Do you follow a recipe to the letter, or use it as a rough guide?

Question

Oh my goodness, I've been cooking forever. I rarely use a recipe, but I read cookbooks for inspiration. My kids keep nagging me to right things down so they can learn to cook like me.

Answer 1

I use it as a rough guide. Sometimes I will even make up my own recipes and I will never write it down because there really is no measuring that was used. I just dump in the ingredients and hope for the best. Sometimes it is tasty, sometimes you have to go back and recreate the recipe by adding more of this and less of that. It is really fun. I may use a recipe now and then, but only as a rough guide, not for the recipe itself. I hope that this is what you needed to know! Have fun and happy cooking!!

Answer 2

I always cook everything as a rough guide. There are no exacts in cooking, only in baking, measurement wise. Baking a cake is always the same, cooking isnt. One day your pepper might be a little old, and you might need to add more to a dish, for example. Maybe the oregano is a different variety than a recipe author uses. To know when a dish is right, you need to taste it often. Baking you don't. Some people like their food hotter, spicier, some dont, thats why changing recipes for cooking is important, and also cooking temperatures, especially for oven. Ovens are not exact either.
But, a good idea is to write down recipes in the exact, so your kids will have a guide. You can cook right with them, and let them taste the food, so they can tell by themselves if its to the right taste for them, then ask them if they think it needs more salt, pepper, basil, or whatever flavoring youre using in the dish.
Kitchens are made for cooking, family, and FUN! Have fun!

Answer 3

I don't follow a recipe to a T. Except if I'm baking something for the first time. I think when you just use a recipe for a guide you are making it better and unique.

Answer 4

It's the amount of interest in the subject that will help him. Mix up a recipe & you don't know if you got it right until the end. With a sex guide book, you can give him instant feedback as to if the ________ works for you. He can feel if it works for him. They're both very different!

Answer 5

For baking, always follow the measures exactly. Baking is more of a science than cooking. When cooking use a recipe for inspiration, no need to follow exactly what it says.

Answer 6

I follow them to the letter. There are only two exceptions:

(1) If the recipe calls for something I don't have (i will substitute)
(2) Chocolate chip cookies......I put in way more chocolate chips than the recipe calls for. No one has complained yet.

Answer 7

I seldom use a recipe. I will consult a book or the internet for guidelines. Most foods I make are in my head or my own creation.
So, if you are already a good cook, go ahead and create and have fun.

Answer 8

When I bake sonething, i.e. a cake or cookies, I'll follow it exactly, but if I'm cooking a meal, I'll try to come close. Its important to follow the exact recipe when baking so the outcome comes out good.

Answer 9

MOST of the time I use it as a rough guide. There are exceptions such as candy making and in baking. Most of those have to do with leavening agents or proportions that need to be exact (that's where chemistry comes in to play). As for actual spices and flavorings...those I adjust to taste.

Answer 10

The first time I cook something I follow to the letter. If I make it again I will ad-lib