I live for her pantry. And Nigella's. I mean, we could all have that if we had the space and a rich husband.

I'm a big recipe changer, too, but I'll admit to getting cranky if I give someone a recipe and they don't try it once as written.

I mean, I don't care about changes for allergies or ingredients they don't have on hand, but if they chuck in a bunch of spices or something else that will totally change the character of the dish, I just think "Why are you telling me you made my recipe? 'Cause you didn't."

Of course maybe the problem is my crankiness, not that they're changing the recipe.

I'm a big recipe changer, too, but I'll admit to getting cranky if I give someone a recipe and they don't try it once as written.

me too. I mean, I usually try to make it exactly the first time, but I'm usually like "hmm, I don't like mint, I'll use parsley instead" or whatever.

I don't even have a proper pantry. There's just food scattered in three cabinets, mostly filled with stuff that was on sale for a really good price. Right now there is an overabundance of Hamburger Helper (88 cents a box!), canned green beans (34 cents a can!), and whole grain chicken broccoli rice (I don't remember but it was a good price!). I feel proud that I used up the coffee cake mix that was in there forever, the packaged icing was crap but I made my own so all was good.

I change recipes all the time as well. Sometimes to meet taste preferences of family members, sometimes because I don't have the right ingredients, and sometimes because I just want to try out a variation.

I think the worst was the "people keep tinkering with recipes, nevermind that they've all been extensively tested by Gourmet magazine."

I will admit to bitching about people who rate the recipes on epicurious.com and then in their comments are like "I used shrimp instead of chicken, grilled it instead of poaching, and used Old Bay instead of fresh lavendar and thyme. YUM!!!!1!!1111!"

It's not that I mind people changing the recipes -- I can't remember the last time I made something exactly as-written -- it's that if you've changed something to a completely different recipe, don't frelling rate it! You can comment without rating!

I should TOTALLY write for the NYTimes food section. I have food snobbery to spare.

I follow recipes rigorously when baking, but I'm far more lax when it comes to entrees and soups.

I follow recipes rigorously when baking, but I'm far more lax when it comes to entrees and soups.

oh yeah, cause baking is science and shit.

me too. I mean, I usually try to make it exactly the first time, but I'm usually like "hmm, I don't like mint, I'll use parsley instead" or whatever.

Hee. The one thing I always change in recipes is parsley - I leave it out or substitute something else. It doesn't even taste like a food to me. Unlike cilantro, which is yum.

oh yeah, cause baking is science and shit.

Eh, to a point. The cake I made for E's birthday had all the ingredients measured out by weight, so I had to estimate the volumes (since I don't have a kitchen scale), and it turned out perfectly well. As long as you know what a cake batter is supposed to look like (or bread dough, or whatever), you can tweak a baked good just as easily as an entree.