Do you 'tweak' recipes or stick to the original?

[2kidsintow]

I've just completed version 4 of a Baileys cheesecake that was on foodfood.

v1 - As in the recipe. Was HUGE!

v2 - Scaled down version, using 2/3 of the quantities to make an 8" generous one instead of a 10" party sized one.
v3 - Scaling recipe quantities down a touch more to play with the base/topping ratio. Also substituting 1/3 of the full fat philly for philly lite in an attempt to cut cals, but keep the deliciousness.
v4 - Half and half full fat/philly lite to cut cals further and see if makes a difference to the taste.

I reckon I'll have it sorted for my DDs birthday buffet in Oct!

Dread to the think of the cost of all this tinkering to my pocket (and my waistline).

I tend to follow the recipe the first time then tweak after that. A bit like you're doing!! Good excuse for more cheesecake!

I don't usually tweak baking recipes - there are usually lots of recipes without having to adapt one particular recipe.

However, I don't hesitate tweaking cooking recipes - perhaps because it isn't such an exact science like baking.

Exactly as itsjust says.
I'm not a good enough baker to tweak, but play with other recipes all the time, chopping and changing to suit.

I tweak after I've done it the original way in the first place.

I also use BBC Good Food and look at the comments for suggested tweaks etc

as flesh says....i tend not to overly tinker with baking as it's a more exact science.

although having said that there are a few recipes that are more or less bomb proof, muffins for instance, am always subbing in oil for butter, yoghurt for milk, a huge variety of flavours, almonds or cocoa subbing for flour.

it's knowing what will cause a disaster and avoiding that.

As far as meals go, I have been known to make supper and someone will ask for the recipe, I then say, but I did not have x,y, z, so I used this that and the other, and I did it on the hob and not in the oven, and have actually ended up with a completely different dish!

I regard most recipes as guidelines rather than actual rules like The Pirates Code. ;)

I always tinker with recipes, sometimes I've never actually cooked the dish according to the recipe. I am a pretty confident cook so roughly know how something will turn out when I fiddle with it.

It's tricky when someone asks me for a recipe because I can tell them what I've put in a dish but I couldn't give quantities because I do everything by eye or taste.

I tinker with just about everything. Either due to not having ingredients or not liking them.

Watching my housemate cook spaghetti bolognese to the letter of her recipe was painful. She had a minor panic when she'd added too much stock, about 10mls too much!

If you are a stick to the recipe kind ofperson, I found this website yesterday, which may be of interest. I think its a great idea (for the lazy bones, but chef wannabe's amongst us)! www.hellofresh.com

I haven't actually tried it yet though, so I will let you know. Just thought I would share. :)

I stick to the recipe. Absolutely to the letter.

I have hundreds and hundreds of cookbooks (I used to work in a cookery bookshop). Genius cooking is all in the detail and good cookery writers will have experimented and tweaked their recipes to perfection. If it says simmer for 5hrs that's because it will be better than if simmered for 3hrs, and so on.

However, this kind of recipe reverence only really applies to the best writers - but then why would I cook from the crap ones?

I stick to the books when baking, but don't bake much because even then I usually manage to make something only vaguely resembling the photo in the cookbook When it comes to every day cooking I tweak a lot, depending on what I have in the fridge etc.

Years ago I had a boyfriend who was a brilliant chef but I didn't learn anything from him because he never weighed his ingredients, just did it all "by eye" and it always turned out perfectly, grr!

I mess about. A lot. I never ever stick to recipes, I use the ingredients as a guideline but don't even weigh. Always turns out ok.

I tweak and substitute all the time, but actually I agree with sundaegirl - when I've followed a recipe to the letter, it's often been surprisingly lovely.

However I do mess about with baking recipes, probably because I bake nearly every day. I just made lemon drizzle cake but have used lime juice as well as lemon. Besides, you can't expect to win The Bake Off if you just use other people's recipes all the time, can you?!

I stick to it the first time usually, then tweak once I "know" the recipe.

I agree, if I'm baking then I will stick to the recipe because quantities and timings are more important. Otherwise I will adjust according to what's happening as I cook. If the recipe says simmer for 20 mins until thick then I'll simmer until it's thick, whether that is 15 mins or 25 mins or whatever, because you have to take into account what actually happening rather than just what the recipe says.

As others have said it depends what I'm making - baking and especially if it's the first time I follow the recipe, any other time I tweak - I call it making it my own it drives DP mad who is a stickler for following the recipe to the letter

I rarely cook, but my DH nearly always tweaks recipes but serves up some great food .

I always cook to the recipe first off, then tweak with timings, measurements etc.

Definitley a tweaker here. I do the recipe correct a few times then do variations that sometimes work or not.

I normally do the Mary Berry for lemon tart (very precisely) but today decided to make a tart of lightly baked confectioners custard with lemon in and flaked almonds on top. It didnt work fantastically well but tasted OK. Next time I will try and do it without baking - just toated almonds on top of lemon confectioners custard but might put a touch of ginger in the pastry.

Mind you I bought the original Escoffier book and his classic recipes are utterly frightening. Not precise at all. Its all 'handfull of this', 'a good portion of that'.

Yes, I tweak, but I am a fairly confident cook. I like to do variations on a theme, so I will substitute different meats or vegetables or herbs all the time.

Wouldn't tweak on basic proportions in baking for eg. though, because the recipe just wouldn't work. Then again, I only bake something about once every 2 years, so I don't lose any sleep over it!

Nothing annoys me more than reading the comments at the bottom of online recipes such as BBC Good Food and Jamie Oliver's website. Almost everyone seems to write something like:

"I loved these bean burritos but thought they needed spicing up a little so added cumin, chili powder, cinnamon and lime juice."

Honestly, give the recipe a try before completely changing it! The added ingredients always seem completely random and wrong to me.

I am an instinctive cook and rarely use recipes - I'm more likely to make my own up - but if I do follow a recipe and change it, it'll be leaving something out rather than adding random stuff in.

Jamie Oliver is the first chef I can think of who encourages you try varying the recipe.

Definitely a tweaker. I made soup this afternoon, admittedly I only cut the water down as I couldn't fit 4l in my pan, but it would have been cauli-flavour water if I hadn't, so that worked out well. I have occasionally followed recipes to the letter thinking they sound a bit weird, but surely they must work out ... no.

Two main hazards though. 1 - everything ends up the same, by the time I've accounted for likes and dislikes my exciting new recipe is a lot like one I've made hundreds of times before. 2 - over-tweaking, my record is replacing every single ingredient in a recipe with something else, and it did not end well.

I read those comments too, Mama, but they tend to amuse me. Some people must end up with a COMPLETELY different dish than the recipe intended.

My Dad's a tweaker - has it's down sides as in he'll cook something that is absolutely delicious but can never do it the same again!

I go to bed with a cookery book or magazine. So I have quite a lot of vague recipes or ideas in my head so I generally never follow a recipe, but its usually based upon something I've read/seen at some point. If its something particular I've seen that I immediately must cook and haven't done something similar before then i'll follow the recipe more or less, so that I can taste how its meant to be. Or if I'm less confident in an area - Indian eg I tend to follow spice guidelines a bit closer as I'm less familiar with how essential or not something is, or what's an adequate substitute. And otherwise the curry ends up like 'my curry' rather than 'the something a bit different' that i'm aiming for.