I'm prone in my cooking to start with a recipe, and when my wife isn't looking I might improvise a bit, as long as there isn't too much capsaicin or allium involved, if you know what I mean.

But I cannot claim to be much of a recipe-improvisor.

I devour Cooks and Milk Street, as well as the NYT food and multiple cookbooks every year. (My Korea is great.)

But, I agree, the idea that you could come up with a truly "new recipe" is a stretch. I have at least three recipes within reach right now that are at least first cousins of yours.

My friend had an avocado tree and this was our favorite way to eat them: smashed with salt and garlic powder and spread on white toast.

I'll stick to computers, photography and electronics for my creativity kick.

I can't even get popovers to pop, several recipes. Will keep trying.

I don't know if the front and back bagel is my own invention.

I don't see it. Let me take some photos.

Start with a bagel.


Cut it in half.


Then cut one half ALMOST all the way.


And spread the two halves apart, but still attached.


The front-and-back bagel.

It helps to have an advanced degree in geometry or woodworking, but doable by anyone.

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Sure to garner diner amazement.

That I was "making up" recipes only to find that I had intuited some creation from some other part of the world confirmed by my mentor who knew everything you could know about food. I used to try to play "stump the chef" with her but she always won.

What I did learn from her, among many other things, was how to build a dish by understanding what works together and what doesn't whether it's a food component or a spice combination. That took a while. I didn't realize I could actually cook until someone Tom Sawyered me into taking a job in a commercial kitchen that led me to a whole bunch of kitchen cook/management jobs. It was interesting but everything is heavy and I can't do heavy lifting anymore.

Now I cook for myself, mostly, and for friends on occasion but nothing big.

But back to your question, I think that just about everything has been made somewhere at some time, it;s a matter of presentation and discovery on an individual level.

The Flavor Bible and you will see the endless possibilities there.

... "new kraut". This was a thing I would see sometimes when I was a kid in New York.
It might have been regional, or maybe just fell out of fashion. I haven't seen the stuff in about 45 years, but I live in the mid-west.

Usually with a few juniper berries.