Can you cook?
- Thread starter demoncore1031
- Start date
I would cook with my mom in the kitchen. But that was pretty much sauteing veggies or meat on the stove.
I watched a lot of food network in college, which I think helped as well (when they uses to have cooking shows and nor competition shows). More recently, watching YouTube cooking videos. The key for me was watching and understand the technique being used as opposed to the recipe being made.
Food network when it was still cooking shows in prime time was big. I love Alton Brown. I do think some of the cooking shows like Chopped are helpful in terms of ideas and how to combine random ingredients. Some of the items can be gimmicky (combine angel food cake, tripe, and ghost peppers for dessert!) but it gives you a thought process. When I had roommates we'd sit around and try and guess the dishes that people would come up with.
I assume you are talking about Alton's show Good Eats. If so, you should check out Americas Test Kitchen on Create. (That's a PBS station if unfamiliar) Very informative cooking show.
I cook 99% of the time in our house I’m all over the place in what I cook and do it well also bake bread too. Don’t have a favorite as we don’t eat the same things often I’m always cooking new recipes/ideas all the time. My wife likes my cooking a lot and will constructively critique too which helps. I love to cook it’s a form of art in my opinion. 90’s grunge is fun to cook to gets the mojo flowing.
Yeah, well enough. I do all the cooking in our house because my wife hates it and she's not terribly good at it anyway. I stick mostly with marinades and rubs and roasting or grilling. I usually avoid doing much pan frying since it's messy.
I'd say the best thing I made in the last year was probably the shrimp and bacon pasta with a creamy tomato sauce I made in the spring. And the chorizo and mushroom enchiladas with white sauce a couple weeks ago. We usually eat pretty healthy, but when we decide it's time for a cheat meal I don't **** around.
I'd say the best thing I made in the last year was probably the shrimp and bacon pasta with a creamy tomato sauce I made in the spring. And the chorizo and mushroom enchiladas with white sauce a couple weeks ago. We usually eat pretty healthy, but when we decide it's time for a cheat meal I don't **** around.
Same. Most of the stuff I cook turns out fine but baking is really hit or miss for me. When the recipe calls for one cup of flour it means exactly one cup, and there's a really good reason why.
It's not like cooking where a recipe might call for a glug of olive oil and you have some room to tailor the recipe or get a little creative. And baking is complicated by the fact that one of my kids is allergic to eggs and dairy. There are substitutes that are decent, but no matter what you always know when you're eating something vegan versus the real deal.
I'm a good cook and she's a great cook. I tend to take simple things and try and tweak them. I've kind of settled in on one mix of ingredients now but burgers are a good example. I tried all kinds of different ****. I think I do this because the worst case is I have something that I can eat even if it doesn't turn out great. I've gone out on a limb a little more on the grill and had pretty good success even though I can still screw some stuff up.
Never really thought about that. I guess it's the ability to create and do things with my hands? I like to tinker and build stuff so that ties into it.
As crazy as it also sounds maybe it's a little bit of a control thing (not the I have to be in control, but more in a chemistry way)? i.e. If I had this pepper I get this flavor and if I add this flavor to this flavor I get this result. If I cook this on high it does this but if I go low and slow it does this. So maybe the mad scientist aspect?
I also deep down (and I don't admit it) do enjoy the praise from a really well cooked meal or surprising people that I can cook really well. I remember getting some surprised looks when I showed up at the office thanksgiving potluck with both a highly regarded apple/sausage/sage dressing and some very fancy chocolate covered crispy peanut butter balls and saying that no neither my wife nor my girlfriend (of which I have neither) cooked those.
There may be something deep in there about being able to provide for / nurture others but I'll let the shrinks analyze that one.
My wife and I love to cook. We don't get to do it as much with young kids. Not as much time to roast a duck when you have a couple kids who'd rather have mac and cheese. But we're working on them. And they're starting to cook with us.
I have watched a TON of Food Network and every episode of Good Eats. And probably made most of what Alton has shown on those shows.
Our house rule is no one is allowed to complain if a dish doesn't work out. Nothing ventured nothing gained.
I have watched a TON of Food Network and every episode of Good Eats. And probably made most of what Alton has shown on those shows.
Our house rule is no one is allowed to complain if a dish doesn't work out. Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Yep, I do like to cook, but don't take alot of time to do so. I cook pasta..spaghetti, penne, rotini, mostaciolli. I like to make pies - blueberry, rhubarb (from my paternal grandmother's recipe), and antique apple (I use a mix of odd apples and the pie is delicious and tastes different every time - Cortland, Winter Banana, Northern Spy, Espopus Spitzenberg, Rhode Island Greening, Gravenstein, MacIntosh, or any other old variety that is good for pies. "Quick Skillet Supper" was from my maternal grandmother - easy and dang tasty. My mom makes a great cucumber/onion/vinegar side dish that I haven't made since she just makes it for me.
And we can alot of stuff - tomatoes (heirlooms mostly), salsa with heirlooms, tomato juice, pickles, jams (peach, strawberry/rhubarb, apricot, blueberry, blueberry/rhubarb, apple butter, and peach butter). Also can applesauce (Gravensteins or MacIntosh's). Cortlands make the best apple butter.
And we can alot of stuff - tomatoes (heirlooms mostly), salsa with heirlooms, tomato juice, pickles, jams (peach, strawberry/rhubarb, apricot, blueberry, blueberry/rhubarb, apple butter, and peach butter). Also can applesauce (Gravensteins or MacIntosh's). Cortlands make the best apple butter.
Last edited:
- Mar 27, 2006
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All of this. I like to enjoy myself and try new things. And I like it if I can facilitate that in my family and friends. Yeah, I'm not going to lie, it's a good feeling when you host a dinner party, or bring something to a potluck, and you make something that people haven't had before, or present it in an interesting way, and people enjoy it. It's a boost to the ego, to be sure.
For me, I feel like most of my cooking is done with a daily life timer ticking down, so when I can just cook uninterrupted for a couple hours, I tend to really enjoy it.
I also like the challenge of having 5 different things cooking and all timing out together.
I normally cook simple dishes with fresh fruit and a modestly prepared vegetable of some sort. Grilled chicken, fish tacos, enchiladas, wings, etc.
My wife is amazing with soups. She has a knack for them.
I was a chef. I started when I was 10 ish yrs old. My parents worked full time and had a truck farm with greenhouses (Ames farmers market), up near Alluvial/winery near Ames Golf &CC if anyone knows that area. So my parents were always too busy for meals. When I was hungry, my dad always said "you know where the kitchen is". I would make my own food or scrounge in the garden to eat fresh veggies. This caused my love of food and guided me to Culinary school at DMACC. I was a chef in Ames, Des Moines and KC area for 12 years before realizing my body wouldn't be able to handle many years of 70-80 hour weeks so went back to school to ISU for Food Science. Now I am a Food scientist, still love food, work half as many hours, have holidays and evenings off and make more than what a chef would make. Yes, I do most of the cooking at home.
As I said earlier in this thread, my dad owned a small town restaurant while I was growing up, so I cooked a ton there, but for the most part it was processed, fast food crap. I didn't love it.
When I got married, we bought an acreage with a house that needed a lot of work. I was always working on something and we fell into the stereotypical roles where my wife took care of the cooking and cleaning and I worked on the house/yard. She's not a great cook and we had the same half dozen simple meals over and over with some hamburger helper sprinkled in.
After we moved to NJ, I didn't have as much to take care of, we got into a bit of an argument one day when I complained about the same meals, and I said fine, I'll do the cooking. Little did I know that she was all on board about that. Not only all the cooking, but grocery shopping was now solely my responsibility. Over the last 15 years I've really gotten into it watching all the cooking shows and learning on the internet. Anyone can follow a recipe, but learning how to make sauces and season food properly makes all the difference.
I'm still working on how to balance trying to eat healthy with making it taste GOOD.
When I got married, we bought an acreage with a house that needed a lot of work. I was always working on something and we fell into the stereotypical roles where my wife took care of the cooking and cleaning and I worked on the house/yard. She's not a great cook and we had the same half dozen simple meals over and over with some hamburger helper sprinkled in.
After we moved to NJ, I didn't have as much to take care of, we got into a bit of an argument one day when I complained about the same meals, and I said fine, I'll do the cooking. Little did I know that she was all on board about that. Not only all the cooking, but grocery shopping was now solely my responsibility. Over the last 15 years I've really gotten into it watching all the cooking shows and learning on the internet. Anyone can follow a recipe, but learning how to make sauces and season food properly makes all the difference.
I'm still working on how to balance trying to eat healthy with making it taste GOOD.
