5-Ingredient Unfix

    Brook, I have a much better understanding of your position now, thanks!  It makes a lot of sense the way you put it here, and I think you framed where your opposition comes from as well.

   To that point, and the way you describe it, goes directly to the new spam challenge.  I do argue that (at least) water is a needed ingredient when cooking rice or pasta.

HistoricFoodie wrote: Ron, I think the confusion all stems from the use of "five ingredients." You, obviously, have one thing in mind. And, perhaps, you are unaware of the trend of five ingredients or less? There have been several cookbooks, and at least two TV shows, dedicated to that concept. The proponents of that trend all maintain that 1. the fewer the ingredients the simpler the dish, and 2. that five is the magic number for achieving that. To consistently produce good tasting, interesting dishes, almost by definition requires more than five ingredients. So they decided that many of the commonly used ingredients wouldn't count against the total. And, when that alone doesn't work, they devise other methods of not counting ingredients. Indirectly, this caters to the processed and convenience foods side of the continuum vs the from scratch school of cooking. Basically, they're saying that Sandra Lee is really on the right track. How so? Let's look at your concept of "components" rather than ingredients. Case study: Brook's Barbecued Ribs. Following the rules of the five-ingredient folks, I could, by using pre-made components, produce my ribs using just four ingredients: Ribs, mustard, commercial rub and commercial barbecue sauce. However, I make my own rubs, mops, and sauces. My basic rib rub contains 12 ingredients (well, ten, cuz two of them are salt and black pepper). My Kentucky style sauce has six of its own. So, when I make ribs am I using four ingredients? Or am I using 18? Oh, wait. I make my own mustard, which, in this case, is an additional 7 (6 the way they count) ingredients. Because I make those things ahead, and always have them on hand, we could argue that they are components, which brings us back to the same four ingredients. But either way, preparation is exactly the same. In short, there has been no simplification. What there has been is a lowering of quality. As I've stated before, simplicity or complexity is a matter of techniques used, not the number of ingredients or components. So far as I'm concerned, limiting the number of ingredients constrains good cooking, rather than freeing it. So, again, my comments were not directed against your challenge, as such, nor against any entry in it. I just have strong, negative feelings about the five ingredient rubric.