keltin
Washing Up
How do you know when you’re a decent or good cook? Sure, there are the accolades from those that eat your food, and the admiration you get from guests, but we all know, that the worst critic is yourself. I always see the bad before I see the good.
When I was young and growing up, I ate fast food a lot and TV dinners. I STILL eat fast food and TV dinners on occasion when in a hurry. But, as I was learning to cook, I decided that I wasn’t very good until I could cook everything that I bought in TV dinners or fast food spots or dinners without a recipe.
Also, added to that was the challenge of having the ability to take any given written recipe and prepare it (at 18 years of age, the first “big” recipe I cooked was Coq au Vin…although I had to get a friend to buy the wine/burgundy and come to my apartment for dinner!). I finally worked my way up, and am now challenged by the 5 star restaurants. Man, the stuff they cook and the ingredients they get to use. And the improvisation they have on Iron Chef. Wow.
I may never get there….but it sure is fun trying!
Heck, not long ago we did a dinner party for some friends and it was “suthern food” and lots of gabbing. We had roast & gravy, mashed potatoes, carrot slices in butter, ginger and white wine, fresh green beans, and corn bread with garlic and herbed butter. Easy enough…..but I used Katie’s roast recipe that I learned here on DC, and wow, all they could do was talk about the roast and ask for seconds (and the recipe!). That roast really is “all that”.
So, when and how did you finally decide you were decent at cooking….maybe not 5 star, but good enough to wow your guests (and that really only takes one “signature” dish and meal to do so!)? And let’s not be over-inflated, I’ve got a LOT to learn, and I’m sure most agree that we will never learn it all…but the question is, when did you feel “confident” that you could serve others without buying from a deli? When do you feel proud of yourself (even if you are standing on the shoulders of giants)? How do you challenge yourself?
When I was young and growing up, I ate fast food a lot and TV dinners. I STILL eat fast food and TV dinners on occasion when in a hurry. But, as I was learning to cook, I decided that I wasn’t very good until I could cook everything that I bought in TV dinners or fast food spots or dinners without a recipe.
Also, added to that was the challenge of having the ability to take any given written recipe and prepare it (at 18 years of age, the first “big” recipe I cooked was Coq au Vin…although I had to get a friend to buy the wine/burgundy and come to my apartment for dinner!). I finally worked my way up, and am now challenged by the 5 star restaurants. Man, the stuff they cook and the ingredients they get to use. And the improvisation they have on Iron Chef. Wow.
I may never get there….but it sure is fun trying!
Heck, not long ago we did a dinner party for some friends and it was “suthern food” and lots of gabbing. We had roast & gravy, mashed potatoes, carrot slices in butter, ginger and white wine, fresh green beans, and corn bread with garlic and herbed butter. Easy enough…..but I used Katie’s roast recipe that I learned here on DC, and wow, all they could do was talk about the roast and ask for seconds (and the recipe!). That roast really is “all that”.
So, when and how did you finally decide you were decent at cooking….maybe not 5 star, but good enough to wow your guests (and that really only takes one “signature” dish and meal to do so!)? And let’s not be over-inflated, I’ve got a LOT to learn, and I’m sure most agree that we will never learn it all…but the question is, when did you feel “confident” that you could serve others without buying from a deli? When do you feel proud of yourself (even if you are standing on the shoulders of giants)? How do you challenge yourself?