A recipe is a list of instructions, but kitchens are not all alike. The reasons the same recipe gives different results usually come under these six headings.

1. The pan is too small

In a crowded pan nothing browns; it steams instead. In recipes like mushroom soup and chicken sauté that changes the taste directly: the depth that browned ingredients give never develops at all.

The solution is simple but tiresome: cook it in two batches.

2. A medium heat is not the same on every hob

Hobs vary in output. The time in a recipe is an estimate; the real measure is the look the recipe describes. Read "cook until the colour turns" rather than "cook for 5 minutes". In the recipes on this site we try to give both.

3. The ingredients have just come out of the fridge

Cold yoghurt splits when it goes into hot soup, cold eggs split a cake batter, cold butter will not cream. It is the number one reason the tempering in yayla soup splits.

The rule: dairy and eggs come out half an hour before you use them.

4. The acid goes in at the wrong moment

Lemon, vinegar and tomato fix the cell walls of vegetables and stop them softening. That is why the tomato goes in later in green beans with lamb; added at the start, the beans stay firm even after an hour of cooking.

The same holds for salt with pulses.

5. It was measured in glasses when it needed scales

No problem in a soup, a problem in a dough. You notice at once in bread dough that a water glass of flour can vary between 120 and 140 grams. The details are in the kitchen measurements article.

6. The resting time is skipped

Letting dough rest, letting meat sit before it is carved, letting pilaf steam. These look like optional steps and they are not. Meat carved without resting loses its juices onto the plate; pilaf that has not steamed stays firm.

It is not a step to rush, it is part of the recipe.

And one more thing

If a recipe did not work and you cannot find the reason, write in the comments below it. Tell us what went wrong and we will answer, and correct the recipe with a note underneath it if it needs correcting.