{"items": [{"author": "Christopher", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362", "anchor": "fb-841637609362", "service": "fb", "text": "I think cooking can be a lot more complicated. How big or small you chop things, what angle you use, what type of heat(s) you use to cook ingredients, which order you add things... these all can matter quite a bit, completely aside from the spices you use.", "timestamp": "1485201275"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362&reply_comment_id=841642958642", "anchor": "fb-841637609362_841642958642", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Yes! Though harder to get in a cycle of \"try a little, taste it, try a little more, taste it\" improvement.", "timestamp": "1485201696"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362&reply_comment_id=841643502552", "anchor": "fb-841637609362_841643502552", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Things can matter while still not being ideal from a learning perspective, which to my mind suggests focusing on them more later in the process of learning cooking.", "timestamp": "1485201758"}, {"author": "Ruthan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362&reply_comment_id=841644310932", "anchor": "fb-841637609362_841644310932", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Dishes of the \"cook an egg with some things in a pan\" variety are a good and relatively inexpensive testing ground for things like order of addition and heat level.", "timestamp": "1485201857"}, {"author": "Peter", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362&reply_comment_id=841718367522", "anchor": "fb-841637609362_841718367522", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Actually, dishes involving eggs are sort of halfway between baking and non-baking as you've described them, because there is a non-reversible chemical reaction (the denaturing of the egg protein) involved.  Getting avgolemono soup right, for example, is somewhat tricky.", "timestamp": "1485207226"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362&reply_comment_id=841721151942", "anchor": "fb-841637609362_841721151942", "service": "fb", "text": "→ @Peter: fried-egg-and-stuff dishes are fast enough to do a lot of experimentation, though, much more than, say, cakes let you do", "timestamp": "1485207339"}, {"author": "Ruthan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841637609362&reply_comment_id=841722638962", "anchor": "fb-841637609362_841722638962", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Avgolemono is a far cry from \"cook an egg with some things in a pan\". :P", "timestamp": "1485207454"}, {"author": "John", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=841925133162", "anchor": "fb-841925133162", "service": "fb", "text": "My 2nd grade teacher taught us the basics of cooking.  It was her way to approach fractions and the idea of following instructions. I still remember that.", "timestamp": "1485224467"}, {"author": "Kiran", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=842139328912", "anchor": "fb-842139328912", "service": "fb", "text": "The problem with this is that cooking affects the flavors of the ingredients. To do this correctly you have to compare finished dishes to finished dishes over dozens of iterations, and that's more effort than most people want to invest.", "timestamp": "1485243859"}, {"author": "Ralph", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/841526262502?comment_id=842512755562", "anchor": "fb-842512755562", "service": "fb", "text": "Good thoughts on learning.  After many years of using pretty much this approach, I can build a dish in my head, accurately predicting the result.", "timestamp": "1485267536"}]}