I am not a recipe user but the few I use per instructions I am more than happy to pass along. However there are 3 "recipes" that cause me grief:
Salsa: I first made a really great blenderized salsa after wandering into a little Mexican market and snagging my first green garlic - pre-bulb formation at all. I had an abundance of really ripe tomatoes from Dad. It was extremely well received. I riffed on it for years. Sometimes with fresh tomatoes, sometimes with canned, usually with chipotles en adobo added or a mix of hot chiles from the garden. Sometimes a bit of sugar was involved. Green garlic was rarely found at that youthful stage again so green onion or onion entered. Occasionally garlic snuck in. One neighborhood boy offered to pay for jars and was dismayed that it only kept for a few days so he could not hoard it. So basically it is a "to taste". "add enough" recipe". I will tell people about the chipotles but I honestly do not have a "recipe". It is hurtful when they think I am hidng something.
Baklava and Linzer bars: These were 2 of my mom's signature sweets that I made at her memorial after-gathering following her death in 1983. Since I only bake these once a year for Christmas I'll admit to feeling selfish about them and also hating the idea that someone will mess them up and attribute "recipe" to me. One is baklava - a super basic recipe available all over the internet/ Fillo sheets, ground walnuts/sugar/cinnamon, and a simple tacky syrup with a hint of lemon juice. How fine the nuts and how muc cinnamon are "well enough". I've modified my method since reader eGer Chefcrash's method. I point people to it but I feel like it is not replicable unless you do it with me and even then it varies. I see Kerry Beal's post saying just that about cooking along. I'm sort of ok with that but unless you are a real friend I'm not gonna invite you over on the only day I do this (once a year holiday bake).
Pretty similar and even more vague scenario with my Linzer bars. Grind of nuts, even nut types , cinnamon and sometimes a hint of other warm spices. The type and amount of marmalade is a toss-up as is the need or not for an egg. So pretty much same hesitations as baklava.
Anywho that is my scenario.
