Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
What do you think makes a good cook?
Good question,er...
Essentially,someone who has an innate understanding of what ingredients marry with each other,or when tasting whatever,instinctively knows it needs lifting/tempering with this,and is able to achieve it.A good palette - something I destroyed with years of boozing and smoking.
And love.
I don't know really,I just know good food.
*Edit: Just seen you started this thread, Dave.I'd recommend Nigel Slater's Appetite as a recipe book to start with.It's basic,very well written,is not draconian in its approach and the results are fab.
I'm pretty good. I only look at recipes if it's something I don't know and most of what we eat is assembled from ingredients. If you want to branch out from basic spag bol, try some different pasta sauces, or maybe a lasagne (which usually needs sauces). Lasagne can take a while, but once you are used to it, you'll find the preparation time goes right down. To improve, you need to widen your techniques and range of what you can cook, while looking to see what would improve it and the different effects different ingredients have.
Cheese sandwiches arw about my limit. When we got married (a long. long time ago now), there was a sort of understanding that if I did all the driving my wife would do all the cooking (she didn't want to learn to drive). That held for a many years until I had to give up driving . She now considers the arrangement to be very one-sided so { do the washing up to slightly even things up.
Don't want to blow my own trumpet but I'm an awesome cook. Curries from scratch, Mexican, pasta dishes etc etc. I never follow measurements but go on 'feeling'. Do have a tendency to make my spicy food a little too spicy for most but I try to go for flavour over heat. My good lady has even said some of my meals are 'orgasmic' ( not sure if that's because they taste amazing or because she usually falls asleep and starts snoring straight after a meal). I'm doing a lot of vegan recipes at the moment because I've just given up dairy so that's a new challenge. Crap at baking and desserts though.
Not sure where I get it from though. My mum worked in catering but I can't consciously remember her ever teaching me anything and I was mates with TV chef James Martin at school but that was before he got into the whole cooking thing. Definitely glad I can feed myself though, one of life's most important skills imo.
One tip I've heard (although I don't do!) is one week per month use up everything in your fridge/cupboard/freezer. Will save you money, reduce waste, and result in interesting creative cooking experiments.
Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
I'm not a bad cook, I do all the roasts, fish dishes etc. We're trying to shift a bit of weight and some of the dishes my wife's cookef have been great. Did a lovely carbonara last night and the veggie chilli is good too.
Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
i was just telling Dave that with just a simple couple of changes he can make other dishes based off what he knows now. Didn't really say that's what makes a good cook.
Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
i was just telling Dave that with just a simple couple of changes he can make other dishes based off what he knows now. Didn't really say that's what makes a good cook.
Being able to make a spag bol,chilli con carne or shepherd's pie doesn't make you a good cook,it simply means you can cook.
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
i was just telling Dave that with just a simple couple of changes he can make other dishes based off what he knows now. Didn't really say that's what makes a good cook.
Now quit waving your culinary willy around.
/
Wasn't aimed at you or anyone for that matter.
Now quit taking it personally.
why take a post clearly written with tongue in cheek personally?
I can hold my own in a kitchen but my husband is definately the chef. I'll happily own up to using the odd jar of sauce but he will make everything from scratch - and hes bloddy good at it so im not complaining!
I would say I'm pretty good. I was a chef for a few years. Worked at one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants. Great experience, getting to learn from that Italian/Cockney nutter Gennaro Contaldo. He has the midas touch, everything he cooks tastes amazing.
I'd suggest everyone has a go at making fresh pasta. If you can pull it off, there's nothing quite like it. Especially when you start making your own raviolis and tortellinis. Adds a whole new dimension to your home cooking and it tastes out of this world.
Personal pet peeve for most home cooks: they don't put enough salt in their pasta water. It needs a lot. It should taste like the sea, so try tasting it before you put the pasta in. Every day I worked pasta section at Jamie's, I probably sipped enough salt water to kill a small child.
Yotam Ottolenghi has transformed both my cooking and regrettably my waistline as well. Veggie food is just so incredibly varied and tasty. I also use the BBC internet recipes. It is essential though to have a large fridge as we seem to consume a shed load of vegetables. I love making the various spice mixes and enjoy the wonderful smells they produce. Downside is that I am a sucker for gadgets which now threaten to take over the entire house.
Learnt to bake bread a few months back, so easy to do, and good fun to play about with different recipes. Made one with kalamatta olives and chili oil the other day, delicious. Falaffel is pretty easy to do too, learnt that a few months back. Trying some nice veggie burger recipes now. I am pretty good i'd say, but at least initially it is just following recipes on t'internet, which surely everyone can do. I used to work as a chef in Pizza Express, which mostly just gave me good preparation skills, so I can chop quickly... really enjoying learning new recipes, and as above the BBC site really is very good.
Got into sourdough bread making as our granddaughter is coeliac. Takes half hour a week ignoring rising/baking time and haven't bought supermarket bread for two years.
In my first marriage, I was the cook. My second wife is a very good cook and don't try to compete too much these days. However, I am perfectly capable of looking after myself when she is away - I never use oven ready meals or anything like that. I guess my favourite is cooking curries, although I've gone off curries a bit.
Comments
I'm not pooh-pooing it,I make all of these and many more besides.I make my own stock and demi-glace,Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce etc,but does this make me a good cook? No.
As someone said earlier:If you can read,you can cook
Essentially,someone who has an innate understanding of what ingredients marry with each other,or when tasting whatever,instinctively knows it needs lifting/tempering with this,and is able to achieve it.A good palette - something I destroyed with years of boozing and smoking.
And love.
I don't know really,I just know good food.
*Edit: Just seen you started this thread, Dave.I'd recommend Nigel Slater's Appetite as a recipe book to start with.It's basic,very well written,is not draconian in its approach and the results are fab.
If you want to branch out from basic spag bol, try some different pasta sauces, or maybe a lasagne (which usually needs sauces). Lasagne can take a while, but once you are used to it, you'll find the preparation time goes right down.
To improve, you need to widen your techniques and range of what you can cook, while looking to see what would improve it and the different effects different ingredients have.
Spring / Summer = BBQ
Autumn / Winter = slow cooker
Not sure where I get it from though. My mum worked in catering but I can't consciously remember her ever teaching me anything and I was mates with TV chef James Martin at school but that was before he got into the whole cooking thing. Definitely glad I can feed myself though, one of life's most important skills imo.
Now quit waving your culinary willy around.
Although saying that I can do a mean bit of cheese on toast with a couple of eggs
Wasn't aimed at you or anyone for that matter.
Now quit taking it personally.
I'd suggest everyone has a go at making fresh pasta. If you can pull it off, there's nothing quite like it. Especially when you start making your own raviolis and tortellinis. Adds a whole new dimension to your home cooking and it tastes out of this world.
Personal pet peeve for most home cooks: they don't put enough salt in their pasta water. It needs a lot. It should taste like the sea, so try tasting it before you put the pasta in. Every day I worked pasta section at Jamie's, I probably sipped enough salt water to kill a small child.