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Do you know how to cook?
- Thread starter Vince S.
- Start date
Cooking is a lot like bass playing (or playing any instrument, really).
Reading/studying might help you learn to do things. Getting schooled might help you acquire some impressive technique. But even the fanciest chef with expensive utensils and appliances, the flashiest technique, and specialty expertise in a particular cuisine might not be able to produce a meal that doesn't make the average person want to vomit or at least dump their plate into the trash bin. But then there are those cooks who prepare food with the most basic ingredients, don't follow any written recipes, don't use measuring cups/spoons, use beat-up stoves and ancient iron griddles, and still produce the most amazing and satisfying homestyle feasts imaginable. Just like a good thing for an instrumentalist to have is a good ear with the ability to listen to and analyze sounds, a good thing for a cook to have is a palate that's familiar with how things taste and what makes them taste that way. When you've acquired at least a basic sense of this, and you cook from the heart and not so much from the mind, you can come up with amazing things that keep people coming back for more, not because they are impressed by your cookware, dexterous flashy technique with knives and spatulas, or precision in the kitchen, but because your food tastes so damn good.
I recommend learning a little basic technique, and becoming familiar with how certain seasonings and ingredients taste and how they effect the dish overall and interact with one another, even it's by lots of trial and error. Learn what makes the foods you really love taste the way they do. Find their recipes, which will often be so simple it will shock you. They will often provide many clues as to what can make things taste certain ways. You don't need to memorize them, or learn complex recipes or techniques. Just get your bearings with simple stuff, and then go from there and follow your heart. And most of all, have FUN!!
Reading/studying might help you learn to do things. Getting schooled might help you acquire some impressive technique. But even the fanciest chef with expensive utensils and appliances, the flashiest technique, and specialty expertise in a particular cuisine might not be able to produce a meal that doesn't make the average person want to vomit or at least dump their plate into the trash bin. But then there are those cooks who prepare food with the most basic ingredients, don't follow any written recipes, don't use measuring cups/spoons, use beat-up stoves and ancient iron griddles, and still produce the most amazing and satisfying homestyle feasts imaginable. Just like a good thing for an instrumentalist to have is a good ear with the ability to listen to and analyze sounds, a good thing for a cook to have is a palate that's familiar with how things taste and what makes them taste that way. When you've acquired at least a basic sense of this, and you cook from the heart and not so much from the mind, you can come up with amazing things that keep people coming back for more, not because they are impressed by your cookware, dexterous flashy technique with knives and spatulas, or precision in the kitchen, but because your food tastes so damn good.
I recommend learning a little basic technique, and becoming familiar with how certain seasonings and ingredients taste and how they effect the dish overall and interact with one another, even it's by lots of trial and error. Learn what makes the foods you really love taste the way they do. Find their recipes, which will often be so simple it will shock you. They will often provide many clues as to what can make things taste certain ways. You don't need to memorize them, or learn complex recipes or techniques. Just get your bearings with simple stuff, and then go from there and follow your heart. And most of all, have FUN!!
Did you know that they have a mix for roux now? A *mix*!!!! For roux!!!! Good grief. I guess people just don't want to stand there and stir and watch it for color, but...a MIX!?!?
Roux is as easy as falling off a log. So is burning a roux. So...all one has to do is watch and stir, watch and stir, until its the right color, then take it off the heat so it doesn't scorch before you add whatever else.
If I'm making a roux, I don't answer the phone or respond to "c'mere". Unless the house is burning down or someone needs an ambulance, I don't take one step away from that stove until my roux is a dark golden brown.
Cherie
A roux is already a mix, how can you make a mix for something that's a simple mix? That's mixed up!
And +1 on not answering anything...stand and stir, stand and stir...
So, once a chef has created a recipe, and people flock to his restaurant for said recipe, he's no longer a cook. That's the logical conclusion of your statement.
Not everyone who cooks is a chef, nor should they be. But to demean one's ability based on the fact that they follow a proven recipe is nothing but snobbery.
Yep, I've been a professional cook for two years-ish.
Thank God college got in the way of that, stressful business indeed.
Fantastic people, kitchen workers.
Thank God college got in the way of that, stressful business indeed.
Fantastic people, kitchen workers.
Not sure if I follow your first point...
Sorry if I sounded snobbish, but the "if you can read you can cook" comment kinda ticked me off (I know you didn't say it, OctoberMooN).
To he who did: have you ever actually followed a recipe? If you come across an instruction such as "julienne a carrot" or "zest a lime" would you know what to do? Didn't think so.
On-topic: I like cooking a lot although I don't always have much time to do it. My favorite things to make usually involve pasta to some extent. Baking's great too, although it's challenging with my lactose intolerance to find good substitutes for milk, butter, cream, etc.
I was merely pointing out that when a chef has created a recipe it's then followed by those under his supervision (kitchen staff). Now if that recipe is successful and people patronize his or her restaurant because they want that dish he has somehow moved away from being a "good cook".
I don't disagree that experimentation with a recipe or your own "creation" is a bad thing. What I take issue with this the idea that just because someone if following a proven recipe, that makes him or her a bad cook or not a cook at all.
So, he couldn't look up those techniques? C'mon. He didn't say that. That's how you interpreted his post.
That is my issue - if I'm not really careful I have a tendency to either over or under burn it.
i love cooking. learned from my pop, make up a lot as i go but i have a knack for it. its probably one of the very few things i can do that calms my nerves, refines my focus, and the product is its own reward (hmm, a lot like playing the bass). in my opinion, there's not much in life that's better than throwing on a good record and cooking all afternoon.
I love cooking cause it brings people together and conveys emotions without words having to be spoken. It's also a skill I can take anywhere with me.
Not to be a smarta$$ but...when I read a book, any book, and I come across a term that I don't understand or have no knowledge of I look it up in a dictionary. I guess not all of us are born with that innate ability to know how to do everything.
And not knowing how to 'julienne' a carrot or 'zest' a lime doesn't mean someone can't do it...if they can read, they can find out.
I am no chef, but I DO enjoy cooking. I can hold my own on a few particular dishes, and like to experiment. I do think I'd make a much better short-order cook than a chef tho....what with the kids and their less than demanding palettes... hahahaha.
It's a struggle to find that balance of nutritious and easy tho.
It's a struggle to find that balance of nutritious and easy tho.
I'm confused as well. It would seem that you've greatly altered your initial post.
In any case. My main point about snobbery and successful recipes still stands.
