You Don't Need A Recipe.

[elleng]

'My day job is recipes. As the food editor of The New York Times and the founding editor of NYT Cooking, I spend a lot of time laying out strict instructions for how best to prepare specific dishes. These recipes take a particular form: a list of ingredients followed by step-by-step directions for how to use them. I think of these recipes as sheet music, a form of notation that allows home cooks to recreate the cooking of others.

But I don’t just cook with recipes, and I am not alone. Indeed, cooking without recipes is a kitchen skill same as cutting vegetables into dice. It’s a way to improve your confidence in the kitchen and to make the act of cooking fun when sometimes it seems like a chore.

Every Wednesday for the past four years, I have published on The New York Times one of these no-recipe recipes. What follows are some highlights from our archive of them, suggestions for things you might cook yourself, without a recipe.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/dining/no-recipe-recipes.html?

[dem in texas]

1. Yes, that is how you learn about food

Years ago, I went to an event and the hostess had made a great cucumber dip. I asked her for the recipe and she said it was her secret. Now, if I tasted it, I could easily duplicate it. I learned about food ingredients by cooking without a recipe. More fun to make up your own dish as you go. Yes, I have had some flops, but if you start with quality ingredients, you will probably end up with something good, Maybe not quite what you were aiming for, but you can try again until you get it right.