On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:47:04 -0400, Peter A >
wrote:

>In article <tJiFi.1078$Af1.1058@trnddc06>,
>says...
>> Just ideas! I'm willing to try any new recipe that looks
>> interesting and my normal procedure is to make it following the
>> recipe exactly. If I make it a second time I will modify it to
>> taste. People do write in asking for recipes and the replies are
>> often useful.
>>
>>
>
>I cook with an exact recipe rarely but I do use them for ideas. I have
>found that it is always better to rely on recipes from sources you
>trust. I would gladly base a meal on a recipe from Julia, Marcella
>Hazan, Diana Kennedy, Julie Sahni, Mark Bittman, etc. because I know
>from experience that their recipes are almost always excellent (and have
>been tested). Why would I base a meal on a recipe from Joe or Jane
>Schmoe? There may be a few gems out there but they are few and far
>between. With dozens of the highest quality cookbooks available, I am
>never lacking for source material.

i usually follow a recipe. if there's something i make often, that
recipes will have hand-written notes in the margin (sometimes crossed
out afterwards) until i've gotten it pretty much the way i like it.
otherwise, i would never remember.

(more than once, my dad would say after a meal, 'that was pretty damn
good. i wonder what i did?')

your pal,
blake