SC - Quantities of salt and spices used.

[Decker, Terry D.]

At 23:42 1/31/99 , Franz/calontir wrote:

>Cooking, OTOH, uses volumes of ingredients which can and will vary
>according to  the personal taste of both/either the cook and eater. Leaving
>out a 'vital' ingredient does not destroy the final product, merely changes
>it to something else. (imagine what bread would be like if you left out the
>shortening, as opposed to stew if you left out the meat.) Oven temperatures
>can vary from barely warm to broiler sear hot, and the end product will be
>essentially the same if the cooking time is altered to suit.

Bread without the shortening is still bread.   Shortening is not needed to
make bread--only flour, water, & yeast are.  Some say that salt is also a
requirement.  Everything else is optional and will merely change the
flavor/texture of the result.  Those of us who bake without measuring at
all and often start our bread without even knowing what we feel like making
today will probably never be convinced that Baking isn't an art--no matter
what the International Association us Cooks and Bakers has to say about it.
 ;-)  

After all to make an oil painting requires only paint, a canvas (or
substitute) and a brush (or substitute).  Yet you will get _very_ different
results by using different colors (to say nothing of technique), just as I
get different results when I decide that today I'll toss in a handful of
millet, some sesame seeds, and some oats, but tomorrow I decide to put in
many whole cloves of garlic. (Again avoiding the difference in technique
like bread sponge vs refrigerator rise, vs rising on the counter vs using a
proofing oven).  

There is an element of science in that you need to know what to expect from
each technique/ingredient, but how you combine them to get a result you are
happy with is an art (or perhaps a forgery, if you always use someone
else's recipe and never experiment :-)

- --Kareina

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