> If you are reading a recipe you're doing it for a reason. If you're improvising you don't need one to begin with.
That's not fair, I practically never follow a recipe to the letter, and mostly don't use one at all. But I read them for ideas or the broad strokes behind something I haven't made before.
Interpretation is also why many people are really bad at it (and art).
If you are reading a recipe you're doing it for a reason. If you're improvising you don't need one to begin with.
But other than that point regarding the main topic, I don't disagree.
I usually make most food I'm tangentially familiar with without a recipe. But when I'm encountering a new one from a region I'm less familiar with, I need to go through a few recipes before I get the framework for it.