Kitchen Personalities

I’ve noticed something over the years of recipe-swapping, tip sharing, secret formula revealing among friends and relatives in the kitchen…

There are two kinds of cooks.

Meet: Mrs. Reliable Recipe

She’s the gal who loves to make the same tried and true recipe fifty times and has gotten the same results 99.9% of that time. She follows each recipe by flattening out the top of every dry teaspoon or cup with a knife and uses the correct size egg called for. She doesn’t attempt to make a recipe unless she has ALL of the required ingredients on hand and if she DOES need to substitute an item she researches an appropriate ingredient and measures this correctly also.

This lady may also be seen scooping tablespoon sized portions of cookie dough onto a baking sheet or measuring out the prescribed cups of diced onion required for a stir fry. She enjoys the science of cooking. She patiently waits for her pan of brownies to cool completely before cutting them into 18 equal squares.

She is happy to recommend a tested recipe to friends. When sharing a recipe, she’ll give you an exact copy of the way she made it. If there are alterations to the recipe those will be written down accordingly.

Now let me introduce you to: Mrs. Flexible Foodie

She loves the flexibility and creativity in the art of cooking and is sometimes frustrated when her meals do not turn out the same way twice. Her measuring cup is often seen heaping in one scoop and lacking in the next. She eyeballs amounts more than really measuring them anyway and is almost never concerned with having all ingredients on hand before trying a recipe. She often copies a dish without actually asking for a recipe and often admires only the photos in magazines and cookbooks.

This woman likes variety and her leftovers often get makeovers before hitting the table again. Her best dishes are impromptu pantry-cleaning-soups or random hit-the-jackpot casserole combinations.

She often shares her favorite recipes orally. Try and pin her down, but it is merely a list of ingredients that were used this time in the dish, and words like “a few,” “some,” or “a handful of” are the measurements. “You can add” and “you could make it with” are also common phrases.

Both cooks can be the best of friends, though recipe sharing and cooking together in the same kitchen can sometimes be frustrating between the two personalities. Sometimes people are a combination of the two, or may switch back and forth depending on the dish.

Both cooks make great meals and both have something they can learn from each other! What kind of kitchen personality do you have?