Cooking is my passion but writing all the ingredients and procedures can be a pain in the ass! Honestly, it wasn't after years of doing so did I come up with my own notations which are rather very helpful for me. The ease of having my own notations have made my life in the kitchen so much better! Best of all, I am more motivated to document recipe from recipe without spending a lot of time writing ingredients and procedures word for word.
Inspired with my high school algebra and chemistry classes = life made easy!
Keep in mind guys that Math is the language of science thus the combination of those two is just magic!
Here are some of the most common notations I use in my kitchen:
BM - Butter Milk
BS - Baking Soda
BP - Baking Powder
BrS - Brown Sugar
BSC - Bitter Sweet Chocolate
Btr - Butter
C - Cup
Cc - Cocoa
DC - Dark Chocolate
E - Egg
Gs - Granulated Sugar
H2O - Water
Lb - Pound
LeJ - Lemon Juice
LiJ - Lime Juice
M - Milk
P - Pepper
PS - Powdered Sugar (which by the way is also your ICING SUGAR)
Sa - Salt
SRF - Self-Raising Flour
SSCC - Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
TBSP - Table spoon
tsp - Teaspoon
VE - Vanilla Extract /Essence
Vi - Vinegar
Y - Yeast
It's all about the symbols!
+ add ingredients together
X multiply ingredient
∆ heat
∆B Boil
∆M Melt
∆350F Bake at 350F
{[()]} Grouping symbols
Let me explain the grouping symbols a little bit =>
Grouping symbols stems out from our high school algebra. Anyone remember "FOIL" method??
Foil method in algebra popularized the grouping symbols but in my kitchen, we are only using the grouping symbols and not the FOIL method! So now you can just relax and breathe!
We work the grouping symbols from parenthesis to brackets to braces. Let me give you an example to refresh the math prowess in you!
{[(6 TBSP Btr + 1 C GrS) + 2 X Large E + 1 tsp VE + 2/3 C BM] + (2 C APF + 2 tsp BP + 1/2 tsp Sa)} = VANILLA BUTTERMILK CUPCAKES
∆ 350 F, 20-25 mins.
This may seem difficult at first because you are not used to it but later you will realize that this is so much easier than your conventional list of ingredients and procedures. Although people who are new to cooking may find it lacking in procedures, this new trend in writing your recipes will prove easier and helpful as you go along the way.
I would really suggest this to people who have more advanced knowledge in cooking or baking who can easily fill in the blanks or read between the lines. For newbies however, this is the start of a new adventure for you as you try new recipes and write them in your own notations just like I did!
In algebra or math in general, you first perform equations in the innermost grouping symbol which is usually those in the parentheses then braces then brackets. The first step really is to inspect the equation. Look for the parentheses and combine ingredients in the parentheses first. After that, you combine ingredients in the parenthesis with ingredients within the brackets. After you combine equations within the braces.
Once you get used to this, it will be so much easier for you to write your recipes like nothing! On top of that, you are not only writing your recipes but also tapping to your math and science skills! =>
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