When I was a chef, the ingredients included in each dish were carefully weighed and measured following a recipe to ensure that every dish served was identical to the last one. If people order a meal one week and come in and order the same dish again the next week they expect it to be exactly the same. Quality control.
At home I cook in an entirely different way. I never make soup the same way twice. What needs using up out of the refrigerator gets thrown in. If I make a curry, it generally has similar ingredients in but I never measure, I just work on taste. Occasionally I throw a random ingredient in that I don't usually use just to see how it goes. When my children ask me to make them pasta carbonara it is a dish that only barely resembles a true Italian carbonara. It is just the name we give it. Mine is pasta, cream cheese, cream, smoked bacon and mushrooms. I do lots of dishes like this and regularly make something up out of ingredients that I know everyone likes. I think I get away with it because I have natural cooking ability and some experience working professionally. I instinctively know what will work. The only things I really measure at home are cakes.
Do you prefer recipes or do you improvise and experiment in the kitchen?
At home I cook in an entirely different way. I never make soup the same way twice. What needs using up out of the refrigerator gets thrown in. If I make a curry, it generally has similar ingredients in but I never measure, I just work on taste. Occasionally I throw a random ingredient in that I don't usually use just to see how it goes. When my children ask me to make them pasta carbonara it is a dish that only barely resembles a true Italian carbonara. It is just the name we give it. Mine is pasta, cream cheese, cream, smoked bacon and mushrooms. I do lots of dishes like this and regularly make something up out of ingredients that I know everyone likes. I think I get away with it because I have natural cooking ability and some experience working professionally. I instinctively know what will work. The only things I really measure at home are cakes.
Do you prefer recipes or do you improvise and experiment in the kitchen?