Do you cook?

[impressive]

Mmmm. Goooooooooooood soup. *nods*

 

[scheherazade_79]

Do you like to cook, or not?
Yes, but I have to be in the mood, otherwise I create disasters.

Did you learn on your own, or did you learn by watching your family in the kitchen?
My mum is a gourmet cook. It's a mixed blessing, because the food I eat out at restaurants is always worse than I get at home. I learned a lot from her, but I also learned the hard way. I've made a lot of mistakes, like adding too much butter or sugar to things, or turning them a really unappetising colour. Blenders and I don't get on. The last time I used one was making Watercress soup, and I ended up with half-blended soup all over the kitchen walls, ceiling, me, my nan and the dog.

What's your specialty?
Thai, Chinese, Italian. I like going to delicatessen's or speciality food stores and buying authentic ingredients. And yes, I make up all my sauces from scratch, unless I'm feeling really lazy.

Do you clean as you go, or do you leave all the mess for the end?
The kitchen used to look like a bomb had hit it when I'd been cooking, but I got re-trained by my first gf, and now I clean up as I go along.

Are their certain dishes you make regularly, or are you into experimentation?
I like to experiment, but the staples at the moment seem to be red prawn curry, sesame chicken and spaghetti puttanesca. I also make a pretty mean moules mariniere and an authentic 1930s style peach cobbler.

Do you like something really unusual that nobody else will eat?
Probably. I'll eat absolutely anything apart from offal and veal. I eat raw oysters on a regular basis. I quite enjoyed alligator, but it made me fart a lot afterwards.

 

[BreeCarter]

i'm fucking awesome at italian food and homemade casseroles and soups.

 

[SeaCat]

LOLOL

I kind of grew up cooking.

My father started teaching me how to cook when we were camping. Then my mother took over and gave me a tour of the kitchen. (My Brother and sister were never interested.) My mother cooks a lot of European Foods, mainly German. My father does a lot of grilling and Mexican Foods. (No not Tex-Mex but true Mexican.)

From this I started learning from people their favorite recipes, then playing with them. If it moves I can make it taste good. (Don't ask but I have been there.)

Some of my favorites? German style Rabbit with a Sour Cream and Peppercorn Sauce. Nanking style Dumplings. Vietnamese Pancakes. (Not what you think.) Marinated Pork Roasts. Grilled, smoked Beef Roast with a Crust of Cracked Pepper. Grilled Lobster. Chicken in Brie Sauce. Thai style Tigers Tears.

Oh yes I do so love food.

Oh and I clean as I go. I hate finishing a meal to turn to a pile of dishs and pots.

Cat

 

[Belegon]

I clean up as I go -- unless I know I'm gonna have a lot of help afterward. Then, I'll be benevolent & share the mess.

She likes people to do the dishes with her...

 

[carsonshepherd]

Ah, now THERE's a question!

What do you cook so well that it's won over someone from their parent/partner's cooking? or, alternately, something you'd like to cook for someone, but there's no way you're ever going to match Mom's ____________ (fill in the blank)?

I live with my brother. He and I share the unusual taste for stewed okra and tomatoes. My grandma is the guru of this dish - we grew up on it.

I made some. Brother unenthused. I went next door to Grandma and had her explain exactly how she made it. Went home, recreated it to the letter. Then added about twenty minutes to the cooking time so instead of stew, it was almost dry.

Brother pronounced it better than Grandma's.

We just had it again tonight and we fought over the last spoonful.

 

[impressive]

She likes people to do the dishes with her...

With good reason!

 

[carsonshepherd]

Cooking is very creative for some people and it's nothing but drudgery for others.
Do you like to cook, or not?

Did you learn on your own, or did you learn by watching your family in the kitchen?

What's your specialty?

Do you clean as you go, or do you leave all the mess for the end?

Are their certain dishes you make regularly, or are you into experimentation?

Do you like something really unusual that nobody else will eat?

I like to cook for someone who's appreciative. I also like to cook things just for myself, exactly the way I like them.

My family are all cooks. My dad taught my brother and I to cook in grade school so we could cook for him - things like chili and popcorn (on the stove, not microwave.) So I knew good food, but I couldn't cook until I was about twenty. I taught myself to cook from cookbooks - but the sense of flavor is inborn, I think.

I have several specialties. Okra and tomatoes. Popcorn. Had some friends over one night, popped some popcorn on the stove and they freaked. So many people have never had non-microwave popcorn. I had to give a lesson in popping corn at 2 in the morning. Tabbouleh is another. Hummus. Sweet potato fries. Chicken creole. And of course, the famous Blueberry Boy Bait. I'm not a devotee of baking, but this is worth the trouble.

I clean as I go a little bit, but mostly I make a huge mess and leave it till the next morning.

I make the same dishes if people like them. I do like to experiment, especially for someone who is an adventurous eater and will try anything.

Most people don't like okra and I'm crazy about it. I'll pretty much try anything except organ meat, and if someone cooks for me, I don't criticize. I eat it and I'm happy to get it. Food can bring people together like nothing else.

 

[English Lady]

Do you like to cook, or not?

I love to cook, especially baking. I find it relaxing (well, when I do it on my own. not so relaxing with Beth!) and I love creating something I know people will love.

Did you learn on your own, or did you learn by watching your family in the kitchen?

I learnt certain things watching my mum, my dad (the best scone baker in the world) and my Nanna. I also learned some things at school, we had home economics rooms (kitchens) and we did alsorts there. I've also taught myself many things. I love recipe books.

What's your specialty?
I don't really have specific dishes that are specialities. My mum loves the soups I make, my husband and daughter love my cinnamon buns. My Nanna is a fan of my macaroons.

Do you clean as you go, or do you leave all the mess for the end?

I clean as I go, I have too. I hate leaving my husband in the kitchen...he cooks wonderfully but he leaves all his mess and i end up cleaning it up!

Are their certain dishes you make regularly, or are you into experimentation?

I love to try out new recipies. I have a bluebook, and every now and then I look online for a recipe and I write it in my blue book, cook it, then give it a rating. If it's good I'll do it again, I'll make notes if I change things and i've found many regular dishes through doing that. I make shepherds pie, lasagne, potato hash, cornedbeef hash, chili, spaghetti bolognese and such things regularly, as my hubby and daughter love them, I do like to throw something new in every now and then though.

Do you like something really unusual that nobody else will eat?

I've thought about this, and my mums hooked me on dried figs...but no one but me and her will eat them *L* I also make a comfort food dish, which only I eat. It's pasta shapes (whatever we have) with bits of veg (oninon, mushroom, peppers) and tuna bound together with cream cheese (usually of the very low fat variety), mayonnaise (again very low fat) and a handful of grated cheese.

I don't have a recipe, I just make it, and it's like a familiar hug in a bowl. it's not pretty, it's not complex and it's not something you'll eat in a restaurant but it is tasty and I make it regularly...but only I eat it. I call it "tuna pasta gunk." *L*

 

[Saucyminx]

Ah, now THERE's a question!

What do you cook so well that it's won over someone from their parent/partner's cooking? or, alternately, something you'd like to cook for someone, but there's no way you're ever going to match Mom's ____________ (fill in the blank)?

Tee hee. I rather think that is how i got my husband in the first place. That woman couldn't cook herself out of a wet paper bag.

Just last weekend, she served this shrimp and crab casserole thing--i know better since she is queen of the cheap ingredients, but i look at my son's plate and the shrimp he is stuffing into his mouth is gray. I made him spit it out--and looked a little closer, none of it was cooked, completely raw. She got miffed and said, "but i had it in the oven for as long as the recipe said." Oh well then, never mind. Carry on.

Alas, I may never be able to eat shrimp again. Urk.

 

[deathlynx]

Do you like to cook, or not?

Sometimes I like to, although most of the time it's just drudgery...I do all of the cooking for my wife and I...

Did you learn on your own, or did you learn by watching your family in the kitchen?

Recipie books, some my wife taught me and some just seemed natural...I'm always looking for easy and interesting new stuff though...Just recently leanred to do steamed vegies for my wife's birthday...Along with Rasberry vinagrette marinated chicken
Also learned how to make Phili Cheezsteaks...

What's your specialty?

"White Trash Coo-i-sign"...Alfredo Speghetti with hot dogs

Do you clean as you go, or do you leave all the mess for the end?

For the end...sometimes too long

Are their certain dishes you make regularly, or are you into experimentation?

I get in quite a rut...a lot of hamburger helpers and Velveta Shells and cheeze...Yeah, as I said, most of the time it's drudgework...

Do you like something really unusual that nobody else will eat?

Around here? Plenty...most of my family doesn't like coconut...My wife does but there's whole bunches she doesn't eat that I do, so very seldom do I get things like steak, porkchops or lobster

 

[Elsie Grey]

Cooking is very creative for some people and it's nothing but drudgery for others.
Do you like to cook, or not?

Did you learn on your own, or did you learn by watching your family in the kitchen?

What's your specialty?

Do you clean as you go, or do you leave all the mess for the end?

Are their certain dishes you make regularly, or are you into experimentation?

Do you like something really unusual that nobody else will eat?

I only like to cook certain things. It sounds wierd I know but I will happily spend all day in the kitchen cooking for a dinner party for 10 poeple but I hate getting tea ready. I love to have parties but I guess tea is just a chore! (left to my own devices I don't eat)

I learnt by being shouted at by my mother who felt that because she hadn't learnt how to cook at home I should. A dreadful experience for both of us! Fortunately she leaves me alone now so I am slowly teaching myself.

My specialty is ravelo bombe a sponge and ice cream thign, I make the sponge and topping myself and I'm thinking about learning how to use the ice cream maker so I can make the ice cream that goes in the middle to!

I clean as I go, it annoys me when there's mess in the kitchen.

I tend to make things I already know. It's easier!

No. I'm the worlds fussiest eater!

Elsie

xxx

 

[kendo1]

I love to cook. My kids love to eat. I get a lot of enjoyment and pride from seeing my kids tuck into what I produce.
I think that from my wife's and my attitude to food our kids have a healthy respect for the food that is prepared for them. They'll eat anything within reason, and try almost anything, at least once.
We had 7 different veg with our Sunday roast. I'm a traditionalist.
Meal times make for a close family relationship, and we are a very close family.

Regular foods?
Sunday roast, Daddy's pasta sauce (tomato and herbs, etc) , Tanya's pasta sauce(carbonarra), homemade bread, savoury pancakes.

 

[CharleyH]

I learned to cook from my mother. I always used to enjoy it as a child; my mother liked experimenting and trying new things with food, and my siblings and I would sometimes be permitted (it seemed a great favor) to plan and cook a meal. I can still remember digging through cookbooks in the library, talking with my mother about what sorts of things would go well together. When I was a bit older I became a vegetarian for a period, and I learned even more, as my mother's rule was that I must eat nutritionally complete meals and I must cook anything she hadn't planned to cook for the family as a whole. It was quite enjoyable, really, spending some time together in the kitchen.

I make a good roast chicken with the full round of gravy, stuffing, etc. It's one of the few things I am vain about, as I've managed to win the SO over from the SO's own gravy and stuffing, learned from the SO's mother. I learned my own from my mother. I make a good curry and a good chili as well, but so does the SO - those are dishes we both enjoy making, tinkering, and comparing. We can get a bit competitive about who gets to use the ground beef defrosting in the fridge. One thing both of us struggle with is bread, which still seems a baffling and unpredictable mystery - but I've learned to make some excellent sticky buns.

The SO and I both enjoy experimentation. We have a cupboard overflowing with cookbooks and when time allows we both like planning meals of new and interesting foods. The SO's latest triumphs have been from an excellent book of Asian cuisine; mine were from Victorian period texts from England.

I hate cleaning, so I do it. That is, it's so depressing to face an entire kitchen completely swamped with dishes that I do clean as I go, because it's the only way I can bear it. I strongly dislike attempting to work in a cluttered kitchen, as well, so I keep the counters clear.

I love new and unusual things, so I've eaten quite a few foods that some people might balk at - snails, llama, elk, yak, raw sea urchin roe, what have you. It's a great delight to me when I can try something I've never tasted before. As far as more commonplace foods go, I'm very fond of both spinach and okra, which seems to be an uncommon preference.

Shanglan

As a person who loves cooking - yes I love to try things at least. I am not sure snails are on my unwanted list, but rabbit, deer, buffalo and goat sure are. Anything gamey is not my fave. Sea urchin and eel are okay if I must. Spinach and okra? Top lists! Thanksgiving is coming shall we have a recipe challenge?

Hm, I can think to ask you questions about certain foods, but I have not tried those myself. IE tongue and octopus. Have you?

 

[rawr_rae]

I can cook Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, lasagna, eggs, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Now is that considered fine dining?

-Rae

 

[carsonshepherd]

As a person who loves cooking - yes I love to try things at least. I am not sure snails are on my unwanted list, but rabbit, deer, buffalo and goat sure are. Anything gamey is not my fave. Sea urchin and eel are okay if I must. Spinach and okra? Top lists! Thanksgiving is coming shall we have a recipe challenge?

Hm, I can think to ask you questions about certain foods, but I have not tried those myself. IE tongue and octopus. Have you?

Tongue, no. Just can't bring myself to.
Octopus and squid, yes. If not cooked properly they taste like rubber bands.
My brother spent the day making smoked country-style ribs that would make you slap yo' mama.

 

[AchtungNight]

I live alone, so I have to cook for myself. I like to consider myself good at it. I've thought up some unique recipes in my time (most are simple, they involve putting Nature Seasoning and Cinnamon on everything).