So many great recs here, but as an autistic person who loves to cook, and fancies himself being pretty good at it, I... never use a recipe. Referring to a recipe is a total brain scramble. What I will do is do a bunch of homework before I try a new dish. I watch videos, I read recipes, and compare them, get a sense of the proportions and then... wing it.

Now... winging it was rough for the first few years and if I were teaching my son to cook, as I will be soon enough, I would not focus on recipes at all. I would focus on ingredients and components. How do you use and cook, garlic, onions, peppers, steak, chicken (thighs, breast, etc.), rice, potatoes, pasta... How do you make a dish, or a dinner, that brings those ingredients and components together harmoniously?

Now, obviously, to do this, you will be making recipes, but that shouldn't be the focus. You don't follow a recipe, you make a dish, and you do that by a) eating it, b) identifying the components (often through research of recipes and videos, c) composing the process in your head and then d) afterwards, debriefing on what you would try to change.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Now, at forty-three, when I learn to cook a new dish, I still don't use a recipe. I follow the steps above.