But how do I fiddle with it?

  That is a very good question and the fact you're asking is an excellent sign. If you've no idea what I'm on about, you may have missed yesterday's post where I was encouraging you to only take inspiration from interesting looking recipes, but to adjust them with gusto. If you're keen to throw caution to the wind but don't quite know how or where to start then today's blog post is for you.

​​​​​​​  To dive straight in at the deep end, I think about ingredients in terms of structure or flavour. There are obviously ingredients with feet in both camps but this is quite a useful starting point. Let's look at flavour first, especially as it is the easiest to mess around with, I'll talk about structural stuff in more detail tomorrow.

  When you're looking at a recipe you may see ingredients that you really don't like the taste of while the rest of it looks great. Normally this isn't a problem as you can substitute them or even remove them completely. This may sound obvious but I met a guy who could only follow recipes and was useless without one. If the recipe asked for parsley, for example, and he couldn't get his hands on any, he couldn't make the dish.

Looks like this one slipped through the net.

  Herbs and spices are a great example of where you can easily make changes because they are only there for flavour. Things like fruit and nuts often add texture as well as flavour so if you're not a fan of things like raisins, have a look at the quantity and if they feature quite prominently, you might want to think about replacing them instead of just removing them as you might be leaving a big hole in the final product, particularly if you're making eccles cakes or christmas pudding.

  You're going to find it a lot easier to know what you want to remove than what to replace it with. Adding random ingredients can feel like taking a massive leap into the unknown but it's where you have the maximum opportunity for learning. Who knows what your chicken curry is going to taste like if you add a tin of cherries in syrup?

  Fortunately, you don't need to ruin the whole curry to find out. Take a small bowl, add a bit of curry and whatever other ingredient seems like a good idea. You could have made the discovery of the century or had your idiocy confirmed, but at least you've only contaminated a small amount. It's as simple as that. Hopefully I've shown you how to start experimenting safely and you'll be inspired to give it a go. As usual, I'm here to offer advice and answer your questions so if you want a bit of help, don't hesitate to get in touch. Happy concocting.

Kirk out

RevoltingFood.com