Do you use a recipe book? Follow the instructions precisely? Or Do you use your sense of smell and taste and cook from scratch? Also, do you use raw ingredients or jars/packets, except when not possible to, ie dried porcini mushrooms?

Mostly just invent dishes as I go now although on the odd occasion I'll follow a recipe exactly (especially baking recipes).

I'll often browse recipes for inspiration and sometimes for an idea of quantities but I don't need to to turn out a good meal.

If I'm baking I tend to follow recipes very carefully, and only with experience have I started altering quantities (adding more chocolate to my brownie recipe for example) or adding other ingredients. Baking tends to be fairly precise.

When I'm cooking other things though, I tend to improvise, and I almost never weigh or measure. I always add more garlic and more onion than a recipe says, because I like it. I do like recipe books, but I tend to use them more as inspiration - I'll decide to do a particular one, and I may follow it more or less accurately, but usually being flexible about ingredients.

Normally, I remove the cardboard sleeve, pierce the cellophane, open the microwave door, set the timer, and then wait for it to go "Ping" in about 6 minutes. Luvvley Jubbley.

I used to live like that, and I can understand why people do it, but since I started cooking about three years ago, I feel like a different person. I am never ill, have tonnes of energy, sleep really well, have better skin, better teeth, better breath, and have lost weight and saved money. I'd never go back to how I used to be now...

If Im browsing recipes and see something interesting, or looking for something specific, then I'll follow the recipe exactly first time.

Thereafter, its generally from memory.

I absolutely love cooking, I cook every day from scratch - never use ready meals, packets or jars. I find it relaxing to come home from work and start peeling, chopping etc. I have several hundred cookbooks and probably use my favourite 30 or so fairly regularly. I had 6 new cookbooks for Christmas so they're dominating my cooking at the moment.
I do make up my own recipes and I also improvise as I go along but I agree that for baking you really need to follow a recipe precisely.

I 99% of the time use raw ingredients or ingredients I have frozen.

I don't have any recipe books, I just think of things to cook together and make them up myself.

I do the cooking my girlfriend washes up, she can't cook and I hate washing up.

I've always enjoyed cooking.

I tend to use lots of fresh ingredients, and a few tins.

Until three years ago I lived on ready meals and takeaway, and never cooked anything more demanding than a baked potato with melted cheese. My shopping was all tins and packets, with maybe some apples from the fresh section.

Then almost overnight, I started cooking, and it really has changed my life. I buy tinned tomatoes and kidney beans, and sometimes chick peas (I prefer dried chick peas and kidney beans, but sometimes I want the tinned ones there for when I'm in a hurry) and I do buy some frozen veg (peas and sprouts and broad beans are fine frozen, I find, and are nice and easy to add to casseroles and risotto etc) but nowadays I'd say that 80% of my shopping is fresh fruit and veg. Very occasionally, if I'm feeling tired and lacking energy, I'll buy a pizza base and some veg + tomato paste, and make a pizza, but I don't think I've had a ready meal in ages. I don't cook every night - I tend to do big batches of stuff and freeze portions - I might make a big batch of chilli or casserole one night, eat some that night, have some for leftovers tomorrow, and freeze some for two other nights another time. I cook an actual meal from scratch maybe every other night, or every three nights, but I eat my own cooked food every night.

That describes me perfectly!
Can't beat coming home from work and going straight to the kitchen and start preparing the evening meal. Oh, and opening a bottle of wine. I only ask for cookbooks and wine for Christmas, and that's what I get. At least everyone knows their gifts will be used and appreciated.
Except once, when someone gave me 3 bottles of Lambrusco...

Hi Indianwell - nice to hear from someone else like me! Which books did you get this Christmas?

Hi Kacey, I got Nigella Express, Tylers Ultimate by Tyler Florence, Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater and Angela Hartnett's Cucina. I've also just returned from the US so as usual I bought loads of regional cookbooks back from there. I can't resist cookbooks and my case is always twice as heavy as it should be!

You can add me to that list as well, I find cooking the evening meal very relaxing especially accompanied by wine. My wife is also very pleased with this arrangement.

Cooking has always been a very big part of my life.

And I've just received a new set of knives for my birthday....am resisting the temptation to go and chop something just to test them.

Global? Henckel? Wusthof? I found a Sabatier oulet in the wilds of South Carolina in December. As usual I couldn't resist and came home with a cleaver! I know Ken Hom uses one for everything, i'm still getting used to it though!

Forschner Victorinox after reading here : http://www.cookingforengineers.com/a...s-Knives-Rated

Needed something in a 'smaller' budget, that would last a while.

I'll be getting a MAC chefs knife to go with it some time though, I've tried loads out and whilst Global are very sharp, the MAC is much more comfortable for larger hands.

Would like a cleaver, might add that to my list.

I'm relatively new to the kitchen so follow most recipes to the letter, only improvising where necessary (usually omitting ingredients that I don't like the taste of). I'm hoping I'll build confidence over time and soon be able to break the boundaries, though.

I normally just see what I've got.

Every now and again I'll look in a recipe book for inspiration but then having found a recipe I like the look of I'll normally go my own way with it.

If you see what I mean.

I love Nigel Slater too! My Christmas books were: Flatbreads & Flavours, Denis Cotter's Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and me, a book on Hummus, a book on vegetable soups, a vegetarian pressure cooker book by Lorna Sass, and finally Peter Gordon's Vegetables book. I've cooked from 4 out of 5 so far and all are highly recomended.

I love Rick stein recipes - he believes in fresh produce (unlike Nigella) and doesn't spoil good ingredients.
Alan

If I enjoy something I've eaten in a restaurant, I generally try to analyse what's in it then attempt to recreate it at home, sometimes with the help of recipes and with variable results. Generally the recreations are fairly good although there have been afew culinary disasters along the way.

I always use fresh ingredients and now even down to dry frying spices and grinding them down with a mortar and pestle.

I like to analyse restaurant meals too. A regular on my repertoire is a pasta dish with spinach, cream and brandy which I had in Skiathos some years ago and we still call it Spagheti Bonaparte after the restaurant!

Hi Kacey, you and midiboy may be interested in a guy called Todd Wilbur. He's an American who clones recipes for a living. The good news is he also publishes them! I bought a couple and the recipes i've done so far are exactly right!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Resta.../dp/0452275873

Thanks for the link, indianwells...I may have to order that.

Glad to see so many people who love cooking on here! Keep it up!

I either use a recipe book and make my own adaptions to it or I just make "hoffle poffle" and bung it all in one pot and cook chicken with mushroom soup and apricots.