Instructions of All Kinds (Curiousity Fluff and Non-Political!)

[GLWerth]

I recently had a conversation with some other moms at an event.

They were talking about how they love my cooking and asked me about recipes.

I could give them base ingredient lists, but I haven't written anything down. The recipes I get from other sources are not quite what I make either, I always do things differently.

Neither of these women ever deviates from the written recipe. Ever. They seemed really surprised that I do and stuff still turns out.

It occurred to me that I never follow the instructions on anything, unless it is a new thing to me.

I know how food goes together, so I cook and use a recipe as a checklist (since I often forget to put eggs in things...not sure why).

When I sew, I either draft a pattern or use a purchased one, but even with a purchased pattern, I don't even open the instructions. I know how garments go together and I just do it.

My greatest screw ups have been when I've been trying to follow instructions to the letter. Something always goes terribly wrong.

So, are you a follower of instructions or a "wing it" kind of person? Or maybe somewhere in the middle.

[SuperChicken]

Cooking?  I suck, so I follow directions.  Sewing I'm pretty good at so I often play with patterns.

[coolmommy2x]

If it's a new recipe, I pretty much follow it. After a few times I can wing it. I'd say it's pretty much how I usually roll with most things.

[kam013]

We have a sign in our kitchen that my DH purchased, it reads:

"Recipes are for cooks who aren't French"

Obviously he is French . . . and although we do have some old family recipes written down, very rarely do we actually pull them out to use when we are cooking them.  Most everything is "to taste" for us.

[SuperChicken]

I also pull out recipes for things I've made for years.  For some reason I can never remember even if I've made something a thousand times. 

[Piskie]

Depends on what it is.... Most stuff I cook I do to taste. If something new, I'll use a recipe to see how it'll work. Can't do that with sewing tho, can with knitting. Don't have the knack for it in sewing.

[GLWerth]

I pull out recipes to ensure that I've put all the important things in. Like I said, I have a habit of leaving eggs out of baked goods.

Quoting SuperChicken:

I also pull out recipes for things I've made for years.  For some reason I can never remember even if I've made something a thousand times. 

 

[momtoscott]

 For making a recipe or putting together a piece of furniture, yes, I follow the instructions.  I go off instructions when I understand the principles involved in something, but that isn't true for me with cooking.  I loathe cooking, but at least if I follow the instructions and things don't turn out well, I have something to blame for the failure. 

[krysstizzle]

I think it depends. For cooking, I often (not always) start with a recipe, then tweak whatever I want. If something is new or unfamiliar to me (like middle eastern foods, I'm not as familiar with them as, say, Mexican), I'll usually follow the recipe to the letter, just because I'm not familiar with the spices. 

I've been winging it more the past couple of years though. One of my best friends is a CIA trained chef (culinary institute of america, that is :)), she never uses recipes. I've learned a lot from her, so my cooking style has changed a bit. 

[kailu1835]

I may peruse the instructions, but I generally don't sit there and go back and forth between instructions and doing... I tend to just do.

[ChancesMommy07]

Somewhere in the middle. I grew up learning to cook from my grandmother and she never uses measurements for anything. I learned to make bread by eyeballing ingredients and measuring salt and stuff like that in the palm of my hand. I will follow recipes but if I'm reading it and I want to tweak it some I will.