Do you cook?

I don't mean that coolass guitar rip you've memorized; kitchen duty.

As a kid I could do whatever I wanted provided the kitchen was in the same shape when I left as when I got there. When my son was three or four, we would pull out the bottom three drawers of the five below the counter so he could use it like steps to stand at the counter and butcher a carrot or two. Grandma saw tha once and did an about face, she knows how sharp my Sabatier paring knife is. I wanted him to learn the joy of creating something, working with others and that there are no "boy jobs" and "girl jobs".

Ian's fiance's Dad knows that beer is in the big white box in that room, but other than that has no idea what happens in a kitchen. The meals are always meat - potato- veggie; meat very well done, veggies soggy. I see Kim's challenge.

Kim called Ian and said let me know when you leave work, I'm making dinner.

He has one of those 12" ceramic thingies with a heating element to BarB-Que indoors.

He got home and the apartment was full of smoke, the smoke detectors were off the ceiling, the poor chicken was black on one side, raw on the other and in the sink.

She's pissed, want to return the stupid thing, it's broke!

So.

Do you cook?

Why?

Why not?

Dan

In reply to 914Driver:

Love cooking, always have. Since I work from home, I do most of it. My wife and I end our workdays at roughly the same time, but I don't have to drive home afterwards.

Baking, on the other hand eludes me. But not due to lack of trying. I can make cookies from scratch. Or cakes/brownies from a box. But that's about as far as it goes. So my wife does the breads/pies/etc.

I love to cook - its a great creative outlet and oftentimes its the only way I'm getting to try something new I want because my wife, who I love dearly, (a) isn't the best cook and (b) isn't an adventurous eater. Now, I'm not the best cook either but I can follow a recipe and have developed a pretty good set of very basic techniques. If I had more time I'd devote some of it to new skills and new recipes but for now I stick with what works.

Bring back the" easy recipes to impress a date" thread from a while ago! I never got around to trying some of those that sounded really interesting.

I have one of those indoor grill things; never even considered using it indoors, though. As you found out, it creates a bit of smoke. Back porch only.

I love to cook. Last night I made a crockpot of Brunswick stew that tastes so good it'll make you slap your granny! That, a pot of turnip greens and a pan of cornbread.

If that ain't country, I'll kiss your...

Yes, my mom tried to at least restrict how much sweets I ate by making a rule that if my brother or I wanted cake or cookies, we'd have to bake them ourselves. Naturally, we got pretty good at it. Learned how to cook most other things after moving out and living on my own for a while.

I have been cooking since I was about 11 or 12, I mean full meals. When I was a kid if I did not like what my mom was making she would say well fine if you don't like it you can cook your own dinner. So I did. Eventually I got to be the best cook in my family.

Normally once I cook for a girl friend she never cooks for me again. I do everything from steaks and burgers to thai, sushi, italian, german and mexican food. I will go in the kitchen see what I have and just make something up.

The other night I had some burger in the freezer, some baguettes and cheese. I crumbled up the burger, diced up onion,garlic and some peppers, added a little seasoning salt, sweet basil and paprika, then a bit of basalmic vinegar and worcestershire sauce and let that all cook down. Gutted the bagguetes spooned in the meat mix, covered with a couple kinds of cheese and stuck it in the oven for a bit. Tasted damn good.

One of my most requested meals is a very basic and simple beef stew. Take a lean steak cut it into thin strips. Put a little oil in the bottom of your pot toss in the steak and cook until browned, now add sweet onion cut in long thin slices as well, cubed potatoes (I like yellows and reds mixed, skin on), allow that to cook for a bit. Add about 2-3 cups of water not quite enough to cover everything. Then add soy sauce, brown sugar and sake. Allow to cook for about 45 minutes or until potatoes have softened and absorbed some the broth.

My wife refers to the stove as "that hot thing" so yeah, I cook. Spent enough time single and enjoy eating too much to not learn. I actually enjoy it alot and it lets me make things to my taste.

Spreaking of hot things, I keep a large selection of hot pepper sauces and horseradish in the fridge at all times.

I also keep a large bottle of Tums in the house..

I don't mind cooking at all!! I like to try new things and I like to mix and match ingredients into tasty and different combinations. Only problem is that its so darn convenient to eat what someone else has cooked or what you can pick up through takeout or drive through!!

No favorite dish for me really, I'm not too picky of an eater and am pretty resourceful with ingredients! Just got some talapia fillets, and suggestions for simple tasty recipes?

I always wanted to try my hand at cooking. About a year and a half ago my wife asked if I'd agree to cook once a week for her. So I elected Sundays as my day to cook dinner. She seriously expected me to rotate between, grilled-cheese sammiches, hot dogs, and omelets. To date, I've not made one of those. I take it seriously (hey, if she sets her sights higher than hot dogs for the family, how could I NOT do that?) I even developed my own recipe box now, and she raids that to make things. Here's a few of the things I've made:
Candied Chicken Boobs (Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and pineapple)
Cheesy potato soup for those cold winter or autumn days
Honey and Garlic glazed meatballs
DrBoosts amazing burgers (seriously, the best I've had, never even put anything on them)
Chocolate chip banana bread
and some really good mashed potatoes with garlic, corn, Jalapeno peppers and cheddar cheese

My wife is happy with the arrangement and I like it too. My kids will help every now and then, in fact, I found that when my 7-year old boy (the picky eater) helps make dinner, he eats it gladly.

NYG95GA wrote: If that ain't country, I'll kiss your...

so are you a David Allen Coe fan ?

I don't think you all will call me a cook... I'm pretty good at PB&J and I don't do too badly at mac & cheese...

I CAN cook, but I choose not to. *

*except when my wife MAKES me

Way back in the day 1981 in cooking school met wife Marie , we went on to different restaraunts cooking , before starting the tint and signs and salvage deal . We also cooked on the nascar circuit for encks catering in the garage feeding about 300 racers and crews at every race for a couple of years . Now its mostly for our selves but any parties we sure don't mind putting on the apron . Favorite right now are salads and blackened chix or fish . But we kill alot of hogs and deer at the hunting camp so the pork loin is a staple .Ms. piggy

wbjones wrote:

NYG95GA wrote: If that ain't country, I'll kiss your...

so are you a David Allen Coe fan ?

Yes and no. I had the oppurtunity to meet him, and it turns out he's pretty much a Bob Costas. But some of his songs make me want to move my feet.

I'll bet he can't cook, though

Looking at that hog on the grill made me think of my IMSA days. I, too, cooked at the 24, but all the guys got were dogs and burgers. They were happy as could be. Maybe it was the price- free. They were good enough that I got invites from several other teams to cook for them.

I love to cook -- and indeed we belong to an "alpha-gourmet" club with two other couples. We started with A -- Argentina, and have moved on through F. The host couple does the main course, while the other two couples provide appetizers and dessert.

Here's the blog:

alphagourmet.blogspot.com

Rob

The wife is down with a broken leg so I have been cooking for the last week and a half. I have fixed everything from medium rare roast beef to fondue to grilled pork chops plus all the veggies and potatoes or rice. So yeah I can cook, but usually don't. The wife is a stay at home other than doing mobile notary jobs. Dinner is usually started before I get home. I usually handle all the grill work on the weekends.

I love cooking. I really enjoy coming up with things without a recipe. Usually I'm better when I'm fairly limited. I like to cruise the kitchen, see what there is and come up with an interesting way to prepare it. Or, I like going to a store or farmers' market and having something catch my eye. Then I'll come up with my own recipe based around that.

For some reason, I do really well with "fancier" cooking, but have managed to completely butcher a beef stew.

Similarly, I also love coming up with my own mixed drinks. Just getting a sense of what I have and what I can combine in a new and interesting way.

Of course. I love to eat, I consider myself fairly creative, I like things to be the way I like them, and I'm cheap. More than that, though, I grew up in a household where cooking was revered as not only a skill, but also as a true benchmark of talent, never mind an essential path to a happy home and life. I'm not talking that women-have-to-be-barefoot-and-pregnant-in-the-kitchen stuff (matter of fact, my three brothers are all excellent and involved cooks), but more the way that a meal prepared and enjoyed together highlights all aspects of family life. It's probably telling that the "heirlooms" I treasure most from my folks are their canisters, and their cast iron pots and pans.

I just had an old friend and her family visit for the weekend, actually, and we spent the time in the kitchen or on the porch cooking, eating, grilling and drinking. She had just returned from living in Barcelona and for dinner last night she made horchata for us, which we had with some grilled curried pork, roasted potatoes, and a fruit salad dressed with a blend of honey, fresh-squeezed lemon and orange juices, clementine marmalade and some fresh mint. All of which we came up with as we all talked and nibbled and told stories. Come to think of it, I don't believe we sat in the living room once. That's why I cook.

Margie

I make hashbrowns. And bread. My bread is pretty good.

Pretty much limited to grilling myself.... outside.

I can boil noodle's, etc....but not much else. My wife is the creative one in the kitchen. hence, I'm remodeling it for her right now. took it all out, threw it away, replacing it all.

New floors, walls, cabinets, lights, windows, and floor. All our appliances are newer and higher end, so those are staying.

Dr. Hess wrote: I make hashbrowns. And bread. My bread is pretty good.

Your bread is very good!

Margie

procker wrote: No favorite dish for me really, I'm not too picky of an eater and am pretty resourceful with ingredients! Just got some talapia fillets, and suggestions for simple tasty recipes?

I have a Pineapple Salsa for tilapia

2cups cubed fresh pineapple 2 green onions chopped ¼ cup finely chopped green pepper ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro 4 tsp and 2 Tbsp lime juice (divided) 1/8 tsp and ¼ tsp salt (divided) Cayenne pepper (to taste) 1 Tbsp Olive oil Pepper (to taste)

Combine pineapple, onions, green pepper, cilantro, 4tsp lime juice, 1/8 tsp salt, and cayenne. Chill.

Combine oil and remaining lime juice, brush over fish. Sprinkle with pepper and remaining salt. Grill 3-4 min a side. Serve with salsa.

I also have a general dry rub (works great with fish grilled on cedar planks)

2Tbsp kosher or coarse salt 2Tbsp brown sugar 1Tbsp black pepper 1Tbsp garlic powder 1Tbsp basil 1Tbsp paprika 1Tbsp Tarragon

What Margie said...

My mother who was a stay at home Mom and raised 7 kids, always said that anyone can be a Gormet. Put it out there for 9 people 3 times a day, seven days a week on a budget, NOW you're a cook!

I'm surprised at the responses here also.

Dan

914Driver wrote: I'm surprised at the responses here also.

How so?

Seems reasonable that a bunch of people who pride themselves on being DIYers on a budget would take to cooking.