Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

[[XAP]Bob]

I can cook, though I don't tend to. Partly because the wife does, and partly because moving pans of boiling water around when not stable on your feet is a poor risk/reward balance.

I also tend to so focussed on cooking safely that I end up not cooking everything... (typically missing veg etc)

Cooking, the art of heating up ingredients until just before the kitchen fills with smoke.

[merseymouth]

Morning, Wow, hard to remember,, as I seem to have always been involved in food preparation since very wee! Shelling peas, peeling veg, almost every chore which was needed. As a Wolf Cub I could cook a meal, badge achieved.
But trained? Naa, just picked everything up, then carried on. But the way our daughter was compelled to undergo "Domestic Science" at school enraged us?
Usual rubbish, "Make a fruit pie"! Bring tin of fruit pie filling and pack of ready made pastry!
Even when making dishes from scratch the stupid "Expert" insisted that large amounts of salt be added, even when our daughter insisted there was medical reasons to refrain from such!!!
In short the "One Size Fits All" sloppy practise system stifled proper food knowledge & skills.
Quite how she would cope these days is a serious question, that is since she discovered that a raft of medical issues had roots in a gluten intolerance. Some folk understand nut allergies, far fewer understand the issues for coeliacs!
So as I approach 73 I can say I always did food prep, could knit, darn, sew in both hand & machine form, like MickF I did "Make & Mend" navy style from a very early age. I'm either a sew & sew or a so & so! MM

[Pendodave]

I'm also a big fan of a gas hob. Too old to change unless forced to.
Favourite cookbooks - Simon hopkinson's "roast chicken and other stories" and the various Italian cookbooks of Marcella Hazan.

[al_yrpal]

Emphatically - 'yes' - and I hope this doesn't sound like a boast. I suppose I learnt in my student days - once I discovered there was a better alternative to Vesta curries. This was to question a Pakistani fellow student about - yes! - how to make a decent curry. He duly provided me with a detailed recipe (which we still use, albeit minus the meat) and pointed out Asian shops where I could get the various spices.

It's quite possible that lots of people start off with a curry. It's the obvious thing that young folks want to learn about.

I think there are a few basics you need to master. One is chopping onions: not entirely intuitive and the cause of many sliced fingers! Another is making an omelette: I do a passable omelette but it'd never satisfy the likes of Masterchef or Michel Roux ... no matter, we like it! And thirdly, cooking rice without it congealing into a gooey mess (note: this does not apply to risotto or sushi rice which are meant to be sticky).

Next: I'm fully aware that this is not the right solution to the Climate crisis, but we much prefer cooking on our gas hob. Electric 'simmerstat' type hobs won't produce anything like as good a result, especially with something like Béchamel (white sauce). [did I mention Béchamel as another skill a budding Masterchef needs to master? Quite difficult].

Induction hob? Never tried one - would welcome comments since we may invest in one if the gas one needs changing out.

I'm much impressed with Al's comprehensive list (you could open a restaurant with that lot Al!) - and a surprising amount of overlap with our own recipe list - especially seeing as ours is meat-free.

Pete, go for an induction hob, you will never look back! So fast to boil, fantastically controlable. In our last house 1 year ago we bought an AEG one, it was wonderful. Got an AGA now It works but v expensive to run. However it does seem to keep the whole house warm. Havent used the CH yet...

Al

[Oldjohnw]

10 years ago we moved to a house with an AEG induction hob. After a lifetime of gas hobs I struggled. New pans or change the hob?

We decided to keep the hob, which was an integral part of the kitchen, and get pans. Cost wise, there wasn’t a huge difference. Have never looked back. Way more controllable than gas, clean, efficient, and quicker than a microwave.

So absolutely in our new kitchen. We use Le Creuset pans and they work a dream on the kind of cooking we do.

[axel_knutt]

My mother left us when I was 10, so after that I was brought up on 1970s tinned food mainly. I don't like cookery, and find it stressful, so after my father died I tended to continue in a similar vein. I switched to more scratch cooking and less processed about 5 years ago, but I prefer the sort of stuff you can chuck in the pan and leave rather than the stuff you have to constantly tend and fuss over. My menu is now about 74% home cooked:

Home cooked
1. Aubergine one pot
2. Aubergine tray bake
3. Beef burgers
4. Biryani
5. Braised liver
6. Chicken & spice rub
7. Chicken madras
8. Chicken Provencal
9. Chilli con carne
10. Cottage pie
11. Cous cous chicken
12. Dhal
13. Fish & spice rub
14. Fish in cheese
15. Fish madras
16. Fish Provencal
17. Grilled liver
18. Jambalaya
19. Mediterranean roast veg
20. Monday pie
21. Moroccan spiced fish
22. Paella
23. Roast beef
24. Roast chicken
25. Salmon pasta
26. Smoked paprika chicken
27. Spaghetti Bolognese
28. Stew
29. Stir fry
30. Stuffed peppers
31. Tagine
32. Veg madras

Processed
33. Cauli-cheese burger
34. Chicken & mushroom casserole
35. Courgette fritters
36. Fish cakes
37. Fish in batter
38. Fish fingers
39. Mex burger
40. Pasty
41. Pizza
42. Quiche
43. Sausages

[Vorpal]

Next: I'm fully aware that this is not the right solution to the Climate crisis, but we much prefer cooking on our gas hob. Electric 'simmerstat' type hobs won't produce anything like as good a result, especially with something like Béchamel (white sauce). [did I mention Béchamel as another skill a budding Masterchef needs to master? Quite difficult].

Induction hob? Never tried one - would welcome comments since we may invest in one if the gas one needs changing out.

I'm much impressed with Al's comprehensive list (you could open a restaurant with that lot Al!) - and a surprising amount of overlap with our own recipe list - especially seeing as ours is meat-free.

Well.... I've cooked on gas most of my life, until I moved to Norway. The house we bought here had an induction hob, but it was horrid. A couple of the burners worked inconsistently, and one of them heated unevenly. The surface was extremely sensitive to spills and splashes. I really didn't like it at all. We replaced it, and I thought about trying to get gas, but the regulations are *extremely* strict in Norway. The cost was prohibitive. So we did loads of research trying to figure out what to replace it with, and ended up with a S.m.e.g. induction cooker top (sorry about the punctuation. The software thinks it's a naughty word )

I like it for most things, so from that perspective I'd say it was a success. If it's a test, I can make a good Béchamel sauce on it. The one thing that it does not do well is wok cooking, even though I bought a wok made for an induction cooker. Stir fired vegetables come out ok, but it's really hard to get the exact sort of seared on the outside, crispy on the inside that I like without limiting how much I put in the wok to about 1 or 1-1/2 portions. Fried rice either sticks to the bottom or comes out porridgey. I've tried various things, including using teflon frying pans, iron skillets, and a pan that is sort of in between wok & skillet, and none are quite right. I had the most success using the wok on the grill, but we don't have a gas grill, so maintaining temperature is difficult. A colleague recommended an electric wok, so I am thinking of asking for one for Christmas.

[Pendodave]

Next: I'm fully aware that this is not the right solution to the Climate crisis, but we much prefer cooking on our gas hob. Electric 'simmerstat' type hobs won't produce anything like as good a result, especially with something like Béchamel (white sauce). [did I mention Béchamel as another skill a budding Masterchef needs to master? Quite difficult].

Induction hob? Never tried one - would welcome comments since we may invest in one if the gas one needs changing out.

I'm much impressed with Al's comprehensive list (you could open a restaurant with that lot Al!) - and a surprising amount of overlap with our own recipe list - especially seeing as ours is meat-free.

Well.... I've cooked on gas most of my life, until I moved to Norway. The house we bought here had an induction hob, but it was horrid. A couple of the burners worked inconsistently, and one of them heated unevenly. The surface was extremely sensitive to spills and splashes. I really didn't like it at all. We replaced it, and I thought about trying to get gas, but the regulations are *extremely* strict in Norway. The cost was prohibitive. So we did loads of research trying to figure out what to replace it with, and ended up with a S.m.e.g. induction cooker top (sorry about the punctuation. The software thinks it's a naughty word )

I like it for most things, so from that perspective I'd say it was a success. If it's a test, I can make a good Béchamel sauce on it. The one thing that it does not do well is wok cooking, even though I bought a wok made for an induction cooker. Stir fired vegetables come out ok, but it's really hard to get the exact sort of seared on the outside, crispy on the inside that I like without limiting how much I put in the wok to about 1 or 1-1/2 portions. Fried rice either sticks to the bottom or comes out porridgey. I've tried various things, including using teflon frying pans, iron skillets, and a pan that is sort of in between wok & skillet, and none are quite right. I had the most success using the wok on the grill, but we don't have a gas grill, so maintaining temperature is difficult. A colleague recommended an electric wok, so I am thinking of asking for one for Christmas.

Could you rig up something using camping gas or similar? I'm convinced my primus gas stove has enough juice for a wok...

[al_yrpal]

I have an induction wok too I agree its not brilliant. But..you can buy thin steel flat bottomed woks. https://www.thai-food-online.co.uk/prod ... IkQAvD_BwE

I think that will solve your wok problem.

Al

[Oldjohnw]

Remember and beware: wok is just an e short of woke.

[Hellhound]

I learned to cook typical 'British' fayre from my gran in the 1970s.I left home at 16 so cooking for myself became a must.I then learned a more varied range from the (many) different girlfriends over the next 10 or so years.From then it just became a 'that looks nice I'll try to cook it' and trial and error.I still try new things now and have been converting my wife to a more varied diet for the last 24 years or so.She was a microwave meal post-graduate when we met.
I enjoy the cooking almost as much as I enjoy eating the eating

[pwa]

I started cooking when I went to Uni at the age of 18. Looking back, I was quite adventurous for a newbie. I remember doing lots of things in a pressure cooker, including rabbit stew that involved skinning and butchering a whole rabbit bought from a local shop. My flat mates shared cooking duties with me and we had an informal competition to come up with something different once in a while. I have always hated following recipes so most of my dishes involve some element of stir fry, some ending up as curries and others as simple stir fries or pasta sauces. Bangers and mash with some side veg is also a favourite. I'll do a lasagne if I can be bothered. All veggie these days. We use a lot of fresh raw ingredients.

[Paulatic]

My mother ensured I learnt to cook from an early age. From the age of 16 it became an essential skill or i'd have gone hungry.
When we married I had to teach Mrs P a lot as she only knew what she had learned in Home Economics. It was a shared responsibility feeding the kids but on retirement I must do about 90% of cooking and baking. I rarely follow recipes to the letter only using them for ideas. I would say Cranks had the biggest influence on me and always held a dream of opening a whole food cafe. Still wish I’d took the plunge.
Spent last night with BiL who lost his wife four years ago. She did all the cooking and when she knew she was dying tried to teach him. He does try very hard and gets full marks for effort but it’s a painful process to watch weighing everything even down to a few grams of herbs or spices and executing every stage individually and in order.

[661-Pete]

Bangers and mash with some side veg is also a favourite.

By odd coincidence that's just what we had last night. But before I'm accused of reneging on my meat-free habits, I should explain that the 'bangers' were neither of meat nor veggie lookalikes. They're 'Glamorgan Sausages', one of my specialities. Good honest down-to-earth fare, first devised in the Welsh Valleys I think.

OK for vegetarians but not vegans I'm afraid, they have cheese, egg and butter in them...

[Mike Sales]

I can't really remember learning, but by the time I left school I knew enough to pass as a cook in a transport caff.
I find it hard to imagine how someone can not know how to do that sort of basic cooking. After all, you must have an idea of how you like it to appear on your plate.