Can you cook?

[spidey07]

By cook I mean follow directions...that's all "cooking" to me really is. Sure I can toss stuff together, but not like a true chef can where they use their skill and palet to create something.

I'm asking about making:

eggs benedict or other egg dishes where you have to judge heat
roasting
soups
sauces
The things where you really have to pay attention to what is going on and watch/monitor your temperature.

Those kinds of things where you know the diffference between sweat, sautee, fry, making a rou' (sp?), etc. Just curious. I love to cook, but not nearly as much as my girl does.

For everybody out there I started cooking better when I turned the fargin' knob down and realized you don't want a blazing hot pan.

 

[FoBoT]

"I can make food, but I wouldn't call it cooking"

 

[chrisms]

I'm kind of the opposite, I started cooking better with a blazing hot pan than I was when I was afraid to burn anything. I really liked it a lot until my girlfriend and I broke up, I'll have to wait until the next one because I have a disease that causes me to never do dishes.

 

[spidey07]

Alright Mr. Brown....fess up and show us your skills.

Althought I wouldn't call him a great chef, I would call him the most informative and educational cook show host; his is show is great for learning/perfecting techniques.

 

[Rubycon]

Anything that's on Food Network - that's a cinch.

EDIT: LOL at those guys that cook meals on motorcar engines.

 

[Rike]

I do OK. Competent on a BBQ and I can make a mean omelet!

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: spidey07
For everybody out there I started cooking better when I turned the fargin' knob down and realized you don't want a blazing hot pan.

Really? I have recently discovered the virtues of extremely hot pans - heat a wok up as hot as you can, bit of oil, spices, and chuck in your chopped steak. Give it like 1 or 2 minutes tops then put in your sauce, turn it off, leave for another minute and eat it with noodles. If you did this with a cooler pan all the juice would come out of the meat and you'd end up boiling it.

 

[KB]

Indeed. Actually I enjoy cooking and have reached the point where I can improvise a recipe (usually seafood or chicken).

But I get most of my ideas from Simply Ming or Lydia on PBS.

 

[Maximilian]

Uh cant cook if my life depended on it. I made a bacon roll yesterday, which is a roll plus some bacon, surprisingly and that took all my skill, finesse, and uh stuff as a cook to make. Pretty difficult.

 

[Captante]

I'm a very good cook & I really enjoy it a lot, also as far as I'm concerned MOST receipes with step-by-step directions are easy... the true test of a good cook is how things taste when you just wing it!

Now if I could only figure out a way to enjoy cleaning up!

 

[uberman]

I've cooked professionally and for a family, that's not in your poll. Funny you should mention eggs benedict. I made it a lot in the 1980's.

I made it for the first time in 15 years last week. It's got lots of butter in it. I never used canned hollandaise sauce. I do enjoy Knorr Holandaise Sauce mix, add milk and butter and stir over heat.

Toasted English muffins, slice of Canadian bacon, poached egg, drizzle with hollandaise sauce. Yum!

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm the sauce fvcking master baby! I do most of the cooking in my house...hell, I even bake bread without a bread machine.

My wife is one lucky lady...and she tells me that after most every meal I make.

 

[Hankerton]

There's something to be said for a hot pan. If you're considering gravy, or searing hot meat. However, hot temperatures aren't always the key to a good meal. Different ingredients require different temperatures and therefore you can't just burn sh!t and expect a good result. There's a finesse to good cooking, and a lot to be said for paying attention to temperature.

Don't even get me started on the virtues of a non-stick pan versus a good sauce pot.

PLEASE NOTE: That was my girlfriends response. I know nothing about cooking. Just for the record. But she's a damn good cook.

 

[everman]

I like to make things that really impress me when I try them elsewhere for the first time. Usually I can do it, but I'm not that great when it comes to some sauces.
I also have some good eats DVDs, well worth it imo (and his two books).

 

[nageov3t]

I can cook anything if I have a detailed recipe, and I can alter recipes a bit to match my taste. that's pretty easy.

I can't exactly make something from nothing, though. shows like Top Chef leave me in awe

 

[Mrvile]

Hmm 3 people claim to be alton browns eh? Well, two of them are lyers. Because there is only one alton brown. IMPOSTERS!

 

[LaBang]

My mom was a chef at a fancy restaurant. I can cook, and I can also buy home cooking in the freezer isle of some supermarkets. :thumbsup:

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: spidey07
For everybody out there I started cooking better when I turned the fargin' knob down and realized you don't want a blazing hot pan.

Really? I have recently discovered the virtues of extremely hot pans - heat a wok up as hot as you can, bit of oil, spices, and chuck in your chopped steak. Give it like 1 or 2 minutes tops then put in your sauce, turn it off, leave for another minute and eat it with noodles. If you did this with a cooler pan all the juice would come out of the meat and you'd end up boiling it.

I agree, for wok cooking certainly, and to sear meats yes. Are you gifted enough to have a multi ring gas burner as is used in Asian cooking. I see them in Chinatown. American gas stoves have no comparison. I like fast cooking. Supposedly, we'd have one high output burner, but nothing as hot as the Asian multiple ring gas burners.

 

[IGBT]

..I've been eating a lot of fried tuna steak wit stir fried onions and red bell pepper. Might add sum scrambled eggs to the mix next go around.

 

[Vic]

I'm no Alton Brown, but I am a master of the meats. It's all about the temperature.

My GF, OTOH, is a trained chef.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I like to cook but completely stink at it. Been thinking of taking a cooking class at the local community college.

 

[monk3y]

I only know a select few dishes... My dishes are things like curry, biryani, fish and other south Indian delicacies.

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: monk3y
I only know a select few dishes... My dishes are things like curry, biryani, fish and other south Indian delicacies.

curry makes my ass burn

 

[Slew Foot]

Im pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Hankerton
There's something to be said for a hot pan. If you're considering gravy, or searing hot meat. However, hot temperatures aren't always the key to a good meal. Different ingredients require different temperatures and therefore you can't just burn sh!t and expect a good result. There's a finesse to good cooking, and a lot to be said for paying attention to temperature.

Don't even get me started on the virtues of a non-stick pan versus a good sauce pot.

PLEASE NOTE: That was my girlfriends response. I know nothing about cooking. Just for the record. But she's a damn good cook.

Sure it was. We believe you.

But on the temp thing...I rarely use high heat unless it's searing meat. Medium high for sautee, everything else is below that. And don't me started on the steak. THAT is my specialty. Just made some osso bucco last night. mmmmmmmm, baby cow.

Now if somebody could just tell me the secret to making good hollandaise from scratch.