Recipe? We don't need no stinking recipe...

[fla4fun]

I don’t use a formal recipe for anything but baking things like cakes, pies, cookies, etc., where a slight variation in quantities can really affect the final result. Things like stuffing, soup, stew, etc., are much more forgiving when it comes to ingredients, temperature and cooking time. If someone asks how I make something I can give general ingredients and procedures but it’s not really a recipe.

 

[BLAZEY]

You really don't need a recipe for cooking. I make chili, casseroles and many other dishes without measuring exact amounts and of I don't put salt or skip an ingredient it generally won't effect whether the dish turns out or not. Baking however is a totally different thing. In baking you are basically adding ingredients to create a chemical reaction so adding too much or not enough of an ingredient can vastly effect the end result of baking.

 

[serenitynow]

even if you don't use one, you should hand write your recipes down for your grand kids/great grand kids, etc...

i wish i had some of my great aunt's recipes but she did the same as you all and now we can't make those recipes

My great aunt was a wonderful cook who won a few Blue ribbons at the State Fair. She would freely share her recipes, but always left out a key ingredient or step in the recipe as she was super competitive with her lady friends. She promised me that she was keeping a secret notebook full of her best recipes that I could have once she was gone. Only she made me promise that if I entered any contests, I would give her the credit for the recipe posthumously. She was a pip.

Unfortunately, no one was able to find the “secret recipe book” amongst her things. So now I don’t know if she even kept such a notebook or if the whole story was just to fake me out. But I so wish she had done so, i would love to have passed it down to my children and grandchildren.

 

[mumto3girls]

Soup. I am a decent cook and baker, but the one thing I make that everyone raves about is soup. I almost never use a recipe unless I am trying something new. Helps that soup is pretty forgiving.

 

[dotfurio]

I can't cook anything without a recipe. My grandma cooked almost everything without a recipe, and when I tried to get her to write some of my favorites for me to copy they were written with things like a pinch of this, a handful of that, add this until it looks right...lol. I suppose with trial and error I could figure it out, but I just don't cook well enough to wing it.

 

[mombrontrent]

I love cooking and trying new foods and different recipes. I love looking at different cookbooks and recipes online and trying them out. I love experimenting with different types but of cuisine so I will use recipes for things I’m not familiar with or tweak them a bit to suit my tastes or what I have on hand.

Most nights though I don’t have the time or motivation to try something new and just wing it with what I have on hand. Soups, stirfrys, wraps, pastas, salads ect. I don’t usually use a recipe unless I’m specifically trying out something new. I’m pretty good at making up my own salad dressings, stir fry sauces, pasta sauces ect. Without needing a recipe. Every time I make something it’s usually not exactly the same since I’m not measuring exactly and I use what I have on hand.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I’m another one who doesn’t really use recipes unless for baking. If I’m trying a new dish, I’ll use a recipe as a guideline to know what goes in it, but I’m likely adjusting quantities to my preferences and I sure as heck can’t be bothered to measure anything.

 

[Floridaman999]

I don't cook often enough to not use a recipe. My cooking skills are nowhere near the "don't need a recipe" status. That would be dangerous.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I very rarely follow recipes. Lol, I love cooking around certain type-A family members because it makes them absolutely crazy to watch me wing it! But I've cooked from scratch for years and I truly do believe that recipes are just suggestions--when I cook I like to make it my own, put my own spin on it and adapt the recipe to my liking. Sometimes it doesn't work but failure and disappointment are part of life so I tend to shrug it off and then make a mental note of what I can change the next time I make the recipe.

 

[RUDisney]

I very rarely follow recipes. Lol, I love cooking around certain type-A family members because it makes them absolutely crazy to watch me wing it! But I've cooked from scratch for years and I truly do believe that recipes are just suggestions--when I cook I like to make it my own, put my own spin on it and adapt the recipe to my liking. Sometimes it doesn't work but failure and disappointment are part of life so I tend to shrug it off and then make a mental note of what I can change the next time I make the recipe.

Don't you love those Type A's?

My DD thinks she can cook without recipes because that's what I do. It's just that I have more than 30 years of experience as a home chef and she has a year of cooking under her belt.

 

[soccerdad72]

I very rarely follow recipes. Lol, I love cooking around certain type-A family members because it makes them absolutely crazy to watch me wing it! But I've cooked from scratch for years and I truly do believe that recipes are just suggestions--when I cook I like to make it my own, put my own spin on it and adapt the recipe to my liking. Sometimes it doesn't work but failure and disappointment are part of life so I tend to shrug it off and then make a mental note of what I can change the next time I make the recipe.

My roommate (and eventual Best Man) after graduating college was always so anal retentive about recipes, but he also used to read them differently as well. A classic example of this was the morning I watched him use two pans and multiple bowls all to make a couple scrambled eggs. When I asked him what he's doing, he showed me the recipe (why he needed a recipe for scrambled eggs, I have no idea? ). The recipe said 'melt 2 tablespoons butter in a pan', and it didn't dawn on him to do that in the same pan that the eggs were going to cook in - so he melted it in a separate pan and then added it to the second pan with the eggs.

 

[Babs Johnson]

My roommate (and eventual Best Man) after graduating college was always so anal retentive about recipes, but he also used to read them differently as well. A classic example of this was the morning I watched him use two pans and multiple bowls all to make a couple scrambled eggs. When I asked him what he's doing, he showed me the recipe (why he needed a recipe for scrambled eggs, I have no idea? ). The recipe said 'melt 2 tablespoons butter in a pan', and it didn't dawn on him to do that in the same pan that the eggs were going to cook in - so he melted it in a separate pan and then added it to the second pan with the eggs.

That sounds like my daughter. It seems she uses several pots and pans and multiple bowls and utensils to make the most simple things. At least she now puts everything in the dishwasher instead of leaving it all in the sink for someone else to clean up.

She dug the big food processor out of the closet to mince a few cloves of garlic. It never occurred to her to use a knife.

 

[_19disnA]

I always use recipes for baking, you can't get consistent results in you toss in 1t vs. 1T of baking powder or other key ingredients. Even for regular cooking, the amounts/ratios of various ingredients need to be the same to get good results each time. If you just throw together various ingredients it will be hard to duplicate those results the next time you make that item.

 

[NYCgrrl]

That sounds like my daughter. It seems she uses several pots and pans and multiple bowls and utensils to make the most simple things. At least she now puts everything in the dishwasher instead of leaving it all in the sink for someone else to clean up.

She dug the big food processor out of the closet to mince a few cloves of garlic. It never occurred to her to use a knife.

LOL! I know people like that too. Fancy expensive knives and they don't know how to maintain or use 'em. My former next door neighbors spent at least 100K remodeling a kitchen that had already been nicely redone 2 years before they bought the place. Got to say it was a dream but but they rarely cooked and when they did the smoke alarm frequently went off. Serious head scratching on this end.

 

[PollyannaMom]

What do you make that you don't use a recipe for?

Sometimes things that I did use a recipe for long ago, but tweaked over the years and now can remember the basic plan without looking (like meatloaf).

Other times, I'll just throw things in and see how it turns out. - When I actually feel like cooking, I'm pretty creative and adventurous.

(Unfortunately, when it's the end of a long day and I'm hungry, I don't usually feel like it. )

Cooking I don’t use a recipe, but for baking I do. That’s much more of an actual science.

Very true. Though I'm not afraid to mess with things a little - especially when chocolate chips are involved.

I see recipes as more of a suggestion than a rule. Even when I'm using one I don't measure, except for what I pour into my hand as a general measure

Exactly!

My usual method for cooking something new involves studying several recipes and then mixing different elements to suit me.

I like to do that, too.

I very rarely follow recipes. Lol, I love cooking around certain type-A family members because it makes them absolutely crazy to watch me wing it!

I unfortunately do that to my MIL. She'll ask me for the recipe for something like this cheeseball appetizer I make, and Ill be like "um...well...I mixed cream cheese and shredded cheddar until it was sort of the right color and rolled it in bacon bits".

 

[neverlandsky]

I wing it. No recipes needed except with baking. I use a base recipe with baking and add my spin to it.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Don't you love those Type A's?

My DD thinks she can cook without recipes because that's what I do. It's just that I have more than 30 years of experience as a home chef and she has a year of cooking under her belt.

Yes, years of home cooking experience has given me a good base of knowledge of approximate ratios that are important for certain recipes. For example, if you give me a stick of butter, 2-ish cups of flour, 3-4 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 to 1 cup of milk and I can make biscuits with any kind of mix-ins that I want. So I think once you get a basic recipe memorized like that, winging it becomes a lot easier. and then with experience you learn things like if you add in something like cheese or onions you need to add a little less milk to the dough because those will release moisture while it is baking in the oven. I'm sure your daughter will get there