A few years ago, my daughter told me I should write a cookbook about improvisational cooking--the way I cook. Since I can't say "no" to my daughter, I actually began compiling cooking styles and "recipes." Recipes and improvisational cooking are what the food section of the blog will be about.
When I'm making something that I've never made before, sometimes I'll actually follow a recipe but more often than not, I'll find a few recipes to ignore. I find the common themes among the recipes and incorporate them into the dish.
When I'm making something I've made before, I'm even looser in following any "recipe."
When I am planning a meal and am in the store (grocery or farm stand), I'll often pick something up (like a lemon) and try to imagine, visualize actually, how the food would taste with it and without it. Based on that, the item will probably either find it's way into the dish--or not.
I've been asked how I could repeat a recipe and if I can't, why is this a good way to cook. The fact is, I pretty much can reproduce most things I make. One reason improvisational cooking is good for me is that it gives me a daily creative outlet.
I have one constraint in my cooking that most people don't. My wife and I keep a kosher kitchen. At the simplest level means not mixing meat and dairy products, not using any pork products and using only fish that had fins and scales (no shellfish, eels or catfish). I don't use fancy or expensive kitchen tools. So anything I can do in the kitchen, you should probably be able to do too.
I encourage you to try cooking improvisationally. It's fun. It's creative. You'll get interesting results that will win you raves from friends.
Happy dining!
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