Comment by pteraspidomorph

My tricks:

- Don't just read one recipe. Read three, see what they have in common and what seems off in each of them.

- Keep a dossier of your hybrid or modified recipes. Annotate the recipe with any changes you made.

- If the end result isn't great, what went wrong? Annotate the recipe with any changes you think you should make next time you try it.

These become easier the more experienced you are, of course.