Never trust a recipe
Katerina Pavlakis 
Always tweak to taste for best results
Yesterday we did something lovely we haven't done for far too long: we went to a friends' house for dinner.
As she was serving up a perfectly good coconut curry our host declared: "I'm a terrible cook. I can never make recipes work. It always tastes much nicer when I just cook my own way."
Sadly she's not alone in being so judgmental about her cooking skills.
From my workshops I know that quite a few of us think about our cooking in a similar way: While we are quite happy to throw things in a pot and get a tasty result, we dismiss this as not 'proper' cooking. And when we cook for guests we want to do it 'properly', so we follow a recipe to the T, more often than not with disappointing results. I also hear people apologise for their kitchen improvisations in some way or other, like 'I'm such a chaotic cook I can't follow recipes'.
These kind of statements make me sad: If there is one hope I have for this blog, it is to encourage everyone to trust and develop their own cooking senses!
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But why is it that so often recipes disappoint?
Mostly, this happens if you blindly follow instructions without daring to apply your own taste and cooking sense.
Recipes are not the final world or ultimate truth; they are simply someone else's idea of a meal.
And, more often than not, they're stripped of any personality because most recipe writers (with a few exceptions) try to cater for everyone at once: Recipes intentionally stay 'middle of the road' in an attempt to appeal to all tastes. They may sound interesting or even exotic but the flavours are usually tame at best, bland at worst, and in any case nothing like what you imagined looking at the recipe photo.
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Here's what you can do to move past the rule of recipes:
By all means use them for inspiration and new ideas, but remember there is no reason at all for a recipe to be followed to the letter.
The best way to use a recipe is to forget about following it to the letter.
Tweak as you see fit: take what you like, leave out what doesn't suit, add or replace with any extras you have.
That doesn't mean it should be random: there are concepts, principles and templates that can guide your creativity (and this is what this blog is dedicated to)
- Simplify: To avoid getting caught up in every single detail, zoom out and and look for the building blocks of any recipe (there is a walk-through example here).
- Apply the 3 steps method to build your meal so you follow a clear template (for an example see here).
- Remember to layer your flavours for that yum effect (one-dimensional tastes flat and boring).
- Keep tasting and tweaking to find that perfect balance.
- Pay attention to the cooking process with all your senses and keep notes (in your mind or on paper).
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If you practice these 5 principles you will sharpen your cooking sense(s) and unlock your very own cooking intuition in no time at all.
If you already cook intuitively please stop apologising and start celebrating! You know that creative cooking makes for fun and ease in the kitchen, and the tastiest meals too. You already know the secret to effortless cooking - all I can do is encourage you to keep it up - proudly and unapologetically!
If on the other hand you feel overwhelmed, bored or frustrated by recipes I can help you get unstuck.
Get in touch and let me know about your challenges!
And if you are not sure where you stand? I made a quiz to help you discover where you fly and where you stumble in your kitchen. Give it a try!
