Do you all follow recipes

or just make up as you go along! obviously for baking you need to follow a recipe but for dinnes!

It varies - last night's was completely made up but tonight I'm making carbonara so I get the recipe out just for reference as I pretty much know exactly what to do but like to check the quantities (and then double them for my lot of teenage boys)

I improvise.If I haven't got a particular ingredient I just substitute for what is there.Not that long ago I would have been stressed out about that, but now I think putting your own 'touches' to a recipe is good.They always turn out as well. For baking I think you have to be a little bit more pedantic about the ingredients.

It depends. Sometimes I follow a recipe, other times, I make up my own.

Rarely use a recipe, if I do its for baking which I don't do much of. I will google recipes sometimes if I am experimenting with a technique or use books. I have a few recipes typed into a file on my computer and the edmonds cookbook for basic stuff.

I work with what I have a lot otherwise it can be too expensive buying everything a recipe says.

Definitely depends on what I am cooking. For anything that is commonly cooked in NZ and which I learnt how to make from my mother I just follow my nose. Other times I use a recipe. Some recipes (for example - all of davidt4's recipes) have been honed to create a perfect result. Altering them means risking producing a second rate product.

I remember once making a spanakopita for a friend. She was blown away and wanted the recipe. I gave it to her and a few months later she made it for me. She had changed it and added her own touches and removed others and totally forgot about the accompanying tomato sauce recipe that went with it and it was truly a second rate, blerk, offering. If that had been my first introduction to spanakopita I would never have thought to make it again.

I amend them. Leave out any herbs/spices I don't like, add some I do. Mostly, best not to deviate extremely or it's not worth looking at it in the first place, but I do amend. may substitute one vege for another too. Have a favourite that uses zucchini, not in my garden at present and they don't freeze well, so I tried green beans, worked well so it's now the winter version.

If I'm making food from a culture that is not my own (e.g. Thai, Indian, Chinese) I normally follow recipes exactly until I get comfortable with the flavour profiles and techniques.If I'm making European or Middle Eastern food I don't often use a recipe, but if I do I will follow it exactly the first time then form my own opinion about what needs to be tweaked.If I'm making cakes or biscuits, which hardly ever happens these days,I follow recipes and measure carefully.

First time around with a new recipe I am a faithful follower.Thereafter, I improvise and adapt.After a while, experience can mean that all you need to do is read a recipe to know if it will work.

I never change a favourite tried and true when in a rush to prepare or bake something, but adapt a lot of recipes to whatever ingredients I have in my storeroom.

I always follow a recipe the first time I make it, just omitting anything I don't like and sometimes substituting things such herbs according to what I have available. After that I adapt or tweak where I think there is room for improvement. When baking I usually follow a recipe exactly andmake sure I measure accurately.

I follow recipes for baking - cakes etc but very rarely for dinner dishes. Often make it up as I go along.

I start off with the best of intentions on following the recipe but always end up straying form it and substituting one thing for another.Main meals I use a general recipe or idea for something I havent cooked before and then go off on my own tangent!

Baking i put exactly what the recipes say, Other recipes i likei follow for the first time then tweek if need be, if i run out of something i improvise from what i have in pantry rather than visit the shops for if i can. For any asian dishes i follow what it says as I'm still on ahuge learning curve with this cusine. If somethings a hiti don't change it, and now i have time i love to make up a dish around what ingredients i have on hand its amazing what you can come up

Sometimes I follow a recipe, other times, I make up my own.

It varies - last night's was completely made up but tonight I'm making carbonara so I get the recipe out just for reference as I pretty much know exactly what to do but like to check the quantities (and then double them for my lot of teenage boys)

I improvise.If I haven't got a particular ingredient I just substitute for what is there.Not that long ago I would have been stressed out about that, but now I think putting your own 'touches' to a recipe is good.They always turn out as well. For baking I think you have to be a little bit more pedantic about the ingredients.

very rarely follow a recipe. I do all my meals to taste, eg add some curry powder for flavour or herbs or sauces. No two dishes are the exact same twice. I really hate it when someone asks for a recipe of a dish I have made, I have to go back and find the original for them, as I usually have no idea the quantities I have used.
baking I can make most cakes and biscuits without a recipe. they tend to have a standard set of measurements eg 4oz butter, 4oz sugar, 1 egg, 6oz flour, 1tsp Baking powder and then I add whichever other ingredient/s I want ( cocoa and peanuts or sultana's and essence or just an essence and a blob of jam on top).
cakes tend to have 2 eggs and a litle more flour.
Some times I follow the recipe, more if its the first time I'm making it. But I have been baking and cooking meals for a large family for many more years then I prefer to remember.

Rarely use a recipe, if I do its for baking which I don't do much of. I will google recipes sometimes if I am experimenting with a technique or use books. I have a few recipes typed into a file on my computer and the edmonds cookbook for basic stuff.

Definitely depends on what I am cooking. For anything that is commonly cooked in NZ and which I learnt how to make from my mother I just follow my nose. Other times I use a recipe. Some recipes (for example - all of davidt4's recipes) have been honed to create a perfect result. Altering them means risking producing a second rate product.

I remember once making a spanakopita for a friend. She was blown away and wanted the recipe. I gave it to her and a few months later she made it for me. She had changed it and added her own touches and removed others and totally forgot about the accompanying tomato sauce recipe that went with it and it was truly a second rate, blerk, offering. If that had been my first introduction to spanakopita I would never have thought to make it again.

I amend them. Leave out any herbs/spices I don't like, add some I do. Mostly, best not to deviate extremely or it's not worth looking at it in the first place, but I do amend. may substitute one vege for another too. Have a favourite that uses zucchini, not in my garden at present and they don't freeze well, so I tried green beans, worked well so it's now the winter version.

If I'm making food from a culture that is not my own (e.g. Thai, Indian, Chinese) I normally follow recipes exactly until I get comfortable with the flavour profiles and techniques.If I'm making European or Middle Eastern food I don't often use a recipe, but if I do I will follow it exactly the first time then form my own opinion about what needs to be tweaked.If I'm making cakes or biscuits, which hardly ever happens these days,I follow recipes and measure carefully.

I always follow a recipe the first time I make it, just omitting anything I don't like and sometimes substituting things such herbs according to what I have available. After that I adapt or tweak where I think there is room for improvement. When baking I usually follow a recipe exactly andmake sure I measure accurately.

Baking i put exactly what the recipes say, Other recipes i likei follow for the first time then tweek if need be, if i run out of something i improvise from what i have in pantry rather than visit the shops for if i can. For any asian dishes i follow what it says as I'm still on ahuge learning curve with this cusine. If somethings a hiti don't change it, and now i have time i love to make up a dish around what ingredients i have on hand its amazing what you can come up

Do you all follow recipes

Related Topics