The pain of watching someone cook who can't cook.

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

My son, the professional cook/chef, has had two $150 knives broken, and another with chipped edge by other cooks, in professional kitchens. He has a special bag that organizes, and protects his knives, and it's in a locked locker.

But it could be any tool. At Lockheed, we were expected to provide a set of our own hand tools, such things as multi-meters, micrometers, pliers, sanding blocks, and other tools needed to complete our tasks. The company provided the expensive stuff. We had to keep our tools on station, in a locked tool chest, or tools would walk. I my own kitchen, the wife was not all
owed to use my best knives, or Griswold pans. It's the nature of ownership.


Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[BAPyessir6]

It's kind of cute for me that my husband (who doesn't cook at all, basically ate out 24/7 before he met me and thank goodness I'm refining his palette). Just last week I asked him to get out some almonds I wanted to use as a garnish for a soup. I wanted to chop them, so I asked him to get a handful. He's like. . .but how many?!? And I say 8 or something. So he proceeds to, with his tongue sticking out slightly, pull them out one by one until there was eight then stand back and wait for my approval. It's really endearing. I usually have him just stir things, but when I ask him to do things that are second nature to me, like cook somsomething to nappe or "check if it's done" he gets worried he'll mess it up (he has no idea what he's looking for) and then I'll be unhappy with the product. I've offered time and time again to teach him how to cook, but he is very uncreative and says he "can't get good" to which I tell him anyone can cook with a good techer.

On another note, chopping seriously in the kitchen is something I still rarely do. It's a skill I should probably refine much more than I currently have, but I haven't put the time into. I have a kitchen aid (food processor attachment) that I usually put things through to slice/dice them, then I can just worry about the final product. That being said, the final product will probably be less good as uniformity is important to even cooking. I have a whetstone set, but I keep messing up sharpening. Maybe I should knuckle down and practice for a straight week or 10 years. Get down that perfect matchstick and dice and brunoise.

 

[dragnlaw]

BAP yup, fully agree with you. In the end though - I've given up perfecting the cut. I'll never be fast - as cool as it looks - so slow and steady here.
I put in a bit of effort, but I am not going to go out and buy 5 lbs of carrots just to learn how to thinly julienne them. I have a mandolin that does that.
Same for the rest of the stuff. If I can't use the mandolin or the pulse on the Food Processor... well, you'll just have to live with eating unevenly cut ... whatevers! All tastes the same in the end. My tongue can't tell if each dice is the same.

 

[Andy M.]

No one is great at everything. You're better at some things than at others. Bottom line is that you can produce good meals.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

By Golly! We're all saints aren't we?

Maybe you are, but not me. I'm a god!

 

[BAPyessir6]

Thanks! On that note, this is the Lao chicken I roasted yesterday for my sis, me, my husband, and my best friend! I made it with sticky rice and Jeow (garlic, chilis, and tons of fish sauce dipping sauce) which I made as traditional as I could but man was it salty! Next time I'll cut back on the fish sauce!

 

[boom]

we all have our strengths and weaknesses. I am comfortable with it. my wife cant cook either.

its all good. i focus on the love. hahahha..

 

[Steve Kroll]

This was an enjoyable thread.

Now that my wife and I are divorced, I don't see her a lot these days. But we do still belong to a cooking club with a group of our friends. So occasionally we are forced to cook together. The last time was a month ago and she was hosting so I had to cook in her kitchen. I don't know how her knives can be so impossibly dull, because she does very little cooking. But they were. It was like she had used them to trim shrubs. So before doing anything else I decided to run home, grab my knife sharpener, and bring it back to sharpen her knives.

In the past that act alone might have caused an argument. But this time she seemed grateful and actually thanked me for doing it.

 

[caseydog]

This was an enjoyable thread.

Now that my wife and I are divorced, I don't see her a lot these days. But we do still belong to a cooking club with a group of our friends. So occasionally we are forced to cook together. The last time was a month ago and she was hosting so I had to cook in her kitchen. I don't know how her knives can be so impossibly dull, because she does very little cooking. But they were. It was like she had used them to trim shrubs. So before doing anything else I decided to run home, grab my knife sharpener, and bring it back to sharpen her knives.

In the past that act alone might have caused an argument. But this time she seemed grateful and actually thanked me for doing it.

My ex-wife and I were both good in the kitchen, although I was the better cook, while she was an amazing baker.

I can relate how doing someone a favor (sharpening knives) can seem like an insult to a spouse/ex-spouse. My ex sometimes took my efforts to help as a judgment on her skills. On the other hand, my ex told me many times that I didn't know how to do laundry, but my office was at home, and if she came home to clean laundry, she really didn't care how I did it. She was just happy it was done.

But, to be fair, I did get a bit too "vocal" if she did something that really bugged me, like run her Mercedes through the gas station free car wash. That might be like your exes' dull knives, but I knew why the Mercedes needed to be buffed out.

CD

 

[Jade Emperor]

When I first met MrJade, his cooking could be most kindly described as “pedestrian”. He was astonished at how I could season dishes so well and cook complex meals with ease. He had never known anyone who had worked in the industry before, and his family members all cooked for convenience and sustenance rather than pleasure.
Over the years, I have spent a lot of time with him showing him techniques initially, then moving on to flavour profiles, pro tips, invention, waste reduction, equipment care, ingredient shopping and so on.
Nowadays, he can definitely hold his own in the kitchen. A lot of this started due to his wish to be involved with something that I love so much, but the bonus outcome is that since I have been diagnosed, he now has the tools to make do in the kitchen once I am gone.

(As a side note: some of my dishes that he really loves to eat, I have now “passed down” to him. I taught him how I make it, then he helped with prep and watched me cook it. Next I would talk him through it while he made it himself, to the end point where he can make it from scratch by himself and I have left the dish for him to put in his repertoire. I will often tell him that he makes it better than I can as a confidence boost, and in a lot of cases this is true.)
Sorry if all this sounds like I am big noting myself but it’s more just that some people are better at certain things and have years more experience. A good cook isn’t born, they are the result of guidance and experience.

 

[BAPyessir6]

What has recently frustrated me is talking to people who don't cook at all, but talk and act like they do. I was recently telling a friend I made a grilled chicken, steamed asparagus sauteed with garlic, and rice because I was feeling lazy and not cooking much.

Another friend proceeded to state that it wasn't cooking as it only took "less than 5 minutes to make all that."

I don't know what good quality rice cooks in 5 minutes or less, or what pan heats/chicken cooks in that time. Even a good butterflied chicken breast for me takes like, what, 6 minutes, as it takes my cast iron a good minute or two to heat up so I can sear it. I actually don't like my chicken raw, as most would be shocked to learn.

But he must know better than me, as he bakes a dang good baked tater tot and is a whiz at the drive thru!

 

[Badjak]

I never knew that cooking had to last a certain amount of time

You didn't get take away or reheated a meal, therefor you cooked!

(my lazy noodle soup probably takes 5 minutes, but still counts)

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL - when I take an item out of the freezer, shove it in the oven to bake, whether or not it is a store bought or I made last week, if I make a salad to go with, if I scoop out a ball of ice cream to have along side the pie, if I entered the kitchen to get that food - I COOKED!

Not cooking is when you sit on your derriere in the living room and someone hands you a plate of food and a fork.

 

[BAPyessir6]

Are things like homemade rice Krispy bars or peanut butter balls (mixing stuff up but not always technically using a stove/oven) cooking? (Let's say you use the microwave to melt the marshmallows for the rice Krispy bars).

 

[dragnlaw]

You are in the kitchen. You are changing something up with individual ingredients, mixing, slicing, etc. You "cooking".

 

[taxlady]

Are things like homemade rice Krispy bars or peanut butter balls (mixing stuff up but not always technically using a stove/oven) cooking? (Let's say you use the microwave to melt the marshmallows for the rice Krispy bars).

That one is variable. For recipes that don't use heat, I tag them as "no cook".

 

[caseydog]

Are things like homemade rice Krispy bars or peanut butter balls (mixing stuff up but not always technically using a stove/oven) cooking? (Let's say you use the microwave to melt the marshmallows for the rice Krispy bars).

Here is my take on that. If you know EVERY ingredient that went into what you made to eat, you are cooking.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

Well, here's another way of looking at it.
If you mix/add two or more ingredients together making a separate dish, you are cooking.
If you are eating an apple/orange/plum/grapes etc. then no, you are snacking. Opening a package of chips/cookies etc. still no, that's snacking. Grabbing a container of jello/pudding/ice cream to eat, still snacking.

 

[Andy M.]

Well, here's another way of looking at it.
If you mix/add two or more ingredients together making a separate dish, you are cooking.
If you are eating an apple/orange/plum/grapes etc. then no, you are snacking. Opening a package of chips/cookies etc. still no, that's snacking. Grabbing a container of jello/pudding/ice cream to eat, still snacking.

If I combine a container of sour cream with a packet of Lipton Onion soup mix and eat it with chips, is that cooking or snacking?

 

[dragnlaw]

If I combine a container of sour cream with a packet of Lipton Onion soup mix and eat it with chips, is that cooking or snacking?

Neither, it is a basic necessity of life. Like water, it is imperative that the human body consumes this on a regular basis for good health, happiness and yumminess.