how good are you at following recipes ?

grumpyoldman

grumpyoldman

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do you always follow recipes to the letter ? or do you improvise ?
do you follow the directions on how to prepare it or do it your own way ?
do you fudge a little here or there ?
 
First time making something, I try and follow it as closely as possible, so I can accurately judge whether I like it or not.

After that, I might change a little thing here or there, usually more in the form of making substitutions with what I have on hand as opposed to changing something because I think I can make it “better.”
 
the reason i started this thread is because when i give people the recipe for my "fried chicken" i find that they don't follow the recipe to the letter , or they simply don't follow the instructions very carefully so it got me to wondering if this is just as common with other recipes or just mine ?
 
A few years ago a friend asked for my pate recipe as they just about demolished a bowl of mine. I asked her next time I saw her and her husband said it just wasn't the same.? I asked her did she follow to the letter? Oh hell no, I couldn't use that much butter or cream. I shook my head.
I'm kinda like tasty, I try then adapt. My recipe books have notes along side with my additions. Eg mustard seeds , turmeric etc.

Russ
 
thats what i don't get about people , they know that they can't make it themselves so they ask you how to do it and when you tell them they suddenly think they can do it better or differently
 
I almost always follow a recipe as written the first time, then will make tweaks if I think it needs it. Sometimes my tweak doesn't work, like when I substituted cream cheese for mascarpone in a to die for brownie recipe, so I'll go back to the original. I will make changes like substituting basil for marjoram, which I detest, along with lavender. The recipe wouldn't get made at all if I had to use either of those 2.
 
my wife like to bake and when she follows the recipe to the letter and it fails boy does she get ticked ...lol but a lot of times its because we live at an elavation of 6,700 feet and thats not taken into consideration other times its a mistake on her part
i always follow both the recipe and directions to the letter and almost always get good results
or at least i get what i expected
 
If it is cooking, not baking, then I'll follow it to the letter first time around. We'll then discuss changes to make it more like how we prefer and adapt. Sometimes that will happen at the end of the first attempt, if it is obvious we're not going to like it or it is obvious we'll prefer it in a modified version. The only exceptions are to salt and sugar quantities. It if it says beef/chicken stock in an otherwise vegetarian recipe.

If it is baking, then it is to the letter because freelancing and baking rarely work hand in hand.
 
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I more or less follow a recipe if it is something new, like a kitchen I am not familiar with. But even then I will have to make substitutions as not everything will be available.
Other than that, I don't follow recipes. They are just ideas and inspiration to me. Plus I know that I can easily double the amount of spices (except salt) as otherwise it will be bland to me.
Obviously, I bear in mind who wrote the recipe and for what readers. If written for a Thai or Indonesian public, I will not increase chili's.

Baking: very much by recipe initially.
But generally I just look at the ratio's or bakers percentages. And got to adjust for the high temperatures here. So less yeast, shorter time, maybe bit more salt
 
I very rarely follow a recipe as written. I will use a recipe, but I will print it out, and scribble notes on it, and cross things out.

My standard practice if I want to try something new is to look at three or so recipes, see what they have in common, and then come up with a recipe that is based on what I learned from those recipes.

CD
 
I swear I have some kind of issue, in that I am simply unable to completely follow recipes.

Soon as I read the recipe I'm already thinking about what I would change to better fit my taste or the ingredients I have at home. I am at ease in the kitchen, so this usually works well.

The exception is pastry. Pastry recipes must be followed to a t. I swear I've ruined cakes and cookies just by changing the type of flour or the glaze that should go with it. Also, I don't bake or make desserts very often, so I really don't have a good feeling for pastry in general.
 
First time I try a new recipe, I follow the instructions to a T. Then, when the dish is made, I'll say to myself: "Hmmm, not enough salt in that" or "way too much tomato paste" or "needs less/more sugar", etc.
A recipe is just a guideline for cooking. The final dish comes from the heart. I've always said that, if you took the top 10 chefs in the world, gave them a tin of tomatoes, a head of garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and told them to make a tomato sauce, you'd get 10 totally different versions.
 
I think if I looked at a recipe and felt the need to immediately make some changes, especially significant ones, I’d skip that recipe and find one that looks more to my tastes.

30 years ago, I’d be limited to my cookbooks, so maybe a few hundred recipes in total, but these days, I have virtually an unlimited library to choose from on the internet. I’d just go find a different recipe.
 
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