Do You Know How To Cook? Who cooks their own food?

[chefwhit606 0]

actually I love to cook. I have a culinary degree in it, I don't currently work in a restaurant because I hate being told how to cook and not doing what I want to do. I cook almost anything, but I hate baking...blah, it sucks.

[Misanthrope 0]

I cook almost anything, but I hate baking...blah, it sucks.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I absolutely HATE baking because it requires (at least for me) following a recipe detail by anal detail. If anyone has any hints on how to bake without following a recipe, I for one would love to hear. I really like homemade oatmeal & raisin cookies, but they always seem to come out tasting like cardboard. I shudder to think what would happen if I tried my hand at apple pie or zuchinni bread. Sure wish I could find an easy way of making sourdough bread. It's supposed to be really good for you if prepared homemade with a traditional "starter." As for soups, quiche, and the rest of it, I've finally gotten to the point where I don't have to follow a recipe note by note anymore. Thank God, 'cause otherwise I'd simply find it all too unbearable. I'm going to have a beer now.

[reelkill 0]

Lets see I can make scrambled eggs,noodles with meat sauce,noodles with butter and sprinkle cheese,and hotdogs

[TikiPrincess 0]

My parents never actually took the time to teach me how to cook since they were both working. As a child we would go to the market and pick out our microwave meals for the week. I still really like the Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese, but thank goodness I've learned to cook since then. I kinda started taking an interest in cooking in high school, mostly baking stuff out of boxes and messing with it, like adding mint to the brownie mix or stuff like that. Then I moved to cooking on the range, then in the oven. I'm okay with baking everything but yeast breads because I just can't get the dough to rise properly. I just made a fresh apricot cobbler from scratch last night! I even blanched the apricots to skin them, which honestly took forever and a day, but there were so many falling off the tree. Oh, I'm also not too good with pastries or pies that require a flaky crust. I think I'd be ok if I just had the right tools, like a proofer or even a stand-mixer. Doing everything by hand may be the old-fashioned way, but those inventions were made for a reason!
I like to get ideas for recipes on Allrecipes.com. I'll usually follow directions to the best of my ability the first time, then play with it after that. Like the awesomely easy slow cooker pot roast that makes its own gravy complete with potatoes, carrots, and celery. We still order pizza once in awhile, and my husband eats Hot Pockets when I decide to have leftovers for dinner, but I almost never eat at fast food anymore and only occasionally eat at casual dining places like Applebee's and Chili's.

[midnightvamp 1]

It really depends on what I'm cooking... I can cook certain things, and other things I'm not so good at. A lot of what I cook, I do use the microwave for (more out of convenience that anything else really... I'm pretty lazy and don't like to wait around for my food to cook lol), but I can also cook things on the stove or in the oven or whatever.I'm really good at pasta things, mostly because I've had so much practice with it, because I eat it so often. So, I can make quite a few things that taste good from that.Things that I'm not so good at is pancakes... I always mess up the recipe for them. Typically my problem is that I try to cut the recipe in half, because I'll be the only one eating it... and I mess up along the way by forgetting to half an ingredient or two... and I've even doubled some ingredients on accident before. Yea, I suppose I'm bad at following instructions. When I make things from recipes, I tend to mess them up. When I make things just from memory, then I seem to do okay.I tried to bake cookies not too long ago, and I can usually make them okay, but last time, I ended up making them a bit too dry, so it was hard to get them to stick together, but as they were 'drying' (that's not really the right word lol... ah, maybe more like 'cooling down'? I don't know lol...) they came together a bit better, so that once I was ready to put them in a container, they weren't all falling apart like they were when I first set them out.So yea, I'm by no means a great cook, but I can make do with my skills and create some edible meals. People might do well to proceed with caution when I label my creations with 'experimental' though. Those are kind of hit and miss... Like my 'experimental apple pie'. Still edible, but perhaps I shouldn't really have been making it without any recipes when I have no idea how to make pie crust lol. Oh well... people still ate it

[bhavesh 0]

I don't know cooking, but know I have to prepare my food. I was with my family for 25 initial years of my life but now I have to live alone. And after eating for 3 continuos months in Hotel I have to finally decide to start cooking.Till now I have learnt only 4 items to cook and my trainer is my mom via phone.

[fffanatics 0]

I started cooking my senior year in high school since i knew i would need to know how to do it once i got to college. Now, i cook almost everyone of my meals (minus going out / when i tired, sick, etc.). The way i learned how to cook was through my mom. I learned how to cook every single one of the meals i had been eatting since i was little then i got myself a very good cook book. The book / books i know own give me a recipe for almost anything i ever would want to cook.

[vintedois 0]

Sure I know how to cook! I even make my own pasta!!! My girlfriend was my friend until I prepared a birthday dinner for her, she was really stunned by the way I did stuff, and the way they tasted!Simplicity is the key word.Send u guys some of my recipes later.C ya.

[mojoman 0]

I sadly can't cook at all really. I know how to make rice and banana bread, thats just about it lolAnything else my parents make or just take out of the freezer make it by following the directions

Edited July 1, 2007 by mojoman (see edit history)

[farh1n 0]

i have cooking experence , thats way mom and dad leave me home as babysitter, Pray me from God

[garbage 0]

I can actually say that yes I can cook.Now I may not be the best cook out there but I will do my best and alot of people have liked my foods. I have tried alot of stuff nothing to original but i have tried alot of italia foods and by far the Lasagna and the Pizza and I do mean fresh Pizza all hand made have been the most fun for me and probably my best.The Pizza I make alot now. I really love it, Only thing is i ish i was good at tossing up the dough on the fist and stuff..there are alot of mexican foos that i also like to make, Enchiladas, Tacos by far easy stuff, some good rice and beans..What I really want tolearn is the Asian style foods,.. I really like asian food, and if I could learn to cook it or prepare the dishes that would be awesome

[stevethedog 0]

I moved out of parents home in December so I'm doing my own cooking now and I'm loving it. I'm not the greatest cook but I'm learning from my own mistakes. I like trying new stuff. The one thing I am quite bad for is that most of my cooking is meat. I do some pasta but I do love a good meat dish. Had some nice chicken breasts in garlic & mushroom sauce yesterday.I've barely used the microwave since I've been there, only really for rice.

[altenergy 0]

I don't cook so well but youve got to taste my spaghetti. with onions, mushrooms and all that.

[sheepdog 10]

LOL, not only do I cook it, I have been known to catch it, kill it, and skin it before cooking it!I can't picture not cooking. Those frozen things are so much more expensive, and tiny portions that I would starve on. And those ready to heat and eat soups, what a joke, instead of opening a can and heating it in a pan, they put it in plastic so you can microwave it and then charge you 3 times as much as for the can that makes twice as much to start with.

[HoRuS 0]

I've cooked my food for over 10 years, people always told me I was good at it.Since a year I met a girl... I'm not allowed in the kitchen when she cooks, but the past year I've never disliked one meal.