Not to mention that the chances of her ever making it exactly as written are slim to none.

I always forget that there are people who follow any recipe exactly. If you asked me, I'd say I use the Joy of Cooking banana bread recipe. And I do, except I usually don't add the lemon zest, or nuts, or fruit, and I always add cinnamon and vanilla. But I follow the recipe!

But I follow the recipe!

Recipes are like the Pirate Code. They're guidelines.

Also funny -- my mom was putting together a thing of family recipes, and it included both my grandmother's spaghetti sauce and my uncle's, which he said was an adaptation of my grandmother's. They have virtually nothing in common, except cinnamon.

Recipes are like the Pirate Code. They're guidelines.

What Jessica said. Arr!

My sister called me this morning for my bread pudding recipe. She's leaving out the white chocolate. I'm horrified. Not sure if she'll do the water bath either.

I've got my grandmother's recipe for apple fritters, which is, "Peel and slice some apples. Mix with some flour, egg, and sugar. Fry." There may have been one other ingredient -- baking powder, maybe? But it was still just "some" of that. And I know that she put some cinnamon and ginger and a pinch of salt into these when she made them.

I'm with her on the white chocolate, but the water bath sounds important. Most things that cook in water baths do so for a reason.

Wow ita, from what it sounds like that's "deviating from the guidelines" a bit much for your pudding. Maybe you should have asked for a statement to be given to any guests that says "Based on a recipe..."

Too bad food seldom has credits.

Or maybe your sister prefers to be gastronomically deviant...

Plus? I bet your mom slow cooked it. Did you?

I was trying to. Like I said, I left the heat on too high.

Not to mention that the chances of her ever making it exactly as written are slim to none. Family recipes are like that.

Yeah, well I don't have enough experience to deviate from recipes. Following the recipe gives me enough problems.

The Christmas cookies I bake every year following her recipe turn out right, though, so that's something, I guess.

I only started using the water bath a few years ago. Don't think my mother ever did, not that she'd share such details with me. So it will be different, not broken.

But the white chocolate! Lends such a lovely note to the creaminess. I am replete with woe. She doesn't however, have access to fair trade white chocolate, so it's a principle thing, not a gastronomic choice.