So, we would all prefer our recipes to work in such a way that results in something yummy and edible every time... and why not? That's what the silly recipe is for anyway! We follow the recipe so we're not improvising something wretched.
Well, it doesn't always work that way. I'm sure even Julia child couldn't get her first soufflée or two to pop up or that Wolfgang Puck really did burn his crab cakes one day. These failures are significant to our education. They remind us that the recipe is not always right... sometimes, we are challenged to use our brains and think of something else. All the greats started by winging it...
Though my Russian father won't be among them... One of the most fantastic failures I've ever tasted is this lunch he made... holy cow, I've never had anything so bizarre in my life. He was actually trying to educate me on how, sometimes, you just need to make food, and not worry so much about the presentation or the tastiness. You just need to fuel the tank. Well, I still don't need fuel that bad... I think he just pulled cans out of the cabinet... whatever he liked... I think it was tuna, green beans, some other bean, maybe corn, I can't remember it all... but I remember the funky brown color it all turns when thrown in a pot on the heat. We could have put the tuna on bread, warmed it in the oven with some cheese, and made the green beans separate, but I only know this because I lived to tell the tale after eating this... concoction.
I've made a couple of not-terribly-brilliant loafs of bread. Baking is one of those things upon which I desperately cling to a recipe. Chemistry was not my subject, so I can't take a "pinch" or this or a "splash" of that... I need spoons and cups and precise little numbers. Despite this knowledge about myself, if there's an ingredient that I really like going into the bread, I have a bad tendency to dump more of it in. Most classic example is this yummy nutty bread. It's just a wheat loaf with some seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, etc. I really like crunchy, earthy, semi-salty seeds, so I dump more than the 2/3 of a cup or whatever for which the recipe calls. Trust me... there IS such a thing as too much of a good thing...
Where those of us who follow the freaking recipe go wrong is more frustrating than blunders of the brave improvisers. There are a few things to keep in mind when this happens:
1. Not all recipes are tested: I learned recently (how upsetting) that not all the recipes in THE JOY OF COOKING were tested prior to publication. I can only assume that with an icon of the kitchen as large as that cookbook, other recipes you find on the web or in certain minor books quite possibly were made up without a test round, too. These are written by people who have the gist but maybe never put this with that to make a dish that's UGH...
2. Stereo instruction syndrome: One of the best tests I've taken in my life was administered by a biology professor in college. He asked us to read the directions and then sat down grinning. At the time, I went into exam mode (I'm a freakish cram study student, but it works for me) and took his pretty simple multiple choice test. When the tests were handed back the following class period, I got a decent grade, but circled heavily in red were the directions. Underlined were the words: For a guaranteed passing grade, simply fill your name at the top, answer the last question, and leave the rest blank. Otherwise you will be graded accordingly. All we had to do was fill out two things and we could have gotten A's and not wasted an hour or two of our time. My point is, sometimes we get into that mode of "I know what's going on here - I don't need no stinking directions!" Reading through saves us from making that one chemical error that brings a whole recipe to ruin.
3.Stuff happens: Not all of us who cook are chemists and physicists... even if we want to be. Even if you follow the recipe to the letter, even if the recipe has been tested before publication, sometimes things you don't account for whatever fouls it up... you left something cold and soft out too long... the humidity dampened the spirit of your creation... etc.
So with that in mind, I think winging it helps to prevent some of these messes. Screwing up often enough and learning what you have done to render positive or negative results helps when looking at a recipe. Sometimes they ask you to do something at which you've previously failed... so you know either not to do that or proceed with caution. I know this is a little tawdry and obvious, but I think you become better at making really great food most of the time if you allow for some failures.
For all the crazy, perfectionist cooks out there who live for the moment that everyone says, Mmmm how tasty... take it easy on yourself when you fail. You'll be better for having screwed up a few times. (Though, as an update, I think my Russian father has learned squat from his experiences... so I learn from his mistakes!)
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