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I can't, but I'm learning..
Recently I've made a beef madras curry, and a garlic honey chicken noodle type dish - both in the slow cooker - which is (possibly) one of the easiest ways to cook. Although I enjoyed the meals, the process of preparing it, I found a bit too stressful and I'm thinking once/if I move on to proper ovens, saucepans etc I'll lose all interest completely!
Does it get easier? Do any of you have a nice simple recipe that's easy to follow?
does beans on toast count?
or egg bread? or nachos?
if so, then yes... i can!
otherwise, no, but i reckon i could knock something up if required.
i am always in awe of the missus when she does a roast or similar, timing everything so its all ready at the same time.
It was a good curry right? You are over thinking it, just keep going
Can you cook?
Yes.
As with all things, it gets easier with practice. Most curries are pretty easy - just download a recipe and follow it. A couple of tips:
* If it's using loads of spices and you don't have them, just substitute all of them for a tablespoon or two of hot curry powder. (In general, if you're missing an ingredient and it's not one of the main ones, just google alternatives. Or leave it out. It won't be the same, but a lot of the time it won't matter too much).
* Add the salt at the end, give it a decent stir, and TASTE IT. You can always add more salt, but removing it... For a big pot of curry start with half a teaspoon.
* If in doubt keep the heat low. You can't unburn food!
Bonus tip:
To reduce the stress get everything ready before you start. Get the ingredients out of the cupboard, check you've got everything, then chop your onions / dice your carrots / weigh out your lentils etc. Having the ingredients prepared makes cooking a lot easier - you're not trying to fry an onion (and avoid it burning) while simultaneously peeling a potato or whatever... If you want to get fancy, this is known as "mise en place".
yes. and very good at it too.
but i love food, and that obviously helps loads.
Yes it gets much easier - and actually enjoyable, especially when accompanied with wine.
It is actually quite hard to produce something totally inedible, though my sister once made a liver and bacon casserole at school which the dog wouldn't eat.
both in the slow cooker – which is (possibly) one of the easiest ways to cook.
Slow cookers are awesome, the meat is so tender after spending a day in there.
Yes it gets much easier – and actually enjoyable, especially when accompanied with wine.
Does it get easier?
Yip. I can do loads of decent meals now without needing to bother referring to recipes. Whats better is that once you get pretty good at it I find its got really enjoyable and I love going in the kitchen, putting the radio on, cracking a beer open and pottering around, cooking. Its a great way to wind down when you finish work
Do any of you have a nice simple recipe that’s easy to follow?
If you want a good one to do in the slow cooker, these are personal favourites
Braised Beef Goulash with Smoked Pimenton
And a quick and easy one thats always good
Corned-beef Hash with Fried Eggs
Yes, and we did Gousto meals for a year or so over lockdown which counter-intuitively maybe re-invigorated my passion for cooking from scratch more often!
Although they don't set out to teach you to cook, you will find yourself doing a lot of the techniques over and over again and if you follow the recipes you'll learn the right way to do stuff, and in the right order! Plus they have a huge range of recipes from actually a fairly narrow pool of ingredients, spices etc which is handy as you don't have to keep millions of spices etc in stock (we don't get the meal kits any more but I still almost always cook from the recipe cards, 99% of the meals I would say were excellent which is a far better hit-ratio than any cook book I've ever had!)
Would definitely recommend to someone getting into cooking.
Yes, I can cook to feed myself no issue there, but can be lazy to prepare due to the small kitchen.
The thing that put me off cooking is electric cooker because I want gas turbo flame thrower style burner.
If you really want to guarantee the food will taste good then deep fried them especially meat. Deep fried them half way then then put them in the oven. Done!
Tonight I am just going to boil a chicken. Boil pot of water, put in some ginger, spring onion and salt. Then put the chicken into the pot with rolling boil water for sometime (never time it me) and use a skewer to pierce the thickest part of the chicken to ensure no more red water come out. Then it's cooked. Take chicken out to let it cool/rest, then chop it to bite side pieces as you wish. Dip with source. Simple.
Yes and I enjoy it but I used to have a relatively limited range of recipes, I'd often find myself going for the same half dozen things but I used to pop into our small local supermarket and buy stuff more or less as I needed it plus I'd do some batch cooking and keep it in the freezer.
Then back in May last year, I had an operation on my foot so I knew I wouldn't be walking to the supermarket for a while so I started ordering Gousto boxes. Dead easy - pick a few recipes from the 80 or so available each week and a few days later a box of ingredients arrives along with the recipe cards. I've kept them going, it's a much broader range of food, no food waste and all pretty straightforward. There's no obligation, you can skip boxes anytime, you just pay for what you have. Plus you get to try loads of things you'd never think of cooking normally!
Speaking of which, I have a couple of discount codes so if anyone wants 60% off their first box and 25% off boxes for the first 2 months, drop me a PM...
YEp, pretty good at it too.
patience is the key
Yes it gets easier, especially once you understand the basics of building and encorporating flavours (not hard). I rarely cook anything in more than one pan (well apart from a bit of rice or spuds on the side). Stress is a natural response to new things but after a while it becomes second nature, just keep doing it - learn from your mistakes.
The Guardian website has a great series called 'How to Cook the Perfect...' The author tries out different variations and then gives their best version at the end. Well worth a look for all sorts of things:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/nov/25/how-to-make-perfect-bolognese
I love going in the kitchen, putting the radio on, cracking a beer open and pottering around, cooking. Its a great way to wind down when you finish work
This^
The BBC recopies site is pretty reliable reference.
Also, we've got dozens of cook books, but we usually revert to the first Jamie Oliver or Prashad by Kaushy Patel. If not to follow directly but to pick up ideas and come up with something yourself. Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.
Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.
Hello, Ottolenghi!
The River Cottage "Everyday..." books are good for fairly simple recipes using easily obtainable ingredients.
doesn't help you of course, but you can get the same deal via Quidco etc PLUS you get cashback too 😃Speaking of which, I have a couple of discount codes so if anyone wants 60% off their first box and 25% off boxes for the first 2 months, drop me a PM…
I like to think so!
I probably do 90% of the cooking in our house and always enjoy it. My recently acquired obsession with expensive pans is proving tricky (and yes the pans do matter in some circumstances).
Gousto meals
Yes these (or I think a similar one) seem good enough to get my daughter cooking some pretty nice stuff starting from level 0
Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.
Or ridiculous amounts of equipment which costs a fortune and you're never likely to use again.
doesn’t help you of course, but you can get the same deal via Quidco etc PLUS you get cashback too 😃
Yes but if you use MY discount codes, [b]I[/b] get credit on my Gousto account and you get the warm fuzzy feeling of being kind to a fellow forumite... 😉
yes. and very good at it too.
but i love food, and that obviously helps loads.
Very much this.
I didn’t have a clue until about 25 years ago my sister in law who’s family had a restaurant taught me some very basic skills. Chopping an onion, making base sauces using tomatoes or milk, cream and cheese as well as using garlic and other seasoning to enhance said sauces. I just took it from there.
The internet is great for recipes, I use bbc good food a lot and as others have said, don’t worry about leaving out any ingredients so long as it’s not a major player.
Cooking has definitely become a big part of everyday life and A passion of mine.
I love going in the kitchen, putting the radio on, cracking a beer open and pottering around, cooking.
Edit, exactly this. Best bit of the day.
Although I enjoyed the meals, the process of preparing it, I found a bit too stressful and I’m thinking once/if I move on to proper ovens, saucepans etc I’ll lose all interest completely!
youll come to realise that at least 80% of stuff really isn't that stressful/complex and if you get it slightly wrong it wont matter (in fact, because hobs and pans etc are all different, and ingredients vary you and I could follow the same recipe exactly to the letter and it won't be identical) - it will still be edible. Even when you burn stuff most of it is fine.
Yes, quite well if I put my mind to it.
But I don't get excited by it. It just needs doing by someone in the house.
I really like cooking but trying to get things that all 6 of us will eat can be a bit hit and miss. One tip is never beleive the prep time thats given in recipes its usually bollocks unless you do it as a job.
Bonus tip:
To reduce the stress get everything ready before you start. Get the ingredients out of the cupboard, check you’ve got everything, then chop your onions / dice your carrots / weigh out your lentils etc. Having the ingredients prepared makes cooking a lot easier – you’re not trying to fry an onion (and avoid it burning) while simultaneously peeling a potato or whatever… If you want to get fancy, this is known as “mise en place”.
I do this much to the annoyance of the Mrs, I like to get everything ready then youre not rushing about like a fool trying to keep up with the stuff your cooking.
Yes.
We hardly ever have a meal that hasn't been made from scratch, apart from the local bakery pies - mmm pie.
I'm not the best of cooks, but I was taught the basics: how to chop, make sauces, food hygiene eg handling chicken and making sure pork is properly cooked through, how to brown meat and most importantly of all understanding timings. But, I love baking more.
I've started using the microwave more and batch cooking using the slow cooker. Rice in a microwave is so flipping easy, who knew?
Anyone, no matter how bad a cook can make soup. Soup is one of the healthiest things to eat, it's easy to batch cook and easy to freeze.
Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.
Or ridiculous amounts of equipment which costs a fortune and you’re never likely to use again.
The Guardian 'Feast' supplement on a Saturday certainly is a feast. Hello, Ottolenghi features prominently. A feast of the most ludicrous ingredients, a lot of which I've never heard of and are probably only available at 3 deli's in Islington, and prep times which would take up most of your weekend. Plus most of the recipes sound absolutely bloody awful
A fantastic faff-free book that I used all the time when I started cooking properly was Nigel Slaters 30 Minute Cook
I love his unfussy attitude. The preface to the book simply says: at the end of the day, you're just making something to eat
Anyone, no matter how bad a cook can make soup
Almost true. My mother was a wizard(ess?) at soup. We knew that her dementia had advanced to the point that it was time for her to go into a care home when the church for whom she cooked soup every Wednesday asked us to stop her as the soup had become inedible.
That aside, the Covent Garden Soup cookbook is ace. Soup with some decent bread is a brilliant meal.
That aside, the Covent Garden Soup cookbook is ace.
It is indeed! My favourite recipe is Arbroath smokie and Scottish cheddar soup. Basically; cheese and smoked fish soup. Bloody lovely!
I was taught the basics: how to chop, make sauces, food hygiene eg handling chicken and making sure pork is properly cooked through, how to brown meat and most importantly of all understanding timings.
Forgot to mention food hygiene. When you're preparing your food do the veg first, then you can use the same knife and chopping board to prepare the meat (incl. fish, chicken, etc. etc). Always wash your hands after handling meat (oo er), and don't use the board or knife again until you've cleaned them.
My best recipes have come from things like... hmm I've got some cod, some lettuce and some bacon.. what can I make with those? Search goodfood and there's a decent sounding meal. Turns out lovely.
Most things I can't be arsed with doing properly from scratch though (I'm mostly cooking for 1), so jars of Italian sauces, curry type "kits" are good enough. Tasty as any curry cooked from scratch tbh. goes for the noodle ones, Thai etc. Easy and delicious. No place for snobbery in my one-man kitchen.
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cod, some lettuce and some baco
Pad fried cod with chargrilled lettuce and whatever dressing you have the stuff to make? (Crispy chopped bacon on top obvs)
My grandfather was a chef (Supposedly. I never met him). Both my parents could cook to a decent enough level and got us kids involved and then I went and got a food related degree and worked in the food industry for a few years. That doesn't mean that I can cook, but I might have struggled in new product development without being able to put ingredients together. 😀
It's my 20th wedding anniversary this year and my wife still complains that I haven't made her something that I used to claim was a guaranteed winner on an early romantic date. (It might have been a sole dish, with a cider sauce and mushrooms, all in a puff pastry case. I seem to remember that a simple steak in pepper sauce worked better. Anyway, 20 years and no need for shenanigans like that any more!)
Pad fried cod with chargrilled lettuce..
Er, I ate it a couple of weeks ago. As I said it was nice. 😆
(oh, this was it - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cod-bacon-lettuce-peas )
I cook simple stuff using a paste, bit of stock and chopping up onions, garlic & peppers etc.
Makes me feel like a chef when I'm not 😆
Tonight's speciality is going to be a seafood & chorizo linguine knocked up after several beers.
was a guaranteed winner on an early romantic date
Shagging Mash?
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🙂
Its the only creative thing I can do. I struggle a bit to cook just for me but I do have folk round to eat and love doing that.
Specialties are chinese style, ( and I don't just mean a wokked stirfry) stews and classic fish cookery. I can bake and it always tastes good but by 'eck cakes always look like they were made by a five year old. If / when I cook its almost always from scratch barring pastry
20 years ago at uni the height of my culinary prowess was a supernoodle sandwich.
These days I tend to either stick with a few things I've managed to get pretty much perfected. Staples like Bolognese, chili, curry (I have one or two go to recipes). If you can cook a good spag bol you're halfway there. Make sure it simmers for a couple of hours though, anyone that cooks a bolognese sauce in 30mins can't be trusted.
Other than that I pick thing off website or telly that I think look achievable. I quite enjoy the process (mainly because I can be in the kitchen and ignore everyone else), but I also enjoy the end result and the reactions the family have when stuffing their faces.
I will never starve, can cook well enough to keep myself and others alive, but I don't really enjoy it. My mum is a trained chef, I probably set my expectations too high.
First roast dinner I cooked was Christmas Day 2006. MrsMC had given birth by cesarean 5 days before, so I couldn't leave it to her, really. Surprisingly easy to do if you get organised with your timings and don't try to do too much
If you can cook a good spag bol you’re halfway there. Make sure it simmers for a couple of hours though, anyone that cooks a bolognese sauce in 30mins can’t be trusted.
During lockdown, this Aussie comedian turned his hand to cookery. Caution - it's very sweary but it is funny. Have a watch of some of the other stuff he cooks as well. All pretty simple stuff and very no nonsense!
Does it get easier?
Absolutely. It also helps to make the same thing again and again (every Fri is pizza for us) as you start to understand what is important, what isn't and also how to adjust and fix things as you go. It's fun and eating nice food is such a pleasure. I sort of understand the attraction of Huel but that's not really a life that I want
Yes, I've been fairly competent since I was a schoolkid and my mum made sure I knew the basics. At university other student houses were living on beans on toast while I was doing roasts, risottos, soups for mine. I'd get mocked for making quiches until they were tasted. Once you understand how different things are cooked and have a repertoire of a few basics (a stew or casserole, a stir-fry etc) then it's pretty intuitive to mke it up as you go. I'm definitely not cheffy, more homely, and very rarely use chefs' cookbooks (generally worthless), but will refer to classics like Gastronomy of Italy or The Cookery Year if I want learn a technique or how long something takes etc.
As an alternative to the simple slow cooker recipe, search for “tray bake”.
Usually some veg chopping/slicing, then mix with oil/herbs, cook for a bit and stick the protein on the top. Sometimes marinade in advance (easy) or baste (spread over the top during cooking so also easy) towards the end of cooking.
This was the latest one I did
@bentandbroken How was it? 45 minutes is quite a long time to bake rosemary for, and would normally release a bitter taste. I accidentally did this with some roast potatoes a short while ago and the bitterness made the potatoes inedible. I'm guessing that the honey may disguise it.
I can cook very well,do ironing and keep a clean house.
I also like pets,hang gliding and cosy nights in.
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I find it completely flummoxing that anyone can't cook at least well enough to be able to pull together a few raw ingredients and generate calories palatable enough to stay down and feed others without too many complaints. It's a basic skill fundamental to being a functioning human. I can't tell you when I learnt to cook - I don't think I ever did - it was just a drip feed of watching other people doing when I was young, then doing a bit, then doing it all. You get to the point where you just know - quantities, cooking methods and times, what works with what. I'll look in a cook book every few months maybe to look for inspiration or if doing something where exact ratios might be needed for it to set or whatever; but other than that it's just a freestyle - what's in or needs using up, what's cheap or in season, what we fancy.
I wouldn't call myself a cook, as in I don't get off on all that bollox on masterchef - I'm no food snob. But feeding myself and others a balanced and attractive diet is just a fundamental - like breathing or keeping yourself clean.
Those people who are actively having to 'learn' in adulthood.....anyone brave enough to try and explain how that came about? Were you from a traditional house growing up, where your mum dealt with all the domestic stuff and you were neither expected or encouraged to get involved? Were you a little bit spoilt maybe? Is this mainly a 'men of a certain age' problem? Or was your youth a bit dysfunctional and there were no role models doing actual cooking at home (I taught a young lad once who at the age of 11 had never eaten a meal from a plate or at a table in a home that had no cutlery). How did you get through your young adult years?
Those people who are actively having to ‘learn’ in adulthood…..anyone brave enough to try and explain how that came about?
I'm no Gordon Ramsey but I was astonished at the unbelievably low level of cooking ability of some people when I went to uni.
One of my housemates had literally never cooked anything for himself at all ever. Not even a boiled egg. He wasn't thick at all, he just came from a house where his Mum did all of that. Put a plate of food on the table, he ate it, the plate miraculously disappeared off to be cleaned and put away ready for it to next appear laden with food.
He lived on cheese sandwiches and some truly vile "Pasta 'n' Sauce" stuff out of a packet - pour some grit out of a packet into a pan, add water, heat for 3 minutes.
He never did any washing up either the lazy bastard. Once we gathered up all his piles of used plates and crockery and cutlery and dumped it all on his bed.
I don't get it either
Mum is a staunch feminist and just taught me for as far back I can remember. To me its a basic life skill
*sends fasthaggis a message*
Yep but then my first job was, and i paid my way through uni as a chef..although nowhere fancy
I think the aim is to start with recipes and then overtime you learn to adapt them more to your taste, or what you have in cupboards.
You can then build up a bank of recipes and meals for certain occasions, every day family favourites, special meals for anniversaries, meals for when friends are over etc..
One thing that has really enhanced cooking for me, despite it being something i've alway enjoyed (when its not a job) is growing fruit and veg, huge satisfaction when you look down and you've grown half the veg on your plate.
Yea, I went to public school (everything done for you) from 11-18 and my mum is an amazing cook, so I still struggle in my mid-40's to make anything that I could offer to others. I can keep myself healthy enough but probably only able to cook 4 or 5 different meals.
I could have learnt, just never needed to. Also, I find recipes confusing and intimidating so just make stuff up or watch other people and copy them. Plus I live on my own so it's not like I need to impress anyone. But I would like to be better at it!
@IdleJon it was starting to catch in a few places, but to be honest our ‘new’ oven cooks everything a bit fast, so I tend to check things at about 90% of the cooking time and frequently take things out early.
TBH I was going to post a tray bake recipe based on Cod/bake fillets, but that’s a bit more ‘cook until it’s ready’ which takes some of the simplicity away from the tray bake concept.
Those people who are actively having to ‘learn’ in adulthood…..anyone brave enough to try and explain how that came about?
When I was at school the boys did woodwork and the girls did 'home economics' which did actually involve real cooking from real ingredients. I've read a few time now that home economics these days involves a lot of how to deal with ready prepared foods rather than cooking from scratch from things you grew in your own garden. I'm always wondering if that is deliberate in someone somewhere trying to create a society of 'worker bees' who also consume from other workers and this is their idea of a society. However hanlon's razor pretty much always applies and I think they teach that because it is needed rather than anything Machiavellian
edit: got to say that I do love the 'Nat's what I reckon' cooking videos. I'm not sure it is a good way to learn any technique but the attitude and spirit is spot on
Yes I can cook. Me and Mrs OD share the cooking. Do a lot of one pot veggie food. But can also bake cakes and pies etc but rarely do.
p.s. - rereading the above, it comes across a bit arsey. Well done anyone who is getting around to learning to cook in adulthood - you won't regret it. And once you know, you just know.....like riding a bike.
When I was at school the boys did woodwork and the girls did ‘home economics’ which did actually involve real cooking from real ingredients.
How far are you going back? In the early 80s both boys and girls did everything - woodwork, metalwork, cooking and needlework. I could take my own jeans in at 13! 🙂
How far are you going back? In the 80s both boys and girls did everything
Oh at least a decade before that, and I'm the one that does the sewing in my house but that's because I get to use machines. Our 60s sewing machine is a mechanical marvel but there is a whole other thread there
I should also add that I'm super glad we learned woodwork and metalwork at school. I'm not sure where else i would have learned it and I've found it so useful ever since.
I can, but fairly straightforward basic stuff, as I’m just not interested in the process of cooking. And as there’s just me, spending several hours preparing for half an hour eating, it’s just not worth it.
One of my housemates had literally never cooked anything for himself at all ever. Not even a boiled egg.
Yip. I lived with a lad in the first year at uni who was exactly the same. He would look at the cooker as if it was a thermonuclear device that could be detonated at any moment. Mind you, he was the same with a washing machine. It was all a strange new world to him
I remember the first time he went shopping and he came back with the contents of a trolley dash that you couldn't actually put a meal together with. Just mountains of completely random stuff as he'd never actually cooked a meal in his entire life
His mum had basically infantilised him through doing absolutely everything for him until the moment he left home.
I don't often "cook" (as opposed to throwing some stuff together to pour down my gullet) but I quite enjoy it whdn the mood takes me. I tend to have a go for anniversaries or Mrs Pondo's birthday or just when she's down or whatever - found a simple teriyaki salmon recipe which is lush, can do ok mussels, can do a passable Wagamamas chilli squid. We like seafood. 🙂
I can sew, do DIY stuff and cook, sortof.
cooking is a weird one. always enjoyed home-ec at school and was good at it. I can follow a recipe well and am unsure how others can't. However, I lack artistry and, like a textbook autistic, can make the same thing perfectly time and time again, but can't vary it, and coudn't describe what fiddling about with ingredients will do to the taste of things.
Thankfully my wife has ADHD and is a culinary wizard, by comparison. I just switch things down that are about to burn/boil over and tidy around her so she has enough pans to use (and she uses them, all), and keep tabs on what she is doing if she gets distracted by squirrels.
we're a disfunctional, but effective team.
I've just knocked off for the day so I'm off to kitchen to put the radio on, crack a beer open and cook a fish pie 😀
I really enjoy cooking, I find the whole process quite therapeutic. House is full of recipe/cookery books and can I can sometimes be found reading recipe books as bedtime reading looking for inspiration. I cook a huge variety of things and also enjoy experimenting (it doesn't always go well). Mushroom kofta curry tonight, it was lush 🙂
I can sew, do DIY stuff and cook, sortof.
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Well played.
Yes I can. I can't say I'm a great cook, but I do enjoy some time spent rustling up meal.
We've also insisted that our kids leave home able to cook 5 proper meals without need for a recipe book or much processed. This seems to be highly unusual, and both the lads who are at college / Uni report that they are very popular and have both given cookery lessons to house mates.
I guess I was lucky my mum amongst other things was a HE teacher, so by the time I was 12 I could cook a full 3 course meal and have kept evolving at it ever since (she used to say it was lovely watching her son cook). My late wife was a very good cook but once her MS took over she said I was a much more inventive cook than she ever was 🙂
Now I'm in a new relationship my girlfriend has managed to bring up 2 daughters without them going hungry but was never really allowed into the the kitchen by her own mother & the fact she struggled with the settings on her oven the other night sort of shocked me!
I love cooking for others though so that works fine in our relationship, & she's a really appreciative audience 😀
Yes I can cook. I love cooking. Probably explains the waistline, or the cooking being an excuse to sup wine is 😂. I learned from my mum, spent time as a pub manager, catering manager, chef (by way of having to), hotel manager. All food related. It can be hugely frustrating and hugely rewarding in equal measure. YMMV
I pleased to say that, no, I can't cook. I think the time spent preparing and cooking food is a massive waste of time.
Weren't we promised (like flying cars) a single pill per day to get rid of having to cook and eat?
I'm happy with beans on toast, or just toast.
Sorry.
Weren’t we promised (like flying cars) a single pill per day to get rid of having to cook and eat?
I think that Huel is what sir is looking for. It's not for me but i believe from here that it is ok
Beans on toast rocks though along with lots of other simple things like scrambled eggs
Fortunately the wife and I are both pretty handy in the kitchen. I'm a bit handier if I do say so myself.
She's better at the staples where I'm a bit more adventurous. I seem to do well with Asian dishes and cook for the flavour (read loads of butter), whereas she cooks healthier.
She works with people who don't have many life skills and I didn't realise how fortunate I was for paying attention in home economics class and having my mum get us involved in the kitchen when we were kids.
It does take practice though, when I left home I was quite proud to cook a meal of fray bentos, can of tatties and a can of peas!
Watching masterchef over the years has helped with technique and flavours. YouTube is also an excellent resource!
I don't recommend celebrity masterchef though... Some boy was boiling coleslaw last time I watched it! 😂
I can, but fairly straightforward basic stuff, as I’m just not interested in the process of cooking. And as there’s just me, spending several hours preparing for half an hour eating, it’s just not worth it.
You just described me, though there isn't "just me" so the missus does most of the the cooking (she likes it and is more fussy).
Frankly, I'll eat anything as long as it fills my stomach and provides the needed nutrition. Meals rarely take longer than 10 minutes for me to devour so it never seems like a worthwhile use of time faffing around in the kitchen. I guess that makes me some sort of heathen.
Yes I enjoy cooking BUT I also massively overcook volumes so I get a stack of leftovers in the freezer to use up later. Soup, chilli, curry, stews in particular. Mostly make it up as I go along depending what ingredients I have, once you know the basics it’s easy enough and I’m not a fussy eater. I also do a bunch of easy quick things like kippers or a stir-fry when I want a light meal.
Just had a baked potato with chilli brisket that was in the freezer (an idea someone posted here a while back - a big improvement over mince). 10 mins to prepare, tasty and healthy.
Love a roast too - easy once you’ve got the hang of it and you usually get a load of leftovers and soup out of it too.
I guess that makes me some sort of heathen.
I’ve got a mate who’s attitude to food is that it’s the fuel his body needs to keep him alive. He takes no pleasure in eating, never mind cooking. His diet is absolutely terrible
I always just put this down to him being from Glasgow 😂
@Elshalimo. My hero there.
And as there’s just me, spending several hours preparing for half an hour eating, it’s just not worth it.
Are you preparing a banquet. I had a stir fry for tea tonight, about 1.5 hours to prep cook eat and wash up.
Yeah i can cook fairly well.
I got quite into it during lockdown and really enjoy it now.
I do 90% of the cooking in our house - my wife doesn't enjoy 'cooking' but she is a pretty damn good baker.. so we've got most bases covered.
@matt_cooks_and_rides on the 'gram.
Yeah I'm pretty good if I do say so myself. Can knock up most things. Practice makes perfect and things that you think are difficult or take loads of time, soon become second nature. But like manuals or bunny hops on a bike
Don't like cooking from a recipe the first time as it seems really stilted but after the first time I know what I'm doing and tweak it thereafter.
Timings are a good point. Used to hate doing roasts because of it but pretty easy. Meat then roast potatoes take the longest, then your boiled veg only take about 15 minutes at the end. Easy peasy.
I'm also in the Keith Floyd school of cooking and find a beer or wine helps if you're stressed out about a particular recipe.
Only time I got properly cheesed off was making a chocolate mouse which just didn't work when we had guests over for a big dinner, even though it worked fine when I trialed it.
Anyone, no matter how bad a cook can make soup
Lol my mum makes terrible soup! It's such a shame as she grows lot's of lovely veg on her allotment then just piles in a random bunch of veg, doesn't pay any attention to seasoning, stock or herbs and waits for it to cook down into a mush. I avoid it when offered now after being presented with a bowl of what is more like baby food than soup. She's mostly not a good cook and I used to get things like boil in a bag beef with gravy as a child so I started learning to cook in my early teens. Ready Steady Cook with Ainsley Harriet got me started and then on to Jamie Oliver. A good friend who I lived with in my 20's went to catering college and taught me some things especially how to do a good roast and gravy and then it's gradually become a passion over the last 20 years. Now I find I don't get too many dinner invites as people are intimidated 🤣
So yes it takes time like decades I'd say to become a really good cook but also requires that you have a deep passion for it because it is time consuming if you want to get more elaborate and have a large repartee.
Started cooking by necessity when I got my own place, circa 28 years ago. Found I enjoyed and went from there. I do 95-100% of the cooking in our house, mostly from scratch and reckon I cook to a very high standard. Obviously not chef level as I can't cook at the pace/volume they do but I can pull together some seriously cheffy dishes using all the techniques.
OP - A good cook book is the Mary Berry 'Cook the perfect Step by step'. She shows with photos how to prepare and cook a dish, along with the ingredients, how long it takes to cook etc. Plenty of tips alongside the recipes.