If it's a new "to try" recipe, I start out with the recipe, but tweak it as I go along to suit our taste (needs garlic, onions, etc.). Other stuff is just "fly by the seat of my pants" cooking. If DH really, really, loves something, he's SOL, because I will never remember what I threw in that pot!

I would put myself smack dab in the middle. I love to try new recipes and the first time I make something I like to follow it as closely as I can. It drives me crazy when people say they tried a certain recipe and didn't like it and then when I ask them what it was about it that they didn't like, they say that they substituted "this" for "that" and omitted "this", etc. Well, how can you say you don't like a recipe if you didn't even FOLLOW the recipe? After I've made it once, THEN I may make substitutions or deletions to my liking.

But I know enough about cooking to often come up with something on my own that is a keeper.

So, both.

Guess I'm kinda both.
Depending on what I'm making.

A new to-try recipe,
I pretty much follow to the T
The first time I make it.
After that is when I do the tweaking.

My 'every day' meals
Are just 'put together'.
Which is one reason
why I share so few recipes here.

It's like your Pea Soup
I'd have no idea how to write them down!

:>)

Rusty

I'm a fence sitter. I follow directions fairly closely, but dither when there's something that doesn't make sense. If the recipe has had good reviews, or if I trust the writer, I may continue as directed. If not, I may trust my own instincts.

Over time I learn which websites or authors I trust and which won't work for me. So Paula Wolfert and Alice Medrich are absolutely safe, but I've never made anything from a Mark Bittman recipe which turned out well. I know he has his fans, but they must have different tastes from me.

Cheryl

It definitely depends on the recipe and/or author. I used to use Joy of Cooking when I was in my 20s, and I learned to cut the salt in half for almost all of the recipes, and so when I would come to a new recipe, I would use half as much salt as it called for. I also leave out ingredients that I do not like, realizing that I may be making a completely different recipe.

When it comes to baking and desserts, I follow the recipe very closely, as that is closer to a science, but for meat and vegetables, I feel less of a need to be so accurate. If it is similar to something I have already made, I will adjust a recipe based on my own experience with the ingredients. When I am making a cuisine that is new to me, I follow the recipe very closely the first time.

Lars

When I'm making something the first time, I'll follow the recipe closely, so I know what it's "supposed" to taste like. After that, all bets are off.

That said, I'm a rather careless/slapdash kind of cook. I never sift, I measure flour by dipping the cup into the container and shaking it level. If I have a medium egg and an extra large egg and I need two eggs, well, in they go.

If I'm short 1/4 cup of sugar, I'll make whatever it is anyway. If I have no carrots, I'll use parsnips. If I'm out of onions I'll use......never mind, I always make sure I have onions, LOL.

I don't own a scale and I often just pick up the olive oil bottle and glug some in the salad dressing instead of measuring that 3 tablespoons or whatever.

Somehow my food comes out edible anyway.

The one place where I'm very careful is when canning. I always make sure I follow directions perfectly and completely for time and pressure. My kitchen is cleaner than at any other time and I carefully measure acidic ingredients to ensure the safety of the finished product.

Annie

I research recipes for authenticity if a certain outcome is expected. I will choose the one that seems the best or I will combine recipes. I rarely make a recipe as written, even when baking. Like Lars, I reduce the salt by half as a rule. For daily cooking I often make "healthy" adjustments like using a scant amount of cooking oil or butter for a saute, milk instead of cream, reducing the salt, white whole wheat instead of AP, and reducing the sugar. For special occasion cooking I aim for ultimate good taste vs healthy eating.

I cook like Annie, a lot by feel and look and taste. I don't do a lot of canning but when I do I am precise about amounts and acid. And I scrub the kitchen down with bleach and ban any critters from the kitchen until I'm done. I haven't done any canning yet this summer because I have the foster dog and she never strays more than a few feet from me. The thought of canning hair into anything horrifies me.

Eileen

I rarely follow a recipe......
I do for cakes and cookies and perhaps a quick bread...or something I have never made and seldom eaten, I would follow a recipe until I know how it should taste.
But in years of cooking I know how to make a cream soup a broth based soup, pastry crust, yeast breads and rolls, a pasta sauce, meat loaf, salad dressing etc. I know how to roast, braise and grill meats and how to make a dry rub or a brine. Once you can do the basics, it's very easy to all a variation. I have a very analytical tongue and can duplicate most any dish I taste....doesn't always work for method, but nearly always for ingredients....and I am good at finding the answer to "it needs something...but what?"
I can cook for weeks and months without a recipe, but when visiting anywhere that I might be asked to cook....I always take my CD file of recipes!!...Just in case I need to remember just how to make that Frangapani cake or something.

For baked items, I usually follow the main part of the recipe...perhaps omit or substitute things like nuts or raisins.

I have so many cookbooks and clipped recipes, but I make the same foods for the family every week - they aren't the most adventurous lot. I almost never measure ingredients for main dishes; it's always by "feel".

I do both but it's funny this should come up because just the other day I was thinking that when I make up dishes and use the ingredients that I think should go in a dish, I usually enjoy the it more than a followed recipe. I will use a recipe as a guideline but I almost always change things up to suit our tastes.

Me too.

I am most likely to follow recipes when I'm baking or using unfamiliar ingredients. Especially with herbs and spices - some I feel comfortable imagining in combinations. Others I rarely use so in order to become more comfortable I'll find recipes to try.

I like the idea of Mark Bittman's approach but by the time I'm done his 3 ingredient recipe has 15 ingredients....

There are certain 'ethnic' foods that have become part of american cuisine - pizza, bagels, hummus. While I certainly like finding out about the more traditional versions if I like the american version I don't feel bad about that.