FREE COOKING???

If you've been around One More Foodie for a while you probably heard the term "free cooking" used quite often in my posts and  may be wondering, "what's up with all this 'free cooking' talk?

I first introduced the concept in my FREE COOKING: Almond Garlic Broccoli post, but lets delve a little deeper into it.

FREE COOKING, as cliché as this may sound, is not so much something I found, but something that found me. As I mention in the previous post, free cooking came to me when I first started experimenting with cooking. Every time I tried to follow a recipe, I would find myself switching things around, adding additional ingredients that I happened to have in my fridge, and at the end I would find myself with a dish completely different than what I originally had in mind! It ALWAYS surprised me! And continues to do so. Whenever I start cooking with one particular thing in mind, I most likely end up with something else completely! Not intentionally, but it's like I get swept away by free cooking and it takes over!

I've learned to accept this part of me, and now instead of following a recipe, I use recipes as a guideline, a framework, a starting point to what eventually turns out as a unique surprise! Just like life, free cooking is unpredictable, ever changing, exciting and full of unexpected surprises!  Be it good or bad!

Free cooking is cooking without limitations, or as I like to say it, limited only by YOUR taste buds! It took me a while to advance myself in the art of free cooking. I wouldn't say I've "mastered it", because I can say with full confidence that I HAVE NOT!  But I have definitely learned "for the most part" how to cook meat without being too chewy or hard as a rock, or how to avoid burning things as often as I used to, as well as a lot of different combinations that are just fantastic when put together! I have definitely been improving in the art of portion control in the spice department! But just like life, free cooking is an ever learning experience. You learn as you go, you learn as you fearlessly dig into it and experiment with different combinations and different approaches without limitations! Culinary buffs may abhor a certain combination you've created, but who cares? As long as YOUR taste buds find favor in a certain dish, why limit yourself?

OneMoreFoodie