# au pif



## wannabebelge

Hello,
I'm not sure how to spell it, but I'm talking about this French expression "au pif" in the context of cooking.
When one does not use measurements but just throws in a bit of this and a bit of that (not haphazardly but judging from experience and instinct)... how do you say that in English?


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## loveschocolate

if you are talking about seasonings and spices, you would say "*to taste"

*as in: Add salt and pepper to taste

For other ingredients I am not sure


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## FAC13

loveschocolate said:


> if you are talking about seasonings and spices, you would say "*to taste"
> 
> *as in: Add salt and pepper to taste
> 
> For other ingredients I am not sure



Yes, in this context I think so. "Pif" being slang for "nose".

You could also say "by guesswork".


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## mgarizona

Perhaps "Cooking on the fly"


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## wildan1

I don't believe _au pif_ has anything to do specifically with taste or smell (even if it is about the nose!). The other related expression that's quite funny is _au pifomètre_

it's like the English (AE) colloquial _guesstimate_ or _ballpark estimation_


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## wannabebelge

thanks for your input. i'm not talking about spices, but I was making an apple crumble, and for the topping I mixed oatmeal, sugar, flour and butter, but I didn't measure anything- maybe I just "eyed" it? ah, or we say "eyeball it" sometimes. do you see what I mean? Is there another way to say that?


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## Moon Palace

I think there is a thin link between 'au pif' and the nose, not just because it is the short for 'pifomètre', but because it refers to flair, as in 'avoir du flair', which conveys the same meaning of intuition and also refers to the nose. 
Now don't ask me human beings should find their intuition in the same place as dogs


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## pieanne

"As I feel it"?


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## wildan1

wannabebelge said:


> thanks for your input. i'm not talking about spices, but I was making an apple crumble, and for the topping I mixed oatmeal, sugar, flour and butter, but I didn't measure anything- maybe I just "eyed" it? ah, or we say "eyeball it" sometimes. do you see what I mean? Is there another way to say that?


 
My grandmother used to make bread that way. When you asked her for the recipe, she would say _"I just make it *by feel*."_


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## Tresley

wannabebelge said:


> thanks for your input. i'm not talking about spices, but I was making an apple crumble, and for the topping I mixed oatmeal, sugar, flour and butter, but I didn't measure anything- maybe I just "eyed" it? ah, or we say "eyeball it" sometimes. do you see what I mean? Is there another way to say that?


 
'Au pif' can be translated as 'roughly' or ' at a rough guess' etc.

So, I think that you added the ingredients using a rough guess.

I hope this helps.


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## pieanne

I do like Wildan's "by feel"


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## marget

I might even say that I added the ingredients based on instinct.


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## mgarizona

pieanne said:


> I do like Wildan's "by feel"


 
"By feel" makes sense for bread-making ... which is a hands-on process ... but I don't think one could apply it to the creation of a sauce, or a casserole.

One plays music "by ear" so I don't see why one shouldn't cook "by nose" ... and certainly "by instinct" works, but I'm preferring the suggestion of "eyeballing" ... which in AE at least has the sense of 'estimating.'

"I didn't use a recipe. I just eyeballed it." would make sense to me.


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## marget

mgarizona said:


> "By feel" makes sense for bread-making ... which is a hands-on process ... but I don't think one could apply it to the creation of a sauce, or a casserole.
> 
> One plays music "by ear" so I don't see why one shouldn't cook "by nose" ... and certainly "by instinct" works, but I'm preferring the suggestion of "eyeballing" ... which in AE at least has the sense of 'estimating.'
> 
> "I didn't use a recipe. I just eyeballed it." would make sense to me.



I like the expression "eyeballing" it.  That's what I do sometimes.  If I need to add celery and onions and I'm not using a measuring cup, I keep adding both until it looks "green" enough and "white" enough.


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## willemijns

for "rough guess" explanation 
au pif = au pifomètre = au hasard
a random method 

eyeballing = "à vue d'oeil" qui est aussi une notion de pif  


une autre expréssion peu usité est "semi-pif / semi-pifomètre" qui tend à une notion de "hasard calculé", en d'autres termes c'est du hasard avec une notion de réalité au sens large du terme soit généralement un taux d'erreur admis de 0 à 30% environ 

d'ailleurs,  le mot "environ"  peut correspondre mais la notion de "semi-pif" est un peu plus large et admet un plus grand taux d'érreur.

si vous connaissez son terme anglais je suis preneur sinon je garde "eyeballing"


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## joeyjo-jojuniorshabadoo

it's definitely "by eye" in english. I'm living with a french family and the mother asked me if i was going to make pizza au pif if i didnt know the proportions and my immediate thought was (after she elaborated), oh, by estimating the measurements, ie. doing them by eye, or like others have said, by "eyeballing it".


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## fab_

Eyeballing is usually used in the context of staring at someone incessantly and thoroughly! 

For the question posed in terms of gauging something by eye, from experience, I would say '*eye it in'*.

*I know it's an old thread but this might help someone else searching under Pif in the future*!


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## pointvirgule

I guess cooking _by the seat of one's pants_ wouldn't be too appetizing, right? 
(But it might fit in other contexts.)


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## mgarizona

fab_ said:


> Eyeballing is usually used in the context of staring at someone incessantly and thoroughly!
> 
> For the question posed in terms of gauging something by eye, from experience, I would say '*eye it in'*.
> 
> *I know it's an old thread but this might help someone else searching under Pif in the future*!



"To stare intently" is ONE meaning of the verb "to eyeball"--- and yes, the oldest--- but in AE, this other ... 'to visually estimate' ... is entirely common and current:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=eyeball

Can't speak for any of the other Englishes but the phrase "to eye it in" would be close to meaningless in the States.



pointvirgule said:


> I guess cooking _by the seat of one's pants_ wouldn't be too appetizing, right?
> (But it might fit in other contexts.)



It's a sight better than "cooking *with *the seat of one's pants" or ... saints forfend ... "cooking *in *the seat of one's pants" <g>


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## fab_

Similarly in Ireland (and I think UK) you might well be eyeballed (in the staring type of way) if you said you were eyeballing amount of flour to put into a mix, etc.


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## Meille

"How much flour do you add?"
"I don't know, I just do it by eye."

"Eyeballing it" works too, but somehow I can't imagine my mother saying that.


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## fab_

You could possibly also say 'from sight'.


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## prinjon

Eyeballing it , best for me.
Because it fits the slight slang language evel. That is why you won't normally hear your mother saying it !


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## orlando09

I think "eyeballing" the amount sounds odd, too. I'd just say "estimate" the amount or do it "to your taste", maybe, or "using your own judgement".


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## wildan1

pointvirgule said:


> I guess cooking _by the seat of one's pants_ wouldn't be too appetizing, right?
> (But it might fit in other contexts.)


Normally it's _flying by the seat of one's pants, _​and it suggests you don't really know what you're doing.


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## pointvirgule

wildan1 said:


> Normally it's _flying by the seat of one's pants, _​and it suggests you don't really know what you're doing.


According to this dictionary,_ by the seat of one's pants_ is not used exclusively with the verb _to fly_, and it has a meaning similar to doing something _au pif_:


> In a manner based *on intuition and experience* rather than method: _He ran the business by the seat of his pants. _(freedic)


"Judging from experience and instinct," like the OP said in #1.
Which could be translated as, _Il dirigeait son entreprise au pif_.

That said, my suggestion was a bit tongue-in-cheek in the original context of cooking, of course, but _seat of one's pants _is, imho, a worthwhile equivalent for _au pif_ in other contexts, like I said earlier.


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## orlando09

It's usually used with "flying", but I'd understand it if was extended, humorously, to other things as well, like cooking.


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## WordieGirl

This is way overdue, but the best English expression for this, is "to wing it."

e.g., Whenever I cook, I never use a recipe, I just *wing it*, and usually, it turns out all right.

Although people eyeball measurements, "winging it" is a much more natural expression to use in the situation you're describing.


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## ANDSYL

Dans d'autres domaines que la cuisine, j'ai aussi entendu:*au doigt mouillé (*allusion à une façon très approximative de trouver d'où vient le vent) et même *au feeling *​(c'est très branché)


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