how are some people so bad at cooking?

[nageov3t]

like, worst case scenario, if you just follow the directions you should come out with something edible. it doesn't require having an amazing palate or even understanding the science of cooking (though obviously both help if you want something more than just edible), you just do what the recipe says, and if the recipe is half-decent, you should be fine.

god bless him, but my SO is the worst cook I've ever met. he gets out of work before me, and when we first started dating, I'd ask him to do basic stuff like making rice/pasta before I got home to go along with whatever sauce or soup I had in the slow cooker, but inevitably, it'd come out burnt or underdone or possibly both in the same pot.

boggles my mind.

 

[Phoenix86]

Some people just know how to burn water.

 

[Rakehellion]

How are some people so bad at computers?

Or empathy?

 

[dbk]

it's like when husbands fake sucking at folding clothes so the wife wont ask him again. you're being played :whiste:

 

[blackdogdeek]

I'd say that with stuff like rice and pasta, if you don't cook it often, you might forget the ratios or the length of time for boiling/simmering. And then there's the slight differences when making different varieties of each. Of course, this information is typically found on any of the boxes/bags in which you'd find these foods but RTFM is surprisingly not as common as you'd think.

I'd consider reading recipes incorrectly a different phenomenon.

 

[Fritzo]

Failure in cooking almost always comes from trying to rush something.

- I want this to get cooked quick so I use the highest heat
- I don't want to take time to prep this stuff, so I'll cut it into huge chunks
- I don't want to keep mixing this stuff until it's fully blended
etc

Cooking is 90% patience.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I'm a terrible cook, primarily because I was never really exposed to it growing up. I was a fussy eater (annoying pain in the ass), so my parents settled into a routine of just making bland chicken and rice every day or I'd fuck off and eat Cheerios. My wife was raised in a family that ran a restaurant for a while, and consequently is an amazing cook. It's just a matter of being exposed to it. I'm sure I could learn it if I tried, but I have a wife who enjoys doing it and does it really well, so there's not much incentive for me to learn.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

I have a friend that can't help but burn himself and his food when he cooks. He just forgets important things like to set the timer, or ignores the timer when it goes off.

Brilliant mind he's got though.

 

[sixone]

Failure in cooking almost always comes from trying to rush something.

- I want this to get cooked quick so I use the highest heat
- I don't want to take time to prep this stuff, so I'll cut it into huge chunks
- I don't want to keep mixing this stuff until it's fully blended
etc

Cooking is 90% patience.

This. And this is why I suck at cooking.

I'm not going to stand there, waiting for things to boil or whatever. I'm loading the dishwasher, cleaning the floor, and I forget I'm multitasking.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I'm a terrible cook, primarily because I was never really exposed to it growing up. I was a fussy eater (annoying pain in the ass), so my parents settled into a routine of just making bland chicken and rice every day or I'd fuck off and eat Cheerios. My wife was raised in a family that ran a restaurant for a while, and consequently is an amazing cook. It's just a matter of being exposed to it. I'm sure I could learn it if I tried, but I have a wife who enjoys doing it and does it really well, so there's not much incentive for me to learn.

But can you follow a recipe with decent results? I think that is the source of OP's confusion.

PS - I'd be psyched if our youngest would eat chicken and rice. It would increase her potential meals by a factor of 25%.

 

[nageov3t]

I'm a terrible cook, primarily because I was never really exposed to it growing up.

that's funny, I feel like it was the opposite for both my boyfriend and I.

my mom isn't a bad cook, don't get me wrong, but she wouldn't know what seasoning is if it jumped into the pot by itself. everything she cooks is just very, very bland meat and potatoes kinda stuff.

so if I wanted to have a great meal -- or god forbid, cook with something like onions or fresh garlic -- I had to learn to cook it myself.

my BF, on the other hand, grew up with 2 parents who are both amazing cooks, so he never really had to learn for himself. still baffles me that one couldn't at least follow a recipe or directions on a box, though. (last night he actually burnt frozen pizza thank god I picked up a salad, because that's what I had for dinner after a polite bite of the pizza)

around New Year's, he mentioned wanting to go vegetarian in the new year... I politely told him that I'd gladly eat anything vegetarian he made but I'll still be cooking whatever I want to eat.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

But can you follow a recipe with decent results? I think that is the source of OP's confusion.

PS - I'd be psyched if our youngest would eat chicken and rice. It would increase her potential meals by a factor of 25%.

I could probably follow a recipe; lord knows I watch enough Food Network to know the difference between a bechamel and a hollandaise, so I've probably learned some techniques through simple observation. But I really don't ever get the opportunity to cook, outside of occasionally drawing griddle duty on family vacations (I make some pretty wicked bacon and pancakes). I would guess that I could probably follow a recipe well enough to make a basic meal with some slight mistakes; I'd probably overcook something because I'd be poor at judging "doneness" and my timing is unrefined so some things would get cold before everything was ready.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I would guess that I could probably follow a recipe well enough to make a basic meal with some slight mistakes; I'd probably overcook something because I'd be poor at judging "doneness" and my timing is unrefined so some things would get cold before everything was ready.

But this would still lead to a decent enough meal. The OP sounds like he's referring to people who follow a recipe that leads to inedible results.

 

[torpid]

There are a lot of bad or ambiguous recipes out there. For example, most recipes that tell you to not only salt, but apply other spices to taste. Guaranteed fail because you have to have a fair amount of experience to know how much of various things is reasonable. This is why my father in law once claimed I had the world's supply of nutmeg in my cabinet - I once went to Penzey's and bought two huge bags of it not realizing that you only ever need a tiny tiny amount of nutmeg (also not knowing that freshly grated nutmeg is ten trillion times better)

 

[BoberFett]

Cooking is so easy, I can't understand how anyone can be bad at it. Cooking is essentially mixing ingredients and heating them up.

Baking is an entirely different game.

 

[HN]

some things seem easy, but then...headlight fluid

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Cooking is so easy, I can't understand how anyone can be bad at it. Cooking is essentially mixing ingredients and heating them up.

Baking is an entirely different game.

I actually think baking is a lot simpler than cooking. Baking is chemistry; it's really specific about every step of the process. Mix these exact quantities in this exact order and bake for exactly this amount of time at exactly this temperature; that's easy. Cooking has that element of impreciseness as mentioned by someone else; season to taste, a pinch of salt, cook until medium rare, steam until tender. That's an awful lot left to judgment, and if you don't cook regularly, you don't have a chance to develop that judgment.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

SO doesnt care to pay attention to it. Not a priority. Rice and pasta are so simple a trained monkey can do them.

You have to decide if it's worth the battle to include them in meal prep.

 

[poofyhairguy]

There are a lot of bad or ambiguous recipes out there. For example, most recipes that tell you to not only salt, but apply other spices to taste. Guaranteed fail because you have to have a fair amount of experience to know how much of various things is reasonable.

And you have to have sophisticated taste. My wife can taste a dish and say "it needs salt, it needs this or that" and fix it. I always have to go with exactly what the recipe said, and if it sucks because one small thing needed a tweak then I am eating sucky food because I have no clue. You also have to have an idea of what tastes go together, what foods go together. It is actually really difficult and takes skill.

So my wife does 90%+ percent of the cooking.

 

[Fritzo]

This. And this is why I suck at cooking.

I'm not going to stand there, waiting for things to boil or whatever. I'm loading the dishwasher, cleaning the floor, and I forget I'm multitasking.

My daughter is famous for putting tiny pots on the large burner, cranking up the heat full blast, and melting the handles. I had to buy all stainless steel cookware because of her

 

[Fritzo]

I actually think baking is a lot simpler than cooking. Baking is chemistry; it's really specific about every step of the process. Mix these exact quantities in this exact order and bake for exactly this amount of time at exactly this temperature; that's easy. Cooking has that element of impreciseness as mentioned by someone else; season to taste, a pinch of salt, cook until medium rare, steam until tender. That's an awful lot left to judgment, and if you don't cook regularly, you don't have a chance to develop that judgment.

There's a lot more to baking than that. I'm a great cook, but my baking is only so-so. If you're not making things out of a box, you have to know the difference between soft and hard peaks, how to properly fold eggs into flour, dough consistency, etc...and that just comes with a LOT of practice. There are some batters that you have to baby so much that the slightest bump can ruin them (fluffy coffee cake is a good example). You'll see pastry chefs are held in very high regard because of the artistry involved with their profession.

 

[BoberFett]

I actually think baking is a lot simpler than cooking. Baking is chemistry; it's really specific about every step of the process. Mix these exact quantities in this exact order and bake for exactly this amount of time at exactly this temperature; that's easy. Cooking has that element of impreciseness as mentioned by someone else; season to taste, a pinch of salt, cook until medium rare, steam until tender. That's an awful lot left to judgment, and if you don't cook regularly, you don't have a chance to develop that judgment.

That's why baking is much harder, you have to do it exactly right or it doesn't work, it's pretty black and white. With cooking there's plenty of gray area. It might not be the best tasting thing every, but it's hard to actually wreck something. If nothing else, you can cook things longer over low heat if you're concerned about burning it.

 

[torpid]

There's a lot more to baking than that. I'm a great cook, but my baking is only so-so. If you're not making things out of a box, you have to know the difference between soft and hard peaks, how to properly fold eggs into flour, dough consistency, etc...and that just comes with a LOT of practice. There are some batters that you have to baby so much that the slightest bump can ruin them (fluffy coffee cake is a good example). You'll see pastry chefs are held in very high regard because of the artistry involved with their profession.

I think for me all of those things are still easier than dealing with "to taste" or other vagueries. You can learn the proper technique for most baking techniques pretty easily and then you can follow almost any baking recipe because, as mentioned, precision is important. You never can randomly choose whatever amount of salt you want because it will affect the yeast or other things. And the times are usually a lot more accurate. Standard recipes have a multitude of traps in them because the cooking time is almost made up or random in some places and the excessive "to taste" nonsense is prevalent as well. The only time I am ok with "to taste" is when you are using a lot of stock which will have wildly varying amounts of salt and it tells you to salt to taste. Then it makes sense. But suggesting I use mustard to taste, for example (as I have seen), is just annoying and frustrating.

 

[torpid]

That's why baking is much harder, you have to do it exactly right or it doesn't work, it's pretty black and white. With cooking there's plenty of gray area. It might not be the best tasting thing every, but it's hard to actually wreck something. If nothing else, you can cook things longer over low heat if you're concerned about burning it.

I am having a hard time thinking of anything I make regularly that would be acceptable when cooked longer over lower heat. But perhaps our definition of "wreck" is different.

 

[qtnguyen87]

Think of why people work at McDonalds and use that mentalitity by answering that question.