Most important feature missing from Chefsteps. The WHY behind ingredients and techniques.

So this to me is the single biggest gaping hole in Chefsteps' otherwise amazing site. We never get told why anything gets used. I don't know if it's just because they assume everyone knows already or if it's just because of traditional recipe formats found in cook books but we never get told why things are used or techniques applied.

It would be so great that at every ingredient being introduced or a technique being employed there was a column along side it telling you why it is being done. Often you get given some ingredient to use and you have no idea why it's in the recipe. Is it for flavour? Is it to balance something out? Is it because it acts as a thicknesser?

If we knew these things then I think the real learning could being because right now I don't know why I'm adding anything to a recipe I just have to follow it like a dumb robot. If I could understand why then that would help my learning as a chef and also empower me to make my own decisions, so for instance if a recipe calls for a certain ingredient and I know what the purpose of that ingredient is I would be able to substitute it with something else that serves the same purpose.

So lets take the savory ice cream salad as an example:

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/savory-ice-cream-salad

step 1

Combine powders

Why is milk powder being used instead of milk? Why so much less salt than sugar, what is the sugar there for? What is the salt there for?

step 2

Heat cream and glucose syrup

Why is glucose syrup being used instead of just plain sugar? Why is it being heated?

Why medium heat instead of low or high heat?

step 3

Combine dry and wet ingredients; chill

Why is raw milk being used? What's its advantage over normal pasteurized milk?

Why is everything being chilled? Why does it need to be shock chilled instead of just put in the fridge?

step 5

Serve

So we add salt, olive oil and microgreens. Is the salt for added flavour or just decorative or both? What's the purpose of the olive oil? Does it balance out the flavours? Do it just add another flavour to the dish?

Anyway, you get the idea. My point is that in order for me to become a better chef I have to understand why things are being done and what purpose they serve.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

Regards,

Wouter

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Comments

Brendan_Lee_56950

For your example, you'd probably get all of the "why" in the ice cream class. I think there are times when I totally agree with you but overall I don't really feel like I would want that at every step because I (maybe selfishly) want to keep the level of reader/community member high.

wschreuders_29485

So if I understand what you're saying it's that you don't want to have the reason for using ingredients or methods explained because the average chefsteps user should already know the reason because they're of such a "high" level?

Brendan_Lee_56950

Yes and no. Like I said, I agree that sometimes an explanation of why something was chosen is necessary but I feel like the overall nature of the resources being provided here are at a level such that the average user is expected to be fairly well versed in technique/ingredients/etc. I don't really mean "high" as in everyone is a restaurant veteran, but I mean high enough to understand how to seek out information if needed, high enough to know what is meant when a recipe calls for a particular technique, etc. I would really hate to see this one-of-a-kind site devolve into a place where they feel it necessary to hold our hands every step of the way.