How often do you make a dish without knowing how it's supposed to taste?

[The Late Night Gourmet]

If I were concerned with authenticity, I would never have thought of posting this. But, as I'm starting to join in the Cookalongs, I realize that I will likely have never tried the foods that I'm trying to replicate:

I'd never had Beef Bourguignon before I made it for the last challenge
I had Goulash so long ago I forgot what it tasted like, but here I am making my own goulash

And, outside the cookalong, I made Tom Yam soup without ever having tried it - the problem here is that Thai restaurants around me always have Tom Yam (or Tom Yum, as most call it) as a dinner-only thing, so I've usually gotten hot and sour soup instead (which I've made many, many times). The good news here is that I tried the Tom Yam from a local Thai place that has excellent food, and I think mine (actually @Yorky's) was better.

I made gumbo before tasting how the experts in New Orleans do it, and mine was good, but it required some tweaks (with the roux) before I got it right. And, I do intend to try the other dishes from some expert to compare notes.

Since my main goal is always taste, I'm not bothered by this way of doing things: if I like it, that's usually good enough. But, I always do wonder how close I came to how it's supposed to taste.

 

[ElizabethB]

if I like it, that's usually good enough.

DITTO

Recipes are an inspiration. I am working on a chicken breast dish for dinner tonight. A variation that I have never tried. If it is palatable I will share.

 

[Lullabelle]

Last Christmas we were given a Korean food cookbook, I made Korean meatloaf without ever having tried it before. The ingredients give a good idea of flavour however we had to make our own decision regarding the quantity of chilli sauce, it was hot so after making the mixture we fried a small piece to check. The end result was tasty so will do it again. Authenticity isn't all that important, flavour is the key.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

It used to be that I'd find something I really liked at a restaurant and try to duplicate it. Now, if I'm honest, I usually don't know what the food I'm making is supposed to taste like first. To me, this is my ticket to an exotic land, and my way of getting there is via the food.

 

[ElizabethB]

Travel VIA food! A wonderful concept.

 

[Yorky]

I used to cook food that I had never tried before virtually all the time. As a result of this I have now a collection of recipes that I've either grown to like or adapted to my taste (and has ingredients that I may obtain locally) so my attempts at new dishes are much less frequent.

[Edit: There'll be nowt new this evening though. Bubbles and squeaks - which I've been eating since I came off the bottle]

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We have a tenancy to cook to our tastes. So I will cook a recipe once as it says. Then I will tweak it to our tastes next time round.
I don't duplicate restaurant meals though. I find you can't simply because sometimes the quantity of some items such as oil is just frightening...

 

[Lynne Guinne]

DITTO

Recipes are an inspiration...

What ^she^ said.

 

[Lynne Guinne]

Travel VIA food! A wonderful concept.

I read an enchanting book a couple of years ago. It's by Sasha Martin and is called "Life from Scratch...". It chronicles her exploration of the cuisines of 195 countries over a few years time, compiling her personal collection of 675 recipes. I've found a few recipes I'd like to try, but I think most kitchen experiments will be put off until next year. Between now and then we have two trips planned and will be gone from my own kitchen for six or more weeks the rest of this year.

If anyone is interested in her blog, you can read it here: Global Table Adventure

 

[Lynne Guinne]

@The Late Night Gourmet, I didn't vote since it's a trick question to me. You see, I will try recipes for foods that I've never eaten before. However, as long as it uses ingredients that I have some nugget of familiarity with, I can imagine the flavor of the final dish in my mouth. Yes, just by reading a recipe I can "taste" a dish. It's great if you're watching your calories! However, that "taste" really doesn't satisfy my hunger. My imagined taste of the final dish is usually very close to what it is when the food hits my plate.

If the question is "do I make a recipe without knowing what the end result will be", I would have to say yes. Thankfully, we rarely end up with a "yuck" at our house because I've already "sampled" them.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

I voted the first option because its the one that's most often applicable: I'll try a recipe for something that I've heard of somewhere or seen on TV that I think sounds nice but have never tasted. To be honest, unless you can afford to eat out all the time then I don't think there's any other way of doing it ;-) And if you limited your home cooking only to dishes that you'd already tried then things would get boring very quickly.

There are of course some occasions that I'll look for a recipe to replicate something I've eaten in a restaurant, but even those are not aimed at exactly replicating the restaurant dish...more like taking inspiration from it.

Like @SatNavSaysStraightOn says, cook the recipe once and then see which bits you want to tweak. I think people worry too much about being "authentic" when it comes to food....if it tastes good then that's fine by me. After all, someone had to invent those "classic" dishes once so why shouldn't we also be happy to experiment.

 

[Morning Glory]

I'm always looking for new tastes and new taste combinations. For me cooking is an obsession and that includes original recipe development (not that anything in cooking is ever truly original!). Of course I do cook some tried and trusted recipes too but by and large I'm experimenting all the time. However, I have replicated a few things I've eaten in good restaurants - not usually the entire dish. Its more a question of plagiarising some ideas. Most recently I used the idea of shallot petals marinated in rose-water which I ate as part of a starter at Michelin starred restaurant in Birmingham. I used kewra water instead - very delicious it was.

 

[sidevalve]

We are often trying new things. If you know what something is like it's like a cheese sandwich - tasty and filling but usually pretty dull. If the recipe contains something we hate then we'll leave it out but mostly it's try it and see.

 

[Francesca]

My basic diet is Mediterranean however, I have travelled to Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand, Morocco, throughout many countries in the E.U., and of course Montreal, Manhattan, Wash D.C. and all over South America ..

So, cooking as I stated on another post is done with passion and the time to do it ..

Otherwise we are avid restaurant goers ..

At home, we stick to our tried and true Mediterranean dishes 90% of the time, as these are family récipes we enjoy to the fullest ..

There are cuisines I prefer to eat out as buying the ingredients and having them sit around for 6 months, is a waste of my time and money.

So, to answer your question, if I do cook at home it is normally something I know the end results of even if a new récipe, for example the beetroot dish for the challenge .. I love beetroot and I adore lentils .. And mushrooms are a Spanish staple .. So, it reminded me of the Verduras Parillada ( a common dish but without the lentils ) so though it was a new récipe, definitely we knew what the results were going to be and my parents recommended it so that in itself, was a positive ..

I do not have too much time to spend so I keep it simply, simple and to my locaity and seasonal products ..

 

[Elawin]

Thanks to all the places that I or my [extended] family and friends live/have lived in and the nationalities of some of my family and friends, I have quite a diverse collection of recipes from all over the world, although I tend to stick to recipes from central and eastern Europe through to south Asia. The ones I have tried so far hardly scratch at the surface but already I have a few favourites that I make more often than just once in a while. Most of them I have not had before, but I'm game for a laugh. I often end up adapting or experimenting with recipes, though, because of my allergies.