Can you Cook?

Can you cook?

I mean cook, not making something, out of something, out of can...

Not Hotwater + Raw-egg, Hotwater + Coffee-Bean... sort of cooking

Guys, When you cook should there be a sign outside kitchen like this?

http://www.cyber-print-media.com/NewYorkled-Store/Store-Thumbs/Man-cooking-apron.jpg

I can fry and broil a few things well, yes. I cook up a lot of brown rice. That's about it.

I don't cook, but I am addicted to the Food Network and believe I could cook if I wanted too. :)

If I have a cookbook. I'm not one of those people that just knows how to throw things together and it comes out wonderful. I don't like to cook. Baking is okay, but I'd rather stay out of the kitchen, altogether. I'll wash dishes if someone else does the cooking.

Well I am a chef,
So I better know how to cook or else...

:eek:

I have some tried & true recipes, definitely.

BUT.........

My husband?? He is a PHENOMINAL chef! He has a knack for knowing exactly which herbs will enhance what dish. And he's not limited to English foods, either. He makes an excellent curry and I have yet to taste a spaghetti bolognese that's better than his.

MMMM....Bolognase...so...so yummy.

I make a decent bolognese. Not the best though. I have a tendancy to always overcook the pasta. No matter how right I get the bolognese, the overcooked pasta kinda messes up the whole thing.

I cook, I love to cook. I also love to eat. Its a dangerous combination.

My man: forget about. I have literally...I mean this absolutely literally...seen him screw up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Or in his case, a peanut butter and ****tail sauce sandwich.

Does making Top Ramen count as cooking??? :D

If not....then I have NO idea how to cook :o

I tried to cook some chicken before...but I picked up the chicken breast...didnt like the texture of the raw chicken...made me almost throw up...seriously.

Ive never tried cooking since then.

Ohhhhh yes, I'm a real chef :)

Trained as a chef when I was a teen......... Like preparing Italian food and can cook most things from scratch, am told my Bolognese is to die for and my pizza should be illegal LOL

Also have the knack of inventing good meals out of nothing, don't use recipes, just my sense of what flavours work together.

However a rarely cook these days, there is no real point in cooking for one, good food needs to be shared IMO

Same here Shewolf, I'm good at inventing dishes. I never use a cookbook or recepes anyway.

Here's a view of my messy kitchen.

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/9333/kitchen1ju.jpg

I can cook, only out of necessity. It's definitely not a hobby or anything. I prefer to use recipes but there are some traditionally "farm style" recipes that I know by heart and make occasionally as a hearty treat.

I prefer baking cookies to grilling steak (and eating them too!)

My children prefer mild, plain foods so I've taken to preparing mostly boring meals with veggies separate from meat, and those separated from pasta or rice...and don't even think about using a sauce....kids won't touch it.

However, I've been incorporating some of the more tried and true foods into casserole type dishes, such as tuna casserole or meat loaf, and they will eat that.

If I had MY way, I'd be making lentil and other bean soups, souflée, quiche and omelettes, toasted sandwiches filled with sprouts and goat cheese, gourmet pasta dishes and home-baked breads.

I don't have time or energy to make stuff like that, just to see it go to waste.

I can cook. I am a southern country cook. Learned from grandmom. I can make biscuits from scratch. Brown gravy from scratch...collard greens, pintos with hambone...homemade tater salad, country style steak, meatloaf, fried fat back, i dunno...all that country stuff. I love to cook. I have lots of recipe books. You know those kind that the little church ladies get together and sell for fundraisers. :p They have all the little granny recipes. My husband is quite the cook too. Chili-his specialty. I will admit tho, I have gotten lazy and we eat out more than we should. :( My husband and I "can" food too. The old timey way. You know, in a water bath. LUUUV to do that. We make some awesome Picallilli. It's a kind of relish. Yum...eat it on soup beans. Also spaghetti sauce....

I can cook. I am a southern country cook. Learned from grandmom. I can make biscuits from scratch. Brown gravy from scratch...collard greens, pintos with hambone...homemade tater salad, country style steak, meatloaf, fried fat back, i dunno...all that country stuff. I love to cook. I have lots of recipe books. You know those kind that the little church ladies get together and sell for fundraisers. :p They have all the little granny recipes. My husband is quite the cook too. Chili-his specialty.......

Daaaay-um, Kindanice.


I wanna come over and visit!!! :D Your husband sounds lucky. Ain't nothin' like a cookin' wife!! :)

Glad ta have ya anytime.....'c'mon over... :D

I am a pretty good southern cook too, kindanice. :) Love those biscuits and gravy, steak and potatoes, fried chicken and potato salad, beans and cornbread--don't forget the fried okra! I don't meet many people who like okra. In my "old age" have started collecting nice cookbooks, most recently ones on vegetarian cooking, asian cooking, yum! And have thought about chef school as well.

Would I like chef school, Lou? ;)

I am a pretty good southern cook too, kindanice. Love those biscuits and gravy, steak and potatoes, fried chicken and potato salad, beans and cornbread--don't forget the fried okra! I don't meet many people who like okra. In my "old age" have started collecting nice cookbooks, most recently ones on vegetarian cooking, asian cooking, yum! And have thought about chef school as well.

Would I like chef school, Lou? ;)
Wow, lencarol.....we might be kin...hehe...your cookin jus like me. :D I make fried okra. yum. cornbread a favorite. but around here, we dont put sugar in it. when we go north, they always have sugar in their cornbread.
Had to laugh at what Harrison said 'bout my husband being lucky. Hubby and I both have stored summa that lucky southern cooking right in the middle if you know what I mean :o we are workin' on getting rid of that now. focusing on lo-cal cooking...hehe

Yeah, hard to do low cal with Southern cooking! Surprised I am not big as a house!! :p But try to exercise it off when I eat too much, i.e. holidays are hard especially. So thankful for New Year's resolutions! Sugar in the cornbread is so strange to me too. But if in the mood for cake, don't mind it. But then there are cornbread pancakes, and they are sweet with syrup on top--yum!

We could be kin! My "peoples" from Oklahoma, dad is Choctaw. Mother from Texas, pretty girl, French/English/Jewish (how did that happen)?? When she was in the mood, she was a good cook, but mostly was not in the mood--too bad for us. I learned to cook from my grandmother! :D

Yes, I'm a very good cook.....but I wasn't when I was younger and first got married....boy, there are some horror stories to be told from those days! LOL! :D

LOL! Ditto! Every word. :D

Oh Loucine, you've given me a FANTASTIC gift idea for Tim! I think he would use a mortar & pestle a LOT.

quick side note: Otto, too funny about the PB & J sandwich! Did you know they don't "do" pb&j in the UK? Tim practically hurls when he sees the kids eating them! LOL!!

Oh Loucine, you've given me a FANTASTIC gift idea for Tim! I think he would use a mortar & pestle a LOT.


It's a fantastic thing to have. I found it in our local Chinatown. I use it everyday, all the time. Spices are so much better when freshly grounded. I'm sure Tim will love it :)

I have a marble one and another earthenware one, but they are really pretty, so have not used them. I usually to grow my own herbs though, so should put mortar and pestle to good use!

yeah, i was gonna say, the mortar and pestle is great. Its hard sometimes to find a good store with fresh spices that aren't already dried and messed up. I have to go into Manhattan to do so.

But what I like is the cutting board! I have a crappy plastic one that slides around the table when you are chopping...that and the kids took all my knives. Do you know how hard it is to mince garlic...or even chop and onion with a steak table knife...gotta have your tools ya know!

I can do things with a toaster that you never dreamed of. I am pretty sure I burned water once though.... :confused:

The only two things I can cook at the moment is Jambalya and red beans and rice, and i'll admit the hardest thing about cooking red beans and rice is the rice...:)

Jambalya is my favorite food though so that good for me.....I should know more because my Dad can throw down in the kitchen but I always slept late on Saturday's and Sunday's and never got to see how to cook as much I wanted to....:).Now I live in a college dorm and eat the university food..I still go home every few days though and eat good...


I had an oppurtunity to be a cook at a Japanese reseraunt when I was 19, I worked in the kitchen for almost two years, cooking everything but Sushi(tempura shrimp,terriyaki,yak soba exc exc..) resteraunt business was rought though especially when all you want to do is party....:)

I been trying to pick some stuff up from my pops over the holiday break though....It'll come in handy when I get my own place...

But what I like is the cutting board! I have a crappy plastic one that slides around the table when you are chopping...that and the kids took all my knives. Do you know how hard it is to mince garlic...or even chop and onion with a steak table knife...gotta have your tools ya know!

Nononono, the cutting board is very important. You need to get a heavy, big board with the wood fibres cut vertically. Like the ones that butchers use. With all the rest you'll get wood fibre in your food. (that's the one you see in my picture)

With that there's the indispensable tool, the scraper. The kind that you find in a hardware store. When you chop things and try to pick them up with your hands, half of it stays on the board. The scraper just scrapes the chopped things right off the board and into the pan. Try.

ps: from time to time, you have to pour oil on your board and let the wood absorb it.

http://www.foxesbbq.com/scraper.jpg

Hello people, I'm new here.

Want to say hi and say that I'm a pretty fair cook.

I may need a cookbook in front of me, but I can cook just about anything that I put my mind to. My favorite is lasagna with home made meat sauce. Maybe someday I may even try making home made noodles as well, but I have not gotten that adventurous yet.