Who likes cooking?

[Gryffindorian]

I am by no means a culinary expert, but my philosophy is that if you can boil water, you can cook. My parents and my eldest sister are the real cooks in the family. Their expertise is more towards Asian/Filipino foods.

As for me, I've done my share of cooking, but it's really basic stuff. My specialty used to be Tuna Helper pasta (which I haven't done in ages). My favorite dish to cook is ground beef with potatoes; it's really simple and tasty at the same time.

I have a subscription to Food Network Magazine, but I confess I'm almost intimidated by the recipes I read in there. I mean, who's got 12 hours to prepare a certain baked dessert or even a casserole? And I don't even know where to get some of the ingredients and the 5,000 varieties of cream, butter, and cheese. I figure if I want to eat lasagna, then off to Macaroni Grill I go, or if I get a hankering for a cheesecake, I'll hit the supermarket.

Do you like to cook (or bake or roast)? Do you have a specialty dish? What say you?

 

[JoeZhang]

I love cooking, By and large if I can't make it and don't know what is in it, I don't eat it*

* which doesn't apply to fine dining, I would rather go out then try to beat a pro at home.

As for stables, I have things I make over and over such as squid stew or perking king ribs but in the week I tend to two things that last two nights if that makes sense.

 

[B.J.]

I am by no means a culinary expert, but my philosophy is that if you can boil water, you can cook.

My wife says I can burn water.

 

[propita]

There are far simpler cookbooks with great recipes. America's Test Kitchen has interesting stuff, though sometimes it's more labor-intensive than I'm willing to do.

I have a very simple roast chicken recipe that Hubby loves, since it makes crispy skin, his favorite part. Eat the dark meat for dinner and make chicken salad of the white meat. Oh, and it takes about 1 1/2 hours to cook it. Not bad.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I'm not sure I have a specialty dish, Gryffindorian, but I do enjoy cooking. Some of my favorite dishes to make come from "Healthy Crockery Cookery." If you have a slow cooker, you can make some really good dishes, including porcupine meatballs.

 

[Pingfah]

There are levels of proficiency of course, but anybody can learn basic cooking, anybody at all.

If you say you can't then you're just not trying.

 

[bbailey861]

The wife and I both love to cook. Hooked on Food Network, we also subscribe to Food Network Magazine and try to do at least one thing out of each magazine. Oftentimes it is more than one. You can often replace ingredients within a recipe if something isn't available locally.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^Then again, there is my aunt, Pingfah. My aunt screws up Hamburger Helper. I figured out partly how she screws it up. She doesn't season the meat while she's browning it.

I've found some of one's best friends in the kitchen are garlic salt, onion powder and a bottle of cheap red wine.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I love cooking (and eating). Don't have a favourite dish or recipe, though. It always depends on my mood.
I love trying out ancient recipes (quite a lot of the stuff from Apicius Roman recipe book is pretty good) or to modify classical ones. For the last months I've been working on perfectioning my Lemon Velvet recipe. I want something lighter and fluffier and much less sweet than the traditional one.
When I cook, I usually just have a look at what I've got, what urgently needs to be used up or what is currently cheap at the market or in the stores. Then I figure out what fits together and make something from it.
In my experience good cooking is not half as complicated as many famous chefs want us to believe. If you use fresh ingredients of a good quality and don't exaggerate with the seasoning there is not much you can do wrong.

 

[horatio83]

I agree. Fresh and good stuff matters more than complicated recipes. Talking about fresh stuff, I need to go pick some bear garlic in the woods over the weekend. It tastes like garlic but you only smell from your mouth and you can use it e.g. for a soup or for risotto or make pesto out of it.

 

[Kelthaz]

I enjoy cooking, but it takes too long. There's so many other things that I'd rather do with my time then mess around in the kitchen. However, I don't want to live off frozen foods, so I tend to make a lot of one dish meals such as lasangas and stews to minimize my time investment per meal.

 

[Oerdin]

I am by no means a culinary expert, but my philosophy is that if you can boil water, you can cook. My parents and my eldest sister are the real cooks in the family. Their expertise is more towards Asian/Filipino foods.

As for me, I've done my share of cooking, but it's really basic stuff. My specialty used to be Tuna Helper pasta (which I haven't done in ages). My favorite dish to cook is ground beef with potatoes; it's really simple and tasty at the same time.

I have a subscription to Food Network Magazine, but I confess I'm almost intimidated by the recipes I read in there. I mean, who's got 12 hours to prepare a certain baked dessert or even a casserole? And I don't even know where to get some of the ingredients and the 5,000 varieties of cream, butter, and cheese. I figure if I want to eat lasagna, then off to Macaroni Grill I go, or if I get a hankering for a cheesecake, I'll hit the supermarket.

Do you like to cook (or bake or roast)? Do you have a specialty dish? What say you?

Why not take a class if the subject interests you? There are often restaurants which do once a month cooking classes as a way to get people into the door and help educate people about how easy cooking can be. It seems a bit counter intuitive, I mean the restaurant is trying to sell food and if people cooked their own then there would be less business, but it actually turns out that it builds customer loyalty plus the restaurant makes a few bucks charging a fee for the class.

 

[Emher]

I do like to cook, rarely have the time or the energy to do so these days though. Did do hamburgers from homeground beef yesterday, with homemade buns and they turned out really great (this is way harder then it sounds to get right btw).

As for specialty dish, mine would probably be Penne pasta with sauteed aspargus, peppers, walnuts and garlic. hat one has a lot of stuff and some preparations in it, but I know the proportions and preparations by heart by now.

 

[Sigokat]

I make a killer pecan pie. Got the recipe from an old cookbook called someting like "Cook like a peasant, eat like a king"

I haven't mastered making my own pie crusts yet, but I have a recipe book from my late Grandmother that has a recipe for crusts in it that I'll probably attempt when I return from deployment. (Will have frozen crusts on hand in the freezer just in case it doesn't work out!

 

[Kestra]

I make a killer pecan pie. Got the recipe from an old cookbook called someting like "Cook like a peasant, eat like a king"

I haven't mastered making my own pie crusts yet, but I have a recipe book from my late Grandmother that has a recipe for crusts in it that I'll probably attempt when I return from deployment. (Will have frozen crusts on hand in the freezer just in case it doesn't work out!

Interested in sharing the recipe? I don't like pecan pie myself, but it's always a family request at Thanksgiving!

I usually enjoy cooking, especially for others. It's a great creative outlet.

 

[Sigokat]

I make a killer pecan pie. Got the recipe from an old cookbook called someting like "Cook like a peasant, eat like a king"

I haven't mastered making my own pie crusts yet, but I have a recipe book from my late Grandmother that has a recipe for crusts in it that I'll probably attempt when I return from deployment. (Will have frozen crusts on hand in the freezer just in case it doesn't work out!

Interested in sharing the recipe? I don't like pecan pie myself, but it's always a family request at Thanksgiving!

I usually enjoy cooking, especially for others. It's a great creative outlet.

I totally would, but I'm currently deployed to Afghanistan so I have no way to get to the recipe.

If you can find a good recipe I would recommend trying to get fresh pecans if you can, it makes the pie so much better. I'm fortunate to have 3 large pecan trees in my backyard, so after I fight the squirrels and gather what I can, I use those in the recipe.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Sigokat, what kind of pie shell recipe were you looking for? For sweet or savory pies? I have recipes for both.

Kestra, Amazon has the recipe book Sigokat quoted as source for the pecan pie recipe: http://www.amazon.com/Cook-like-peasant-eat-king/dp/0695805924

 

[Sector 7]

I am by no means a culinary expert, but my philosophy is that if you can boil water, you can cook.

My wife says I can burn water.

My ex, almost literally, burned water. Ruined my best cast aluminum pan by leaving the heat on high for hours... the bottom melted to the burner!

I love to cook. When I was a kid, Mom made a baked Reuben sandwich from a recipe she found. It was my birthday. From that day on, I wanted a Reuben instead of a birthday cake every year. It is a very easy recipe, for those who like a Reuben sandwich. You can vary the meats and/or cheeses for variety.

Those of you who cook from scratch can sneer or do it your way. I know the recipe by heart, so here:

Baked Reuben Sandwich

1 pound Corned beef, or my favorite, Black Forest Ham
1/2 pound Swiss cheese, aged or smoked Cheddar makes for a tasty twist
1 can Sauerkraut
1 teaspoon dry hot mustard
seasoning to taste
1 package (makes 1 loaf) bread mix, I prefer Fleischmann's Italian Herb
either deep dish pie pan or 9"x9" square casserole dish, I can also stretch it to a 9"x13" casserole dish, too

-Prepare bread mix according to directions. Separate into two halves. Let rise.
-While dough rises, squeeze all liquid from sauerkraut
-Mix dry hot mustard and seasoning into sauerkraut thoroughly
-Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray
-Spread with 1/2 bread loaf to coat pan evenly
-Pre-bake bottom loaf, 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes
-Remove from oven
-Spread sauerkraut mixture over pre-baked bread
-Layer meat then top with cheese
-Finally, CAREFULLY spread other 1/2 of bread dough on top
- I like to sprinkle paprika on top for that professional look
- Bake in 350 degree oven according to bread directions
- Remove, let cool, slice and Voila! you have ready made Reuben sandwiches.

I often need to make a double or triple batch when friends, kids and grandchildren are over... it goes fast!

 

[TorontoTrekker]

I am by no means a culinary expert, but my philosophy is that if you can boil water, you can cook.

My wife says I can burn water.

My ex-husband used to say that about me. Wouldn't let me into the kitchen.

Since I bought my condo last year, and I now have a decent-sized kitchen, I've been making a lot more interesting meals. Mostly, I've been making Thai and Indian food - I decided last year that I wanted to expand my palate. I've never been able to tolerate spicy food, so I'm not making anything terribly hot, but I've been making butter chicken, korma masala, biryani, mango chicken, Pad Thai and peanut satay chicken on a regular basis. Last week, I made a Mongolian-style stir fry which was quite good, if I say so myself.

I was thinking about trying to make lasagna a week or two ago, but it seems like an awful lot of work to do it from scratch. I'm not convinced that I really want it that badly (though it's one of my favourite meals, buying a frozen lasagna is probably easier ).

 

[dragunzng]

I quite enjoy cooking. I didn't do it much because I don't like doing alone (leftovers, lonely cleanup), but my girlfriend moved in a few months ago and I cooking dinner most week nights and breakfast on Saturday's and Sunday's (it helps I work from home). I'm not a gourmet or anything, I just like to experiment, and she supports me, even when it goes wrong

I made lovely (if I do say so myself) dish last night as a matter of fact. Couscous with olives and feta, a side of spicy baked black pepper chicken, and an orange and apricot reduction sauce drizzled on top. Went over quite well!