How many of you cook according to your taste

[n2mark]

rather then follow a recipe?

[Lisa0825]

1. Oh, I rarely follow a recipe, unless it's the first time I made it

or it's baked goods. But when it is something I can dash, sprinkle, and taste, that's my mode!

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Moi

Its all about taste!

[The empressof all]

3. Follow recipe strictly for baking

Baking is science to me- Cooking is more of an art. I wouldn't tweak alot in any recipe for baked goods as chances are things would get screwed up. When I cook however I tend to adapt ingredients, spicing, and cooking methods to my taste and what I have available.

[chefgirl]

4. Exactly

I only follow recipes when I'm baking. Other than that, I wing it most often.
There are certain things, of course, that I make the same way every time, but thats only after experimenting and finding just the right combo of ingredients.

-chef-

[Phentex]

10. same here. It's bad when someone asks me for a recipe...

and I can't even tell them since I've doctored it up so many times.

[NashVegas]

5. Depends

usually the first time I make something, I'll follow a recipe. If I'm in love with the dish, I'll stick to the recipe.

If I don't care for the finished dish, but want to give it another shot, I'll mess with it next time.

[Lugnut]

6. I usually follow a recipe

I'm too chicken to "wing it" unless it's something I've made forever.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. I follow a recipe to understand how it should turn out the first time

After that, it's MY recipe :D and I'll prepare it in a manner I feel is even better.

[NMDemDist2]

8. i substitute things all the time

recipe calls for chunky salsa, I dont have any so i sweat some tomato and onion and peppers and add regular salsa

I sub veggies all the time

I tweak recipes constantly, often even ones I'm trying for the first time. If it doesn't turn out, I'll try the recipe again "by the numbers"

[Mandate My Ass]

9. Almost never follow a recipe to the letter

Just reading it I start planning my substitutions, addition and subtraction of ingredients.

That's why I love the www.epicurious.com web site. They have a rate a recipe feature and people post really good comments about what worked and what didn't if they followed the recipe exactly and others post how they changed it and how it came out.

[WritersBlock]

11. Whut's a recipe?

I try to follow recipes when baking, but I usually add maybe just a pinch more sugar, or decide that's not possibly enough vanilla, oh, and wouldn't nuts be good in this? You get the picture.

When cooking otherwise, nope. My husband has said he believes it's genetically impossible for me to cook something without messing with the recipe. But then again, he never complains about the finished product.

[Stepup2]

12. never

I try, I really do, but I always add or change something. I use recipes as springboards rather than templates.

I do follow when baking for the first time. Some I leave alone, others I will modify to the critical mass point.

[cmf]

13. When I first started cooking

I would try to cook by taste and end up with disastrous results. So then, I started following the recipe. After a few years of that, I became comfortable enough to cook by taste again. Now, I look at recipes to get ideas for new things (I don't like getting in a rut). If it's something complicated, I will use the recipe the first time and then tweak it after that.

[bearfan454]

14. Always n/t