Yea...I seem to have the amazing ability to "imagine flavors"....and so do my kids. Don't know if it's inherited or learned but I can taste something and 'Know" what it will taste like with more lemon or more sugar etc. And I can "taste" in my head what will go together....if you can taste in your head! LOL!
As for cooking without a recipe...
When I read a recipe, I translate it into basics...like "Sautee the meat with the aromatics and add some wine and herbs and braise"
or make a bechamel and add cheese, chicken, veggies, seasonings and put in a casserole.
Or marinate in wine and other stuff, pat dry, bread and oven bake.
And all the particulars come later.
I guess we all have our own way of thinking about cooking!
Linda C

I know what you mean.

I take great pains to make sure all the elements of dinner or party work well together. I think it's an instinctive thing. I rely on that inner 'click' when I have the right combination and variety. When it's right, I know it. Well, at least it's right in my view!

Sue

I can look at a recipe and pretty much tell if it's going to be good. Sometimes if I'm iffy about parts of a recipe I will change it -- in my head -- and then make it my way. And, yes, I can put together all the parts of a meal from various recipes and have it taste good together.

I think Linda C and I might have the same gene pool.

I guess I'm not as good at imagining as the rest of you! Recipes sound good or more importantly look good but I don't really imagine flavors very well. I have to really think about what will go well together and half the time I don't know if I've gotten it right or not until I'm tasting as I cook. It's not tough to make a simple three course meal go together, but putting together a complicated appetizer buffet or a fancy dinner without having already tasted things is difficult for me. I tend to stick to things I know and can tweak to work together or have a theme to the dinner. That way I'm pretty confident things will out. This is probably why I hang out here with you fine people so much! I love to see what you make and how you put it all together. I'm learning by osmosis.

I guess the more experience we have the higher the ability to look at a recipe in anticipating the flavor and outcomes. To me, it's more like "how the ingredients go together". Some ingredients are never meant to be used together so if I see something that don't look "right" I probably will change the recipe or just pass up on it. Al

Experience is what does it. I never was really able to "taste" something in my mind until the last 20 years or so. I also find I'm cooking more with my nose: I can tell if something is cooking too fast from the smell.

I agree that a lot of it is experience. Yes, we all have different talents we bring (baking vs. cooking, beautifully composed plate vs it just tastes good, etc) but like any artist, practice is what makes one really good at something. L2C46, when I was younger I always pulled out the recipe and followed it to the letter, now I am closer to LindaC with most recipes, I break them into familiar steps and wing it from there and that comes from a lot of years in the kitchen.

Alexa

I agree that it is experience. After too many years, I can imagine the flavour of a dish and even what it ought to look like. It wasn't always this way but now I can look at the ingredients of most recipes and pretty much make it without reading the instructions. Unless of course it's one of those silly recipes that say, way at the end, "chill 48 hours" LOL !

Like Sue I also spend lots of time deciding what dishes will go well with other dishes so I have a meal that hangs together.

I know what a dish will taste like by looking at a recipe. I know right away if the flavours are going to be to my liking or not.

I've always enjoyed planning a menu for a dinner party.

Ann

I do this when watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. When they start putting something together, I can tell by their ingredients and how much if it's really any good or not. What's bad is when they show something that really sounds good, then I want to take a road trip!!

I know right away if I will like a recipe while I'm reading it. And I know which ingredients I would subsitute with something more to my liking.

Nope - if it has a nice picture with it you can sucker me into anything. And I can't pick a paint colour by a colour chip!

I have years of experience, and sometimes I am fooled by the pretty pictures. I have made some that I thought sounded good, and looked fabulous, but tasted so-so.

Have you noticed that you can remember a melody forever?

Olfactory memory is the same. You can never forget something that you have tasted. You will always remember what a banana taste like, even itÂs 50 years later.

There is no magic in being able to imagine a recipeÂs taste. It may take a little accumulation of trying different combinations to get a little better in predicting the layering of multiple seasonings and of the one final sensation of a symphony of flavors.

Everyone can do it, if you are conscious in trying.

dcarch

Yes, I can pretty much taste it by looking!
I also know what we don't like, so don't make it or substitute ingredients. I rarely follow a recipe exactly.
Once in awhile I'm fooled. Last weekend was a good example...
I made Cinncinati Chili (and Dang It!! I didn't write down where it's from).
Looks like it's got plenty of flavor. The recipe is "odd" to me in that you boil ground beef in water and strain it. There goes the flavor down the drain!
I forced myself to actually follow the recipe.
It smelled great!

It ended up flat.
Like sprinkled chili powder, cumin, allspice and cinnamon on cardboard.
I added some black beans.
No go.
Salt helped a little.

It just isn't a keeper for me.

Baking is a different story, but I'm getting there with bread. I can feel, see and smell if it's going to work!

Deanna

I think we are all given talents that we can build on. Some come naturally some have to be worked on. For me cooking had to be worked on to get to where I am now. I can usually tell how something will taste and how it should look. I look at recipes but donÂt follow them exactly and so far I havenÂt had too many times when we have to call for a pizza. After the last year I finally have bread baking down to the point I donÂt measure much anymore and it turns out good. I learned the look and feel of it so I donÂt fret over it I just do it.

I can build a house in my head and have the set of plans for everything comes together just like I knew they would. After years of DH questioning me about building something he finally just takes my word for it. When we remodeled this kitchen he built it one cabinet at a time without any overall plan I couldnÂt make him "see" what I wanted but about half way through it he saw what I was looking for and it came together and fit within a 1/8 of an inch. The plumber was another story I had to draw him a picture and he still didnÂt get it so I just moved the pipes after he left. LoL I donÂt know how I know how to do this I just can. I guess what I am trying to say is everyone has something they can do without knowing why they know how and anyone can learn how to do something especially if they are interested in it. If I treat cooking and baking like building a house I can do it I just have to think about it a little more.

Claudia

I think I can do this...I think I can put together good menus and complementary flavors. I do think some of that may be natural, but I also think a lot of it is learned. My mother was a fantastic hostess when she was young, and my sister and I both love to cook & entertain. I think a lot of it came from that and some from personal interest and lots of experience.

I have said more recently than before that the first time I do a recipe, I should follow it exactly, but it seems I always get an urge to sneak in some change that I think will make it just a tad better...

And I have to say that since I have been married, I have probably botched up a dish to the point that I will call it bad (and I am a very hard critic) maybe 4-5 times in 6 years. I think that is a great track record! Sounds like many of us here are in that boat... You all are great inspirations! :)

I don't know if I actually imagine the taste of a recipe, I just decide if it sounds good or not. I definitely make substitutions all the time, based on what I have on hand or what I know I'd like better.

I'm a mish-mosh cook. I prefer throwing everything in one pot to serving each item in separate pile. And I guess I intuitively know which foods will be good in that pot and which foods don't fit.

Most of my parties are buffet style eating. I plan what to serve, again, just based on what sounds good to me. I don't usually agonize on what's going to work together. I just start thinking of things I'd like to make for that particular get together.

So I guess my answer is yes, but not conciously.

Deanna,
I was introduced to Cincinnati Chili by a friend years ago. She brought over the mix and we made it. I was also a bit put off by the idea of boiling the meat and not browning it. But it turned out pretty good.

I've been making it ever since, but always using the mix. I've been tempted to just find a good recipe and make my own but why bother? The crazy thing is, you can't really find Cincinnati Chili mix just anywhere, especially here in Texas! I was on the verge of mail ordering it years ago when I discovered Kroger, which happens to be based in Cincinnati, carries it. I often wonder how many Texans beside me buy it... or if there's a large contingency of Ohioans lurking in the Krogers. LOL

My husband can, but he's a chef. He can also taste something and tell you what's in it. He recently astounded one of his kitchen guys, by ID'ing all 40 ingredients in a mole sauce that the guy's mom (from Oaxaca) had made and brought it. It's a gift, but he's worked on refining it over the years.
He can also look at a recipe before I make it (I like to bake, and do most of it at home) and tell me how to tweak it so it will be better. (Hint--lots of tweaks for Martha, not so many for Rose Levy B. whose receipes he thinks are too complicated, but acknowledges that they alway work.)

I can get ideas from recipes but almost never follow the actual recipe. I can get a good sense of what the flavors will do. My soups are always a wing it with what I got... never had a bad pot yet. One of my big leaps this year was dumping leftover spagetti sauce into some cabbage soup... came out as an italian/polish fusion soup. Good but I won't do it again unless I get a craving for that flavor... which happens sometimes. I think I dream of flavors. A couple months ago I woke up just craving venison and blue cheese... where that flavor combo came from I have no idea. One of my big wins was putting a sprinkle of cardamon on my hamburgers... okay in my book but my housekeeper raves about them. I don't see how any recipe couple call for a measure of spice. Spices not only fade but different jars of the same spice can have different flavors and intensities. Was that black pepper malabar or tellicherry?... finding I much prefer my pepper to have some malabar peppercorns as I enjoy the sharp aroma. Even just grilling a beef steak... every steak is different... fat content, fat distribution, variation in thickness, bone size, pre-cooking temp, not to mention fire temp. Cook at a local restaurant is getting comfortable with my ordering steak done to the cook's judgement.... first time I had to specify that between raw and burnt would be acceptable (unless he wanted to cook it burnt on the outside and raw on the inside... yum!). How can anyone make a recipe for meat doneness? Okay, brown the outside but beyond that it is all winging it.

For the most part food is cheap. Give in to your creative side and try it. Best not to experiment on your gal friends but husbands and teenagers are fair game.... helps to have a large dog to dispose of failed experiments.

: )
lyra