Well,
Lord Omar's right, mostly. I mean, there are some
recipes that will just taste like
crap or have a horrible
consistency or be
undercooked or
overcooked. For instance:
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons graham crackers, finely ground
2 pounds lard
Mix all igredients. Cook until charred mass of carbon in a blast furnace.
See, in my opinion, that's a wrong recipe, and wrong in some sort of immutable, absolute sense. It's an exaggeration, admittedly, but my point is there are flavors, and textures that go together and others that do not. With experience you learn what works and what doesn't and can work with recipes as guidelines to make truly inventive meals.