Varied Pathways to Heaven

It intrigues me
How every great cook
Seems to have
His or her unique
Method of cooking.
There are the recipe
And cookbook collectors.
They can cook
Just about anything
As long as
They have a recipe.
They are good
At following instructions,
But are almost helpless
Without a guide.
Then there are
The more inventive types
Who don’t hold to
Any particular recipe,
But seem to
Know instinctively
Which combinations
Of ingredients
Work together
To tantalize
The taste buds.
A dish is apt to turn out
Slightly different
Each time they prepare it.
They will experiment with
A bit of this,
And a smidgen of that,
Whatever suits their fancy
At the moment.
If you ask them
For the recipe,
They are unlikely
To be able to tell you
Exactly how they did
What they did.
There are cooks
Who must taste
Every single dish,
And others
Who never sample
A single entrée,
Yet the food
Turns out great
Either way.
The latter tend to be
Skinnier than the first.
There are those
Who pester the food,
Checking to see
How each dish is doing
Numerous times
During the course of cooking.
Others rely on precise
Settings of time and temperature.
Still others
Cook by sense of smell.
Some cook’s noses
Are so well trained
They can smell
The ingredients,
And tell you
If anything is missing.
Regardless of how
A great cook goes about it,
The meal created
Usually turns out to be
A culinary masterpiece.