What is the price of following the crowd in the cooking time

Unclear question. I infered you are referring to the grammatical structure/usage of some expressions in the sentence.

Answer:

It is an Idiomatic expression.

Explanation:

The expression "following the crowds" is idiomatic, meaning It should be understood figuratively.

In a sense, as used in this context it implies there's a price for doing whatever others do pertaining to how long they cook. So one must maintain his own cooking time schedule not following the crowd.