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But the recipe called for...

~ by Cajun Clark ~

Another of Caj's amusing articles - How to follow a recipe and when not to!


Consider the following scenario and see if you don't agree how much cooking and life are the same, or so close it's scary.

The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups water and 2 eggs. So, mixing up what was supposed to be wheat pizza dough, those two ingredients were added to 4 cups of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham flour, and dumped with the other stuff into the bread machine to mix.

Well, lo and behold, on opening the lid to inspect a few minutes after it started kneading, there was a swamp, slough, bayou consisting of too little flour and too much liquid. Quickly, without hesitation, flour was added; and added and added and...Until finally, it looked too moist but beyond any further attempts at repair.

To make a long story short, the dough blew the top off the bread machine, and stuck to the sides like so much paste when it was dumped onto the cutting board. Finally, after cleaning the mess out of the bread machine basket, rolling it in cornmeal in an attempt to control the stickiness, the dishes were left in the sink, and it was called quits for the day.

New day aka Next Day. After cleaning up the mess from yesterday's disaster, it was time to make the next attempt at wheat pizza dough. However, this time the water was cut to 1 1/4 cups in addition to the 2 eggs. Yep, you guessed it, that was still too much liquid, and another dive into the flour container was called for. It was better this time, only 8 tablespoons of flour had to be added until it looked like (yeah, right, looks are deceiving) it was about right. Wrong, the dough still stuck to the sides of the bread machine basket, and another mess had been created.


Okay, that's it; having been to a couple of goat ropin's and a county fair or two, and knowin' that Mom didn't raise no dummies, a call was placed to the creator of what had turned out to be a recipe disaster. The conversation went something like this,

"Hey, Icee, Caj here. Need to run something by you. Your recipe for wheat pizza dough calls for 1 1/2 cups water and 2 eggs. Tried it, didn't like it, disaster ensued. Then I tried it using 1 1/4 cups water...yeah, right, still using two eggs...no, not the same two. Big mess, call me swampy.

"Seems to me like you got the liquid requirements mixed up. Oh come on, Icee, don't get hostile, your feathers ruffled, your nose bent out of joint, these things happen.

"What's that? NO, you're kidding. You're not. No wonder, now it makes sense."

Poor Icee, he'd used the recipe time and time again, but when he wrote it out he put down what he used: 1 1/2 cups water, 2 eggs. What he failed to mention was, You BREAK the eggs into your measuring cup and then add water until you have 1 1/2 cups of liquid. Tried it, works great, made the change in the recipe before putting it in Caj's Cookbook.

But let me tell you, poor Icee and da ol' mon Caj here wonder how many folks tried his recipe as written and wound up swimming in a wheat flour bog.

Oh, what does all this have to do with life? Seems simple, you can follow the directions and find out they were wrong. You can not follow the directions and find out that you were right. You can do a combination of both. Just remember, observe your results, and always be open to changing your recipe.

See ya later, it's time to put all the good stuff on the skillet pizza that's under construction. Yeah, you can find the recipe, corrected of course, at the web site where cookin' is an attitude.

About the Author

This article was originally written in 2003. Cajun Clark was (Jan. 1, 1939 - August 26, 2006) a world renowned writer of one-of-a-kind cookbooks. His first was "Cajun Clark's Cookbook: One Inch From the Top -- The Only Way to Cook!", a monster filled with over 1,100 favorite recipes he had collected over the years. That was quickly followed by Cajun Clark’s "Sweet & Sassy!", which was full of mouth-watering dessert recipes. And later, "Cajun Clark Cooks Chicken, Pork, Fish & Small Wild Game".

In addition, Caj wrote articles covering topics ranging from cooking to web site development and marketing to customer service and customer care. His articles are published on the WWW, and have an extensive following due to his unique writing style, “down home” humor and “common sense” approach to life. His cookbooks display this same style and are sprinkled with delightful stories, sage advice and his own “irreverent” comments, making them different from any other cookbook you are likely to find.

Although Caj's cookbooks are no longer sold (I am proud to say that I am an owner of each and every one, including his book "My Life With What's His Name? by Spotless, Queensland Heeler, Cleaner Upper Extraordinaire, as told to Cajun Clark" and "Shamblin' Down a Dead End Road: Remembrances Real(?) and Imagined(?)"), you can still view his wonderful free recipes at his websites for the time being until further notice: www.cajunclarkssweetandsassy.com and www.cajunclarkcooks.com, as well as recipes and anecdotes on his message board.

Caj...we'll miss you!






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