Well tbh. To cook or not to cook
Changing one ingredient aspect during preparation can result in a whole new flavor. Examples:
Basic salsa ingredients....Onion, tomato, hot pepper, garlic, salt, cilantro.
keeping the same ingredients and proportions you can get many styles out of that one.
1.Pico de gallo raw all chopped, (not blended) tossed in a bowl BOOM very fresh.
2. chop them all boil them together..you get a spicy stewed tomato (ish) result
3, Leave them whole and boil or steam (except cilantro of course) blend, totally different profile
4. boil or steam peppers and tomato separate, save the water, blend, then add raw chopped onion and the cilantro and simmer slowly until onions clarify
very different taste again. ..... and so on
The way to "master the game" (i suppose) is to play with small batches, and experiment.
Start with one basic simple recipe of YOUR liking. Once you have that down to a "science" start by adding or changing one thing at a time, keep notes. Some will flop, some will sing!
One of my flops, was a basic chile pequin vinegar sauce. Just add the little peppers into a bottle add vinegar, let them sit...forever. easy peasy. Then I added fresh garlic cloves..excellent, added salt, again excellent, added green onion, still great, another was cracked peppercorns YUM...then I added onion and garlic powder.....no no no, looked awful, and developed a bad texture.