How many of you can cook?

castadiva

I love to cook but don't ask me for a recepie, things rarely taste exactly the same way twice in my house!

Laughing out loud, because that is my house too - my mother almost never uses a recipe (she's a fantastic cook!) and I rarely do either at my own house, having learned from her. The only problem is that if something really works brilliantly, it can never be replicated - we've been trying to recreate my best-ever birthday cake since I turned 13!

castadiva

But how do you buy ingredients? As a student I live on a weekly basis and buy my food shop weekly (namely because there is only one of me, so don't want food going out of date, and because I eat a lot).
So for example recipes that have a teaspoon of pesto, or a garlic clove or some rosemary...I'd hate to go out and buy those things just to make one meal and then waste the rest...whereas at home my mum can build up a cupboard of all these little ingredients..

Dried herbs have a very long shelf life. Fresh herbs will last longer if you keep the stems wet and the tops dry (a wet paper towel around the stems, or put them in a small glass or vase with water). Herbs are also extremely easy to grow and most grow well together. If you have a window sill available you can put several herbs together in a small pot to always have a bit on hand.

Garlic can usually be bought one bulb at a time and has a long shelf life if kept cool and dry. Not sure about the pesto other than to make your own in the quantity you need.

Pesto freezes brilliantly, as do a lot of other sauces. If you have a spare ice-cube tray, you have the solution. Ginger root keeps better in a ziplock bag, but will last a long time in the fridge.

AdAstra47

Yeah when I've asked this before people have been like 'oh, never really thought about it that way'.
My skills extend to boiling pasta, frying steak and putting something in the oven.

A real oven? In that case, you're one up on me, I usually avoid the big box and just use the little one on the countertop with the "popcorn" and "frozen dinner" buttons.

Seriously, growing up, I always thought cooking was boring. But I'm a geek, so ever since my first baking-soda volcano, I've discovered that I like learning the chemistry & physics of cooking. Like why things get fluffy when you add baking powder, and why hard-boiled eggs are easier to peel if you put them in the freezer for five minutes right after you take them off the boiler. There are several interesting books out there that approach cooking from a scientific perspective and teach you to use mathematical ratios & chemistry so you don't need recipes. Google "kitchen science" for a start...

nancycola

Hello,
I cook but not elaborately for a regular weekly meal. Generally, I'l cook about two meals a week that can be stretched out with added vegetables, starches (whole grain bread or rice), sides (hummus, pesto).

The Bittman book, How to Cook Everything, is a great start. He also has recipes online at nytimes.com. Videos too.

Find 2 recipes for food you want to eat and start with that. I doubt you'll let food go to waste. If you buy one bulb of garlic for 2 recipes, the garlic keeps for a pretty long while. So do onions. Rosemary? As a beginner cook you probably won't need it.

After a while, expand your menu, one recipe at a time. I would also take someone else's advice and ask a mom friend or other friend to show you the very basics. I'm sure she/he would love to show you how to chop, sautee, braise, etc. It's not that hard but it can be easier when you see someone else doing it in the flesh. Or youtube it. Good suggestion.

gutbuddy

Doctor90...I learned to cook when I got married 13 years ago. As for your comment about building your pantry...pesto, garlic...pesto freezes really well. So just buy a container and then freeze it in an ice cube tray. you;ll have it pre-portioned in 1 TBSP increments. Fresh garlic in a bulb can last for weeks! but when all else fails...use dried herbs and powders. Good luck!

littlemsmuffet

LOL! I am stealing the word "preparer" ;D College student so, yeah, definitely a master preparer myself but I cook occasionally. I usually become impatient with the process. If you are just getting started, I highly recommend a crock pot. Seriously. Find five or so crock-pot-roast recipes and get the feel of cooking. Slower is always better when it comes to cooking. There is a reason why "Chef" is a full-time job :P

soymilkcoffee

But how do you buy ingredients? As a student I live on a weekly basis and buy my food shop weekly (namely because there is only one of me, so don't want food going out of date, and because I eat a lot).
So for example recipes that have a teaspoon of pesto, or a garlic clove or some rosemary...I'd hate to go out and buy those things just to make one meal and then waste the rest...whereas at home my mum can build up a cupboard of all these little ingredients..

I'm a student too. What works for me is to plan out my meals for the entire week, and make sure some ingredients overlap. For instance, I would plan to make chicken burgers on one day, and use the leftover ground chicken in tacos or something for another day of the week. This helps minimize waste of food and the costs.

Also, there's some of things you would want stocked in your kitchen because you'll probably use it a lot. For pesto, don't bother buying it. You can make it yourself for pretty cheap. There's actually a lot of things you don't really need to buy because you can make them yourself, such as honey mustard, ketchup, marinara sauce, etc. In my kitchen, garlic is essential because it gives a lot of great flavor to many dishes. So you can buy a bunch and keep it in the fridge. I also make sure to keep around these: extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, low-sodium soy sauce, thyme, rosemary, parsley and chili powder.

littlemsmuffet

A cookbook that I think everyone who is interested in cooking should own is "The New Best Recipe" from the editors of Cooks Illustrated magazine. You can get it for about $20 on Amazon, and that is a bargain. It is huge (over 1000 pages) and full of useful information. The concept of this cookbook is that they tried multiple recipes, cooking methods, and even cooking equipment for all types of dishes, determined the best recipes/methods/equipment for each one, and explain in the book why/how they arrived at their conclusions. So you don't just get a bunch of recipes ... you actually learn HOW to cook. It is perfect for new cooks and people who may be great at certain types of cooking but not so great at others and can't figure out where they're going wrong.

My own question here - are you familiar with "The Joy of Cooking"? Is "The New Best Recipe" similar? My grandmother bought me a subscription to Cook's last year and I love the recipes and tips! I don't have a cooking 101 type of book though.

Purpleflipflops

I Really, Really, REALLY want to be a great cook... I Just don't get it!!! Everything I make tastes really bland! I have ruined Packages of Mac and Cheese, Burnned cookies, makde soggy ramen..... I am HORRIBLE! The post part is that my whole family is full of wonderful cooks, and I am the only one who can't cook. It drives my mom crazy, because I'll hover over her to learn her secrets, but no luck....

alapoint89

with my asian background we go old fashion a man is not allowed to touch the kitchen or clean the house and a women has to know how to cook and clean for the house hold and if not your just fail lol but yet i taught myself to cook because my mother refused to allow me to cook with her no matter how many times i told her i want to be a chef when i grow up.... so yes i can cook and i love to but im super old fasion

annameier8706

I can cook, well I'd like to think. I was mostly a "preparer" for the longest time, but when I was pregnant/had an infant I watched A LOT of food network. This gave me a really good knowledge base, and the courage, to try new things and experiment with flavors.

pirate4hire

One of the easiest ways is to use a crock pot. Slow cooked pot roast or lamb is awesome!

ninerbuff

I do almost all the cooking (daily) in our home. My wife busts her *kitten* a work and has long days, so to help relieve her of any stress I've GLADLY taken over. But it was her that showed me how to make actual meals. What I don't really like to do is all the prep. The cooking part is easy.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

emmiexjay

i love to cook and can cook.. i'm very good at making very healthy pasta bakes.. okay i can't make pasta but i make my own sauces! i can cook a full roast lunch even prep fresh veggies for cooking too.. also i'm a baker i love to bake ^_^

bcraig26

I would recommend Americas Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. We use it around here a lot. It has lots of good recipes, some are fast others take time, and ALL are healthy.

Missmissy0003

This southern girl has never ever had a mason jar of any kind of grease in her house including my childhood home. Not all southerners eat like that.

quote: BTW, am I the only one who keeps a mason jar of bacon grease in my fridge? I'm a "southern girl" but I only use it for chex mix.
[/quote]

Missmissy0003

Duplicate post, sorry. t

RyanDanielle5101

I love to cook and always have, I believe liking and loving to do it makes a huge difference in how the food turns out. I always helped my mom and grandmother with cooking dinner since I was 5 or 6, small things at first and as I got older making complete meals on my own. So I guess I was self/family taught. I can throw something together but I like finding a good recipe and following it. Check out Skinnytaste.com it has tons of healthy recipes and most are easy to follow Once you starting cooking you will get the hang of it!

ajbeans

As opposed to simply 'preparing'.
I'm a master 'preparer'. I can throw a few ingredients together and make large, calorific, protein filled meals perfect for my goals in 20 minutes, tops. In fact, I don't think I've ever spent longer than that making my food.

BUT

I would like to break into actual cooking. I'd be nice to make a wider range of meals, more ingredients, more flavour and still hit my goals for each meal.

So my question, can you cook (well, not well)? Or do you just prepare food?

If you can cook, how did you pick it up, is it simply a matter of doing it over and over?
My mum's a chef so it'd a bit ridiculous that I fail at everything I make and it seems to take me AGES. Also I have no multi tasking skills so while the tomatoes are burning, I'm trying to flip a steak.

Not reading the whole thread right now, so I'll just respond to your question.

I can do both. I'm excellent at preparing, and I'm pretty darn good at actual cooking. But I wasn't always good at either. When we first got married and I tried to cook for my husband, basically all I could do was make chicken fingers and buttered noodles. Flavorless and boring was the name of the game. But I've learned over the years.

The thing that helped me the most was trying new recipes, and really paying attention to what each ingredient added to the dish. Just doing that will help you become a better cook. Look for recipes that don't have you doing 2 or 3 things at the same time, and keep the overall meal simple. If you have a complicated main dish, make sides that don't require much thought or effort. If you're making a fancier side dish, try a main dish in the crock pot or the oven that you can just put together and ignore until it's done. And USE A TIMER. Always. For everything.

I have a very strong sense of smell (I can smell salt from across the table), so nowadays I cook by smell -- if I'm trying to add seasonings to a new dish, I'll just smell all the spices to see if they'll go well together, and I take a good sniff as things are cooking to make sure I have the right balance of flavors. But if you don't have a dog nose like me, just learn by tasting. Taste a little bit of each seasoning in your spice rack to see what it's like, and identify the qualities of each: is it smoky? Hot? Bitter? Clean-tasting? Strong? Knowing those things will help you figure out what will go well together.

2Bgoddess

I can cook, and I havespecialties that are requested of me for different occasions. I think my husband is an even better cook. One of his favorite things to do is to try to crack the recipes of popular restaurants. We joke about opening a restaurant ripping off the others. E.g., Egg McDaddy, Quiz note toasted sammich, Kentucky faked chicken, etc. He is beginning to make small changes so that the old is healthier.

A suggestion regarding shopping, when usually use a four week rotating menu, with shopping lists already prepared. Then we can check the list, compare to the fridge, freezer and pantry, to be sure we don't over purchase, and have everything we need.