Are recipes a command or a suggestion?
Do you believe in following a recipe to the letter, or do you feel free to make substitutions and tweaks?
Or do you seldom use a recipe, preferring to just "wing it" and throw together whatever ingredients sound good?
When we lived in Saudi Arabia, we used to joke that a lot of drivers considered a stop sign a mere "suggestion." I've found there are a lot of cooks who feel the same way about recipes — they're merely a basic blueprint that can be tweaked and substituted at will.
It's pretty dangerous to ignore a stop sign, but I don't think it's that risky to get creative when you cook, once you know the basics.
Sure, baked goods need the correct proportion of leavening, sugar and fat in order to work. And if you're still in love with your Mama's spaghetti sauce, why tamper with success?
But in other cases, recipes can easily be tweaked to reflect your own tastes, ingredients you have on hand, or to speed up preparation.
I'll confess that much of the time, I follow "ideas" rather than recipes. When I bake, I tend to be less free-wheeling. But, if the recipe calls for a certain ingredient and I have something similar in my pantry, I don't have many qualms about substitutions.
And, many times it turns out better than the original.That's when my husband says, "Write this one down, so you can do it the same way next time."
Because often I forget what I switched, and the next time we end up with something different.
Unfortunately, your best brainstorms don't always work. I've had some failures, such as my mint ice cream flavored with spearmint leaves from my backyard. It reminded me of Doublemint gum, but not in a good way.
I have a friend who, while her kids were growing up, had the whole family help her test recipes for Sunday dinner. She gave each child a recipe to make, so there was an entree, bread, vegetable, side dish and dessert.
It made dinner less of a chore when everyone worked together. And during the meal, everyone chimed in on how the recipes tasted and how they could be improved.
She noted the ideas on the recipes, to try in the future. Those recipes that got a thumbs-down were discarded.
If you're just learning to cook, I'd advise you to follow a new recipe pretty much as is. In the margins, jot down any changes you'd like to try next time. Did you think it was too salty or sweet? Not enough herbs? Too moist, or too dry?
Pretty soon you'll figure out what works and what won't, and you can easily swap and substitute ingredients, and create your own recipes.
e-mail: vphillips@desnews.com