Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Baking to a "t," however I often use other recipes as a guide or inspiration. I always taste as I go. And often it depends on what I have on hand. That said, some dishes become recipes from what I have on hand.

Total deviant when it is something savory. Pastry things I follow directions to the tee, too many times I tried to sub something when making desserts and it came out crap.

My bad ! Are recipes meant to be followed ? Reminds me of Soylent Green!

I almost never follow a recipe... being vegetarian, I seek inspiration from all over the place and customize the recipes to meet my dietary requirements and taste.

Deviant. It feels like a chore to follow a recipe. Cooking is only fun if I make it up as I go. I don't even follow them exactly when I'm baking.

Another deviant here. In high school I made dinner for the family by digging through the cabinets to see what my mom had bought that week- you can't exactly follow recipes if you cook and somebody else shops.

In terms of baking, I follow the recipe closely where I have to, but I will play with flavorings a bit, and I've learned to make bread by feel, and use the recipe as a guideline.

wow-am i the only follower? i always stick to the recipes-baking or otherwise. once i've done the exact recipe i may alter it, if i make it again in the future. however, i like to constantly try new stuff, so it's fairly rare for me to repeat.

baking, almost always, cooking almost never.

I am constantly trying new recipes and will usually follow the recipe as written the first time around unless there is an ingredient I don't particularly care for and then will sub with something else. After the first time, however, it's fair game.

deviant. always. Partly it's more fun, and exciting, and partly out of laziness. 1 tsp cinnamon? I don't think so.
I think of recipes kind of like speed limits on highways... good suggestions for something that has worked before, but luckily there are no cooking police in my kitchen:-)

Free-lance savory to taste. Never deviate from baking.......which is why I don 't bake much.

I think one of the great things about becoming a more experienced cook is being able to see recipes as ideas rather than instructions. I usually search for recipes online based on flavor profiles I already have in mind or based on what is currently in my fridge and needs to be eaten immediately. I use the recipes as a rough guideline where I fill in details with tastes and preferences. But because I'm still learning, I definitely refer back to them for guidelines on temperatures / cooking times / technique.

Total deviation from the start. I see a recipe as an idea, something to springboard my creativity. Sometimes it is the ingredients I have on hand that inspires the changes, other times I just think something would taste better with the changes. I do give credit to who inspired my food. I have no problem stating that I saw a recipe for whatever by whoever and this is what I came up with. Baking is a whole different thing. I am quite surprised when something turns out really well. I have been known to run around the kitchen arms raised in triumph shouting "YES! It worked!!!!"

Deviant. I have a high tolerance for garlic, so I almost always double the amount asked for. Same with cayenne or red pepper in dishes that call for them, I use more than called for. In baking, I experiment some, but I'm not totally comfortable running around willy nilly in that particular area just yet. I love combining flavors and changing things to suit our tastes.

deeberry--I used to say I was a creative cook, but I like your use of the word "deviant," so that's what kind of cook I'm going to be from now on. It sounds so much more fun!

The first time I made chicken Kiev, I follow Julia Child's recipe exactly. I was 19, just married and had bought the first of my collection of her cookbooks. Up until then, I followed recipes exactly. After that, I noticed that in many of her recipes, she says to use this if you don't have that; if it's a baking recipe, she lets you know what ingredient or technique is critical and what you can play around with. If Julia could lighten up, so could I.

Chocolate chip cookies--I make one-and-a-half times the recipe for Toll House Cookie dough using unsalted butter and two bags of Ghiardelli chips. They're female (no nuts) most of the time, but if we happen to have some, I'll toast three hands full of walnuts and throw them in the bowl. The flour/butter/eggs/baking soda thing is critical (not crucial--one of my sons made Toll House shortbread when he forgot the soda, and we've had to do with only one egg a few times over the years) but the add-ins aren't, and I've played with the white sugar/brown sugar proportions if I'm short of one or the other.

Once I've found a recipe and played around with it until I get it the way we like it, then I follow "my" recipe so that it always tastes the same. At least for the next few times I make it. . .until I think up some new or different way to change it again.

Unlike one of my sisters, who will remain nameless. . .if a recipe calls for eight oz. cheese, she actually weighs out the exact amount of it, and if she only has a package labelled "ground beef," but all she has is ground chuck, she'll find something else to cook. She called me one time from the grocery store because she had a casserole recipe that called for a 7 oz. can of tuna, but the only cans she could find were 6.5 oz. The weird thing is that she's an artist--creative, not deviant.

Geez, I totally forgot. . .You know those recipes that call for each serving to be topped with 1 tablespoon of whipped cream? Who does that? My sister!

I came to peace with the fact that my collection of cookbooks and recipes over the years are inspiration to what will actually bubble on my stovetop. Deviant or mastermind of good flavors? :)

Well, I don't buy cookbooks or look at recipes because I don't know how to cook. Most of the time I look at recipes because I'm looking for ideas. Other times, I am trying to learn a new style of cooking. At those times I read through the the ingredients and techniques to try to get the flavor of the dish in my mind...if I'm really uncertain about the dish, I'll follow the recipe. Usually after that one time, I'll deviate and do it my way the next time. My husband's favorites have all been dishes that I sort of created from reading this recipe and that and then marrying them with another. True melting pot philosophy.

i definitely deviate. much of that is due to me wanting to make recipes (especially those for baked goods) healthier. i'll sub in whole wheat flour, flax seeds and yogurt a lot of the times.

If the recipe contains an ingredient or technique that I'm not familiar with I will follow it precisely. If it doesn't fit those criteria then I am very likely to take the recipe as a starting point. Much as a conductor reads a musical score and then puts his personal touch on it.

deviant. Can't even follow it the first time.

I've cooked enough stuff that I have a pretty good idea, for MOST things, how the recipe is going to taste. So I deviate shamelessly.

If I'm not familiar with the combo, I will more or less follow the recipe, just making tweaks here and there.

For baking, I rarely measure. I've been baking stuff for a while and I can estimate a 1/2 cup pretty closely. Hey, some people have good knife skills, whereas I can measure without a spoon/measuring cup (usually).

It's funny, I'm a knitter and I'm the same way when I knit - I never follow the pattern, it always has to be tweaked!

I guess I'm not a stickler for rules. :)

Deviant in proportions and ingredients. I usually say outloud to my wife, "Huh, must be a misprint, they forgot to add the.......". Some of my substitutions are out of necessity because what's on hand at the time, but usually, it's just a whim.

Generally follow for baking - the first time, at least. Otherwise, a deviant. I once had a very funny and fairly accurate set of descriptions of how people did or didn't follow recipes depending on their Myers Briggs Personality Types. I'll look for it.

I can never seem to "leave well enough alone." Ah well, one must learn from one's mistakes, no?

deviant - but sometimes it backfires when I want to make it "exactly" the same again

Out of respect to the creator of the recipe, I follow it to the tee the first time I make it. AND, I maker sure to give the original recipe props if I end up changing it. Too many people take recipes from others, add in lemon pepper or a pinch of sugar, and then all of a sudden it's now THEIR recipe. That's bullocks. Give credit where credit is due...

You know what cracks me up? Those recipe reviews where the reviewer pans the recipe and then goes on to state that instead of dijon they used yellow mustard, and roasted for one hour because it looked like 20 minutes might not be enough. There's deviant, and then there's duh. I agree with MMinNYC--interpreter. But I'm kinda sorry I used tarragon rather than thyme last night. And people have every right to be very picky about cinnamon. And nutmeg.

I tend to only use recipes for inspiration and for "general" cooking times and temperatrues. Just like Chef Micheal Smith always says: you don't need a recipe!

On the otherhand: If I baked, that wouldn't be the case. Baking is so darned exact I eff it up anyways.

My foods always turn out good...just aren't always consistent!

Deviant. There's no reason to follow a recipe exactly when you can think of an improvement. Shallots make everything better. Garlic belongs. Pepper = freshly ground black pepper. The only time I try not to manipulate a recipe is when I bake. The first time anyway. Even then, I add vanilla and almond flavoring to almost all the baked goods.

deviant, definitely deviant. its part laziness to get the exact ingredients and part curiosity for how it will turn out.
i have found a few recipes (and 2 books) that i love enough to follow, though.

I split the difference; if it's a recipe that comes from a trusted source (i.e. off the internets with many positive reviews, or from a trusted friend) i will follow faithfully. if it's something new i have a mind to try cooking i will look up a dozen different versions and combine ingredients/techniques to suit myself. overall a follower though, which means i am a mean baker!

I used to have a rule for recipes: if it starts with "C", double it.

Then I got married, and at my wife's request, I have had to exclude things like cayenne pepper from that rule. But not chocolate.