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cooking is cool, but following a recipe feels cucked
when i played the piano, i could follow sheet music, but was always jealous of people who could "freestyle" piano, like just riff on the keyboard based on knowledge / flow state / connection to the instrument
i feel like there was always a divide between myself and something that would make it impossible for me to ever achieve that state / ability. im scared the same thing will happen with cooking
my grandma taught me a recipe of hers recently
>"ok add salt and pepper"
>"how much?"
>"... umm, i don't know, just add it"
like grandmas just freestyle in the kitchen and create peak, im following recipes to the T like a cuck measuring out everything like an autist.
i want to be able to understand foods that mix well and flavors and things like that, experimenting or whatever, being able to intuitively know what makes food good, what spices to add, what goes and doesn't go well together, etc, but i think i will never achieve this
how do i become one with the kitchen anons

You practice until you get an intuitive feel for it
I don't know what to tell you, the answer to "I lack experience" is "get some fucking experience"

>>21443742 (OP)
It just takes practice and experience. The more you cook, the more comfortable you will become with your tools, with ingredients, with seasoning etc. The more comfortable you are, the more you can rely on your intuition. I know it's a boring answer - but just practice, practice, practice. Practice until it becomes second nature.

Some little things you can do to help - when you're following a recipe, try to think critically about the recipe instead of just following it blindly. As in, don't *just* do what it tells you to do, think about *why* it's telling you to do what it is.
Also, instead of just following a single recipe, look up multiple recipes for the same dish. Read them all, compare them, think about what ties them together but also what differs between them. And if you feel comfortable, try making a synthesis that combines different parts of several recipes for the same thing (two recipes are rarely the same).
Also watch videos of chefs making the dishes because they will often get more into the logic behind what they're doing rather than just rattle off a bunch of instructions.

But above all, follow your intuition. Follow your senses. And practice.

>>21443742 (OP)
It just takes practice and experience. The more you cook, the more comfortable you will become with your tools, with ingredients, with seasoning etc. The more comfortable you are, the more you can rely on your intuition. I know it's a boring answer - but just practice, practice, practice. Practice until it becomes second nature.

Some little things you can do to help - when you're following a recipe, try to think critically about the recipe instead of just following it blindly. As in, don't *just* do what it tells you to do, think about *why* it's telling you to do what it is. Think about the flavours you're using, taste them as you cook, and listen to what your senses say.
Also, instead of just following a single recipe, look up multiple recipes for the same dish. Read them all, compare them, think about what ties them together but also what differs between them. And if you feel comfortable, try making a synthesis that combines different parts of several recipes for the same thing (two recipes are rarely the same). Compare recipes for totally different dishes too and you'll start to see threads underlying them.
Also watch videos of chefs making the dishes because they will often get more into the logic behind what they're doing rather than just rattle off a bunch of instructions.

But above all, follow your intuition. Follow your senses. Taste everything. And practice.

>>21443742 (OP)
i got my cooking sense by only cooking single portions for all dishes. you will realize that if you like 1 teaspoon of salt in a single portion of rice, then you will be able to properly season any dish as long as you know how many portions you are going to be making

>>21443769
>Read them all, compare them, think about what ties them together but also what differs between them
this is super smart ty, ive done that with cookies but didn't do it as mindfully as i should've
definitely going to taste more
watch more chef stuff, experiment, etc
thank you anon
made hummus yesterday from this old jewish lady
https://youtu.be/RJOx_rNW9Kg?si=MNAshxZMiCkZqGhQ
very tasty

>>21443742 (OP)
Leave the tap running as you work

>>21443775
not bad advice, I definitely became a better cook by cooking bachelor meals for myself funnily enough. I cook for multiple people often now and find it easier to scale up now that I have experience cooking for myself.

another benefit of cooking single portion meals, is that if you're like me and eat the same thing multiple days in a row (it's the only way you're gonna use up some ingredients if you live alone) - every night, you get to practice cooking that thing again and can tweak things each time that you weren't happy with the night before. like, I'll cook the same thing 3 nights in a row for example, and each night I'm building on my experience and getting better at it. and that experience on one dish carries over to general cooking expertise.
there's some stuff you're better off just cooking a big batch all at once - like soups or stews - but still.

>>21443784
>bachelor meals
added that to the list

>>21443784
>every night, you get to practice cooking that thing again
this is also what i did. i remember the days of making pizza every day and coming up with lots of weird dough recipes just to build that experience of what works and what doesn't work

"freestyle" literally does not exist, at least not if you want to make something edible. when experienced chefs and grandmas experiment and make something new, all they're really doing is taking a couple existing recipes that they've done hundreds of times each and combining them, then adding their own artistic vision through presentation or spices.
it's the same shit as freestyle dancing - spazzing out makes you look like a retard, but taking some dance routines + moves that you learned and splicing them together makes you look like a pro

>>21443742 (OP)
Experience. Imagine explaining to someone how to crack an egg. You can't really describe it, but you know how much force is needed to do it cleanly.

>>21443794
You are worse than the people you make fun of

>>21443794
imagine how fucking fragile you have to be to have all this filtered