A young couple were married and moved into their new home. For their first dinner, the wife served baked ham. The husband noted she'd cut off the ends. "Why did you cut off the ends of the ham?", he asked.
"Silly," she responded, "you always cut the ends of the ham off before baking."
"I don't think my mother ever did," he said.
Somewhat defensively, the wife retorted: "Well, this is the way I was taught to make ham. By MY mother. You don't like it, you cook tomorrow night."
He did, but he still wondered about the ham. So when his mother in law came for a visit, he asked her: "Why do you cut the ends off the ham?"
"Because that's how you make ham!" The bride's mother said. "My mother did it that way, I do it that way."
So that Christmas when Grandma came to visit, he took her aside. "My wife cuts the ends of the ham, and says her mother always did it. She cuts the ends of the ham, and says you always did it. Why do you cut the ends of the ham?"
"Because," Grandma said, "I have a very small pan."
And that is what's wrong with recipes.