Tonight, I followed a recipe in a book I recently bought. It was a simple version of the British classic bangers and mash. I followed the recipe exactly except adding a rue to thicken the sauce and swapping venison sausage for big pork ones. I chose pale ale as the beer. Perhaps a darker brew, perhaps a Guinness, would have given more colour.
But as you can see, despite only a few tiny changes, it looks nothing like the picture in the book. The leek lost its colour a few minutes into frying, and the rosemary leaves parted from the stalk.
So how often do you follow a recipe and think this looks nothing like the book?
My cooking always looks like the book
It looks kinda like it
It never looks like the book
What's a book
I've never followed a recipe
Select gender and age to cast your vote:
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When you follow a recipe, does it look like the picture?
I am a proffesional chef and have been for 20 years. One thing not a lot of amateur cooks knows about or understand, is a little something called food photography.
Even though some chefs are absolutely artists when it comes to plating and presenting food, this does not always comes across as desired when photographed, hence the industry of food photography. The photographer will go to any length to make the photograph look like what he is picturing in his head and what the client wants. A lot of what you see might not even be edible, but it looks great when photographed. I've seen them used things like polystyrene and cold glue and use nails and staple guns.
Trust me when I say, most of the time, not even the chef who made the recipe or published the book, achieve an end product like what the photo wants you to believe.
Indeed... A guy I knew did that for a living, and explained me in detail all the techniques which are being used to come to the desired effect in photos.
A lot of the time the food hasn't even been cooked, so it won't go to waste after the photo session and cane be used for something else.
I have been a chef for 22 years; I like to think I can cook.
I don't use recipes, ever. I have a general idea what kind of ingredients need to go into a specific meal, I do often 'experiment' within reasonable limits (make a Curry with Beef is a no-no, of course; Pizza with Pineapple and Ham? That's should be a criminal offense)... but if I want to stick to the traditional recipe I only look up which ingredients are needed and I know what needs to be done.
Bangers and Mash is a very basic meal: Mash Potato, Peas, and Sausage with Gravy. What you have made does look nice, and I would most certainly try it... but it is not Bangers and Mash.
Some roast dishes need old fashioned pot to get dark color. One of my venison/beef recipes with dark red wine sauce turn dark when cooked in tinned copper pot or iron pot but brighter when I use modern aluminum pot with coating. Those modern pots have very bad heat conductivity, I think this makes a difference.
P. S. when you find an old copper pot, check if the tin coating inside doesn't contain lead with a lead-tester you can buy in hardware shops for old paints
I often choose recipes for baking cakes. Most often I try to make IT look the same and I closely follow what was written, but sometimes, despite my greatest effort, I fail. IT probably depends on how well the author of the recipe kept the proportion and what words he/she used. Not to mention that we all tend to interpret things differently😊
Jumping into the wonderful whirlwind of culinary conquests here on Girls Ask Guys, it's stories and questions like these that get me really excited about cooking. So, your adventure with bangers and mash didn't quite mirror the cookbook's glam shot, huh? Welcome to the club! Whenever I dive into a new recipe, I come wearing my apron of optimism, but let's be real—it's a flip of the coin whether my dish will end up looking like its glossy book counterpart.
Recipes are a bit like a treasure map, often leading to something delicious, but the "X marks the spot" rarely looks the same for two people. In my own kitchen escapades, deviations are pretty much a given. I’ve found that whether it’s swapping ingredients like you did with venison sausage, or even just the lighting in the photo, can make a huge difference in the final look of the dish.
The truth is, it doesn't bother me much anymore. What matters most is the taste and the feeling of accomplishment from trying something new. Plus, I've had some of my most memorable meals come from these unexpected outcomes. Remember, your kitchen, your rules! 🍴😄
Although I sometimes take inspiration from a recipe found in book or heard from somewhere else, I never bothered whether the result would be as shown in books. The main point being the result pleasing me or not, or some guest of course.
Sometimes indeed I did actually follow some recipes, but very quickly adapted those according my own inspiration. Mind that on the practical side some required ingredients seem often difficult to find, if not plainly unknown, which leads to improvisations, which is a way to improve creativity ;0)
I rarely follow book recipes (except the ones my mom made her notes on the side)... I have fav sites, where people add their comments and changes done to the main recipe... so I can read and learn without repeating common mistakes...
Given your ale / beer substitute you much have realized it would make a considerable difference In color. That being said though I don’t really cook to match the picture I cook and taste. Also I often take a recipe and modify it straight away. I wouldn’t say your efforts look bad though just not per the recipe and taste is way more important , did it taste good? Did you enjoy it? Assuming you made it for you?
I tend to read a recipe and then add a few twists to make it my own creation, so I don't care what the book looks like.
Your creation would more closely resemble your book with beef bangers instead of pork and served in a cast iron skillet the way they did. Otherwise I'd say it's pretty close
When they take pictures of food they always do things to make it look appealing. I've seen them use Elmer's glue, cardboard and paint to dress up food for pictures
You have to remember that the photos in recipe books are staged and usually what is in those photos are not the actual ingredients, just like those fake displays you see in shop windows.
Yes i think so. Although it may look a little different because of course the pictures by the book is photographed and edited almost perfectly to please the eyes of the readers.
Lightning matter too while taking food pic. If there's a too much oil in the food then it will make everything reflective. That's why you're getting bright yellow color.
Recipe literally are food porn. You cannot taste or smell it, which is the whole point of the food. So they use photoshop to exaggerate the colors in photos.
What you cooked may taste similar or even better but making it look aesthetically pleasing requires a different sets of skills altogether.
Bentos are easiest to make look good from my experience. Lots of colors and contrast.
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