remember on PBS years ago, the Creole Cook, who used a pinch and daub? He often showed how close he was to actual measurements. Experience! Gosh he was fun to watch.

Honestly, I've been cooking for over 5 decades, so far from a novice. BUT when a recipe says something like, "chop 1 small onion" it annoys me. Small onions, until a few years ago, were about the size of a golf ball. Now, a small onion is the size of a tennis ball. I have no idea when the recipe originated, so which size are they talking about? Same with other ingredients. Yes, I have enough experience to be able to guesstimate the amount of something needed, based on quantity of other ingredients.

I much prefer straight forward amounts.

When I make my soups, I'll look at a recipe and see what it includes and then I just run with it as I'm normally making a huge pot anyway so doubling or tripling the amounts, well, I just run with it. Taste it to see if it needs more of something.

Like the recipes that call for a teaspoon of vanilla, well, for me I just use the cap on the bottle and estimate, that looks good to me.

I don't remember a cookbook in the house at all when I was growing up. Never saw one in any of the aunts or my friends home either. We had homemade cookies, cakes, and bread but I never saw a recipe being used.

I so agree with you. I hate the one (small, medium, large) onion. What if it calls for a small onion and all I have is a large one? I finally went and looked it up and Mr Google said that a medium one yields one cup when chopped. I now use that for a medium onion which is what most of my recipes call for. For other sizes I look up the cup equivalent.

I'm a certified chef and it annoys me, as well.
At chef school I had one instructor-chef who would always say, "Cook it until it's done." We all thought he was such a jerk.
Watson

CashsMom ... For the small/large onion thing ... I just kind of go, hhmmmmm how much onion do I really want in there!

Watson ... or how about all the old recipes that along with the pinches, dashes and such ... never tell you to bake/cook it. You're just supposed to know.......and of course, no temp settings, being that the old wood stoves had no setting. All dependable on the wood to create the fire, and how much you had in there! .... Meanwhile I am laughing at your jerk chef!!! Do you still see him that way? Or has he been redeemed with your own experiences?

All ... Recipes are only guides! :)

I took gourmet cooking course when I was first married and had nothing to do all day. LOL I learned a lot about sauces and seasonings and we used very few written recipes, mostly how to cook the food. One thing we were taught was not to oversalt. I noticed at all the fine dining restaurants I have eaten at (very few) or catered affairs I have eaten the food always tastes over salted.

LOVE THIS

At my age, a recipe is a suggestion subject to change with what's in the house. A trip to the grocery is too much work.

I remember one of my grandmother's recipes used, suga. I thought it was a different ingredient when I first started cooking. It was sugar, plain and simple. Southern accent spelling was without the r. The truly great cooks just cooked. Some even said a handful of something.