Recipe V Creative Recipes

Even though all the recipes that I claim as my own are original, in that I have not copied any recipes I have seen or heard, I would not say any of them are new. I say this in the way that most things have been done. Whether they have been done well or not is an entirely different question. Most food and spice mixes are regional, like the Coca-Cola cake is definitely Southern, Spaghetti is Italian and Friday night Fish Fries are a Mid-West tradition. The next thing we see is Fusion Cuisine, which is a combination of different regional and cultural foods like Teriyaki Hot Wings or BBQ Pizza. About the only time you are going to see a truly original dish is if a new fusion cuisine combination is found. I believe that recipes are merely suggestions and nothing more. But, and there is a caveat to that, if you are a beginning cook who wants to learn you should pick up an old Betty Crocker Cook Book and start with that before you start experimenting. I suggest that particular cook book over all others because of the ease of dishes and number of basics. It has many basic dishes that turn out well. I will be the first to say they sometimes have extra steps and the seasoning could be spruced up, but for leaning the basics I don't believe there is a better cook book out there. I am a perfectionist in the kitchen and hate it when things go awry. I still have a few different techniques that I use, that anyone can use to come up with new recipes. The first method is if I want something and I am uncertain of the ingredients and quantities. I will look at multiple recipes for an item, like a chocolate cake and average out the quantities of all of the ingredients and modify it from there. This also works great for a lot of regional foods, but you have to make certain the recipes are traditional when you do this. The second method I use is looking at a recipe for the basics and then changing it to what I want. The third and fourth can be hit or miss. The third is to just decide what flavors I want to blend and do it. The worst case scenario is that it is inedible; best case is you love it and use it forever. This is very similar to the creation of fusion cuisine. This one, quite honestly, can be scary at times, especially if you are a perfectionist. My son does this, and comes up with creations that scare me, until I taste them, when I am completely wowed. The fourth, and the riskiest, is that I have a general idea of ingredients and quantities and just fly by the seat of my pants, trying new things as I desire. Experimenting with food should be fun. It is a life long journey that you should enjoy as much as the destination. People are always trepidations about cooking for me. They are really startled when I tell them that I would like to work with them to learn their style and techniques. All I can say is that if I stop learning I will wither and die. As much as people think I am a great cook, they don't understand that my style and recipes are always changing because of my experience and I will never stop learning. I hope you will take this to heart and start pressing your boundaries in the kitchen.