Generally speaking most people are guilty of being a slave to the recipe. However all chefs alter their recipes on a regular basis. Maybe the chillies aren’t so hot that year. Maybe the turmeric isn’t quite so yellow. Maybe for some seasonal reason the sauce turns out too thick. The answer is simple, add a bit more chilli, a bit more turmeric or a bit more water.
What makes a recipe appealling is down to several factors. Colour is important. Flavour is key. But consistency is also critical. Consistency is usually, though not always. down to water content. So don’t be afraid to add a little more water if the sauce or stew seems a little too thick. You may of course need to compensate with a little more seasoning. Mostly however adding a little water doesn’t affect the flavour overly, but does affect the all important mouth feel. With some recipes like the drop scones, the consistency is critical. Too thick and they won’t spread out properly, too thin and they don’t keep their round shape, and aren’t thick enough when cooked.
With flavourings, I find most recipes are simply too stingy or mean on things like cinnamon, paprika, vanilla, curry powder or whatever. The recipe will often specify ludicrously small amounts – like an 1/8 of a teaspoon! Be bold, taste it, add more if you feel it’s lacking in strength of flavour – don’t be a slave to the recipe.
The only area where most recipes seem to go the other way is the sugar content! I am constantly amazed at the level of sugar in most cake recipes you see on the internet. They are nearly always far to sweet – a recipe for diabetes! Of course you need some sugar in a cake – but not too much. So you will find that in most of my recipes I have cut down the sugar content drastically. I only do it to the point where any less and it wouldn’t work, but it’s still sweet enough.
So have faith in your cooking abilities – everyone was a beginner at some point. Just be a little bold and change things around to suit you or your family. Don’t be a slave to the recipe!
