Its taken me years to accept the fact that I am actually quite a good cook.
It took my kids being grown up and asking me lots of "how to" type questions and telling me they had made a certain meal by following my instructions and how well it had come out to realise I wasnt a hopeless chef!!! D
My problem had always been lack of confidence I think and also coming from a family of experts. My dad had been an army chef and loved cooking and my mum loved baking and especially making up her own cake recipes. My sister went to catering school and has her own buisness making wedding cakes and it seemed all my brothers married "cordon bleu" chefs o wink So for years rather than feel inadequate I always professed a dislike for cooking and I convinced myself I couldnt really cook. When we left England to come to Texas the only critics were hubby and kids and I soon developed a love for baking and meal planning, nothing ever exotic just good tasting meals and yummy desserts.
Then last year I had to change again after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. So now I am back to experimenting with rice/potato flours and all kinds of gluten free ingredients. Its different and quite a challenge.
I still bake a lot for the family and for friends and I miss sampling my deserts but finally I can admit to being a fairly decent cook and enjoy it.
No, I'm a quick cook, I am very good at doing two or three things at once and by the time I have dinner on the table, practically everything is cleared up. I can make a roast dinner, everything is edible. I just have not had time to learn a variety of recipes or all the rules and principles for various ingredients.
I'm an ok cook. I wouldn't say I'm a particularly good cook, but I can just about get by on the a few tried and tested recipes. My Mum went to catering college and is a fantastic cook and my sister seems pretty good too.
I don't eat meat, and Tom can take it or leave it, so I've no idea how to cook a turkey or joint of meat or anything.
My forte was baking cakes. Even my mum and Nanna are jealous as they can't make the cake rise like mine wink but that was in the UK.
I haven't really baked here much, so I don't know if I'm any good with the US ovens etc. Tom isn't really into cakes and I shouldn't be wink and I haven't had anyone else to bake for. In the Uk, I'd make the Birthday cakes for various family Birthdays etc. Though I should add that my decoration isn't so good. But hey, it's how it tastes that counts isn't it? lol
No. I've learnt to do a standard number of recipes or dishes well. However, a lot of baking/cooking comes with practice as well as trial and error. Thing is, I used to be able do to a decent cake in the UK but they're just so difficult where I live now, thinner air is not good for cakes.
I can be a good cook, but maybe a boring one.
Everyday meals are good but not fancy recipes.
I can do a great special occassion meal and have it all on the table piping hot and without a huge mess to clean up.
As for fancy stuff, I'm sure I am quite capable just too lazy to get it all together and do it.
Yes I am.
Have known it for a long time, actually from about the age of 17 (I started cooking at 14). In the past often thought about a full blown career in the culinary arts but decided I enjoyed cooking so much as a recreation that doing it for a job wasn't for me.
Andrew )
I can cook decent but basic dinners, meat, BBQ etc.
But I'm more of a Baker than a Cook.
Made wonderful (if I do say so myself) Baklava for the guys at work just last week.
I enjoy chopping up veggies at the kitchen sink and I'm happiest in the kitchen. wink
I can get by but, no, I don't think I'm a good cook. I hate cooking. Don't have enough patience/inclination to cook elaborate dishes, so most of the meals I cook are pretty basic. Roast potatoes are my 'speciality' though P but other than that, I'm a boring fart in the kitchen. I can't bake either. (
Well i was but now I have to learn a whole new way of cooking. getting velvety sauces without butter and cream, getting taste without salt, actually i've done that for years but right now I'm being stringent so not a grain of salt enters anything.
We ate out last pear and gorgonzola pizza the other day, from now on it's no processed, everything from scratch. And to make matters worse i have three 2 hour lectures to attend on how to feed an almost diabetic in order to make sure he doesn't get past the almost.
Oh for the days of nights at the pub with a pint and a packet of crisps followed by a doner kebab.
editied cos i can't spell three and I didn't want you all thinking we crazy folk in California attended lectures in trees.
King of the Barbie here. Took a year or two to get the hang of it but now I barbeque at least twice a month. And fajitas and tacos. But those are super easy anyhow.
I'm only good in selective areas and crap in others.
I make really good curries, chillis and other slowly made stews. I'm good at roasting meats, steaming vegetables, making salads etc. I'm good at stir fries, including wokking food
However, I haven't a clue how to bake, or do anything involving pies, crusts, pastries. Hopeless at custards, trifles, indeed most desserts beyond apple crumble.
Like a lot of men (so I've been told) I'm better at cooking the things I'm most interested in.
King Barbie here.
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King Barbie here.
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Well he could have been Queen Ken? :wink:
The wig's the wrong colour but otherwise surprisingly accurate. wink
Cook.....not a word I'm familiar with being a bachelor living in NYC........I have turned the oven no a few times to hear something out of a packet....does that count ? D