4

I'm trying to write up a recipe by weight and include both the "cleaned" weight and the "uncleaned" weight. I can't find a good word for "uncleaned" and I'm hoping someone here knows one. "Raw" means "not cooked". "not cored or skinned" is awkward.

For example:

60 g celery, trimmed (start with 1 stalk, uncleaned)
70 g onion, skinned (start with 1/4 onion, uncleaned)
50 g granny smith apple, skinned and cored (start with 1/2 apple, uncleaned)

Is there such a word?

rumtscho
  • 134,346
  • 44
  • 300
  • 545
LoftyGoals
  • 167
  • 3
  • 2
    Why would it be necessary? 60g celery assumes cleaned, prepared celery. More important in your recipe is how the celery is to be treated. For example, is it diced? 60g diced celery assumes cleaned, diced celery...ready to cook with. – moscafj Nov 29 '20 at 23:40
  • I'm trying to make it easier for someone who doesn't cook very often to shop for the recipe. – LoftyGoals Nov 29 '20 at 23:47
  • I think it's clear enough just to say "start with xxx" Eg, "start with 1/4 onion" conveys that they should have 1/4 of an onion, or they can make 4 batches with 1 onion. – csk Nov 30 '20 at 00:39
  • 4
    I've seen this most often with "(apx 1 stalk)" or "(apx ¼ large onion)" ... If I'm "starting" I'll always be starting with a whole onion? – AMtwo Nov 30 '20 at 01:36
  • 2
    @AMtwo: and "**large** onion" is important, as they come in so many sizes. Bagged onions in the grocery store are *much* smaller than those sold loose, even for the same variety. But it's even more useful to give a size reference (inches, cm, or comparison to some other object of a fixed size (eg, 'tennis ball sized', but that assumes you've seen a tennis ball)) – Joe Nov 30 '20 at 13:47
  • Sorry but that's a really confusing recipe. How many grams are lost during the cleaning process? I need to know so that I can find an onion that weighs 4x70g + weight of trimmings so that I can end up with 70g from an uncleaned 1/4 onion. – MonkeyZeus Dec 01 '20 at 14:47

3 Answers3

10

You don't need the "uncleaned" word there at all.

All of the qualitative amounts are just approximates, so "(about 1/4 onion)" works fine.

FuzzyChef
  • 58,085
  • 18
  • 142
  • 218
  • 2
    Agreed - and if they do want to provide some kind of hint, length (about X cm) is much more useful when shopping than weight. It's not like they're going to pull a stalk off a bunch and weigh it in the store. – Cascabel Nov 30 '20 at 05:49
  • Yah, and honestly, given the price of celery, just buy two stalks and compost what you don't need. – FuzzyChef Nov 30 '20 at 05:56
  • 1
    who buys celery in stalks? – moscafj Nov 30 '20 at 12:20
  • 1
    @FuzzyChef : you know you can eat the part that you don't use in the recipe, right? Sure, compost the trimmed bit near the root and maybe dried out tips, but don't waste the rest. If you have some aversion to just snacking on raw celery, you can keep a bag in your freezer (if you have a freezer) of scraps to throw in when you next make stock. You can also extend the length of celery in the fridge by trimming the root end, then placing it in a container of water and placing it in the fridge. (change the water every couple of days; you might need to trim for height) – Joe Nov 30 '20 at 13:51
  • moscafj: here on the US Left Coast, many groceries (but definitely not all) sell loose celery stalks for like $0.25 each. If you need to buy a whole bunch, then it really doesn't matter who much one stalk weighs, does it? – FuzzyChef Nov 30 '20 at 16:15
  • @moscafj A stalk of celery can mean several things. In America it refers to a rib of celery, officially it refers to a bunch of celery – skippy Nov 30 '20 at 16:31
  • 1
    Bob: you're botanically correct, but that hasn't been common cooking usage anywhere for decades. https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/a-stalk-of-celery-vs-a-rib-of-celery/ – FuzzyChef Nov 30 '20 at 16:44
9

If you really want to do this, "untrimmed" is sufficient. For example:

60 g celery (approx 80 g untrimmed)

would tell someone how much to use and how much to buy. "As bought" wouldn't work - I bought ready-trimmed leeks the other day, because the untrimmed ones, while much cheaper, came in a huge pack.

Honestly though, just being clear that your recipe refers to the prepared weight is often enough - many of us would assume so but if you're writing for novices, "60 g washed and trimmed celery, finely chopped" would be helpful.

Chris H
  • 42,952
  • 1
  • 86
  • 147
1

It's confusing.

What does the 60 grams of celery has to do with 1 stalk.

Don't mix and match units, weights (grams) , volumes (1 cup) , sizes (1 large apple) in describing your recipe.

Use one unit for all of your ingredients, even liquid (100 grams water is 100 grams)

Max
  • 20,422
  • 1
  • 34
  • 52
  • 4
    Although yes, it's strange to mix units, most people can't judge weight to any accuracy when shopping. They are much more likely to be able to estimate counts or length. So, "X grams of diced onion. (appox Y cm onion or half a Z cm onion)" is useful. (more so than "a small onion" when I have no idea what you consider to be "small") – Joe Nov 30 '20 at 13:42
  • 3
    To generalize what Joe said: the most helpful units are the ones the cook can use. For some people, in some locales, that may well be grams for everything. But in many cases, approximations ("1 onion") or volumes ("1 quart of broth") or lengths ("1 inch of ginger") will be easier for people. Your advice will work for some people, but it's definitely not a universal best practice, especially in the context of giving a recipe to a specific person who doesn't cook often. – Cascabel Nov 30 '20 at 18:00
  • 3
    I personally appreciate (in particular, for baking) recipes that use both grams for precision and volume for when I did not yet have a kitchen scale or if I will make it while visiting a relative, etc. – user662852 Nov 30 '20 at 18:02
  • @Joe When shopping, in my experience it is difficult to find something that does *not* come with a label telling its weight. – Federico Poloni Nov 30 '20 at 20:26
  • 2
    @FedericoPoloni : we're not shopping at the same places then. Yes, bagged onions have weights on them, but not loose onions. Yes, you have to weight them when you buy them, but it'd take forever to shop if you're running back and forth to the scales with every onion to check its weight. (especially these days, if you're not shopping at a quiet time, and you're waiting for someone to move away from the scale so you can maintain your social distancing) – Joe Nov 30 '20 at 20:31
  • For me it would seem awkward to have grams for liquids, especially since for almost all kitchen fluids, even oils, you can safely assume that 1g is about 1ml within 10% accuracy. – Pelle Dec 01 '20 at 10:20