I would like to put forward a challenge to all aspiring cooks, and especially to those who follow recipes diligently when cooking. It is very difficult to bake successfully without using a recipe, but cooking can be very easy to get right without having to follow grams and millilitres from a recipe book.
Recipes are created by individuals who add different amounts of certain ingredients to a dish until the dish pleases their own personal taste buds. The dish might taste good made according to the recipe, but you as an individual might prefer it with a few alterations.
For example, you may not like fresh coriander put onto your curry, but the recipe requires it. So what now? You might prefer the curry with some fresh mint leaves and lemon zest instead, but how would you know to use that on your curry?
The thing is, you won’t know unless you are willing to try different combinations while cooking. By experimenting a bit more with different flavours and textures, and tasting as you go, you will begin to educate your taste buds and senses. The more you practise the better you will get, and before you know it you will be experimenting with combinations of flavours and textures that you would never have tried without first consulting a recipe.
I will set different challenges on this blog in an attempt to inspire your creativity. There will be no hard and fast rules applied, just ideas and suggestions to get you thinking differently about how food works.
Join me on this culinary voyage of discovery.
