Ratio Thinking

In yesterday's New York Times' Wednesday Food section there was a big article about using ratios as opposed to cooking. is this the wave of the future for us cooks and foodies? Or is it just a fad? To be honest I;m hoping for the second. I'm not good with ratios.

The man behind all this,Michael Ruhlman, believes that employing rations to one's daily cooking makes for better dishes. No, it doesn't . Any cook, whether novice or experienced needs the exact recipes to make a recipe work. How can you tell how much to use. For example use the ratio way of cooking or baking for a cake and you can have a very dense, dry one. use it on a stew and you can wind up with a watery mess. Mr. Ruhlman does have a ratio chart, similar to a cookbook's measurements chart in the front of his book. Whether this helps or not, I don't know.

has anyone out there used or prefer ratios to just plain old fashioned recipes. Let us know here at Foodie Pantry. I'm curious as to how your cooking tums out and tastes.