I think another problem with good cooks giving instructions is that they leave out obvious steps that may not be obvious to a novice.
I wanted to make a rice pudding like my mother makes. She gave me a full recipe and I followed it. Unfortunately, the skin on the top failed to form - it turns out that you have to use an open container - if you put a lid on, no skin.
It never occurred to my mother to tell me to leave the lid in the cupboard; it seemed to me to be obvious to put the lid on so that the dish didn't spit over the inside of my oven.
This is true!
I moved to where I lived now a few years ago and apparently no one around here has heard of bacon-wrapped jalapenos. Cut in half, take out the veins and seeds, fill with cream cheese, wrap with 1/2 slice of bacon and bake on a broiler pan at 400 degrees for 35 or so minutes. Easy peasy right? So many people asked for the recipe and there really isn't one. I don't know how much cream cheese:bacon:jalapeno ratios, you know? The only pain is wearing gloves and if you're doing an appreciable amount, it gets kind of monotonous. But it's easy.
So one of my friends gave me flack for ruining his peppers by not telling him how to make them properly. I asked, "How is it my fault?"
He said, "Well, when I wrapped the bacon, it all came undone! You didn't tell me how to wrap it."
I said, "You're right. I didn't tell you how to wrap it. Because I thought wrapping it so the ends of the bacon are tucked under the pepper was...ya know...common sense."
He responded, "You should have told me."
Me:
