Do you cook with a recipe or from memory?

Question

i am a recipe person i am puerto rican and can't even make rice and beans without looking at a recipe. It is a generic recipe then i add to it and make it my own but i am so stict about measuring liquids and stuff like that. Spices i go to my taste. I can't do like my gradmother "that looks like enough water for the rice'
So how do you cook from the book or the heart or a combination

Answer 1

If I'm cooking dinner at home, 95% of the time it's from memory. Other times, if I'm trying to make something specific, like my Italian grandmother's spaghetti sauce, I need the recipe because I want it to taste exactly like hers.

If it's anything baking wise, they don't call baking recipes "formulas" for nothing. I find that I MUST have a recipe sitting in front of me. Baking is far more precise than regular cooking. If you're a little bit off on your baking powder, suddenly your bread tastes like metal. I've gone so far as to buy an actual baker's counter-weight scale.

At school, I follow the recipes because we learn by copying our chefs. I have also made these recipes at home from memory, adding in my own little tweaks to make it my own.

But always, ALWAYS with your heart. Passion for what you're doing is by far the best ingredient. It sounds silly, but on my off days... my food never tastes as good.

Answer 2

I cook from memory without looking at a recipe a lot of the time because after all these years I know my favorites by heart, or I make things up as I go depending on what ingredients I have on hand. But, if it's something particular I want to make, and I don't make very often, I'll use the recipe. For baking, I usually use a recipe.

My Grandmother was like yours in her measuring. In fact, I have several of her old hand printed recipes that call for a "handful" of this, or a "lump the size of a walnut" of something else. Some of them call for "the 10¢ size" or the "25¢ size" package of something, and those same sizes cost $1 or more these days. Luckily, I was in the kitchen with her enough that I knew what sizes those were!

Answer 3

Well, I cook mostly from memory, unless I'm doing a dish I don't fix regulary, then I will look at the recipe, but then I generally make my own substitutions or additions or whatever. I never measure either, I eyeball everything.

Answer 4

A bit of both. I usually refer to a recipe, since I don't often make the same entree twice (and if I do, it's been so long I don't remember).

For things I've come up with on my own, or simple stuff like marinades, dressings, & salads, I'll just wing it.

Answer 5

A mixture of both. :) I'm an American-raised girl (PA), but now live in Canada.

I usually always have a recipe by my side, because I need guidelines. Though, if I think that I need to put more or less of something, I do so.

It's all about if you and your guests like it, right?! :D

Answer 6

well....i love to cook..u'll always find me at the kitchen cooking things that are from my own imagination. So i cook from memory....
That way....i can include ingredients that i like... to have a better meal.....
when u cook from memory...u'll feel that ur not committed to a certain recipe that if u screw up it'll all be a waste....

Cooking from memory is a free-er w`y to cook ;P

Answer 7

once u see the method of cooking u can recall it during cooking by self.
I always cook by memory.
I refer recipe books for new dishes or first time only.

Answer 8

I only use recipes for new dishes and baking (since you can't guess the amounts), so I guess I would be a combo.

Answer 9

memory only never recipe! My parents are from Dominican Republic!

Answer 10

I cook from memory....if I see someone cook something, I can cook that....just from memory........I cant follow instructions from book....they are confusing sometimes.....plus I like to create something I call my own someday.