Neither do real cooks. So don't expect any here. Just ideas, suggestions, modest guidelines made to be violated to no end.

Yes, I have cookbooks. And I use them to get ideas for what I happen to have in the fridge that I want to make. If that is not the way you cook then you want to go some place else to read about food.

If you would like to cook this way keep reading. This is a minimal part of my website but it will grow as I think more about it.

I learned to cook by necessity at first and then out of curiosity. I grew up in a working class family in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. My extended family produced some outrageously deliciously staples that I cannot duplicate to this day. And I won't ask as they are challenges.

Early on I specialized in Chinese as it was fast, easy and infinitely varied in taste and style. I have done some French out of this world but not my favorite style. I have never mastered visual presentation of food so there won't be any pictures here either.

And now that I have started watching, The Iron Chef (The Food Channel on cable) is my kind of cooking. Not the quality or anything like the quality. Rather, what can I do with what I have available. It was twenty five years ago that I did my first seven course meal with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and my first attempt at turkey crepes. Instant creativity; what can I do with what I have? My kind of cooking.

And therefore here you will find what I have learned over the years from cooking in this manner that I have not found in other sources. Which isn't hard as most all cookbooks on the market are recipe books, not books on cooking.

Is this hard to master? No. Just experience and having to eat your own cooking with emphasis on the latter. Experimentation is required. Eating in varied restaurants does not hurt in the least. Even if you are only steak and potatoes there are hundreds of different ways to make each to keep you interested for decades.

And most methods are not time consuming after you do them the third time. For example the ancient wrapping a baking potato in foil and putting it in the oven. Cut it in half or quarters and puncture it with a fork until there are dozens of holes, add ground pepper and butter and whatever inside the foil and bake as usual. It takes two minutes longer and you have to rotate it a bit while baking for the butter and pepper flavor to soak in.

Do you marinade steaks? Do it for a week instead of overnight before cooking as usual. No added effort just some planning ahead. Plain old corn? Add some chopped onion and pepper and don't forget to try adding some chopped onion to that baked potato in foil.

And then try replacing the potato with a half onion and the butter and pepper baked until tender.

Good enough to give you some ideas? How many kinds of onions are there? How many kinds of pepper? Or chili oil instead of pepper? Flavored butters?

That is how a real cook thinks. And I haven't even touched on variations on marinades for the steak.

But for the recipe dependent, if you like any of the ideas there are generally books available on the style. What I can advise is do not pay extra for glossy pictures, go by number of recipes.

And take a few hours just to read recipes to see what goes with what. You will find most dishes with different names differ in only a few ingredients. And remember that similar ingredients are easily substituted. Learn to think like a chef.