How does one develop new recipes?

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silvercliff_46 said:
Jenneyema:

I have "The New Making Of A Cook" by Madeleine Kamman. Is that who wrote the one your refering too? Got to agree really in depth learning.

Yes! You are right -- it's called The NEW Making of a Cook now.

Mine might be old enough at this point to be just "Making."

The Making of a Chefis that book about CIA, isn't it? VERY good book.
 
People's minds work in different ways. I am not good at visualizing things, and yet I can taste things before I put them together. I also think almost entirely in words.

I create my own recipes frequently, with almost every meal in fact. But I have tons of experience to draw upon. I started when I was a kid. I jsut liked to experiment and see what I could create, whether it be mechanical, electronics, home-made kites, or culinary persuits. It's just who I am.

Evey "creation is not truly a creation of something entirely new. For instance, my pancake recipe was created by using a basic pancake recipe, and playing with the ratio of ingredients until I came up with something better than I'd had anywhere else. It took some tries, but a basic understanding of how the ingredients worked together, and knowing that I can eat almost anything, gave me teh ability to experiment and suceed.

I also have an egg-roll recipe with a pineapple sweet & sour sauce that is unique. I knew what egg-rolls were, and like the lady who can go out, try something, and re-create it at home, I too have that talent. So I took the basic egg roll idea and changed it to remove the mushy cabbage. I replaced the ingredients that made the egg roll less than what it could be, and substituted other ingredients. And I can say that those who have eaten my egg rolls have literally begged me for the recipe. The sweet & sour sauce was made the same way. I had an idea of what I wanted, could blend the flavors in my mind, and then use the correct ingredients to create it. I just had to play with the ingredient ratios to get the taste jsut right.

Also, epecially with sauces, be it sweet and sour, or marinara, or hollandaise, you need to be familiar with the standard flavor. Then, you make the base sauce, and add ingredients, a little at a time, until you get the flavor you want. you test the flavor as you're making the sauce, and adjust accordingly.

And just as there are those people who have a natural talent for math, there are those who have an aptitude for cooking. I can certaninly do math, but I have to work very hard at it. I did after all complete a B.S. Electrical Engineering Technology degree, which required some very complicated math. But it requred so much work and study. Cooking come easily to me. I wish the math did.

Give your ideas a try. It gets easier as you practice, even if you're not naturally gifted as a cook. I believe we train ourselves to be good at things. nobody is born knowing how to do anything.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
One other thing: There is nothing, and I mean nothing, wrong with being a recipe person. I often admire people with the patience and forethought to cook exact meals every day with a plan in mind and buying exactly what they want in exactly the time in adance that they need to cook it. I have no patience for hitting 3 or more grocery stores looking for just the ingredients for a recipe (and right now I don't have easy access to that many!). And to play it that way you have to be very forgiving of your own errors. I have friends who try a recipe several times before trying it out on friends. If I did that, hubby and I would be grotesquely obese, and bored stiff with the dish before we presented it to guests. Plug your nose and jump in and allow yourself your mistakes!!
 
Yes, trial and error is your best bet, also having a open mind doesnt hurt either.. When i am in the kitchen i just take out ingredients and run with it and see where it gets me... i am a vegetarian now, so i try all type of recipes now, cause vegetarians do not really have a wide variety..

I used to LOVE blt sandwiches as a kid...i took that idea and that love, and decided if i could make a grilled tomato and cheez sandwich, and i tell ya, it tasted just like a blt, even better really... developing is just imagination and thinking outside of the box and adding your own twist to something...

I have come up with crazy ideas from cinnamon fries, to fried spaghetti...just have to experiment and be afraid to fail sometimes..
 
I think an important thing when venturing out on your own is to have a strong grasp of cooking techniques. The difference between a saute or a sweat, what emulsification is, ect. and how those methods can be applied towards a certain ingredient. Once you are confident enough in both your method and your ingredients, you can really explore the field of never-made-before recipes. I'm sure that's how stuff like fried ice cream and fried coke got invented, as well as how the difference between custard and creme anglaise is distinguished, and why you'll end up with caesar mayo instead of caesar salad dressing if you don't emulsify properly.
 
and another incentive to 'developing' your own dishes, that I haven't seen reading thru this thread...cleaning out the fridge!! When I do this (maybe once a week?), I've always told the family, "Don't like this too much, cause I'll never be able to repeat it!"
 
I've always been able to get a picture in my mind of the way I want things to be...
whether it's landscaping, sewing, cooking, whatever. I just figured everyone was that way, more or less, until my husband made me realize that wasn't so.
I did use a lot of recipes when I first started cooking, and still do sometimes, when I'm doing a particular dish I've never done before. But mostly, I just do some thinking and planning before I start cooking.
 

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