When Cooking do you follow a recipe?

I rarely follow a recipe when I am cooking unless it is something very new to me or requires very specific amount os ingredients (like when baking and not having the right amount of baking powder could ruin the whole thing). I also make a lot of things up as I go along when it comes to cooking as well. There are some things I make that I'm not sure I will be able to make again because I wasn't paying all that much attention the first time around.

I very rarely actually follow a recipe for cooking. I'll use it as a guide if its something I've never made but thats it. Baking is different, for baking I'll follow the recipe until I've made it a few times and am comfortable with experimenting. Baking is much easier to mess up than cooking is.

I usally follow the directions but their have been times I substitute things.In the recipes I have made before.

Oh I definitely need a recipe and I envy those who can cook without one. I have no idea what spices go with what types of food and it amazes me to watch someone just throw things in and have it turn out to be an incredible meal. There are a few things I can make without a recipe, but that's only because I've made them so many times I remember how to do it by heart.

i dont follow recipe when cooking but if its necessary i follow it because i know i cant really cooked it good thats why reading recipe helps alot!

if it is the first time i will cook the recipe of course i will follow exactly the recipe but if i'm not satisfied the next time i will make some changes

Cooking is a practice and practice makes one perfect. If you cook common food everyday or delicious foods occasionally then no recipe is needed. But you know or cooked it past but had not cooked for several years then you need recipe. Recipe is needed to teach cooking and need to learn cooking and after a long gap.

I do exactly the same. Well my best dinner dish is a a recipe a cousin gave me, I follow the basic principles but I never measure the ingredients. My other favourite dishes have been discovered by trial. I don't bake at all so never get into the measuring issue.

I almost never follow a recipe to the letter. My mom was a world class cook and she never used a recipe. It was always a little this and a little that. One of my sisters in law is still trying to figure out some of her "receipes" from 20 years ago. My sister in law is a recipe gal and she just can't relate to free wheeling it but it's what I'm used to because of mom. LOL

That all depends. I have made bread for what feels like for ever. I know that recepie by heart. Same goes for other favorite baked goods. Cooking I rarely follow a recepie either unless I am trying out something new...same with baking. I guess I have learned by repetition. Some times its awkward when someone asks for a recepie and I truly don't have one. I'll invite them over and show them and we figure out measurements together.

I have to follow the directions if its something im not familiar with. I usually dont experiment with my meals because if its terrible i dont want to have to fix another meal lol.

I'm a bit of both really and there isn't really any rhyme or reason as to why one day I'm following a recipe and the next I'm not. Sometimes I'll follow a recipe to the T, and if I ever cook it again and do it exactly the same way again. Other times I'll follow a recipe the first time around, then in the future I'll add or remove things as I please. Other times, I'll literally just chuck a few things together and see what happens. Found some favorites both ways.

I sometimes follow recipes, but very loosely. I rarely measure unless I'm baking. For things I make often, like meatballs, spaghetti sauce, chili, guacamole or casseroles, I rarely use a recipe-- I know the ingredients by heart and I just wing it. I also like to experiment and will sometimes throw ingredients together and see how it turns out. But if I'm baking I will follow the recipe to the letter, because baking is just different-- there's a very fine line between a successful treat and a flop!