how to describe something on paper
steps to doing something
trying to describe inner knowledge onto paper
I Never Thought It Was So Mind-Tiring To Do This....But
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
May 13, 2008 8:42pm CST
I just finished rattling off my second in a series of articles for Associated Content for recipes....my first attempt to do so. Both were suggestions of what to do for leftover Beef Stew or Chicken รก La King..the first was to make homemade pot pies, and the one I just finished was to use either leftover as a filling for crepes....So this also meant giving a French Cooking 101 course in how to make crepes to begin with.
I first started cooking French cuisine nearly thirty years ago and had been inspired both by my one term I took in French language, and was taught by a professor who, my goodness, actually came from France..heehee, and also by the introduction of the then newcomer to the cooking scene, Jacques Pepin--as you can guess my very first attempt in French cooking was to make crepes.
I like to pride myself in that I'm a great cook...oh, yup I am...hehe...HOWEVER...as I was trying to write out this article of mine I really found it difficult to describe it, I mean I did it, and I hope in a very easy understand way, but I found it's one thing to actually make or cook something and another thing to describe just how you cook it. I've been cooking so long, that frankly many times I just don't really measure...one gets a sixth sense of just what and how much to add ingredients.
So now I'm brain fog from writing these recipe articles as I had to really wrack my brain cells imagining in my mind how to make crepes and describe the process without actually making them on the spot.
Do you find this to be true in yourself? Say your a great cook too...you have that inner knack of how to make something...but then try to transfer that knowledge onto writing is like torture...or maybe you're a electronics geek...the type that can take apart and put together a computer, but if you were to sit down and write the steps out would suddenly be dimwitted? Or another case...my being a photographer...I know from shutter speeds, f-stops, ASAs, how to develop black and white films and prints and so forth...but to try and EXPLAIN it, is like duh???
so---do you have this same difficulty to try and explain some inner "talent" you have on paper and the steps each thing involves???
4 people like this
12 responses
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
14 May 08
Nope... I don't have that problem.
I can describe in great details how to do things. It just flow out of my brain onto the keyboard.
It is when I try to describe a fictional story that I have a writing block. I can do it in my brain... but cannot put the first word on paper.
As for pancakes... that's the easiest thing in the world. I could have that first pancake ready to eat in 10 minutes flat.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
14 May 08
Well mon ami, for true authentic crepes, they must be paper thin anything thicker and a true French gastronome would faint with horror...quite a bit different from ordinary pancakes...LOL
1 person likes this
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
14 May 08
Pye I believe there are somethings that cannot be book learned. We can type out each step in very plain English, but with out visuals and hands on with an instructor You will just never get it right. Take your Crepes for instance, it took me time and time again to try and get them right from reading recipes but it was only after visiting my aunt that I got the hang of it. There is a Talent involved, and some of us just do not have it.
We have been talking about our mothers lately, the one thing my mother did really well was bake, she could make a biscuit that is to die for, her crusts would rival Martha Stuarts. She left no recipes, she used none she just knew.
I can't hardly bake a boxed cake and have it come out right However I am a very good cook. So I can see how hard this might be to translate into the written word. To tell you the truth some of us still would not get it right, even if every step you put down was accurate and spot on.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
14 May 08
Well thankfully even the very first time I made crepes they came out perfectly...nah, nah, nah, nah, nah
Just kidding...I even joke all the time that I must have inherited my great-grandmother's skill in cooking as she was known as THE cook in our family while my grandmother and mother, if they could, would have burned water...LOL.
Hehe--I love making homemade biscuits...I often add to the batter like grated cheddar cheese and herbs...oh, nuts now I'm hungry! There are some things I've cooked or baked in the past and wonder how I had the patience...I don't think I could do it now...like one year I did a traditional Chocolate Yule Log Cake for Christmas dessert...yeesh, I remember even then how time consuming that was
Just kidding...I even joke all the time that I must have inherited my great-grandmother's skill in cooking as she was known as THE cook in our family while my grandmother and mother, if they could, would have burned water...LOL.
Hehe--I love making homemade biscuits...I often add to the batter like grated cheddar cheese and herbs...oh, nuts now I'm hungry! There are some things I've cooked or baked in the past and wonder how I had the patience...I don't think I could do it now...like one year I did a traditional Chocolate Yule Log Cake for Christmas dessert...yeesh, I remember even then how time consuming that was1 person likes this
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
14 May 08
rotflmao Don't break your arm there Dear one :))))
2 people like this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
16 May 08
well I am here in quebec and I never made crepes, I don't even bother that much with pancakes, I do like crepes but done by the best chefs, like at the crepe breton houses,
you can get all kinds of crepes, dinner crepes with ham and cheese, or aspergus in a sauce, etc, or dessert crepes, filled with strawberries or other fruits, topped in chocolate and or whip creme etc, there are so many kinds of crepes to have for dinner, or dessert.
I don't bother much with recipes either, for me when I cook it is a bit of this and a bit of that.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
19 May 08
yes that is very true, they have to be paper thin.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 May 08
Crepes were actually the first thing I taught myself to do when I started getting into French cooking...I always remember my French language teacher in college say that to be really authentic crepes they had to be paper thin..anything else and it was just a glorified pancake..so that stuck in my mind like glue when I started making my own crepes.
1 person likes this
they probably did@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 May 08
Yes I never thought it would be so hard to write out a recipe without actually cooking it...I had to do a bit of "visualization" and my two kitties must have thought I was daft as I was talking out the steps out loud..LOL
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
14 May 08
My grandma was full-bloodied Italian and I learned how to cook from her. This means NO MEASURING whatsoever. Just a lil of this a lil of that. I know what you mean by trying to put something down on paper w/o actually going thru the process. Many a time I've been asked for a recipe and I finally just gave up putting it on paper and had the person just watch me cook. lol
1 person likes this
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
14 May 08
Thats exactly what I say Blackbriar, there are somethings you just can not learn from reading it... You have to have visual and hands on instruction.
1 person likes this
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
14 May 08
Exactly! Now go to my professors back in college and explain THAT to them. They just couldn't understand WHY I was having such a difficult time learning.
They just couldn't understand WHY I was having such a difficult time learning.1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
14 May 08
I remember when I was REAL young and we all still lived with my great-grandmother she allowed me to cook...simple things like frying up bacon, making scrambled eggs--it's a shame my grandmother and mother never really took an interest in cooking as they sure would've gotten great lessons from her. Now if I had watched my grandmother or mother cook, to "learn" from them, I probably would have wound up a terrible cook like them.....hehee
@cornchips50 (204)
• Philippines
14 May 08
dear pyewacket,
If your having difficulty to cultivate your inner talent to explain try to make a drawing of that thing you wanted to explain. That's it!
Now i need your recipes can you share it with me?
cheers
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
14 May 08
Yikes I think drawing the ideas out would be even harder, especially for recipes... not that I don't know how to draw...actually I do a lot of sketches and drawings for the short stories or novels I write from floorplans of the homes my characters live in, to a sketch of the facade of the homes..well keep your fingers crossed that AC publishes those articles..hehe..then you can see those recipes on-line
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
14 May 08
Yeah, sometimes it can be difficult to express how to do simple tasks on paper. There are so many things that I do without thinking about them.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
14 May 08
i'm actually better at just showing someone in person than writing it down.never quite have the words for it.
definetly as far as cooking goes,i never really measure anything either.pinch of this,handful of that..mainly to taste.
1 person likes this
@sumofalltears (3988)
• United States
14 May 08
There are many things that I don't do by any recipe I just make them, like bread pudding, or strawberry chiffon pie or stirred kielbasa, or chicken orzo....and many things are created with leftovers so it is hard to guarantee what they will taste like.
1 person likes this
@sumofalltears (3988)
• United States
14 May 08
Beware the soup pot, for all it not as it seems...lol.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
14 May 08
Quite often whenever I try a new recipe I go exactly "by the book" following it to the letter, but as I get more comfortable with it, I add or omit to my own tastes, so kind of reinventing the recipe
1 person likes this
@artemis432 (7474)
• Abernathy, Texas
15 May 08
For me, it would be akin to explaining how to write. Short of explaining, as its said, you just stare at a piece of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead, it would be hard to describe. For me the essence is there complelling me to write it out, to translate into words. But how?
Do you think you can share your recipes here on mylot?
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 May 08
Unfortunately it's against the guidelines to have discussions about recipes...but my first recipe article is now on-line at Associated Content, and the second was accepted and should be on-line maybe by tomorrow..that's the one with the crepes...here is the link to the first one
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/763391/a_creative_idea_for_leftover_chicken.html?cat=22
@artemis432 (7474)
• Abernathy, Texas
16 May 08
Really, a year ago I did one on good chicken recipes and got some great responses. Like the question and answer section or the poll section, I think they should have a special recipe exchange section.
1 person likes this
@faith210 (11224)
• Philippines
16 May 08
Hi pyewacket! Oh, that is wonderful. I am going to check on your recipes at the Associated Content since I really wanted to learn how to cook crepes and learn other recipes. With you question if I do have some difficulty in trying to explain procedures of how I am doing my crafts, the answer is a big resounding YES! I know how to do it even blindfolded but whenever I explain it to someone else, I get tongue-tied. haha..
Take Care and God Bless! Happy Mylotting! 
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 May 08
I do crafts as well, and like you could probably do them blindfolded, but if I were to explain how to do them, I'd get all tongue tied
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
17 May 08
I sometimes find it hard explaining things by mouth, never mind putting it down in words as well!! It is hard when you know how to do something, because you have your own way of doing it, and to teach someone else you have to teach them properly so you have to write every detail, so that they get it.
It sounds like you are a very good cook though, I can be a good cook when I am in the mood to be and when I have the time to spare and concentrate, but in my house all I get every 2 minutes is "Mum" and then a tell tale session, so peace and concentration is non existent in my house.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 May 08
I really have to admit, I'm not as "fussy" about cooking anymore myself. Now that I live alone first of all it's harder to make recipes just for one..so gotten kind of lazy about cooking....but will still go all out and cook special Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years or Easter dinners...oh, and I always fix a special birthday dinner for myself..usually my Beouf Bourgninon
