to find cookbooks that use shortcuts irritating

[mousymouse]

especially foreign ones, where you can*t buy the shortcuts like that...

I was given a lovely texmex cookbook and some recipes go something like: , ad a pack of flavoured rice.
grrrrrr not even quantities mentioned.
soo annoying!

I'd just add a random pack of rice, or some plain rice, and see what happened

I'm not averse to shortcuts per se, but like you say the foreign ones can be tricky. A lot of US-based food blogs and recipes seem to start 99% of cake recipes with "take one box of yellow/chocolate/carrot cake mix". I know you can get cake mixes here but they're generally for kids fairy cakes or cookies or something so I don't know if you could substitute them, plus I think they're pretty much just flour and sugar in a box! But without knowing the right quantities it would be risky to just estimate. Alas!

With flavoured rice if you know the quantity could you just substitute normal rice (possibly pre-cooked?) and flavourings?

Would that be an American book?

Yeah, I've given up on American recipe sites as they are mainly 'recipes', involving mixing together packets of crap.

I asked for a slow-cooker recipe book for Xmas and my mum bought me an american one...the recipe for chilli (I kid you not) read...take one can of chilli...

There were more instructions about putting cheese on top for the Nigella's out there.

Crap cook book/fascinating glimpse into the American psyche.

no, in this case a german book.
I probably can get the same "uncle benjamin" flavoured rice here, but the quantities might be different. I improvised, made "mexican rice" myself and it tasted great. but it still annoys me.

yy to the american "recipes", I was once looking for a cornbread recipe and all I could find was: mix a pack of this mix with a pack of that.
whatever happened to making simple things from scratch?

in case you are interested:

mix one cup of long grain rice with a teaspoon of stock powder, a tablespoon tomatoe puree and a little paprika. add 2 cups of water. bring to the boil, switch of the hob and let sit for about 20 min. done.

YANBU. It is annoying.

I came on to ask if this was american
I'm sick of recipes which just involve mixing ready made (and not very healthy) prepared ingredients together.

YANBU

I got really excited when I found a recipe for home made peanut butter twix on a blog I read only to be cruelly let down when half the ingredients were store-bought mixes.

I find that American recipes are always adding cans of condensed soup (boak).

anyone has a nice corn bread recipe to go with meatloaf and gravy?

I don't understand why a German cookery book was giving measurements in cups, or had it been translated into "American" English?
I have a collection of over 200 cookery books from around the world, in various languages. I have never come across a ready-made/brand-name shortcut, though.

How's this for you mousymouse? The first one is slightly sweetened which means it goes really well with spicy stuff.

Corn Bread (Sweet)
Ingredients:
115g / 4oz Corn Meal
170g / 6oz Plain Flour
55g / 2 oz Caster Sugar
½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Beaten Egg
340ml / 12 fl oz Milk
55g / 2oz Melted Butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220oC / 425oF
2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.
3. Mix egg and milk and add to dry mix, stir well, fold in melted butter and beat.
4. Grease and flour a 20cm / 8? square or 23cm / 9? round baking tin.
5. Place batter in tin and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown

Or there's this one which is firmer and more savoury which might be better with meatloaf and gravy. I make it with the cheesey add ins usually.

Corn Bread (Savoury)
Ingredients:
200g / 7oz Plain Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
140g / 5oz Corn Meal
20g / 1 ½ tablespoons Caster Sugar
150ml / 5 fl oz Milk
1 Egg
40g / 1 ½oz Melted Butter

Flavourings (choose 1):
1 tablespoon chopped green chillies and 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander
or 2 tablespoons sweet corn, 1 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 teaspoon chopped red chilli
or 1 heaped teaspoon chopped oregano and 2 tablespoons grated mature cheddar cheese

Method:

1. Butter an 18cm / 72 square baking tin and preheat the oven to 190oC / 375oF.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl with the salt and corn meal. Stir in the sugar then add your choice of flavouring.
3. In a separate bowl mix the milk, egg and butter, then tip into the mixture. Gently combine as quickly as quickly as possible, then tip into prepared tin. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until tinged with golden brown and a skewer inserted to the middle comes out clean.
4. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes or so then cut into squares and place on a wire rack to cool.

YANBU. mind you, I have a couple of Indian cookbooks which go the other way. "Having scraped out the coconut, place in the oven and roast for THREE DAYS" etc. Phew!

thanks skelacia ! this sounds delish!

E320 the rice recipe is my own interpretation of making mexican style rice.
I think in germany the only time cups are given for measurements it is about the equivalents, not real measurements. for example 1cup of rice needs 2 cups of water to cook, no matter how big the cup/mug is.

"mind you, I have a couple of Indian cookbooks which go the other way. "Having scraped out the coconut, place in the oven and roast for THREE DAYS" "

lol - yes you can go too far the other way too :) I'm definiely a "jar of dried mixed herbs" type of cook!