How to create recipes that include items like flour

digi9ten

OK, assume I'm adding a crispy fried shrimp recipe.
I may use 1 cup of flour and some cornstarch, but that's just to cover the shrimp before it goes in the fryer.

Should I add some flour in the ingredients, like a tablespoon, or just exclude it altogether?

AnnPT77

Put some in the ingredients. It has calories, right? (Depending on how much sticks, it could be a meaningful amount of calories.)

If you wanted to be ultra-precise, you could weigh the flour at the start, then weigh what's left unused at the end, subtract, and include the difference in the recipe.

Don't have a food scale? Consider it. It's more precise, but also easier and quicker.

For example, when I use peanut butter, I put the open jar on the scale, tare (zero it), dip out the peanut butter I want with my knife, and read the negative number on the scale. That's the weight of my serving. No measuring, no extra spoons/cups to wash, and quicker than those other options besides. Same thing with (say) cheese: Put the whole block on the scale, cut off what I want, use the negative number.

Other things (sandwich, say) can be made on a plate on the scale: Put the plate on, zero, put the bread on, record the weight, zero, put the mustard on, record, zero, put the meat on, record, zero . . . etc. Quick, easy.