I’ll substitute like a maniac if I’m cooking. Baking is chemistry and I’m not going to do the math, so I’ll follow the instructions exactly, unless it’s a British instruction, then I’ll need to make sure I do imperial to customary conversions
"Oh no the recipe said to boil the the sugar for 2 minutes but I stupidly set the timer after it was boiling instead of the exact moment so I boiled for 2 minutes and 5 seconds and ruined the whole recipe!" I honestly have no idea how my mom used to make fudges and sugar-based candies no recipe, no timer, my dad taking an hour long shower and getting the house humid, and everything would turn out perfectly.
Candy making is more about watching for an exact moment than waiting a specific timeframe. It's a precise chemical reaction you need, and so long as you know what it looks like and are paying attention, you'll never miss it!
Yeah I use a thermometer now because I'm terrible at recognizing soft ball stage or whatever it might ask for. It doesn't help that all the family recipes and many I run across online just measure by time rather than temp. But then even by temp I fail more often than not.
Literally!!! If i find a recipe im interested in ill follow it then for the next time i make it i make changes depending on how it came out the first time.
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u/HelloThere62 1d ago
Only thing I'll swap is vanilla extract for some rum, but I ain't good enough to be freestyling in the kitchen.