Dinner in 30 minutes?

[BakerAunt]

I read this article on how some recipes NEVER tell you how long they will really take:

https://tastecooking.com/the-30-minute-meal-myth/?ref=PRH9B08F1B9291D&linkid=PRH9B08F1B9291D&cdi=5DF5B74ED1883336E0534FD66B0A42B3&template_id=23068&aid=randohouseinc36975-20&cid=152650&mid=2410941938&utm_campaign=taste&utm_source=Crown&utm_medium=Email

That said, I have found some recipes that do break down the prep time. King Arthur Baking Company does a good job with that on its site.

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[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, you struck a chord -- my pet peeve -- recipe times. I can't even prep KABC recipes in the prep time they offer. I always add 30 minutes prep to any of their recipes. If it's bread, I add an hour to the total recipe time.

I only prep all the ingredients if the recipe is a fast-moving one. Otherwise, I like to work a next-step while a previous one is taking place.

I rinse dishes and stack in one side of the sink as I go. I count that as recipe time. At the end of the recipe I load the dishwasher, but I don't count that as recipe time. I also wash my hands after touching the refrig or freezer handles or the stove handle. It takes time to do that, and I count it as recipe time. I tried wiping everything with Clorox Wipes before starting recipes but found that takes longer than handwashing and is more wearisome.

After years of grumbling to myself about recipe times, I've decided that all recipe-writers start counting the time after all the ingredients are prepped and ready to go. I think that's unfair and misleading. Plus, as the article mentions, there is the necessary task of washing some ingredients.

I also have a pet peeve about cooking shows that don't even give lip service to washing ingredients. I worry that novice cooks won't know to wash their ingredients. I know people who've developed salmonella, probably from unclean kitchen habits. So when I see a cooking show chef pull out some of the product with a spoon, taste it, then return the spoon to the pot, I cringe. I worry that novice cooks will emulate that behavior.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife generally adds at least a half hour to my estimate of when dinner will be ready. Something big like a turkey she adds an hour.

I started early enough today that I actually hit my target of 5:30 for dinner.

I've seen the judges on a cooking competition refuse to taste a recipe if the chef put the spoon in his mouth and then back in the dish. Something I've never seen them call a competitor on is tasting something like a liquor straight from the bottle before using it.

In a lot of commercial kitchens there are containers of tasting spoons in several places, and you throw them in a bain marie after using them once.

[cwcdesign]

Great article and on point!

I am slow at chopping and I have come to assume that these recipes are the cooking time not the prep - I love the ones that say 10 minute prep - you'd better have "meal prepped" all your ingredients ahead of time as it takes 10 minutes to gather them!

They also don't take into account the vagaries of various stove tops - I finally learned to up the time and temperature of Pioneer Woman recipes - after all she has a fancy gas range that can heat up and cool down in seconds - mine never cooked in the short amount of time she gives - I have an old glass flat top that does not behave well at all. If a recipe says medium heat, I usually start at medium high, or I'll be there all night.

[Mike Nolan]

The first few times I make a recipe, it always takes me a lot longer to prep, and I suspect many recipe authors don't factor their familiarity with the recipe into their time estimates, if they even give them.

[Janiebakes]

Very good article Baker Aunt. I'd like to add that while meals maybe edible after thirty minutes, they can benefit from much longer cooking. The only soup I think is done in 30 minutes is egg drop soup.

[BakerAunt]

I agree about soups, Janiebakes! Indeed, most soups are better after the first day!

[Mike Nolan]

Soups need time for the flavors to meld together and mellow out. If I make it in the morning, it'll have mellowed out by supper, but most of the time I don't get it started until after lunch.

Even chili is better over time. My wife's stepmother used to make her football chili (recipe available on this site) in the morning, then leave it on a low temperature while everyone went to the game. By the time we got back some 5 hours later it was pretty good.

[RiversideLen]

The claimed yield of cookie recipes gets me. "yield 5 dozen" usually means about 3 dozen, give or take.

[Mike Nolan]

Most people make cookies on the big side, and that cuts into yield. But of course so does snacking on raw dough, even though it is frowned upon these days. My mother usually had to make a double batch of her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in order to get 3 dozen baked. (And to be fair, she'd snack on the raw dough, too.)

I've been known to weigh the raw dough then weigh the first few cookies to see if I'm making them the size the recipe anticipates. Most of the time I'm way over.

[skeptic7]

I always assume that baking is going to take longer, sometimes much longer that estimated. The only accurate time I found is in the actualy baking. Particularly in making bread where my rising times depend on the house temperature, and the kneading and mixing times depend on a lot of things particularly on how much dough is being mixed or kneaded.
Prep time for savory dishes always takes longer, sometimes much longer than anticipated.

[Mike Nolan]

At least with baking a large amount of the total time is just waiting: during bulk rise, final rise, baking and cooling. That's why the 'bread in 5 minutes a day' method works. But you still need to pay attention to it, because of things like overproofing.

But even a fairly simple savory dish can involve 45 minutes to an hour or more of active prep time, and sauteeing or frying are not 'hands-off' activities.

One of my pet peeves with recipes is when they call for a cup of something like a diced vegetable without giving you an idea of how much that weighs. How you dice it makes a big difference in how much the cup of diced vegetable weighs. The autumn chicken dish I made last week called for four different diced or cut ingredients: sweet potatoes, apples, Brussels sprouts and onions. It also called for 6 ounce chicken thighs, but the only ones I could find were 8 ounce (4 to a two-pound package.) We both took pretty large servings of vegetables with each thigh, but there was still a lot of vegetable left over at the end.

[BakerAunt]

I found that I can do the fish and chips recipe in an hour. That is partly because while some items are in the oven, I can work on the other items. However, it helps to wash the potatoes in advance, so that they are dry when tossed with olive oil; that adds some time, most of it hands off.

[Mike Nolan]

I can do spaghetti from scratch in about 35 minutes start to finish, but that's using sauce from a can (Hunts pasta sauce, there are two garlic-free ones!, and a can of diced tomatoes and usually a small can of tomato paste, plus a can of mushrooms.) If I want to make a meat sauce or meatballs that adds another 20 minutes to just brown the meat or 40 minutes to make meatballs and cook them in the sauce.

And that time includes making cheese toast in the oven.

[skeptic7]

Recipes which call for 4 onions could mean 2 lbs of onions or less than 1 lb of onions. How much carrot is 1 large carrot, I've seen some very large carrots for sale? There are times when I measure the vegetables after they are cut up and note it in the recipe. Luckily amounts can be flexible in soups and stews.

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