Above: Ingredients in a bowl ready to be mixed. Wet ingredients, once they have been added, are very difficult to take out or remeasure, making your decision to add them irrevocable.
Julius Caesar had a moment in his life when he made an irrevocable decision. The Roman Senate stated no general, with his army, could enter Italy. If it was done then it would be seen as an act of rebellion. On the banks of the Rubicon River, Julius Caesar made his decision to do just that and charged across the river with his army into Italy. Since that moment, when people make an irrevocable decision, it is called, "crossing the Rubicon". When learning about this particular moment of Caesar's I couldn't help but think of the myriad of times people make a "crossing the Rubicon" decision when they cook and don't even realize it. When I cook I usually just follow a recipe without even thinking about how the ingredients go together or if it will taste how I want it to. I just mix all the ingredients together and hope it turns out. Almost every time an ingredient is added that is an irrevocable decision. Sometimes you can undo it, but with most ingredients you won't be able to get it all out of the bowl or be able to measure it again, so that is when you have made the irrevocable decision. It is especially apparent when you mix everything together and can no longer tell the eggs from the flour or the butter from the salt. I would say these decisions are more irrevocable when you haven't tried the recipe before because you really don't know what you will end up with and when you have the final product you can't go back and change the ingredients or amounts. If you don't like it, the only way to get it how you want is to keep trying different versions of the recipe until you like the finished product, then you can make it whenever you want without regretting or trying to revoke any decisions you make during the process. People certainly "cross the Rubicon" almost daily in their very own kitchens.
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