Who doesnt use recipes?

[NotchJohnson]

I love to cook but I rarely follow a recipe. Now obviously I am missing out on a lot of different dishes but I like to whip things together. Cooking is more of an art to me than reading directions. I think that is why I like it so much. Any thoughts?

[Kathy]

I wish had the ability to throw dishes together...I don't seem to have the skill or the confidence! In fact, I have chili in the crock pot right now that I am a bit concerned about because I used whatever I had in the house. I will let you know how it turns out!

[Vanessa]

I like cooking plus enjoy many cooking magazines and cookbooks. I will do a recipe first then change it a bit if I feel it can be improved. Many people don't like cook books or want to create their own recipes and thats fine. I believe that a recipe is a good guideline and from there you can continue creating.

[NotchJohnson]

it seems I never have all the ingredients (ie cilantro,cumin, blah, blah)

[emilycat]

I love cookbooks with a passion; they give me so much inspiration...I think without them, I simply wouldn't have the knowlege to throw as many different things together because I just wouldn't have thought of the ingredient combinations. I love trying new recipes, because I constantly see new things that I've never heard of making, or simply didn't know how to do. Plus, since I've never gone to culinary school (although I'd like to someday, cookbooks teach me a lot of the techniques about which I would otherwise be pathetically ignorant. I've learned so much from all of my cookbooks that has actually taught me to be able to throw things together on a whim and make something fabulous simply by adapting several recipes I like when I can't find exactly what I want. I have always said that one of the best gifts for me is a great cookbook; I can read it backwards and forwards like a novel! I just think that food and cooking is so fascinating, and so fun to learn about! Okay, this was very long winded...maybe I'm in the wrong job field. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif
Em

[Kerri]

I usually use recipes, but sometimes I am inspired and I just throw something together and it turns out good! Sandwiches, salads, and pastas are fun ways to experiement.

[mmgreens]

My problem is I subscribe to all the cooking mags, watch Food TV and read cookbooks for relaxation. I tear out recipes from mags and save them in a file folder. I have tried lately to make a new dish. If I cook with a recipe, I never seem to have all the stuff, but substitution is my middle name. I really believe it is lazyness on my part and not creativity. plus I just like to open the fridge, freezer, etc and see what is there.

[BarbaraL]

I'm with Kathy -- I usually follow a recipe. Especially the first time I make it; after trying it, I'll play with the ingredients. My deepest respect to those of you who throw things together and they're edible; it just doesn't occur to me to do that.

[carolyn.1]

MrsReber---
What do you mean "read on the train" on the way to work? You live in Oregon don't you?

Yes---its Carolyn, from the south

[Margie]

I, too, love to read cookbooks and watch Food TV. I have always cooked by throwing things together based on what I have a taste for that day. The problem with that is that when my husband asks to have the same dish again, I can't remember what and how much I put into it.

Lately, I have been using more cook book recipes, just to try out different combinations. I work late a lot and so I have been trying to come up with the menus for the week on the weekend, so that I can be sure that I have everything in the house that I need and don't end up spending time on my way home shopping. Using cookbooks is really helpful for me to get ideas for 5 or 6 meals at a time that provide a variety.

Once I get started using a recipe, if I vary it, I make notes directly into the cookbook, so that I will remember the changes the next time.

This week I am using CL's Five Star cookbook and have found the recipes that I have tried to be good and quite flavorful. And..I have even lost a couple lbs.

[venus]

I also love to read cookbooks. I especially like the kind with pictures and little descriptions of the ingredients and where they come from. Emily, I definitely agree that I learn many, many techniques from cookbooks that I never would have learned anywhere else, but I find I never follow one recipe to the letter. This might be because I will search on the internet for recipes, if I decide I want to make something. Then I will take the 3 or 4 recipes I find for Jambalaya or Roast Turkey and combine them in the way that sounds best to me. I think it is because I know that there are flavors that really appeal to me, and what I am trying to get out of the finished product.

I have also been known to take whatever is in the fridge and combine it in new and exciting ways. I think having a good collection of spices and a decent, though very small, pantry helps.

[Colleen]

Whenever I attempt to "throw things together" scary things happen. I just don't have a very good sense of what tastes mix well together. I once make meatballs and sauce, but ran out of my canned sauce (this was the first time I trully lived on my own and long before cooking light) anyway, I ran out of sauce and decided to use ketchup instead, I only had a little ketchup so I added some salsa as well...my, my....

[mlou]

I too usually enjoy following my feelings and have come up with some great meals, most of the time simpler is better. Also found that most of the time I didn't have the ingredients so I am very used to substituting when I do look at a recipe.

[kentgirl]

I follow a recipe to a "T", and rarely get creative. Since I don't like bland food, I sometimes add more spices, but that's it. I don't feel like I'm missing out though....there's so many good recipes that turn out wonderfully, that I leave the creative people to "create", and hope they share their recipes with me!

[Ohioan]

To begin with, I loooove to read cookbooks, because they all give me new "takes" even on things I already cook, as well as introducing me to dishes and flavor combinations I haven't thought of. So I often start with a recipe and improvise around it, or just pick up an idea and throw it into one of my own recipes ("hmm, rosemary in here instead of oregano...interesting," etc.). But sometimes I'll actually follow a recipe to the letter, especially when I know I'll be reporting back to the folks on this BB, or when I'm trying a new Indian dish where the proportions of the spices are crucial. And sometimes I just look at what I have in the house and think of different ways to throw the ingredients together; then I try to reconstruct the recipe afterward for my own records!

In other words, yes, no, maybe, and all of the above / none of the above. Does that answer the question? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

Cheers, Phoebe

[shoefling]

I always follow a recipe if the dish I am making is something brand new that I have not made before. I will add seasonings if needed. If I make the recipe again I am not as afraid to make substitutions because I already have and idea of how it will turn out. I must say that this board has broadened my interest in what recipes I do want to try!

[Leanne]

I always throw things together. I'll use recipes for baking b/c I have no idea what I'm doing there.
I love to read recipes though. to give me new ideas. I rarely ever follow them exactly - half the time it depends on what I have around the house.

[MrsReber]

I love to read cookbooks too! I will carry them to work with me so I can read them on the train! I have to agree that when baking, I follow a recipe to a T because the amounts of wet and dry ingredients are rather important. When making dinner however, it's a free for all. If there's an ingredient I don't have or don't like, I change it. I tried a recipe that called for chicken broth so I did half chicken broth and half wine. I love my Joy of Cooking cookbook, but to me, it's merely a guideline or something to spark my own creativity. It is very easy to create dishes with pasta, too. As soon as this baby lets me have control over my stomach again, I am going to eat lots of pasta!

[MrsReber]

Carolyn, I wish I lived in Oregon! Probably more room out there than here in NJ!! Nope, I live in central Jersey and take the train into lovely downtown Newark each day. You may have seen lovely Newark featured on the news as the number one spot for car theft and car jackings a few years back. This is why I take the train. I refuse to drive my car in. I am trying to get into one of the vanpools at work, but the one that comes from my town is full. I used to take the train into Manhattan each day. Complete torture. On a good day, it was two hours one way. We did recently buy some property in VA in hopes of coming up with a plan to move there and not have to raise our kids in crowded NJ. I didn't mind growing up here, but it has really changed in the past 10-12 years. The population growth is unbelievable. According to the census report, NJ has a greater population density than India and Japan!!!!!

[julia]

I like using a recipe as a starting point and as time goes on I change it a lot

[Mandy]

I do a little of both. When I find a recipe that looks really good, then I'll following it. But sometimes I'll make something off the top of my head, and other times I'll use a recipe for a rough guide. If I start a recipe and don't like the way it's looking or the way it smells or tastes, then I'll try and change it myself. Most of the time it works, but sometimes it doesn't. I guess you could say that I'm a pretty flexable cook. I love to read cookbooks. My husband thinks it's funny that at the end of the day I curl up in bed and read a good cookbook.

[Grace]

I have always followed recipes exactly. I am a more "left-brained" (?) person, who would do well in a chemistry lab, not an art studio. I have certain expectations when I make a recipe, and I don't have the forethought or creativity to venture much beyond what the recipe states (probably why I'm more fond of and better at baking - it's more of a science, and precision can be crucial). I am always afraid I'll end up with something gross and inedible if I fool around with the recipe, and I don't want to waste my time or ingredients and be disappointed (although this occasionally happens when I follow the recipe exactly!). On the upside, following the recipe exactly has introduced me to things I would NEVER have thought of myself (different spices, techniques, etc.). I think for all of us, cooking is so much fun, and if it's fun for someone to make up all kinds of stuff, then that's the way to go! For me, fun is following the recipe exactly and seeing what turns out.

[carolyn.1]

MrsReber---

There is plenty of room down here, come on down!!! I live 20 miles from my work and it takes me 25 minutes to get there. Not to bad--huh?

So come on----
Carolyn

[Wendy w]

As a cookbook collecting addict (I have about 150), I will usually follow a recipe but have been known to throw something together. Cookbooks really do provide inspiration!

There have been some times after I follow a recipe where I think that it can be improved upon if I were to make it again. Like Venus, I have also taken 3-4 recipes and taken the best parts and done my own thing.

Wendy

[lorilei]

I'm probably a strange animal in this respect: I own a trillion cookbooks, but barely EVER follow a recipe exactly.

Cookbooks are definitely inspirational to me. I can sit down and read a good cookbook like a novel, relishing each description and combination of ingredients. Those smells and images stick in my brain, and when it's time to make dinner, I'll usually go into my kitchen and begin to "compose" based on those memories.

I tend to use recipes for baked goods, but will often vary the spices and flavors to suit my "mood of the moment". My oatmeal cookies are often laced with dried cherries, cranberries or apricots. And I never make the same cheesecake twice, it seems.

Both my mother (and Gail) yell at me for experimenting with recipes I've never made before. And my husband laments the fact that he can't reproduce my "concoctions". But I find that there is beauty in the unique creations I can come up with while I'm cooking. And that's what makes me love it. It's exciting to discover new things. And few dishes are ever the same twice http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[pvavricka]

Emilycat I totally agree with you! I LOVE my cookbooks and can spend hours going over them. Usually I'll try the "recipe" exactly how it's written, then the next time around make my changes. I also write little notes in my cookbooks, hopefully to remind my daughter what we liked the best (or least) about the recipe.


Penny

[Gail]

Originally posted by lorilei:
...Both my mother (and Gail) yell at me for experimenting with recipes I've never made before...

YELL?? WHEN HAVE I EVER YELLED AT YOU?? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Gail (edited 11-02-2000).]

[sushibones]

lorelei--

I, too, love to read recipes and cookbooks which I taste in my head. Thanks for that wonderful description of composing your recipes. I often use a recipe as a springboard while I let all the possible variations simmer along in my head until it just feels right. Then I start throwing things together. I've found that I've made many wonderful dishes that just cannot be duplicated because the crucial intersection of ingredients and inspiration never recurs in the same way. When I adapt a recipe, I generally try to write down the changes I've made, but the next time I make it, I may very well change the changes or make different changes. Depends on what is available. It is the ability to use a recipe to make infinite variations that makes cooking so enjoyable. Have you noticed how many of the recipes in CL are just variations on a theme; change the vegetables, change the seasoning, change the meat (or non-meat, if you prefer) and you have an entirely new creation.

When I first started cooking I prided myself on making something I had never done before whenever I had someone over for dinner or had to bring something to a potluck. I always seemed to have a sense for what would work (more for cooking than baking). I still like the adventure of trying something new, and as soon as I have made it, going on to the next step of how to make it better or different the next time. Every recipe is a work in progress, while I try to figure out the ultimate happy ending.