I’ve seen so many home cooks put together a casual meal and completely obsess over getting a recipe’s instructions perfectly exact. Reading, re-reading, measuring precisely—never tasting along the way—only for the finished dish to come together and taste…well, I’ll be honest…bland. As an observer, the whole ordeal just looked laborious, stressful and anything but enjoyable. A means to an end, really.
When I first started to cook, I was also a committed member of the Recipes Are Rules Club. But as my culinary knowledge deepened, I began noticing recipes leaving out no-brainer ingredients. A cupcake recipe without vanilla. A pasta recipe without garlic. I’m no professional, but I know for a fact these ingredients would make those dishes better. Exponentially better. I also started tasting dishes along the way and tweaking them to my taste. Adding more cream, less vinegar, a pinch more sugar. When you cook often, you acquire experience and knowledge that become ingrained in you as instinct. These instincts can guide you and make your food a reflection of your taste, nobody else’s. When I started treating recipes as inspiration rather than rules, it showed. My food tasted like it was made with more love, more passion, more of me.
I started having more fun cooking this way. It wasn’t a chore, but rather a creative outlet. I created Barely Measured to illuminate to others that cooking doesn’t have to be restricted by someone else’s recipe. That the old saying “cooking is an art” is wildly true. Nothing needs to be exact. Everything will still be delicious (maybe even more so). I’m here to say a relaxed kitchen is better than a ridged kitchen, and a dish made from your heart is better than a dish made from someone else’s instructions.
Happy creating!
