Cooking By Instinct

Do you cook by instinct, or are you a recipe follower?

This question's been on my mind since I joined and started contributing recipes to Tasty Kitchen, Pioneer Woman's new community cooking site. I love how simple it is to search for recipes, and members have been really friendly, which is great!

Although I realized, in trying to contribute recipes, that I have almost none I've created myself. The site encourages members to contribute their own recipes and not just exact replicas of existing recipes (with good reason). I've only contributed three recipes so far.

I've been thinking a lot about cooking from instinct, rather than finding a recipethen cooking it but not remembering it for the next time. Then out comes the recipe again ... my dependence is embarrassing. I have a photographic memory, for Pete's sake!

I'm challenging myself to make up more recipes. Oh yeah, it's another plan! Maybe cooking at home will be more interesting if I'm not relying on recipes left and right. So off I go, in search of my own culinary creativity. First stop: I really want to read Michael Ruhlman's new book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, which focuses on mastering formulas that have endless food possibilities--and freedom from recipes.

Yes, I do realize that it's kind of weird to try and "free" yourself from recipes in order to ... develop your own recipes that you'll share with others. I'm not opposed to recipes, I'd just like to have a few solid formulas in place so help me with my own creativity. I still heart a good recipe, and I know that if it weren't for publications like Cooking Light or websites like epicurious.com, I wouldn't be the cook I am today (which, not to be boastful, I'm a pretty good one).

Should be fun! Oh ... and if you want to friend me on Tasty Kitchen, I'm under amandapan. Happy Cooking!