Do you prefer to follow recipes or do you prefer to improvise?

[cookingislife]

do you prefer to follow other peoples recipes or just put in whatever you think will be good and cook it? i think following other peoples recipes may not be good sometimes. i rather just make and cook it how i want instead of how other people want.

 

[Kathleen]

It depends on the recipe. I generally improvise but, if it is something completely new to me (like when I first used my tagine,) I followed the recipe until I knew what to expect.

 

[Andy M.]

I do both. I will get creative and try different combinations of ingredients to try something new, then I serve it to my tasting panel (SO) for a yea or nay. If she says something like, "This is delicious, don't change a thing." Then it has to become a RECIPE that I follow to the "T". Otherwise, SO tells me that it's different and not as good.

If you go to favorite restaurant for their special dish you really love, how disappointed would you be if it didn't taste the way it always did. RECIPE!

 

[blissful]

I prefer to be flexible and improvise with what I have BUT, sometimes I can't get something right. Then I will try recipes EXACTLY as written, and keep trying recipes until I get the hang of it.
Recently we were making vegan hamburgers (of all types) and I couldn't get the taste or the texture (especially texture) right. I failed so many times it was comical. So I set out to find the recipes. There are many recipes that don't work and two that work now. I've even varied those recipes a little here or there in ingredients or preparation and had some success. So I improvise and follow recipes, but I mostly improvise since my cooking is very simple stuff. (except those darn vegan hamburgers)

 

[caseydog]

If there is something in particular that I want to make, and don't know how, I will often look at a handful of recipes to see what they have in common, and come up with something based on that information.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

That depends on the type of recipe. For baking, as well as most of my Asian dishes, I follow recipes, changing things like the meats or vegetables, but but let's face it - most of us wouldn't be able to come up with some of the best bases for many of these recipes, without a lot of errors! I leave that to the experts! Once I make a Thai curry paste that I really like, FI, I might tweak it, with a little more heat, or some other ingredient I might want in it, but the basics I leave as is. And how many of us could come up with these recipes, with a dozen or so unusual ingredients, unless we were just brought up with that kind of cooking? Or things like some of those dry masala powders I make, some of them having up to 20 spices? Again, I let someone who does this all the time, come up with them. Baking is another aspect of cooking where you have to be pretty specific, though yeast breads can be fairly forgiving. Still, some of the best ones I've made I would never have dreamed of the combination that made the recipes so good.

 

[Aunt Bea]

If there is something in particular that I want to make, and don't know how, I will often look at a handful of recipes to see what they have in common, and come up with something based on that information.

CD

I normally use the caseydog method.

I also take into consideration what I already have on hand.

I’m a good basic cook and only seem to get into trouble when I try to get cheffy or start putting on airs.

 

[jennyema]

I usually cook without recipes, as I am pretty experienced in the kitchen. But I sometimes use recipes as guidelines. I usually follow them generally, especially when I am making something for the first time or if I’m making a dish I’m not familiar with.

I love to read cookbooks and absorb a lot of info through them.

 

[pictonguy]

My journey as a chef started with duplicating recipes and gauging that performance and every chef will have started that way. Otherwise generally no, I don't follow recipes but I will however zoom in on a recipes technique with a complicated multi disciplined methodology that expects a certain result, or if I'm nor familiar with what something would be considered classic and correct and if I'm trying to duplicate that result, I will however after that point generally change up the recipe to either make it better or different and to my taste. Baking if someone isn't familiar should probably follow recipes until they feel comfortable making their own imo, mostly to reduce frustration and complete disasters. Pizza dough for example, I'll use 70% hydration now where I use to use low 60's or 50's and was understanding through reading different recipes that water hydration is mostly about heat and how that changes the texture and doneness of the crust.

 

[dcSaute]

I have "fav" recipes that I use - for decades - it's what I want the dish to be/taste like.

otoh, one does like to go crazy and try something new.
so, whether it's a 'celeb' dish, or a jummy looking pix . . .
I follow these 'new' recipes as closely as possible.
more than once I found "dang good, but lemme tweak it . . ."
more than once I found I simply blew it - but it was interesting enough to give it another go....

imho, there's really no good to come from changing all the stuff in a new recipe . . . only to find 'dang, those changes didn't work' - p.s. with all the changes, it's not the dish!

 

[Jusa]

I have "fav" recipes that I use - for decades - it's what I want the dish to be/taste like.

otoh, one does like to go crazy and try something new.
so, whether it's a 'celeb' dish, or a jummy looking pix . . .
I follow these 'new' recipes as closely as possible.
more than once I found "dang good, but lemme tweak it . . ."
more than once I found I simply blew it - but it was interesting enough to give it another go....

imho, there's really no good to come from changing all the stuff in a new recipe . . . only to find 'dang, those changes didn't work' - p.s. with all the changes, it's not the dish!

I have been flying by the seat of my pants in the kitchen forever. Years ago I would eat something in a restaurant and pay attention to the flavors I was tasting, plus the obvious ingredients that stood out to me, and go home and try to replicate it. Just lots of tasting and tweaking involved until I got it right, sometimes better than the restaurant version and rarely a fail. Also watched my grandma, dad, and mom cook the same way. Baking is about the only time I will follow a recipe.

Oh BTW, I don't own a cookbook. If I want to try something new I've never done before, I use Google. Sometimes I compile ideas I see on Google and come up with my own version.

 

[Andy M.]

. . . Oh BTW, I don't own a cookbook. If I want to try something new I've never done before, I use Google. Sometimes I compile ideas I see on Google and come up with my own version.

This is what I do for a recipe I want to make. I find 3-5 versions of the recipe online then compare them for differences, quantities, etc. and choose from those for my version. If needed, I adjust after the first try.

 

[dragnlaw]

This is what I do for a recipe I want to make. I find 3-5 versions of the recipe online then compare them for differences, quantities, etc. and choose from those for my version. If needed, I adjust after the first try.

I also do this (been down this lane before, haven't we?). I pull up the recipes on my computer, google about 4 others and also haul up the books I have - pour over all of them, make a chart and then in the last column, choose the ingredients, quantities, I like/want.

At least that's what I used to do and sometimes still do. But now-a-days, am more likely to go with a recipe with the fewest ingredients, the shortest standing on my feet, and of course, what I have in the cupboard.

 

[Jusa]

I also do this (been down this lane before, haven't we?). I pull up the recipes on my computer, google about 4 others and also haul up the books I have - pour over all of them, make a chart and then in the last column, choose the ingredients, quantities, I like/want.

At least that's what I used to do and sometimes still do. But now-a-days, am more likely to go with a recipe with the fewest ingredients, the shortest standing on my feet, and of course, what I have in the cupboard.

I really, really need to start using up more of the stuff I already have on hand. I have a weakness for shopping sales. Yeah I do have the room for it in my large garage freezer and my pantry, but time to start scaling down a bit so that I can fill it back up again!

 

[dcSaute]

I have been flying by the seat of my pants in the kitchen forever. Years ago I would eat something in a restaurant and pay attention to the flavors I was tasting, plus the obvious ingredients that stood out to me, and go home and try to replicate it. Just lots of tasting and tweaking involved until I got it right, sometimes better than the restaurant version and rarely a fail. Also watched my grandma, dad, and mom cook the same way. Baking is about the only time I will follow a recipe.

Oh BTW, I don't own a cookbook. If I want to try something new I've never done before, I use Google. Sometimes I compile ideas I see on Google and come up with my own version.

obviously, you do not require a "recipe"

 

[Jusa]

obviously, you do not require a "recipe"

I have to use a recipe when I bake!!!! Always. If I don't, I have a disaster on my hands.

 

[Meryl]

For general cooking I don't follow recipes unless I've found something completely new I want to try.
For baking cakes and other desserts , I have to follow my recipes in my recipe folder (good old bits of worn out paper collected over the years), I never remember the precise doses.

 

[dr morbius]

I have to use a recipe when I bake!!!! Always. If I don't, I have a disaster on my hands.

This. I use recipes when I make cookies or muffins. I might modify just a tiny bit, extracts and spices perhaps, but I want to ensure I have the right ratio of wet stuff to flour and baking powder, not too much sugar and so forth.

Aside from that, I never use recipes. I read them, collect ideas from them, and fly by the seat of my pants.

 

[dragnlaw]

I'm one of those morons who never learn.
I follow a recipe the first time and it is wonderful - pure company worthy!
Next time I say, pashaa, made that, done that, know it all and hardly look. Because it was so company worthy the first time, I make it the second time for someone. It comes out 1 step away from the bin... edible but disgusting.
and so I've learned to use company for the first time I make something and it is always wonderful.

go figure....

 

[Jusa]

I'm one of those morons who never learn.
I follow a recipe the first time and it is wonderful - pure company worthy!
Next time I say, pashaa, made that, done that, know it all and hardly look. Because it was so company worthy the first time, I make it the second time for someone. It comes out 1 step away from the bin... edible but disgusting.
and so I've learned to use company for the first time I make something and it is always wonderful.

go figure....

Do you have wine? Not in the food, but to drink? I always cook better when I'm drinking a few sips (or a few glasses).