Cooking is not always based on fact and measurment, its based on making up your own recipes and following traditions. Such as, learning how to make a mac and cheese recipe that had been passed down in the family! I have no idea what i'm going on about, but yes, I'd say this is true.
Musical instruments of different types playing the same note may often be identified by the timbre of their sounds. Timbre is tone color, or tone quality which distinguishes different types of sound production.