Everyone can cook...?

[SixSix210]

It drives me nuts when people say that. It's one of the phrases that drives my youtube video series. You can drag anyone into the kitchen, and at the bare minimum get em to boil some water. Once they do this, just make em understand that now, they can poach, braise, boil, steam, par-boil, simmer :gasp: they are cooking. Takes no effort or time at all to make one small leap after another and get to some fancy cooking. from boiling a pot of water. if you can boil water, you can make pasta. If you can make pasta, you can make veggies. If you can make veggies, you can... get it? Cooking is alot like math. There are only so many things you need to know how to do to form a solid foundation (add, subtract, multiply, divide) once that foundation is formed, it's all about confidence.

[Katie E]

Originally Posted by DramaQueen

Now I'm really curious. Will you share the error with us? Can it be that the author has found a different way of preparing this recipe or is it truly an error? Please share. No need to tell us which book.

Yes, DQ, it really is an error and not the author's interpretation of a recipe. The mistake is part of the description of portioning and shaping dough for a cookie. In one part of the instruction, we're told to do "X," which is followed by telling us to take "X" and use the largest portion of it. The problem, there IS no largest portion.

The thing that has me very curious is that this error was on page 13. The book has 309 pages. It will be fascinating to see if there are any more discrepancies.

[PanchoHambre]

Not everyone enjoys cooking. Some people see it as a chore and not as fun. This is fine. Not everyone enjoys the same things. I can totally understand someone who has no interest in cooking.

BUT

I believe everyone should have basic kitchen skills and understand how food is prepared. This is a life skill that no one should be without. Weather you enjoy it or not you should be capable of creating a decent and complete meal out of basic ingredients. This is not hard and this is something anyone (without some limiting disability) CAN do.

Cooking is a basic life skill. Making a hobby out of it is something else entirely. Learning to enjoy cooking can come from many different places.

Just like everyone should know how to do laundry even if they dont have to everone should be able to make dinner if necessary.

[meshoo96]

I cannot figure out the "multiple quote thing" so I'm just gonna have to say this. I love to cook and am lucky yo have a DH that also loves to cook so we take turns and it's great. We actually enjoy cooking together. But his mom is hysterical. She called him one day asking about how to make chicken and dumplings. This is a woman that only eats out because she is clueless when it comes to the kitchen. (she peeled an onion over and over and over every layer thinking that the smallest center part was the piece that was usable). Well, he told her the directions and the order everything needed to be put in. Well, she called later and the celery was gone, so was the onion and the potatoes and carrots were mushy. She just threw it all in at once and as we all know things cook faster than others.

[Fisher's Mom]

Originally Posted by PanchoHambre

Not everyone enjoys cooking. Some people see it as a chore and not as fun. This is fine. Not everyone enjoys the same things. I can totally understand someone who has no interest in cooking.

BUT

I believe everyone should have basic kitchen skills and understand how food is prepared. This is a life skill that no one should be without. Weather you enjoy it or not you should be capable of creating a decent and complete meal out of basic ingredients. This is not hard and this is something anyone (without some limiting disability) CAN do.

Cooking is a basic life skill. Making a hobby out of it is something else entirely. Learning to enjoy cooking can come from many different places.

Just like everyone should know how to do laundry even if they dont have to everone should be able to make dinner if necessary.

I basically agree with you, Pancho, but I'm going to play the devil's advocate here.
We all wear clothes everyday. Shouldn't everyone be capable of making a dress and a pair of pants, if necessary? Most of us drive cars at least some of the time. Shouldn't we all be able to perform all the required maintenance and at least simple car repairs? What about plumbing skills? Don't we all use the facilities every day?

What I'm saying is that in order to cook or sew or weave or work on cars or repair plumbing, we generally need some sort of instruction or training. (Granted, sometimes we find we have an affinity for a certain thing and can teach ourselves.) All my kids can sew and do basic car maintenance and use power tools and do simple plumbing repair because I taught them - because someone taught me at least the basics of those things. They can also feed themselves by making toast and ramen and frozen foods etc. because I taught them and that was all I knew how to do. But they certainly wouldn't sit hungry because they couldn't make something. Now, I have more cooking skills so my younger children can cook a much wider variety of foods - many from scratch. But I'm not sure they could make the kind of complete meal you are talking about. (I may be wrong about what your idea of a complete meal and what basic ingredients are.)

Anyway, I do agree that being able to cook healthy, yummy meals is a very good thing and that's why I'm so glad to have found DC, even at this late date.

[Wart]

Originally Posted by Fisher's Mom

I basically agree with you, Pancho, but I'm going to play the devil's advocate here.
We all wear clothes everyday. Shouldn't everyone be capable of making a dress and a pair of pants, if necessary?

If you had to make a dress every couple of days or DIE then, DARNED TOOTING you ought to know how to sew!!!

LMAO!!

Same with .... Fix a car or DIE, or program a computer or DIE, or ... ?? None of these are inherent with life.

Point being, you EAT or you DIE. You can run around naked, walk, and people got by for tens of thousands of years without computers,

Eat or Die.

No one has an excuse for not being able to cook.

[GB]

Originally Posted by Wart

If you had to make a dress every couple of days or DIE then, DARNED TOOTING you ought to know how to sew!!!

LMAO!!

Same with .... Fix a car or DIE, or program a computer or DIE, or ... ?? None of these are inherent with life.

Point being, you EAT or you DIE. You can run around naked, walk, and people got by for tens of thousands of years without computers,

Eat or Die.

No one has an excuse for not being able to cook.

No one said anything about eating though. We are talking cooking.

You do not need to know how to cook to survive. There are plenty of people out there who are living proof of that. Eating may be inherent to life, but cooking is not.

[Wart]

Originally Posted by GB

No one said anything about eating though. We are talking cooking.

Point taken.

I guess 'they' can eat everything raw and uncooked.

Thus 'they' don't need to know how to cook.

L

[GB]

Or go to restaurants or buy prepared meals or have others cook for them etc.

[GotGarlic]

Originally Posted by Wart

Point taken.

I guess 'they' can eat everything raw and uncooked.

Thus 'they' don't need to know how to cook.

L

Or, 'they' can eat fast food, microwaved frozen food, etc., every day. In the U.S. these days, people don't have to know how to cook in order to survive. They may not be healthy in the long run, but that's a different topic.