I'll get fussy about the right ingredients when I feel like they're absolutely necessary, but I really feel like learning when and how to substitute ingredients is a critical part of learning to cook, right along with learning to relax and not wig out if you don't have everything you need for a recipe. I'm sure the orange blossom honey does make a subtle difference to the squash soup, but as you say, local honey is delicious and healthful, and a little orange zest and/or juice in the soup will get similar flavor notes across to those provided by the orange blossom honey.
Actually, there is one other point when I get fussy about ingredients and recipes: making pastry. So much of the right texture depends on having the correct flour and correct proportions of liquid to dry ingredients that I don't generally screw around with those recipes.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2013-05-10 02:41 pm (UTC)Actually, there is one other point when I get fussy about ingredients and recipes: making pastry. So much of the right texture depends on having the correct flour and correct proportions of liquid to dry ingredients that I don't generally screw around with those recipes.