Plotting vs. Pantsing

ULTRAGOTHA

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I was going to post this anyway, but Cassandra W poked me into doing it this way. :p

Ari Meermans and I have chatted briefly about cooking styles. She tosses things together. So do I, usually. Even when following a recipe, my reaction to eating it the first time is to decide how I will tweak the recipe next time.

I've got several dishes I regularly cook that I invented (Chicken Wonderfulness, Burgundy Beef, Taco Casserole, Macaroni Tuna salad) and others where I've changed the original recipe so substantially that it's almost a new dish (Casserole ULTRAGOTHA, Green Tomato Chicken Enchiladas, Sugar Plum Spice Cake, Pumpkin Custard, Gwen Salad).

How do you cook? Do you always follow a recipe? Do you throw things together from what's in the fridge? Do you start with a recipe and then make alterations?

What's your most successful dish?
 

MaryMumsy

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I'm mostly a pantser. Even though I own dozens of cookbooks, cut recipes out of the newspaper, and have my mother's recipe box with hundreds of cards in it.

I'll browse cookbooks when I'm sick of the stuff I usually fix. If a recipe calls for more than 3 ingrediants I don't typically have on hand, it is discarded.

I'll have to ponder on most successful dishes and get back to this later.

MM
 

Ari Meermans

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For me, cooking is all about exploration and kinda like an adventure--it's more a matter of what flavors and textures "go together" and how ingredients react to each other than having an actual recipe; and how mixtures and their flavors come together at different temperatures. Generally, I don't follow recipes; but if I do find one that interests me, I'll "mess" with it until I get it just the way I want it. Once I do that, I discard the written recipe because it's now in my repertoire.

What's the most successful dish? I don't really know. I cook with complete abandon and by the seat of my pants; so we rarely have the same thing more than a couple of times. My spouse used to complain about that, but he has adjusted.
 

auzerais

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It depends.

I often follow recipes. The degree of exactness that I follow is entirely dependent on a) how familiar I am with the technique/cuisine presented and b) how much I think I'm going to like the finished product as written. So, since I'm not as familiar with cooking Indian style dishes, I would follow a recipe for Palak Paneer to the letter. But if I had a recipe for an Italian style pasta dish, I'd probably read the list of ingredients and wing it. Often I see recipes as suggestions and react accordingly.

If my fridge/pantry is at least halfway stocked and I am low on cash or don't want to go to the store, I can throw a meal together like a boss. If I'm at the store, unprepared with a recipe, I can grab a few things and wing a good dish.

My most successful dish comes from taking a recipe as a suggestion list. The result is easy to make and goes over well with everyone except the lactose intolerant.

Farfalle in Gorgonzola Sauce with Sausage and Asparagus

olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch asparagus, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup half-and-half
6oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
12oz cooked farfalle pasta

Saute the garlic in olive oil on medium-high heat until soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add the asparagus and saute until al dente, about 4-5 minutes.

In another skillet, brown the sausage.

When the asparagus is ready, add the half-and-half and turn up to high heat. Bring it to a boil and let it sit there for a full minute. Turn the heat down to low, and add the Gorgonzola. Stir until the cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened.

Mix the sausage in, and then toss with the Farfalle. Salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
 

Marlys

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When it comes to cooking, I feel I couldn't be a successful pantser now if I hadn't been a plotter previously. Like, I can improvise like crazy now, but only because I know what tastes will probably go well together, and work with which techniques. I think it took years of following recipes to get where I am.

It's after five p.m. here, and I still haven't decided if I'm going to go get something for supper, or play cupboard roulette...
 

ULTRAGOTHA

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I offer Casserole ULTRAGOTHA for those who want to cupboard dive:

1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 bottle salza
8 oz cream cheese

Heat all together until cheese is melted. Add anything else you want--chicken, onions, peppers, sausage, etc.

Serve over brown rice or tortilla chips.
 

CassandraW

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People are always blaming me for everything. And they're usually right.

I am mostly a plotter when I bake (with some exceptions -- muffins in particular I love to mess with), and a pantser when I cook.

I'm very fond of inventing a meal from whatever I have in the cupboard and fridge.

recent improv -- chicken thighs sauteed in olive oil with onions and garlic. Add mushrooms, a couple of chopped tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper, and a healthy splash of white wine I had left over. Simmer for a bit, add some fresh spinach and cook just until wilted but still bright green. Serve over pasta or rice. Delicious enough to make again on purpose.

Tonight, I'm steaming up some baby kale, and serving it on tortillas with black beans, shredded cheddar, avocado, jalapenos and diced tomato. Hey, that's what I've got in the house.

I always invent soups and stews -- never the same way twice.
 
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kikazaru

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I'm a pantser. At one point in my life I owned hundreds of cookbooks, now I have perhaps 20 which I will peruse from time to time, but only for inspiration since I rarely follow a recipe - and that goes for baking as well. The funny thing is I will write down my most successful things and then when I go to do them again, I will often pants them as well depending on what's on hand in the cupboard!

My most successful recipe is my family's favourite - a pasta dish with hot Italian sausage.

I package of Johnsonville Hot Italian sausages diced (you can use mild and add hot pepper flakes to your taste)
1 big can of diced tomatoes
1 med onion sliced
Italian seasoning
2 big Tbs of cream cheese
1 Tbs of parmesan cheese.
Cooked pasta - we like fetuccine

Saute diced sausages til brown, discard most of the fat. Add sliced onion sauté til translucent. Add tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer til juice from tomatoes is reduced. Add cheeses stir til melted and smooth and serve over your fav pasta.
 

kuwisdelu

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Not that I'm much of a cook, but when I do, I pants it.

I never measure anything, and I rarely have the right ingredients for any recipes.
 

harmonyisarine

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I'm right in between. I usually start with a recipe but then alter and change it until I like it better, or just eyeball all the measurements. "Cooking with soul," even though I'm using a recipe. I like being able to replicate delicious things, so I'll write down anything that I've heavily altered or made up so that I can make it later.

I always promise myself that I'll do the recipe to the letter the first time, but this is just lying to myself. I'll taste and change it and then forget to write it down and have to do it again next time.
 

LJD

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I tweak recipes, including the first time I make them, if I don't have all the ingredients, the steps are too fussy, or if there are onions (since my partner refuses to eat them). I rarely make things up off the top of my head. Usually I find recipes on Epicurious, and I like making dishes I've made before.

Although I enjoy cooking, I don't really approach it as a creative pursuit. I get a sense of of accomplishment out of making something decent for dinner, whether or not I followed a recipe (and I usually do). That's about it. It has a sort of instant gratification that writing doesn't have for me.
 

Mr Flibble

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I kinda sorta follow a recipe if it's something new. I am not averse to changing things though, if I do not like/do not have an ingredient (unless it's vital, like beef in beef wellington)


But if I'm just bunging together something I know how to do? Well, yes, I bung it together (Old Man likes to measure stuff religiously or ask questions like "how many potatoes?" and I say " I don't know, depends how big they are?")


I do make my own stuff up as well. In which case all measurements are off, and I go with what feels good.
 

Ken

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more trial and error than anything else
if I try something and it comes out okay then I make it again and again and again
until I become bored and then I try something else ...
 

chompers

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Mostly a pantser, but if there's a new recipe I want to try, I'll follow it to the T the first time. I also tend to follow baking dessert recipes, as I don't make them enough to feel I can completely play it by ear.
 

KateSmash

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Entirely a pantser (as long as we're not bringing baking into the picture - takes real skill to wing it for most pastries, etc.). Probably comes from a childhood watching then helping my mom wing it in the kitchen with glee. I might poke through Pinterest for a general idea of what to do with what I have, then really only keep the cook times in mind (if it's not something already pretty standard).

Most successful dish? According to Mr Spouse, everything. I'm personally proud of my chili and the teriyaki salmon on mushroom rice I do on occasion.
 

DragonHeart

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I'm more of a baker than a cook but I'm kind of in between. I follow recipes but I'll also alter them on the fly if I feel like it. I do it more often when baking, as apparently I'm pretty good at predicting that sort of thing. I've also gotten into the habit of cobbling together my own recipes by looking at multiple versions of something and then just assembling my own based on that.

I can't say that I really have a standout success yet. I rarely make the same thing twice because I'm still very much experimenting with things.

However, I am in the process of creating my own cheesecake recipe that I intend on making a personal specialty. It's got a (homemade) biscotti base crust and cappuccino inspired flavor with a chocolate sauce marble on the top. I'm already thinking I want to replace the chocolate with caramel but I want to see how this version comes out first. It's in the oven now. :)
 

Cathy C

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I tend to mess with recipes. I have a bunch of recipes for cookies that came from my mom (who passed away a number of years ago)She would tweak recipes she found and write down the tweaks.

Fun story: This past Christmas, I decided to bake cookies as my gift to everyone I knew. Now, I don't bake cute sugar cookies, I make the HARD ones--that require hours of pre-bake prep work. I pulled out my mom's old book, and decided to make some of the tough favs (old fashioned ginger creams) from when I was a kid. One I remember well had the word "Funny!" written by it in my mom's handwriting. Without fully reading the recipe (oops!) I started to put ingredients in the bowl. By then it was too late. You'll understand her comment when you read it:

Old Fashioned Ginger creams

1 C. Lard
1 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Molasses
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. soda in 1 C. Strong Hot Coffee
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. Raisins softened in warm water, drained
2-1/2 C. Flour
1 C. Chopped nuts

Cream lard and sugar together. Add egg and mix. Add molasses and Coffee and blend. Sift flour, salt, spices and add to liquid ingredients. Roll on floured board until 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutter. Bake in 400 deg. Oven for about ten minutes. Frost.

:ROFL:

Roll? Really? Roll? It's pancake batter! After another FOUR cups of flour, and still dropping from a spoon (I ran out of flour) I had enough molasses cookies to feed a squadron of hungry troops! But they were as good as I remembered, especially with a little orange peel in the frosting. :)
 

MaryMumsy

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Ah, yes, the read the recipe and pay attention problem.

Many years ago hubby and I did bed and breakfast from our home for a few years. I used to make muffins for the guests, and was always on the lookout for new ones.

Found a recipe that sounded good, with shredded carrots and apples, raisins, nuts, and all kinds of good stuff in them. Said it made 18. But something was niggling at me about the recipe. So I called a good friend who was a very experienced baker. I read the recipe off to her, and she had me read it again. She said OMG, cut everything in half. Half a recipe consistently made 19 normal size muffins.

MM
 

sunandshadow

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I pretty much compulsively experiment. The only case in which I'll loyally follow a recipe is if I've eaten the result of that exact recipe and really liked it. In the context of the thread title this is pretty funny, since I'm a plotter, not a pantser.

Most successful dish, hmm. My problem is that when my experiments do happen to turn out well I often didn't keep track of exactly how much of what I used. I have come up with a great cherry clove bread, a delicious sweet mead with a raisin base, and some nice but extremely ordinary yeast bread. My housemate particularly liked my basil meatballs, but I didn't think they were particularly special.
 

calieber

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Like with writing, I'm a superplotter. Unlike with writing, I really wish I could pants in the kitchen. But I do tend to use the recipe as a starting point, rather than holy writ.
 

sunandshadow

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From today's soup-making experiment I learned that boiling udon noodles for 2 hours will dissolve them into a rather tasty soup-thickener. I was slightly dismayed to not have the noodle soup I expected, but a little milk and chicken better-than-bullion turned it into a nice cream-style soup.
 

blacbird

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I do tend to use the recipe as a starting point, rather than holy writ.

Me the same way. I've done enough cooking now to recognize some things in interesting recipes that can be altered, and i do like to use up stuff I have on hand. Especially vegetables. It's easy to alter the veggie content of recipes, substituting, adding or subtracting, in many dishes, without any problems. Green stuff in particularly is widely substitutable. Adding fresh greenies to simple quick package mixes of rice or pasta or Asian noodles really improves them greatly, both in flavor and in nutrition.

As another hint, learned not too long ago, try using orange instead of lemon on seafood dishes. Or substituting tomatillos for tomatos; this is especially good on grilled hamburgers, in my experience.

caw
 
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mccardey

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Pants and also I grow my own. But when I say pants, I've had brilliant teachers over the years.
 

LucindaLynx

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How do you cook? Do you always follow a recipe? Do you throw things together from what's in the fridge? Do you start with a recipe and then make alterations?

What's your most successful dish?

Well, it depends. I can make a dish called 'white sauce'. I can do that without a recipe. I can also make ground meat sauce without a recipe. Berry soups are easy too. Anything harder than those, and I need a recipe. I need a recipe even for my favorite cake, which happens to be a buttermilk cake.