Ask Peter citrus
I have a problem with measurements in recipes. I grow lemons, oranges and limes that are large and contain more than 1 cup of juice ( limes less) so when a recipe calls for the juice and rind of 1 , or whatever, lemon, orange or lime, I know I will have way too much in my fruit. Also some fruit that is purchased from supermarkets has no juice in it at all. Especially limes. What would the spoonful or cup amount be for 1 lemon, orange or lime? How do I judge? Trish
Good question — because fruit are rarely uniform, and home grown ones even less so. Plus, of course, a yen ben lemon can be quite a different size to a meyer or lemonade variety. I’d suggest the reason there are many recipes out there, my own included, that call for the juice of 1 lemon is simply that a little more, or less, isn’t going to ruin a dish. That, of course, is okay for salad dressings, or squeezing over butter- fried fish or a roast chicken, but if you’re making a sorbet, a cake or a jelly, the amount would usually be given. If it’s not, that is the fault of the recipe writer. However, you say that your lemons produce over 1 cup ( 250ml) juice — whereas most that I have tested these past few days are closer to 50ml. That would pose a problem, being 500 per cent greater.
Also, in order that the fruit are so large that they contain 250ml juice, then their surface area must be more like that of an orange. So the zest from half of one of your lemons would be the equivalent of the zest from two of a shop bought variety – and if you were adding that amount to a recipe, it would likely become overpowering. It’s funny though, as in the past I’ve had people say, “Why specify ¼ tsp zest, why not just say the zest of ½ lime? Who has such precise measuring spoons?” And when I have knowingly written, for a Thai-inspired salad dressing, “the zest and juice of 2 limes” I will always say at the end of it: “add more lime juice to taste”. The same could be said for the use of chilli in a recipe — when mostly you’ll read “use ½ chilli, finely chopped”. We all know there is a huge variety of chillies and as a writer you do need to assume people will have some degree of experience with them — but of course that won’t always be the case. So that then raises the issue of someone saying “but I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like”. And fair enough too.
Perhaps we writers need to be so precise we drive some people nuts, but also flexible so that competent cooks don’t feel patronised. I was looking at an old New Zealand League Of Mothers cookbook over the weekend and the recipes are so lacking in exactitude compared to a modern- day recipe that many home cooks nowadays would be scratching their heads wondering what to do. There is often no temperature given (ovens were so much more basic back in the 1940s) and instructions such as “2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced” just don’t exist. Instead it will simply say “2 onions”.
As for citrus juice, a squeeze added to a dressing or to deglaze a roasting dish of lamb or chicken adds something that nothing else can match. Unlike vinegar, which is very sharp and sour, lemon juice seems to lift rich foods up ( think a squeeze of lemon over a grilled lamb chop) and the zest adds a real ping to risotto, salad dressings, marinades and icings. And grating a little lemon zest over a fish or lamb dish, orange zest over roast pork, or lime zest over a roast chicken just before you serve it makes it that much more delicious.