Does anyone here actually know how to cook?

[Cerpin Taxt]

I cook a lot. Since I'm single and live alone for the moment, most of my cooked meals are pretty boring -- meats, seasoned or marinated, veggies, usually steamed or sauteed, sometimes potatoes or rice.

I have a pretty good playbook of more involved meals that I can whip out to cook for someone else. I bake too, using my sourdough starter, mostly. I also have a flower pot smoker that I use a lot for meat preparation.

 

[Pantlegz]

I'm 25 and I cook all the time. Typically something simple like chicken or hamburgers but for special occasions I can cook meals from scratch. It's not hard, just learn to read.

 

[FreshCrabLegs]

...My mother had a punch list though of all the things you had to know before you moved out...

Interesting MagnusTB. What else was on your "must-know" list before off to college?

Mama's Punch List?

1.) Laundry?
2.) Cooking
3.) No raw dogging?
4.) Always invoke the 5th?
5.) I'm just guessing. I'm intrigued by what possibly could be on the list.

 

[SKORPI0]

I don't cook, I eat.

 

[fatpat268]

I'm 23 and I can cook pretty well. Not great by any means, but decent. I really don't mind it at all, I just hate the cleanup.

DrPizza you're fine with doing quick breads like that. Just don't try that method for making yeast breads, cakes or pastries. You might get lucky but, I'd bet against it. Outside of quick breads like you mentioned, baking is all about ratios and screwing with them will lead to disappointment.

Old school means learning the classics and extrapolating variations and techniques from them. Cooking is about 90% science and 10% art but, that 10% is the difference between an apple poptart and apple strudel.

I recommend starting with good recipes and following them closely until you've made it enough times to be familiar with them. Take notes and learn from any mistakes or successes.

Cooking is a lot like being proficient in math, you have to do a particular type of problem enough times so that you internalize the process so, you aren't constantly thinking what do I do next. Not to mention, estimating is absolutely critical in cooking.

I agree. The number one thing to do, if you're following recipes, is to make notes. I tend to stray from the recipe at times, but I always write what I did down, so if it was a successful dish, I could go back to it later.

There is a lot of math (and science) involved with cooking, but even more so in baking. It's nearly impossible for me to bake from scratch without a cookbook nearby because I'll mess up some ratio that's critical.

 

[Zorkorist]

I just hate the cleanup.

I'm pretty sure that this is the reason people have children.

-John

 

[Anubis]

if you know how to read you know how to cook

 

[Zorkorist]

BTW, one thing that sepearates an average cook from a good cook, is that a good cook cooks clean.

The kitchen will be cleaner when he is done cooking, than when he started.

-John

 

[Fritzo]

I actually went to cooking school

 

[Brainonska511]

BTW, one thing that sepearates an average cook from a good cook, is that a good cook cooks clean.

The kitchen will be cleaner when he is done cooking, than when he started.

-John

I can't stand working in a dirty kitchen.

 

[Zorkorist]

if you know how to read you know how to cook

Nope, not even close.

-John

 

[Anubis]

Nope, not even close.

-John

i didn't say it made you a chef but yes if you can read you can cook as well as bake

 

[Zorkorist]

First, you have to have a recipe.

What if you are out in the outback, and lost your recipe book, and are presented with a hare and a cactus?

Second,

If you would like, I will give you a recipe for a Bernaise Sauce. I will bet you anything in the world that you cannot make it in ten tries.

-John

 

[xSauronx]

im not going to read the rest of the thread but...im 27 and i can cook. taught myself via some books and tv shows and a lot of trying.

lately i bake more than anything. breads, cookies, a few other things, but im completely comfortable cooking a lot of things via a lot of methods.

 

[Perknose]

BTW, one thing that sepearates an average cook from a good cook, is that a good cook cooks clean.

The kitchen will be cleaner when he is done cooking, than when he started.

-John

Wow, you've finally said one really smart and profound thing. Congrats! :thumbsup:

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

if you know how to read you know how to cook

Well you know how to follow a recipe. What about making something of your own? When do you use high heat? What about substitutions?

I agree that good books are essential for those who don't have an education in cooking, but you want books which not only give you a list of ingredients, but the why's of what you are doing.

I'd suggest getting a subscription to Cooks Illustrated. I have some books by Julia Child including her two on French cooking. Rick Bayless on Mexican food, books on regional italian cooking, perhaps a hundred cookbooks and three bookcases of magazines going back to the mid 80's and yes I've read them all.

I'm sure Magnus can make some recommendations, but when selecting books about food remember that understanding why a thing is done is as important as combining a laundry list of ingredients. In fact it's more so.

Take baking. It's fundamentally different than making savory dishes, which is different than working with chocolate and understanding tempering.

When you are making a basic loaf of bread (and I mean the real stuff), the ingredients are simple, however the quantities aren't meant to be approximated. Small differences in amounts and technique will make a vastly different product. Even the humidity in the air can cause considerable variance.

To reduce inconsistencies I prefer weight based recipes for baking. So many ounces of flower per batch rather than volume.

Get the basics down and understand the concepts. Don't be an automaton who cooks by written algorithm.

 

[silverpig]

I have a few Thomas Keller books. Those, plus my relatives' recipes from Holland and Slovakia have given me a nice variety. I'm no pro chef or anything, but I can definitely whip up a good meal.

 

[BoomerD]

CAN I cook? Yes...but I'm not great. Do I like to cook? Fuck no. DO I cook? Almost never. I have a wife for that chore.

(she's a bazillion times better than I ever was)

 

[nageov3t]

I can follow a recipe and typical reach the intended results. lacking a recipe, I can prepare and season a piece of meat and apply heat until it will no longer kill me, but I won't be doing anything fancy (salt, pepper, oil, and grill/bake/pan fry until instant read thermometer reaches an appropriate temperature)... my palate isn't great, though, and I don't cook veggies or starches enough to be comfortable without a recipe telling me what to do.

I'm a pretty awesome baker and can (and have) made up my own recipes for cookies and pies, but that's different. more chemistry, less relying on subjective taste buds.

 

[ed21x]

i cook taiwanese food cuz i miss it and there is no truely authentic taiwan night market cuisine in ny/california. the stuff here, i leave to chefs and people with training. sure, home cooking is healthier, more personalized, and taking control of my destiny, but i know i cannot touch the skills/creativities of the chefs here in New York, so i might as well enjoy their art.

 

[TheVrolok]

I'm a pretty good cook in my 20's, yeah; but I really only got decent at it a year or two ago.

 

[Zorkorist]

There are some truly special meals to be had in this world; I was at Commander's Palace back in the mid-late 80's, and I'm pretty sure I had Emeril's soft-shelled crabs.

OMG.

-John

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

There are some truly special meals to be had in this world; I was at Commander's Palace back in the mid-late 80's, and I'm pretty sure I had Emeril's soft-shelled crabs.

OMG.

-John

A good meal is a joy indeed

I'm about ready to learn dim sum. Should be fun!

 

[Zorkorist]

Why am I all of a sudden craving hot and sour soup?

Enjoy Dim Sum night(s)

-John

 

[Fayd]

i'm 25 and can cook pretty well. i just can't bake breads. the processes involved in breads are beyond me.