The Scariest Word in Recipes

To me, the scariest word in recipes is "meanwhile" and all of its various synonyms.

"Let the chicken brown for 2-4 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the onions, peppers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, jicama, and garlic scapes and sprinkle with sea salt, Herbes de Provence, and a spritz of unicorn tears."

Haven't recipe writers heard the news that multitasking doesn't work? 

This is why sous chefs exist. And this is also why on cooking shows, the cooks usually already have the "meanwhile" stuff done  ahead of time: the measuring, the chopping/dicing, etc. It's not because of issues regarding commercial breaks. It's because MEANWHILE IN COOKING DOES NOT WORK.

At least, not for Idiot Cooks like me.

See, I get overwhelmed by my lack of octopus hands. So I try to do as much prep work as possible ahead of time, taking care of "meanwhile" steps in advance. This inevitably increases the prep time on most recipes since the sadist recipe writers assume many of the tasks are being completed concurrently.

What word or words scare you?

Remember, this is a safe place, fellow Idiot Cooks!

#nojudgement