Is it important to watch recipes?
An important concept emphasized in virtually every cooking class is that cooking is 10% of art and 90% chemistry. Recipes are supposed to cook what formulas have chemists - important instructions for a consistent result. Like a chemist, there is only one missing component from the disaster, the difference between birthday cake and pancakes can be a pinch of baking powder. For consistent results, it is very important that chefs watch recipes whenever possible. The chef may already know the basic ingredients of pancakes - flour, eggs, milk, etc. - but only recipes provide the right ratio between ingredients. There is a reason why some recipes require two eggs, not one or three. Professional chefs who prepare these recipes already know how much flour can be integrated into the measured amount of milk. Without knowing the correct balance of ingredients provided by recipes, chefs can easily end up with sticky masses of bread dough instead of waffle dough.
Another advantage of the following recipes is consistency. An amateur chef can experiment in the kitchen and create a unique casserole or sauce, but could show almost impossible duplicate. Recipes provide all technical and artistic elements necessary for the production and reproduction of a successful product without failure. Chefs may feel inspired to change some proportions or flavors, but basic recipes will always bring the desired results. Important technical notes in recipes include cooking time, temperature settings, gift and serving instructions.
Perhaps the most convincing reason for the chefs who follow recipes is the science of cooking. As mentioned earlier, cooking is mainly practical exercise in chemistry. Each component in the recipes serves one or more specifications of purposes, from generating gases to creating glutens to binding other ingredients together. Removal of one of these basic ingredients also removes chemistry behind it.Although it may be tempting to omit a pinch of salt, for example, the remaining ingredients may not connect well without it. Many recipes require ingredients such as baking powder or baking soda for their specific chemical properties.
There are several cases where traditional recipes do not have to be strictly necessary, but until the chef gets enough kitchen experience and learns enough cooking theory to improvise, recipes should be treated as travel maps for culinary success.