Frazz by Jef Mallett for May 21, 2021

Wait, is she trying to say there’s such a thing as too much shallots? Cuz if she is, I dispute that assertion.

I follow recipes carefully when I’m baking something that needs to set up, rise, crispify or otherwise do something that you cannot taste and adjust. I read recipes (usually a couple or three) for other dishes, and then use the ideas. If it has shallots in it, it’s almost BOUND to be that second category.

PS: One of the nice things about being married to Spouse: I love the aliums that were roasted inside the fowl and she really likes the flavor of the meat when it’s cooked that way, but doesn’t care for them as veggies.

Sizes changing over time can affect old recipes, even ones published in magazine. There are many old recipes that would, for example, say to use one small can of tomato paste. The reason there wasn’t an actual measurement for this was that for DECADES a small can of tomato paste was 8oz. But in the last 20 years or so many food companies have slowly reduced product sizes to avoid having to raise prices. So now that small can of tomato paste is only 6oz and if you don’t adjust the recipe it won’t come out the same.

I’ve always loved The Lady of Shallot!

Recipes by weight, please.

I wonder if anyone has noticed that Domino sugar cubes are larger now….the reason for the change in the box shape. I’m guessing they think people will buy them more often, while not caring about the increasing rate of obesity.

I can’t imagine a dish that was ruined by tasting an extra shallot. Had to be something else.

It’s the Lady of Shallot he really likes.

One clove of garlic is not enough for any recipe, unless it’s a recipe for “how to cook one clove of garlic.” In this case, use two anyway.

I always add a shallot to any recipe calling for onions or leeks. Yum.

OMG, it’s not just me. I have a shallot sitting in my garlic keeper and was thinking the other day that they used to be little things. Just like canned goods were different sizes when I was growing up. You have to research what was “standard sizing” at the time of a cookbook’s publication.

Another big change is cake mixes. If you have an old bundt cake recipe that uses a cake mix you will need to add about 3 oz more mix. I keep a dry vanilla cake mix in the freezer and add from that. It does make a difference.

In my household – if there is a need to improvise dinner based on whatever we have on hand, that is my responsibility. If there is a desire for something specific which involves getting ingredients and following a recipe then it is usually my wife’s. There are a few gray spaces – I make nachos using carnitas and some other stuff that works out pretty well as an example, but mostly that is our rule.

I recently picked up a cookbook from a Little Free Library. Then I realized it was published in the ’60s. Forget it.

I found a recipe from the 70s that starts with a 2.5-3.5 lb chicken. The smallest whole chicken in my stores is 4.5

Personally, I think my first lasagna was all the better for not yet knowing the difference between a clove and a bulb of garlic.

what’s a recipe?

A lot of recipes still assume a skinless, boneless chicken breast half is four ounces. Unless you buy the expensive organic ones they usually run eight to 12 ounces these days.

Yeah, onions are a heck of a lot bigger than when my hand-me-down Betty Crocker book came out, as well