if we accept that there are two approaches to cooking: recipe-based and techniques-based, i'm more of a techniques-based home cook.

i'll improvise using what ingredients i happen to have.

for example, yesterday, i briefly considered using mayo as a batter for air fried chicken.

this isn't so weird when you consider that mayo largely consists of eggs, oil and vinegar, so you'd just need to add some extra salt and seasoning to that, dip the chicken in it, and roll that in panko.

i googled it, and found recipes that did exactly what i had intended to do.

this happens to me quite often now, i.e. reinventing recipes accidentally because i combined techniques i know, and that's what people who write recipes do.