Who needs recipes anyway?

I’m sure some of you have noticed that this blog is not like most food blogs, there aren’t any recipes included. There in lies the problem. I’m not much on recipes. Generally, I peruse the vast array of recipes on various websites and from those concoct my own masterpieces. I’ll take what’s good from one recipe and combine it with what I like from another recipe.

Those few times that I chose to follow a recipe word-for-word have been disasters. Case in point: risotto. Having never before tried the dish, I figured I should probably do what I’m told, expecting that whoever wrote the recipe knew what they were doing. That was my first mistake. The recipe called for quite a bit of liquid as compared to the rice content. This seemed wrong, as if the end product would be soupy, but like I said, what did I know? And guess what, the end product was VERY soupy and quite nasty to boot. I’ve learned through these mistakes to go with my instinct.

The other thing I learned is to choose a recipe from a reliable source. I have figured out which recipe blogs I can rely on and which chef’s from the food network agree with my tastes. Even then, sometimes I throw out certain ingredients, add ingredients or reduce others. Other times I just completely wing it.

It’s something I picked up from my mother. Only, she’d add things that would make the dish worse, in my young opinion. Like green peppers for instance. She’d add green peppers to EVERYTHING, knowing full well that she was the only one in the entire family that liked them. I thank her for that now. I’ve come across many kids these days that are so picky about foods, it’s ridiculous. When they don’t like something, their parents offer to make them something different. We weren’t given the same option, if we didn’t like something we should either try it or go hungry. Today, there really isn’t a food that I don’t like or aren’t willing to try. Okay, so maybe I’m not so willing to try those bugs on a stick that I’ve seen on The Travel Channel’s, “Bizarre Foods.” But I’m working up to that. I tried sushi for the first time a while back and my friend convinced me to go for the gusto and try unagi (eel) instead of taking the easy way out with salmon or tuna. Again, I thank her for that because the unagi was so much more flavorful.

But I digress, what I’m trying to say is, I know what flavors mesh well and what don’t. I thought everyone had the same instinct but apparently not. I am blessed with the good fortune to know that Mexican dishes always work well with flavors such as cumin, lime and garlic. So when making any Mexican concoction, if the taste isn’t quite there I’ll add any of the latter to get it where it needs to be. And so and so forth for other cuisines as well. One disadvantage to this method of cooking is that any given dish will vary every time it’s made. Sometimes my lasagna is amazing and yet other times it’s just so-so. Makes life a little more interesting. The other problem is, when people ask for my recipe, I’m like, “ahh, well, dump a little of this with a little of that and sprinkle some of this, taste, then add more of whatever ingredient you feel is missing.” That said, if I have a recipe to share, I’ll gladly do that but otherwise, this blog is more on the lines of the experience of cooking rather than a step by step method.