How many of you can cook?

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!

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...

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!

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I live on a weekly basis and buy my food shop weekly (namely because there is only one of me, so don't want food going out of date, and because I eat a lot).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.

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....

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.

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.

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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.

Duplicate post, sorry. t

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.

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..

Start simple and build, as far as seasonings go, you should start with the basics and build from there. Plus, the more you do it, the more you will know what to keep on hand. I like the suggestion someone earlier made about making soups. I love soups and they are easy to make and adapt to what you have on hand and most of them are built with the same basic ingredients, which are easy for you to keep on hand. As you get better, then you can swing by the store to pick up a special ingredient or two for specific recipe. You can keep frozen soup starter veggies on hand and find the spices/flavors you prefer to build with. Whenever you have some leftover chicken, you can cut it up and throw it in to make your soup or whatever leftover meat you may have available. You really can't go wrong with it and it will build your confidence with cooking and allowing you some wiggle room to play with different flavors.

Also, I personally am a huge fan of allrecipes.com. These are recipes submitted by real everyday people so many of them are very simple, they are rated and the comments are great b/c you can learn from others' efforts before you make it and adjust the recipe before you try. I find a lot of my recipes there and very rarely have made something that I didn't like or that didn't turn out decent.

The most important thing is to just dive in feet first. And it may seem silly, but I really have learned a lot about cooking from watching the Food Network. You think you aren't learning, but little things just stick in your head and then you find yourself applying them when you cook at home.

I cook and bake. I learned by cooking/baking with my Mother. That said, I do LOVE to learn more things. I pretty much watch all of the tv reality shows related to cooking as well as a lot of Food Network. You can learn a lot there. I would HIGHLY recommend you take a knife skills class. I knew how to cook, but my skills were mediocre at best. After taking a class they are much better. I am in the process of teaching my husband to cook. He, like you was good at preparing. I say start with some simpler recipes and go from there. I've been using a lot from www.myrecipes.com (I get the Cooking Light Magazine) and have been super happy with them.

I see others have recommended some cook books, but I'll put my pitch in here. my Bible is my Betty Crocker. You can get one at Target or other discount stores. It tells you how to do things like boil an egg, poach an egg as well as how to cook certain types of meats, sauces, etc. It has recipes too, but the basics are in there. Even though I know HOW to cook, I still refer to it as I don't do those things on a daily basis. With this book I make a mean homemade Hollandaise sauce and put it on my Canadian Bacon and a poached egg for my Gluten Free Eggs Benedict!

Is there something in particular you want to know how to do or make? PM me for more if you'd like!

I am a very good cook and, when we retire in a couple years, we plan to move to Las Vegas so I can enroll in Culinary School.

I used to be an awful cook, or even preparer (I don't like reading or following instructions) when I first moved out. I wasn't allowed in my parents kitchen because they were too picky. I actually thought I was a great cook if heated up a frozen meal properly, and was able to heat up some frozen veggies.

Now, I'm a pretty good cook. I found that once I started practicing and experimenting, I was getting better. There were some really awful meals, but good thing I lived close enough to take out. The only thing was I learned not to try out a brand new recipe with dinner guests. My friends would eat before they came for dinner for years, until one of them ran late and had no choice but to eat, and found it good.

I started by buying a book on spices (you can find all of that on the internet now), and just reading about the applications. I took more notice when I went to restaurants at the descriptions of ingredients and then would try to see if I could taste what they described. I still don't follow recipes, but I have gotten to the point that I know what things might taste good. I also learned alot about what would be good substitutes for foods especially if you don't want to have a lot in your pantry. For example, milk with a little vineger can be a substitute for buttermilk. I still keep seeing if I can find ways to 'make' or substitute items that I don't usually use. I would recommend that you start with the basics first before this step. Other things such as you need ~3x fresh herbs compared to dried herbs for the same flavor.

My quest now is to see if I can take some of my less healthy foods that I enjoy and find better substitutes that tastes just as good.

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 will assume that you are not in a dorm even if you are a student. If you have a freezer, it will be your best friend. I found cooking for one really challenging in this area. There are few things you can do.
- You can find ways to make different dishes that week with the 'Key Ingredient', sort of a like a personal Iron Chef challenge. It would be how many ways to use pesto. I bought a whole bunch of tortilla wraps one time on sale (like 100 wraps), and I went to see how many things I could make with wraps AND could be frozen.
- See if there is a way to freeze them. Ice cube trays work great for individual portions, 1 cup containers for family size. I do that for a lot of sauces. To save room, after they are frozen, I put them in a Ziplock bag, and just take out the cubes I need.
- For spices and herbs, if they are dry, you're fine. If the are fresh, often after I've used all I can, I will put them on a cookie sheet, freeze them, and then put them in a ziploc bag.
- Garlic - I buy it in bulk, and peel it. I will then either chop it, or just leave whole, and put in a small glass jar, and cover with olive oil. Just make sure all the garlic is covered. The garlic will last for months in the fridge this way, and it ready to be used with the scoop of a spoon. The oil is awesome for cooking with after too. Just adjust your recipe by reducing some of the oil required.
- Meats - cut up in to single portion sizes, and then freeze individually. If it's a roast, I will make a roast, and then under cook part of it, and take the leftovers to make my own frozen meals.
- For anything that you doesn't freeze well as it's own seperate ingredient, then I just make batches, and portion them out into containers and freeze. If you're running out of containers, then once the are frozen, pop them out of the container, and put them in bags. One hint, is to get the same size and type of containers, so later when you want to reheat it, you just put it back in the container you orginally froze it in.

Hope some of these help. I actually love coming up with tips like this. They not only help with my eating, but we saved up to 40% of our grocery bill doing stuff like this.

I cook well, and I LOVE IT.

I never had any real reason to be a good cook prior to meeting my boyfriend. As we started to date longer, going out to eat three meals a day on weekends was getting a little crazy. So, I started "cooking". Well, I had only mastered about 2 meals and everything I made included pasta.

So, I grabbed a couple tasty recipes and tried them. Found out it was SO easy. Within a month, I can just look at things and put them together nicely. If I want to expose myself to new foods and cultures, I find a single recipe, see what are common foods and spices in that culture...THAN BAM!!

Yummo....