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Cooking experimentally

Cooking experimentally
The aim of this instructable is to give you the confidence to try out a more experimental and creative approach to cooking. Most recipe books just tell you the steps you need to prepare a particular recipe, but don't talk much about why the author has chosen the ingredients they did, how different cooking techniques work and how to do them right, and so on.

The result of this is that many people either stick to the few simple recipes they know, or feel that they always have to have a recipe from a book before they can cook something good. This is sad, because making up your own recipes and trying out new ideas to see what they taste like is the most enjoyable part of cooking.

What I'm trying to do here is to give you some basic pointers towards a more experimental approach, then present some simple techniques and recipes which you can adapt yourself according to the ingredients at hand or your own imagination. 
 
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Step 1Guidelines for experimental cookery

In the next few steps, I've set out some basic guidelines which are worth bearing in mind as you're cooking. These aren't meant to be taken super-seriously, just as things to keep in the back of your mind that will hopefully both encourage you to try out new ideas, and help you develop the culinary imagination to come up with good results.
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7 comments
Feb 8, 2011. 3:46 AMsteveastrouk says:
I think that this is a great article, which is broader in scope than many
Dec 13, 2010. 2:10 PMlemonie says:

You really need to show people how to cook some of these things.
People go looking for "how to make-" more often than food-philosophy.

L
Dec 14, 2010. 1:13 PMlemonie says:
Well I agree with breaking away from recipes and developing your own skills and intuition, but that's something you learn by doing it. If you can write a manual / book / instruction-set - it's general-psychology, how people live their lives etc.
The site is for makes and I like recipes!

L
Dec 13, 2010. 10:36 AMKozz says:
An excellent thing to remember is that "cooking is an art, baking is science". Baked goods require the right balance of salt, sugar, leavening, acidity, and so forth. They're much trickier, and you can't simply decide to omit things like baking powder.

Cooking, on the other hand, gives you confidence. Find recipes you like, and get to know them well. You can then start replacing one vegetable with another, try different spices, and so on.

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Author:ganglion(Highfellow)
I live in the North West of England, and work part time as a computer programmer / electronics technician.