How Do You Improvise in the Kitchen?

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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This is brown sugar, but I didn’t buy it this way. I made a batch of peanut butter cookies, and I needed brown sugar. I had white sugar and molasses, which is all I needed.

That was last week. I forgot to get brown sugar, and here I was making a chutney for the recipe challenge. Again, I needed to improvise, and it worked.

That was not the end of improvisation for me. I also recreated onion ring sauce when Burger King forgot it. Mayo, horseradish sauce, and hot sauce gave me something better.

I think I like doing this. Not only does the result taste great, but I also feel more vested in the outcome.

Anyone know what I mean?
 
I improvise a lot. Most of the time, it works. Sometimes... not so much. :laugh:

With me, it usually starts with this thought. "I wonder what would happen if..." But, sometimes it starts like your example. I need something I don't have and don't have time to go get it, or just don't want to go get it (usually the latter).

CD
 
Everything I cook usually needs some improvisation, even on dishes I cook regularly. I normally have to fit what I'm cooking to what I have in the pantry and the fridge. Sometimes the results leave me with restrained enthusiasm.
 
Just little things here and there. There are a lot of (what are to me) specialty ingredients I don’t have, so I end up substituting what I have on hand, like one kind of vinegar for another, or chicken broth for white wine in a dish if I happen to be out of the little bottles and don’t want to open a big bottle.

I’ll also usually make up my own spice blends instead of buying premade ones. Things like poultry seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, fajita seasoning…odds are I already have everything on hand to make them, so I usually go that route.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
View attachment 102309

This is brown sugar, but I didn’t buy it this way. I made a batch of peanut butter cookies, and I needed brown sugar. I had white sugar and molasses, which is all I needed.

That was last week. I forgot to get brown sugar, and here I was making a chutney for the recipe challenge. Again, I needed to improvise, and it worked.

That was not the end of improvisation for me. I also recreated onion ring sauce when Burger King forgot it. Mayo, horseradish sauce, and hot sauce gave me something better.

I think I like doing this. Not only does the result taste great, but I also feel more vested in the outcome.

Anyone know what I mean?
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That is how I make mine! I make just enough for the recipe at hand, the amount that I'd need it for. I'll pro
Molasses..jpg
bably NEVER run out of it!! Hah!! If anything, I may run out of sugar first. I've always done it this way, to keep packaged brown sugar from getting hard as a rock!! Now, if there IS any packaged brown sugar that has gotten hard, no problem! I just use it when making candied yams because it melts & dissolves in the pot that I'm cooking the yams in!! Bam, boom, done!! Hah!!!! :whistling:
 
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The Late Night Gourmet said:
View attachment 102309

This is brown sugar, but I didn’t buy it this way. I made a batch of peanut butter cookies, and I needed brown sugar. I had white sugar and molasses, which is all I needed.

That was last week. I forgot to get brown sugar, and here I was making a chutney for the recipe challenge. Again, I needed to improvise, and it worked.

That was not the end of improvisation for me. I also recreated onion ring sauce when Burger King forgot it. Mayo, horseradish sauce, and hot sauce gave me something better.

I think I like doing this. Not only does the result taste great, but I also feel more vested in the outcome.

Anyone know what I mean?
Click to expand...

If I decide I want a curry and we have no natural stuff, I always have a small packet about 100 mls in small pottles apricot flavored for snacking on.
I use 1 or 2 of those. Noone has realized yet.

Russ
 
rascal said:
If I decide I want a curry and we have no natural stuff, I always have a small packet about 100 mls in small pottles apricot flavored for snacking on.
I use 1 or 2 of those. Noone has realized yet.

Russ
Click to expand...
Some spices must be kept in the fridge in order for them to keep their flavor. Curry powder is one of them. Sesame seeds must be kept there or in the fridge or freezer to keep it from spoiling & going rancid!! :whistling:
 
karadekoolaid said:
Improvisation is part of being a good cook, IMHO.
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Yes it is!! But before I cook anything, I have to do an inventory, to see if I got all the stuff for the thing that I'm about to cook. The last thing that I want to do is to have to keep running to the store to get the ingredients for whatever I'm cooking. That would truly make me mad & make me say; Forget it!! I'm not doing it!!!! :ninja:
 
GadgetGuy said:
But before I cook anything, I have to do an inventory, to see if I got all the stuff for the thing that I'm about to cook.
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I quite agree. You don't want to be making a chicken pot pie, for example, and then remember you've forgotten the onion. Still, it tends to be the "little" items that I miss, like paprika, or parsley, or something small. That's when I just have to wing it.
 
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