Why You Don’t Need a Recipe

Summary

The author advocates for cooking without strict adherence to recipes, emphasizing the importance of intuition and personal taste over precise measurements.

Abstract

The article titled "Why You Don’t Need a Recipe" argues that precise measurements and strict recipe following are unnecessary for successful cooking. The author shares personal experiences of cooking since the age of 12, highlighting a journey of experimentation and learning. They encourage trusting one's culinary instincts and knowledge, suggesting that cooking is about personalization and enjoyment rather than exactness. The author admits to occasional cooking disasters but emphasizes the lessons learned from these experiences. The article concludes by challenging readers to try cooking without a recipe, offering suggestions for simple dishes to start with.

Opinions

The author believes that cooking is an intuitive process that improves with experience rather than strict recipe adherence.
They express confidence in their cooking abilities, often warning their family that meals will be either loved or hated, but rarely disliked.
The author values the freedom to adjust recipes according to personal taste, advocating for the elimination or replacement of ingredients as desired.
They suggest that making substitutions and combining different dishes can lead to innovative and successful meals.
The author cautions against certain cooking mistakes, such as overusing sage or misjudging salt content, but maintains that most cooking errors can be corrected.
There is a strong emphasis on the importance of an extensive collection of herbs and spices in creating varied and flavorful dishes.
The article encourages readers to embrace the unpredictability of cooking without recipes and to learn from both successes and failures in the kitchen.

You don't need to measure your ingredients either!

I rarely use a recipe when cooking. My measuring cups rarely are seen outside their drawer. You may wonder how I can cook just about anything without actually knowing how. I will admit it can be a risk. Most nights, when I am done cooking, I warn my family that they will either love it or hate it. It is very rare that they do not like the meals I cook, however. I believe that trusting the knowledge I have gained is the best way to get great results.

I first started cooking when I was 12, and I have continued ever since then. The first “real” food I ever made was a meatloaf. My mother dictated every step and gave me no chance for any modifications. Plain ground beef, an egg, bread crumbs, and topped with American cheese. I wouldn’t even eat the meal I had cooked. I decided on that day that if I was cooking, I was going to change any recipe I wanted to. If I didn’t like an ingredient, it would be eliminated or replaced. I was going to add whatever I wanted even if it didn’t make sense.

After I graduated from high school I lived with my aunt. I would stay up all night just to have their kitchen to myself. I would look up recipes for things to make. I would consult several different recipes for the same meal. I would glance over each one while taking mental notes. After I knew approximately what to do, I didn’t consult the directions again. I threw the meals together, making substitutions on the way. The exception for this was any time I was making a bread product from scratch for the first time. That I always follow a recipe the first time I make it.

After years of doing this, I learned enough that I almost never look up recipes. If you can cook homemade macaroni and cheese, you can easily turn it into alfredo with just a few changes. If you can make chocolate chip cookies, you can make almost any type of standard cookie. It really is all about trusting yourself and having fun. I routinely make meals that simply combine two completely different things I have made in the past. One night I might dice some potatoes and fry them up with ground beef and then throw taco seasoning on them. Another night I might make a gravy flavored with curry paste, cheese, cream, and chicken stock. I have an entire section of my kitchen dedicated to my extensive collections of herbs and spices.

Additively, I have cooked three terrible meals. They were so bad I will never forget eating them. The first was not really a meal. It was my first attempt at making chocolate chip cookies. I admit I didn’t even glance at the directions, just the ingredient list. It was for my end-of-year senior party for gym class. When I tell you these cookies were awful, you are going to have to believe me. They tasted exactly how they should have, but their texture was like eating shards of glass. The next meal was one that with some quick thinking I was able to save. This was the first meal I didn’t use any recipe for. It was pork carnitas. I didn’t have paprika, so I thought I might be able to substitute it with cayenne pepper. A word of caution: don’t do it. I made a meal that was so spicy, bitter, and all-around unpleasant. I knew that a lot of cultures use yogurt to cut the heat when foods are too spicy. I did not have yogurt, but I did have sour cream. I mixed in small amounts at a time until I was able to save the dish. The last meal was completely off the top of my head. I had taken potatoes and grated them. They tuned into a soupy shredded mess. I threw them into a baking dish with cheese and a blend of seasonings. My mistake was adding sage. This garbage tasted like some cursed stuffing. My dad shockingly liked it though. No one else even finished their plate. I learned a valuable lesson though. Sage is a very strong herb and I typically avoid it now.

For everything I cook now, my eyes are my measuring cups. I add as much or as little of something as I want. We have freedom in most meals to add more ingredients as we go. If something tastes off, or the consistency is not right, we can figure out what we need to do differently. If a gravy for example is too thick, we can add a splash of one of our base liquids. If it is too thin, we can add more of whatever thickener we have chosen. The hardest thing I have found to correct is if your dish is too salty. For this reason, I almost never use salt until the very end.

Have you ever tried to cook a meal that you have never made before without using a recipe? If not, this is your time to try! I would recommend one of the following things to make: alfredo sauce, homemade fruit syrups, or any potato-based dish. These are all things that should be easy to fix if things start going badly. Just do not use sage in your potato mush!