Lessons in Cooking

[EddMarkStarr]

As for lessons, I made a pecan pie on Friday that was too puffy, a result of using the fresh eggs I buy from a co-worker who has chickens, The majority of the eggs are small or medium, like a bantam hen's. So, for recipes that invariably call for large eggs, I have to guess at the equivalency in small eggs, which can throw off the ratio of yolks to whites that are assumed in a recipe. The result is my pie had puffed as it normally does, but fell again when cooling, causing a cratering, even though the custard was perfectly set in the middle and not overbaked.

I guess the lesson is that even the subtle things matter, especially in bakinig. The pie is perfectly good, even if misshapen.

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Baking is a wonderful way to learn the Art of Cooking.

As I slowly learned proper handling of ingredients it opened opportunities for variations and substitutions. My favorite aunt's homemade pies looked like your pecan example.
We called them, "ugly pies" - looked awful but tasted amazing. Served in a bowl covered with ice cream . . . best pie Ever!

 

[me203]

As for lessons, I made a pecan pie on Friday that was too puffy, a result of using the fresh eggs I buy from a co-worker who has chickens,

You should have used well mannered eggs instead.

 

[me203]

I've been to so many restaurants that make omelettes on a griddle cooktop that lets them run out into crepe thickness that I can't count them all.

I suppose that it comes down to the restaurants feeling that it's more convenient using a griddle. And convenience beats out all of their considerations.

I recall watching instructions on making omelettes on cooking shows. And it seems to me that the real omelette pan indeed is pretty integral to the process.

 

[me203]

An omelette should be beaten well

How cruel!