When you cook do you follow the recipe exactly or...?

Question

do you add a dab of this and a dab of that without ever measuring? The latter way is my way. If someone wants my recipe, I am at a total loss...lol!

Answer 1

Recipes to me always seemed to be guidelines to try to maintain.

My mom used recipes to the letter when possible, but having some tough times, there would be some ingredients she would have to substitute with something else and the end product was just as tasty as the original.

I think some things can be used as a template and substitutions for some ingredients isn't forbidden. In fact, Rachael Ray does it all the time with stuff, so it can't be all bad.

Answer 2

I cook better at home for my family than food in most restaurants and I NEVER use a recipe. Yes, I've learned how long foods need to cook, but everything else is improvised, like jazz! I use a leftover sauce (what did I put in that?) adding more stock to it.
The bad part is I can't usually do the same thing twice but that's also the good part too!
.

Answer 3

Baking? Yes

Cooking? No

I haven't fallowed a recipe while cooking in over a decade, but I can still sit down to a cook book and read it to get ideas, like reading a non-fiction book.

Answer 4

I follow the recipe exactly. Even if I have made it 100 times, I still use the book.

Answer 5

I do it your way too except when I bake from scratch, then I follow directions, I can never give a recipe either cause its just use (ingredients for whatever the dish is) and I don't know the amounts

Answer 6

A recipe, to me, is just a guideline to get me started...I never measure anything so when I write out a recipe I put things like ::
2 T...but optional for the amount of salt
1 Cup but optional for the amount of sugar

lol

Answer 7

I'll use the recipe as a general guideline and play it by ear as I go, although I get kind of settled into what works well with a particular dish and stick with it the next time.

Answer 8

I almost always tweak the recipe a little too.
But, hey, don't give out your best recipes! Accept the compliments certainly, but keep your kitchen wizardry a secret! If people really love something you make, then you can make it up for them on special occasions (like their birthday or a holiday dinner).

Answer 9

if i'm cooking something for the first time, i follow the recipe exactly. after i try it, and if i keep it in my repertoire, i might play around a bit.

Answer 10

I usually don't follow the recipe to the tee. I like to play and try different variations.