Do you always use a recipe when you cook?

Oh I am a step by step kind of girl. The first few times I make a new dish, I will follow it to the T. Then after I get a bit use to it, then I start adding my own little extras here and there or changing something. I am still learning to cook, LOL, so I make sure when in the kitchen I am very carful.

I usually use a recipe. I will sometimes try to make up my own, but my talent in that area is pretty limited. So I have a pretty good collection of recipes that I can choose from. Sometimes finding "just the right one" is more time consuming than actually cooking the meal!

Yes I make up alot of my recipes I just use my imagination and hope my taste is as good as it sounds , I just normally use what goes good together

every once in awhile I will hunt up a receipe to use for I am so tired of the same old stuff.But most time just throw somethng together and if I like something real good at a restraunt,I figure out what is in it and go make my own works most of the time

Well I always use them for baking and deserts- Otherwise they flop... But I seldomly use them for dinners or things like that- We just throw things together.. The things we eat alot is easy-- you've cooked them enough to remember. Even if I use a recipe I always change it up a little- Subsititute this for that- Change baking times, etc. Its odd because I have tons of recipes (I print from the interent when it looks good) and lots of cook books! They collect dust.

If it's a new recipe, I'll follow it pretty closely (leaving out anything myself or DH might not enjoy - i.e. onions, mushrooms, etc). Once ive made it a few times, I wing it.. or change things.

first of all, i wasn't a born cook, and growing up, i never acquired the "gift" of cooking. but it's something that i really want to learn, and so i keep trying one dish after another with the help of recipe books. yes, my cooking is disastrous enough, without the recipe books, 'disastrous' would be too kind a word to describe it. lol!

I sometimes use recipes as a general guide. I often just throw things together especially with seasonings. When I do use recipes, I almost never follow them word for word. I often try to make them a little healthier or more to our tastes. Often I alter them because I don't have all the ingredients it calls for. :)

No I do not always use a recipe when I am cooking I love to try different menus and I enjoy my cooking, so I just throw some things together to make our food.

if its something i never made before i'll use a recipe but if i know how to make the dish i'll wing it.

Like you, I tend to use a recipe if its something new I am making. But most things I make I have been cooking for years. No need for a recipe unless I want a new taste for something.

Its a mix of both really. I feel like try something new then I refer a recipe. Its good to try new things. I get lot of recipe from the internet also.

I only use exact recipe when I am making gifts in a jar, or homemade mixes. I tend to tweek recipes on a regular basis. I will take a recipe and look it. Decide how to make it better and write my changes on the recipe. then I prepare it. I rate it and make more notes for improvement. When I am pleased with the end result, it is my recipe. I am a county cook so I tend to just through things together alot.

I usuually use a receipe but sometimes I just throw some chicken together with whatever I have on hand Especially at end of month I just create as I go from whatever is left

No not always alot of times I just wing it. Like you said I always use one when Ive never cooked it before.

I rarely use recipe books... but then again i rarely cook... i mean there are a few things i will use a recipe book for, but most of the time i just throw things together... it comes out pretty nice most of the time.

I use recipes now and then but most of the time I have my favorites in my head and don't need the recipe. Now if I need something special for a special occasion then I will use a recipe and will use one if I have never made the dish before.

Hi hi thats a good one. My husbands always complains because I can't make the same soup twice. I never use recipes for anything. I will look through them and change them as I go along. I even do it when I bake. And it isn't every time the cookies or cakes or so good. And I blaim my mother for this, because when every I asked how to make something she would say a touch of this or a dab of that or a just a shake of nutmeg. Okay so how much is that right.

I usea recipe but it is more a guideline then a hard fast kind of rule. I do not hesitate to change, omit or add ingredients. Especially since the SO is a diabetic, I am frequently playing with recipes to lower the carb content.

When I am looking to make something specific that I have never made before, I will use a recipe. If I like it, I will make it again, but possibly changes things to better suit my family's tastes. If it's something I grew up with, I never do. Usually, I make up things as I go along. And wouldn't you know it....those are the ones that my family usually raves about and asks me to make again! Sometimes just off the top of my head, and other times I will get 2 or 3 recipes for something and make a combination of the two, or just use them as guidelines for the dish.