Chef critique
Lemony Sausage & Kale Rotini
A highly accurate and well-seasoned recipe that successfully applies percentage-based salting rules, though it includes an impractical instruction to take the temperature of crumbled sausage.
Score: 9/10
Suggested fixes
- Change the doneness cue in Step 5 to a visual one, such as 'until lightly browned and cooked through.'
- Remove the word 'prepared' in later steps and simply refer to 'the sausage', 'the onion', 'the garlic', etc.
Issues
- medium / cookability: Step 5 instructs the cook to ensure the crumbled chicken sausage reaches 165°F. Taking the internal temperature of small crumbles in a skillet is highly impractical.
- low / clarity: Steps 5, 6, and 7 repeatedly use the word 'prepared' before every single ingredient ('prepared sausage', 'prepared onion', 'prepared garlic', 'prepared kale'). This reads mechanically and clutters the instructions.
Strengths
- Perfectly calculates 2% salinity for the pasta water (2 tablespoons Morton kosher salt for 1.5 quarts of water).
- Perfectly calculates 1% salinity for the combined weight of the kale and onions (1/2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt for 10 ounces of vegetables).
- Excellent separation of preparation tasks before active stovetop cooking begins.