Practical Magic
No, not the extra cheese movie. It's about baking. I honestly think that baking is practical magic. But not exactly.
Let me start from the beginning. In the past couple of days I've been talking with my friends and even with Mr.Boyfriend about the essence of cook and, more specifically, of baking. One many people fail to understand about baking is that this is more or less edible chemistry. And just like in chemistry, you can substitute one ingredient for a completely random other one, without making sure that their chemical qualities are the same. Or at least a very close match. Yes, you can usually substitute one berry for another, but I will most definitely advise you against trying the same recipe with apples or pears. And oils, dear god, oils. Butter, coconut oil, nut butters, olive oil - they all have different uses and add (or take) different things to the given recipe. You could never be able to make a decent sponge cake with anything but butter, classical, fat, creamy butter. In the same time, no Spanish cake could be done with anything other than olive oil. The taste won't be the same, it's that simple. It will taste plain, blank and it won't have the delightful lightness and moisture that Spanish cakes usually have.
So yes, this is my pet peeve as from today. When you're baking, follow the darn recipe, because this is chemistry. You don't substitute one acid for another one completely randomly, do you? Well then, don't do it when you are cooking either. Just follow the recipe ant it will be all fine, I promise. Because baking is a practical magic!
You can't get lost if you don't know where you're going...
