RSS“Why Doesn’t Rouxbe Publish More New Recipes?”
February 28th, 2009 by Joe, Co-founder of Rouxbe
I received a great question from a user today and I wanted to respond publicly to help people better understand why Rouxbe exists and what our purpose is.
USER’S COMMENT/QUESTION:
I come and look at Rouxbe every few days to see if there are any new recipes, but rarely am I rewarded with one. I would find this site more useful if there were more recipes available.
WHY IS ROUXBE ONLINE – WHAT’S OUR MISSION?
Rouxbe exists to teach motivated home cooks how to cook.
So in response to this user and to all of you, let me explain why we are not currently focused on recipe production.
First, and most importantly, recipes do NOT help people become better cooks. They provide great inspiration and great ideas for sure, but they do not teach people very well.
I wrote about this a month or so ago in a post entitled: “Biggest Misconception in Cooking – Millions in the Dark“. It’s a long post so I’ve reprinted some of it here:
Why are recipes NOT a solution to becoming a better cook?
For decades in professional cooking schools around the world, budding professional cooks have been taught skills and techniques, not recipes. Recipes are used simply to practice skills and techniques. In fact, a recipe is really just a step-by-step set of techniques, stacked one on top of the other. For example, cut this, mix this, pan fry this, then braise this and voila?you are supposed to end up with something delicious to eat.
The challenge, however, is that each of these small steps requires skill and technique knowledge. You need to know how to handle the knife, how to mix properly, how to use a fry pan, etc. And most importantly, you need to understand ?why? you do what you do when cooking and how it affects everything else moving forward. Recipes simply provide the do this, do this, do this? step-by-step direction but they don?t, and in most cases can?t, help you execute the technical parts in a recipe. Recipe methods are littered with culinary terms (techniques) that provide little help to an at-home cook who doesn?t possess basic culinary knowledge (sweat, simmer, brown, sear, deglaze, sauté, etc). And the tough thing about cooking is that it?s not very forgiving. If you don?t know how to sweat for example, one small error here in the beginning of a recipe and the whole dish could easily be ruined.
So, at Rouxbe, we are focused on laying down the foundation – a culinary foundation that will empower you to successfully tackle any recipe from any of your favorite recipe resources.
Consider Rouxbe a complement to your favorite cooking resource – not a replacement. We will help you have better cooking success with any recipe you try, whether it’s from a google search, allrecipes, epicurious, or any cookbook/magazine. With Rouxbe, you’ll even be able to try and re-create that recipe you see on Top Chef. We are your “chef instructor” in your back pocket.
It is our contention, that if you take a bit of time to learn the basics, that you will only need recipes for ideas and inspiration (and there are millions out there – millions!). So, rather than learning how to make “braised shortribs” – learn to braise. It will open the door to a creative freedom that will shock you.
Lastly, in the near future, we will be launching additional recipes and a new feature that will take recipes to a whole new level. But for now, we challenge you to spend 20 minutes a week in the Rouxbe Cooking School to change your cooking forever. I promise you that you won’t be looking for new recipes for long. You’ll be creating them!
And if you’d like to follow a new series on Rouxbe, check out the Recipe Critical Points exercise we recently did as a homework assignment.
I welcome your questions and comments as always, particularly on this important topic.
Rouxbe – The Recipe TO Better Cooking!
PS Rouxbe has 100′s or new recipes. These might not be video recipes, but they will drive success once you begin to master the basics. We are working at providing better discovery to these recipes at the present time. In the meantime, you might want to check out the 100′s of recipes we have in our Rouxbe Certified and Test Kitchen sections. Many of these are staff contributed to support the cooking school content and many of these are contributed by our users complete with links to relevant Rouxbe technique videos. You might even want to add your own.
When one is taught the technique of cooking, one can make up one’s own recipes. You learn to understand the concepts behind cooking and each person’s palate is unique. So, understanding the HOW of cooking needs to come before the ACT of cooking. Then, no matter what recipe one comes across, one may adapt it to one’s own palate.
Also, the recipes on this site are lovely and delicious. Oh, and tested for the most part.
This post is a breath of fresh air. Following recipes will not make you a better cook! I constantly research and read but not for recipes, for ideas because, I have taken the time to learn various techniques. It is so freeing to not have to rely on a recipe. And to be able to eyeball a teaspoon or 1/4 cup, etc. Cooking will be much more fun and creative.
Joe;
Your mission has always seemed quite clear to me; from the culinary to the charity. I don’t remember what you call my member status, but I paid in support because I loved your concept as a vehicle to fund your charity at a time when your site was much less developed. I hoped that you would succeed your goals.
In return for my donation, I have been entertained many times and there is no doubt that my chicken stock and consequently my chicken soup, is the best its ever been (Reference: Cooking School, Stocks). I also cut my own whole beef tenderloin now, as well as a number of other tasks taught to my by Rouxbe.
I have always wanted to go to a proper cooking school, but the time and freedom to do so was never a possibility. Rouxbe provides some of that experience for me in a manner that I can fit into my busy schedule. Thank you for that.
Sincerely,
Ben Averback
Joe,
The cooking school has enabled me to try things I would have never tried before, to cook prawns, or last night to make my first batch of cookies ever. My friends now know me as someone who loves to cook, and only a year ago, you yourself called me the “king of fast food.”
While the cooking school has opened many doors for me, I just wanted to add a comment saying that the recipes are fantastic, and even if they don’t come as quickly as they used to (with the renewed focus on teaching through the school) please keep them coming.
I always know that the recipes on Rouxbe (video and text) are the best, and that they work. Being able to go back and see a video to understand how I messed up part of a dish is so valuable.
Thank you again for the great site, and please keep up the good work.
[...] recipes, but our focus is on helping you become better at cooking and recipes do not help you here (read more). The path to better cooking is skill and technique and the understanding of how each cooking [...]