Creating a recipe.

[Stephanie Brim]

I'm curious about how my methods compare to others.

Sometimes I throw stuff together. Sometimes I thoroughly conceptualize before I even get started. When I'm organized, most of the time it goes something like this:

Concept phase: in which I write down what I want to accomplish with the recipe, if it has layers I actually draw a diagram and mark each layer as to what it will be in the finished piece, I make notes as to how it should taste, the texture I'm wanting to shoot for, the plating I may want to do, etc.

Creation phase: in which I actually start making it. I tend to go through at least three ways of doing something before I get to the point that I like it, and then a couple more before I actually call it done. It takes more or less time depending on how well I know the ingredients I'm using and how simple the dessert (or, really, anything) is.

Testing phase: in which people are my guinea pigs. This is my family's favorite part. After each time I make a dish, we all test it. I also have a few people who *aren't* as afraid of saying whether something is crap or not taste it. I take suggestions, make notes, and try again until I get it right. Creation and testing repeats until recipe is final.

Final phase: in which the recipe is done and I can actually make it well. The recipe goes in my personal recipe file.

I do this for fun and have for quite some time now. I really like trying new things (or, at least, those new to me) and it actually allows me to stay sane as a stay at home mom. Now that my husband and friends are pushing for me to sell *something* at market next year, I'm working on things that could go and sit on a table for a few hours: breads, pastries, cookies, bars, and cupcakes.

So how do you do it?

[runwestierun]

I think my process is very similar to yours. I am very conscious of one thing about myself that is quite limiting, though: there has to be an end benefit to me for the recipe to be good. I can't just think, "I wonder what I could make out of beets and anchovies?" I have to want the outcome. I have to want a better bagel, or a very impressive but rustic vegetarian entree, or a really beautiful kumquat torte. Does that make sense? Maybe I am just lazy, but for me to put the work into it and get good results, I have to want to eat the outcome. I have to be motivated by not being able to find the thing I want and having to figure out how to make it myself. The idea has to be born out of desire, not just thumb twiddling.

[Stephanie Brim]

I do it for both reasons. Sometimes I'm bored and I want to exercise my brain, and other times I have this desire to perfect something that goes beyond all reason.

Right now, it's pie crust. I haven't met one I truly liked yet. I know that I don't like shortening taste in a crust, and for most fruit pies I don't like sugar in a crust either. The one I made today for an apple-cherry galette-style pie is getting close, but I think too much liquid was added and, in the end, it was tough. Back to the drawing board after we finish this pie.

[helenjp]

The most creative thing I've ever done was to memorize basic proportions for various items. Once I had that baseline in mind, it was much easier to predict outcomes when I made changes, and my mind was also freer to play.

Fruit pies...I'm absolutely no pastry expert, but I use a little lemon juice in the pastry (vinegar is OK too). I read that even unsweetened short pastry is crisper with 1 spoonful of sugar (preferably powdered or very fine) added, and I think it does make a difference.

[Peter the eater]

As an avocational cook, I'm highly derivative. Get an idea, look it up, make a mess, eat it, repeat as necessary. Probably not the best business model.

I like the sound of your four-part model. Do you go back and revisit/revise your personal recipe file? How often?

[Stephanie Brim]

Often. If I like something, I tend to make it a lot. I'm trying to truly perfect my brownie recipe every time I make it, but I know that it's good as is. My favorite thing is to riff on old recipes. I make a creamy chicken pasta dish that gets its flavor from garlic and a mix of romano and parmigiano cheeses, but sometimes I don't have chicken. I've modified it and used bacon (lots of tomatoes and peas cooked into the sauce with that one), shrimp (garlic and tomato in the sauce and a very small amount of parmigiano over the top to finish), and a mix of peas, bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli (as a side with, say, a particularly Italian-flavored pork or beef dish or, because I sometimes don't eat meat, a main dish for lunch).

If it tastes good and it passes inspection with the rest of my family, I make it again. If it tastes good and doesn't pass inspection, I note that *I* liked it and make changes to try and bow a bit to their slightly different tastes. When I'm alone, I cook the version that I prefer. Case in point, I love morel mushrooms and my husband hates all mushrooms. One of my favorite ways to eat morels is to toss them with pasta and nothing with butter, salt, and pepper. To me, it's an amazing meal. To my husband...not so much. Knowing I'd never get him to like it, I filed that one under "personal revelations". If it isn't a food he's particularly averse to, I can generally get him to eat it, though. I also make a classic casserole of a white sauce flavored with garlic, salt, pepper, and an overabundance of swiss cheese into which a mix of chicken breast and broccoli is stirred. The whole thing is then put into a dish, topped with buttered and parmigiano'd bread crumbs, and baked until the casserole is cooked through and the bread crumbs are golden. He hates broccoli, but he'll eat it happily if it's covered in cheese sauce. What a kid.

I'm one of those who can't rely on always having a cookbook around so I tend to create things on the fly. I've memorized pretty well what ratios of flours and sugars works well for what cake, how far you can go with cocoa before it becomes impossible for it to just be substituted for flour, hydration ratios for my favorite breads, and other such small things that help when you're trying to create something. I do, however, tend to season and spice on the fly, tasting with a spoon until it's right. When I decided to start actually documenting, I had to get spoons out and write down how much I put in when, which was a little hard to get used to.

[IndyRob]

For baking and pastry I'm pretty scientific, taking an established recipe and varying only slightly in a progressive mode.

For savory cooking (or sweet fillings and the like), I usually conceptualize and look to get the overall package right without worrying too much about ultimate flavor. Flavor seems easier to me to adjust if I have the right concept. Imagine if you independently came up with the idea of a souffle and tested the idea with just some eggs - and then thought "I wonder if I could work some cheese into this...". That's kind of my process.

[paulraphael]

It starts with an idea, then the exploration of how to do it. Some ideas are so similar to what I already know that this part is trivial. Like, using rosemary in recipe X instead of thyme. Other ideas put me on new ground entirely.

In these cases, like If I don't know enough about the ingredients and techniques involved, I do research. This may or may not involve using existing recipes for reference.

Finally I'll put together a recipe based on what I've learned. In the case of something technical, like ice cream, a certain amount of math will be involved.

Then I'll make it: version 1.0. Try it. If it's perfect (unlikely) I'm done. If not, I study the variables and decide what changes to make for version 2. Eventually I get there. I'm no good at guessing which ideas will be quick and easy to nail, and which will turn into long battles.

Every onece in a while i'll come up with something that piques other people's interest. In those cases I'm the beneficiary of guinee pigs. This is great, because I can see how resilient the recipe is when confronted by other people's ingredients, habits, ovens, climates, etc...

Sometimes, for example, I'll be lucky enough to get a tester who lives a vertical mile higher than I do, who can provide feedback on necessary altitude adjustments to a cookie or cake.