Secret Recipes (A Rant)

[vlap]

I hate them! I hate the idea and I don't care for the "MINE" mentality that produces them.

Have you ever had a good meal and asked how they did it and the response is "its a secret family recipe that I would have to kill you after I told you" Whatta bunch of crap. First off if its even an original recipe (which likely it isn't) why would you prefer to take that recipe to the grave and let that little bit of history die with you. Why not give it a name that reminds people of you and share it? Or do as some and sell it. Nothing wrong with that. You may as well profit from it.

The part that kills me about the secret recipe is the loss of it when a person forgets it. (they can't write down a secret or it would be found so they keep it in their head where they will never lose it...What?) How many great recipes have been lost due to that arrogant idea.

As for originality. I got a secret recipe from a friend once. I had looked for a recipe similar before I got it and found a few. When I finally did get it the recipe was almost verbatim to the recipes I found online. I will share a secret with you. Theres not much we are doing with food today that hasn't been done before.

Food is passion and we should share the recipes in order to enhance our knowledge of food. This is a necessity in a day where people think good food is the drive through at Mcd's. Can I barf now? Where has the family dinner gone? To applebees? Barf again!!! Chiles mexican cusine? baaarrfff!

Its time for homecooking and a gathering of friends and family at the table. If you ever need a recipe I will share any I have. Even from that old stash of handwritten recipes from my grandmother.

Ok I will get off my soapbox now. This though hit me last night around 3am and it bugged me. The only spot I can understand the secret recipe is in competitions and restaurants. Both should well document the recipes and then share when they are done doing business or competitions.

 

[ajthepoolman]

CAN I GET A WITNESS!!!!!!?????

Amen brother!

 

[vlap]

Where did you take your speed reading courses?

 

[lcruzen]

I think the secret recipe thing is just old school thinking. With the advent of the internet not much is a secret anymore even with restaurant recipes. And on the other side of the coin, I tasted a few secret recipes that in my opinion can stay a secret.

Lou

 

[geek with fire]

I will admit, I have been prone to keeping some recipes secrets (we IT guys are a defensive bunch!). But really, the main reason I do it is when I give someone a recipe of something I've worked on, they invariably will come back and say "you jerk, I know you left something out." I'm no Chef (I go by "dinner cook" at my house), but I'm very retentive in the kitchen; I measure by weight, I cook to specific temperature, and keep time in seconds. Others don't and blame me when their cookies are burnt. Keeping recipes secret sometimes protects the integrity and anticipation of the finished product.

With that said, I'm in agreement with you on keeping plagiarized recipes secret. That's just shameful.

 

[vlap]

Definitely idiotic for someone to come back to you mad that your recipe didn't turn out for them. I wouldn't share with them again either. I just hate to see knowledge die.

 

[flagriller]

I'd let you know what I think on this.......but it's a secret

 

[vlap]

Thanks Jim!

 

[camp_cookie]

One just can't discount technique though. My paternal grandmother made the most wonderful roast beef and gravy. My mother, a good cook in her own right, tried her best to make roast beef just like my grandmother made. My grandmother would even show my mother how she made it and let my mother use the same pans and such, but it just never was quite the same.

My grandmother made written copies of her recipes, but none of us can get them quite the same.

My mother grandmother just cooked things. She never used recipes. I have tried my darndest to make cornbread that taste like hers. I have gotten close one time, but even though I turn out some good product, it still isn't hers.

 

[cowgirl]

Well said Vlap!

I have one recipe that I do not share.....because I make money off of the finished product.

I'm happy to share everything else.

One of my pet peeves is when someone tries a recipe I've shared...but they use a different ingredient or do the process a different way and then complain that my recipe was not any good.

I like to alter recipes, but if they do not come out right...it's my own fault.

 

[vlap]

Another reason that secret recipes are screwy! There is a touch and a feel to when its right. I often cook something and during the process I get asked how much of this or that. I have no answer. I put in what feels right. With a recipe you have a base to start with. From there you build it into what you want.

Half the problem we have these days is the fact our food products suck. They are genetically altered to grow faster and bigger. Unfortunately the flavor is third to those two requirements. I envy my sister who takes part in a farm share. (terminology?) where she pays a fee at the start of the year then most of the year she gets fresh organic heirloom veggies once a week straight from the farm.Real veggies that are the way they were meant to be.

I have always discounted the organic/freerange idea as a fad. I am starting to reconsider that notion. I may make an effort to use only those products this year.

 

[camp_cookie]

Thankfully, I have recently discovered a meat market with me that only sells meat products that were free range/pasture raised and such without all of the hormones and antibiotics. There is a definite difference in the taste.

 

[vlap]

In that circumstance I find it understandable. Same with Jeff keeping his rub and sauce a secret. If he didn't keep it a secret he would have trouble selling it.

Just don't take that recipe to the grave ;)

 

[placebo]

Same story with my grandmother just swap the roast beef for fried chicken. Nobody in the family could make it as good as her and they watched her make it step by step many times over. Tis a real shame because my grandmother has long since passed on and to this day I crave that fried chickin something serious.

I do agree with you Vlap on secret recipes.

 

[shellbellc]

I'm always happy to share recipes, but if I'm not baking, I don't follow verbatim, people ask me for my chili recipe, it comes out like 5 pound of chuck, about 1 large red pepper or two small ones, 1 large green or two small ones, 5 jalapeno but you can substitute hotter or milder for your taste, etc...I have never written it down as I go...when I start to write it down for people they read and go

 

[walking dude]

i lost alot of recipes when my grandmother died........she never went by a written recipe.........pinch of this, dab of that.........and myself too self absorbed back in those days to even consider writing em down.......and my mom never had em..........*sigh*

 

[shellbellc]

btw...if you want some secret recipes...

http://copycat.cdkitchen.com/

Just click on the letter of the restaurant you are looking for. I don't think I've ever tried any of these, so I don't know how close they are, but worth perusing!

 

[walking dude]

shelly.......its the same way with my wifes chilli recipe.......i keep telling her to write it down.......growing up, my mom made the BEST chilli.........but summin happened to it over the years........now i can't stand to hardly eat it..........now my WIFES recipe rocks..........its what i remember my mom;s tasting like...........i keep after her.........but nutting wrote down yet...........

 

[cowgirl]

I need to write it down!

I've always let my chickens roam the farm....my neighbors have always done the same....my relatives did the same.
They weren't called free range......they were just called chickens.

IMO, they do taste a lot better than store bought.

I do not use any hormones in any animal that I raise...pigs, chickens, beef....and definately not the shrimp. heh

 

[vlap]

Shell, My other grandmother always gets on me cause I don't measure recipes out either. I add what I feel is needed.
I do kick myself sometimes though since I have made some great food and now can't remember how I did it since I didn't at least write down the ingredients and technique. Therefore I may never taste it again.

There are a few books on top secret restaurant recipes out there. They never taste close to the real thing.