Cooking From Memory – Can You?

You know how it goes. You’re trying to decide what to have for dinner and think perhaps you should try to do something new. That latest Nigella recipe, or something someone whipped up on Saturday Kitchen. But then you’d have to find the recipe, check you’ve got the ingredients, learn a new skill or 12. 

So instead you stick to one of your tried-and-tested meals. You know the recipe off by heart, you don’t need to glance at a recipe, and your dinner’s on the table as easy as, well, pie. 

Remembering recipes might sound like a hardship, but it turns out as Brits we’re pretty cook at cooking things from memory. According to a recent study, nearly half of the nation’s adults could cook more than a week’s worth of dinners from memory. 

Using data from YouGov, online kitchen equipment retailer Maxima Kitchen Equipment found that 43% of Brits – over 29 million adults – felt confident that they could cook ten or more meals from memory, without consulting a recipe.

Unsurprisingly, age and experience plays a big part. The strongest group of cooks are those aged 50-65, of which 56% claim to be able to cook a variety of meals from memory, while young adults aged 18-24 show the weakest culinary prowess, with a majority of 27% saying that they would only be able to cook a total of 1-3 dishes without looking at a recipe. 

Women are far more confident in their culinary skills, according to the study, with half of the UK’s female population able to cook more than 10 recipes from memory, compared to just 35% of men. 

And for a lucky 2.7 million people – 4% of the population – cooking without a recipe just isn’t an option as they say they can’t cook any meals from memory. 

Commenting on the findings, a Maxima Kitchen Equipment spokesperson said: “It is interesting to see the disparity among age groups when it comes to cooking from memory.

“With countless recipes and cooking videos readily accessible at the touch of a smartphone’s screen, it stands to reason that younger generations would not need to actively “store” recipes in their memories.” 

The research was carried out by Maxima Kitchen Equipment, which has more than 40 years of experience in the supply and maintenance of professional kitchen equipment, using data from YouGov.