diff --git a/_posts/2020-07-09-recipes-for-engineers.md b/_posts/2020-07-09-recipes-for-engineers.md deleted file mode 100644 index e0be0b3..0000000 --- a/_posts/2020-07-09-recipes-for-engineers.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,44 +0,0 @@ ---- -layout: post -title: "Recipes for Engineers" -description: "" -category: -tags: [food] ---- - -It's a little weird applying an engineering mindset to everything, but after navigating a bunch of -new recipes as part of cooking and baking during quarantine, this what I think could be beneficial. - -1. Don't intersperse recipe directions with anecdotes. When my hands are covered in whatever I'm - working on, it's difficult to scroll up and down on a laptop or other device. - -2. Provide weight/mass measurements for everything. Everyone has a different way of measuring flour, - and having to clean all the measuring utensils is a pain. Much easier to dump all the dry - ingredients into the same bowl by weight (oz, g) and not have individual measurements. Bakers' - percentages are nice, but please also include a set of reference numbers so I don't have to do - all the math on the fly (or figure out how it translates to serving sizes) - -3. Make the purpose of each step explicit. When baking, I typically want to wait for the dough to - double in size, it just happens to take somewhere around two hours. Also, why does pie dough need - ice water? It's far too little volume to no immediately change temp. A good way to frame the - discussion is: what would happen if I just left this step out? - -4. When combining ingredients, re-state how much is being added. I don't have containers to - pre-measure everything and dump in, I'd rather know exactly how much is needed at the moment it - is needed. - -5. Add context about tolerance where possible. Do I need _exactly_ 352 grams of something? For - baking, being that precise might well be important. Significant figures matter (and maybe don't - use more than 2? Or at least explain why more than 2 sigfigs are needed if used) - -6. The shopping list is for total quantities of an ingredient. The only reason to split quantities - here is for optional steps. But if you need 4g of something at one point, and 4g at another, tell - me 8g in the ingredients list. - -Other potential intros: - -- It's probably a pathology of software people that they think they can improve everything, so here - I am writing about recipes -- Despite the old adage warning about - [engineers and food](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/fklb1/a_wife_asks_her_husband_a_software_engineer/), - going to humbly submit some ideas for making more helpful recipes.