Often times we see people who are locked in on following a recipe step by step, without any deviation from the original text. Whilst this can almost certainly guarantee a perfect meal cooked to the tee, it also sometimes takes the fun and creativity out of cooking.
When cooking for the simple purpose of making a meal to eat, it makes sense to follow a recipe properly. But when cooking for creativity and passion, it is important to deviate a little bit from the recipe and throw your own flair into the cooking. This type of experimentation can help you learn how different things react or taste in combination with each other, and ultimately help you become a better chef.
By experimenting like this, you can throw in foods that aren’t necessarily part of the recipe but you might believe that they would go well with the dish. This form of trial and error can only be beneficial, as you learn what foods and textures go well with certain sauces, flavors, and cuisines.
In fact, most people don’t follow recipes to the tee, as it is limiting. For many creatives and aspiring amateur chefs, the creativity of food experimentation with already laid out recipe templates allows for so much more fun.
By experimenting and finding what works for you with certain flavors and cuisines, you are able to add personal touches to your food. This makes the food much more interesting rather than just another ‘spaghetti bolognaise’ or ‘sweet and sour pork with rice’. Generic and common food recipes can be changed up and, with a personal touch, can be considered unique, fun, and interesting.
Furthermore, if you have leftover ingredients from previous recipes you can use these to see what can be created. With basics such as a pot of boiling water, steamed rice, or some pasta, whole meals can be created with leftover ingredients. This experimentation is what makes cooking so fun, as well as using up your leftover ingredients with nothing going to waste.
Who knows, maybe you could create the next big recipe for people all over to follow? Give it a try.
