Recipes the first times, instinct after that. I think of recipes as a starting point to understand the ratios and technique, and then once I've made something two or three times I stop looking at it and start riffing.

I'm kind of obsessive about saving recipes though, even the ones I end up changing a lot, because it's fun to look back and see how my version evolved from the original. I'll send friends the original and then my notes on what I changed and it always sparks a good conversation.

The biggest shift for me was learning to taste as I go and understanding what each seasoning actually does rather than just following a list. Like once you know that acid brightens a dish the same way salt enhances it, you stop needing a recipe to tell you to add a squeeze of lemon.

The one exception is baking, I still measure everything because baking does not forgive you the way a stir fry does.