in 1/2 cup increments in a muffin tin, then puts the "muffins" in a freezer bag and uses 2 or 3 per can in a recipe. You can sub broccoli for the mushroom to make cream of broccoli, etc.

 

 

Thank you! I'll start with doing it as recipe then branch out. Maybe my husband will find himself able to stand mushrooms in something homemade like this? :) At the least my daughter knows no better!

[stripe]

I love cooking and I read cookbooks like novels. My favorites are all from the early 1960s and before. Everything is made from scratch and whole ingredients. I also collect old women's magazines like Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens for the same reason. Good Housekeep had an "all pie" issue in the early 1950s. People rave over the pies I make from recipes in that issue. No phony baloney ingredients...that's why. ;)

 

The Farm Journal's Pie Cookbook is good for that, too!

[TravelingChris]

Now I don't know what happened to my one kid. First kid makes up recipes all the time- he is poor but eating tasty food since he is handy around the kitchen and uses spices and easy cheap things like onion and garlic to liven up his potatoes or beans or rice. Third kid makes up recipes and also loves to learn how to make things either her father or I cook. It is the second who is such a non cooker. It is weird since she grew up in a family where both parents liked to cook and bake. There is still hope that she will change.

 

I change recipes all the time. For one thing, I can't tolerate peppers like hot peppers, I never liked them but now know that it probably had to do with one of my chronic illnesses since really no one with it can tolerate them for long. I don't make enough saliva so it is much more hot to me than to normal people. So I just leave them out of the recipe. as long as they are only there for added seasoning. Next, with dd being so severely allergic to citric acid, we can't use citrus fruits or juice or many other fruits too. I have found that we can substitute white balsamic vinegar or another vinegar (depending on the recipe) for lemon juice or lime juice, if the lemon or lime juice is not the main flavor of the recipe. So I don't try and make Lemon Meringue or Key Lime Pies. But I can make a fruit salad where I put some white balsamic vinegar on the fruits (all of which are ones without citric acid) to prevent browning and to add to the flavor, and I also add some sugar. Before she was allergic I would use lemon juice and sugar. But the main flavors of the fruit salad are the fruits in the salad, not the lemon or the vinegar. ( i can't use lime even when she isn't home since it is the only food allergy I have).

[Belacqua]

I have several 70s cookbooks I got when my FIL died and they are all equally nasty. I read them for the humor. I recall something that was concocted out of green and orange jello, pimentos, canned Vienna sausages and canned milk. Oh he!! no.

 

Have you read Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book? The recipes sound perfectly dreadful, but her commentary is absolutely hilarious. One of my favorites of hers (for reading, not eating) is Ragtime Tuna. She writes, "You won't believe this, but I first tasted this dish at an extremely fancy buffet, knee deep in baby brown orchids. This dish is probably why they could afford the baby brown orchids. Anyway, the hostess told me how she did it, and to keep it to myself, which proves you can't trust anybody these days."