Recipes that promise amazing results with only two or three ingredients make me nervous. Let me tell you why: I’ve actually tried some of these recipes before. In fact, I once followed a recipe exactly as it said, and I smoked my house out, ruined two pans and made our house smell like burnt chicken for a week. Other times, the food simply doesn’t taste good, and it’s a waste of money and time, which is ultimately a recipe for disappointment for me.
Part of the problem is the expectation that I have when I come across a recipe like this. When a recipe says you only need two ingredients, it seems like it’s too good to be true. Then, I try it out, and most of the time, the result is unappetizing instead of this miracle dish I was hoping for. For example, I tried this simple roast and potatoes recipe my husband was super excited about last week, and it ended up dry and tasting of entirely too much garlic. Now, I’m starting to realize why I see chefs on these cooking shows use so many different spices and such.
I know that life can get busy, and time gets away from you. Still, cooking can’t always be about making whatever is convenient for you. While a simple dish may taste decent enough from time to time, it rarely feels like it’s truly satisfying to eat or to say you made it. A recipe with more ingredients, like five or six, usually achieves more than ones with less in my experience so far. It has more to work with in terms of flavor. Personally, I want food that tastes like something I’d look forward to eating again, not just something to fill the void in my stomach.
I also think about how cooking these recipes affects my confidence. As I’m starting to cook more, I’ve realized that these simpler recipes give me this false impression that I’ve mastered the skill, but then I see other people’s more complex dishes and realize I’m not really learning much about cooking at all. I feel more proud of the work I’ve done when a dish with more steps and ingredients turns out well.
In the end, I’ll continue to be suspicious of these “ultra-simple recipes.” While I completely agree that the convenience they offer is a very tempting factor to consider, sometimes flavor and satisfaction matter more.
