Seewalds 30: No new baby, but with more recipe thread-drift

[GoddessOfVictory]

I have a love/hate relationship with cooking. I have a Pinterest food board, recipe binders, and way too many recipe books. I love the idea of making all different kinds of dishes. Plus, I (usually) love the end result. However, the middle bits can be kind of tedious and boring. I especially don't like having to stand up to cook after standing up all day at work. But what I hate the most is doing the dishes. Why, oh why do I have so many things that are hand-wash only?

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

44 minutes ago, GoddessOfVictory said:

I have a love/hate relationship with cooking. I have a Pinterest food board, recipe binders, and way too many recipe books. I love the idea of making all different kinds of dishes. Plus, I (usually) love the end result. However, the middle bits can be kind of tedious and boring. I especially don't like having to stand up to cook after standing up all day at work. But what I hate the most is doing the dishes. Why, oh why do I have so many things that are hand-wash only?

I think I really love you right now.  I don't do Pinterest or very many online recipes, but I really enjoy reading cookbooks. However, I also hate having to haul out pots and pans from our very badly designed cupboards, and I apparently loathe hand-washing dishes. (I might put some of them in the dishwasher if it worked better.) I say that "I apparently loathe hand-washing dishes", because I've kind of suppressed my feelings about housework. But doing the dishes is always the thing I put off to the very last, so I think that's a good sign about how I feel, deep down. 

I enjoy most baking over most cooking, and I agree with the folks who have said that using a recipe is not necessarily a bad thing. My dh really admired an aunt of his who was a great cook and never used recipes. So, he thinks that not using a recipe somehow intrinsically makes him a better cook.

The problem is, that he doesn't have the skills and experience his aunt had. The things that he makes pretty often come out consistently good, but when he just starts throwing things together and then adding way too much salt, or curry powder, or whatever his latest favorite seasoning is, the results can be everything from pretty good to fairly nasty. I prefer to use a recipe at least the first time I make something before I start experimenting. Or sometimes I've combined 2 recipes. I don't like just "winging it" without some kind of outline or plan. 

[Jellybean]

I took evening classes in patisserie while I was at university (I studied physics and needed the head space!) and not using a recipe would have been seen as the height of folly. 

I think most people who say they don’t use recipes are actually relying on a whole lot of experience. I have a lot of baking/patisserie recipes committed to memory but that doesn’t mean I’m not using a recipe. Being taught to make something in person is also still a recipe. Experience tells me what changes I can make that will end well, and which are likely to end badly. 

Recipe books are not a perfect substitute for experience but they’re a wonderful addition. There are so many dishes I would never have tried without some brilliant people writing about them. 

I grew up with the same few dishes cooked again and again and again. My response to that is to have a huge variety in the things that I plan/cook now. Our menu planner (kitchen dry-wipe board) is different every week. 

[JordynDarby5]

2 hours ago, Jellybean said:

I think most people who say they don’t use recipes are actually relying on a whole lot of experience. I have a lot of baking/patisserie recipes committed to memory but that doesn’t mean I’m not using a recipe. Being taught to make something in person is also still a recipe. Experience tells me what changes I can make that will end well, and which are likely to end badly. 

Recipe books are not a perfect substitute for experience but they’re a wonderful addition. There are so many dishes I would never have tried without some brilliant people writing about them.  

 My great-grandmother cooked that way she made the best food especially her fried chicken which was the best. She was very much a pinch of this, a dash of that.  It was cool that she was able to do that and fun to watch. Unfortunately no one has ever been able replicate her food. Especially the chicken. My mom, her cousins have tried. But its never come out the same much to everyone's disappointment. Her food was really good.       

[CarrotCake]

I love cooking although during the week I keep it easy and sometimes use things like pasta-sauce from a jar. After a full work day I need to take a break.

In the weekends I like to get quality products and cook with a nice glass of wine. Too bad I live in a rental with a crappy kitchen (to my standards).

I know that not everyone likes cooking but I am shocked to read how many people do not cook at all (or rarely). What do you eat then? I know that there is a much wider selection of ready-to-eat/frozen meals in the US and that take-out is much cheaper than hear but I am still a bit shocked. As far as I know everyone cooks, just some with a bit more fun and some others with a bit more ready-to-eat ingredients (like herbs in packages and sauces from jars).

3 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

I especially don't like having to stand up to cook after standing up all day at work. But what I hate the most is doing the dishes. Why, oh why do I have so many things that are hand-wash only?

That's where boyfriends are for. I cook, he does the dishes, completely fair.

Although, when we do cheese fondue he always wants to switch. That one is much easier to make than to clean from the pot 

[albanuadh_1]

In my next life, I am going to have a chef who plans , buys, preps, & cooks. I think I'll also have a massage every day too, although not necessarily by the chef.

[tabitha2]

Sigh. Nothing is ever as good as grandmas food... mine made the best Deviled Eggs and potato soup. 

[HermioneSparrow]

9 hours ago, Galbin said:

Can you share the recipe for this? Sounds good!

Unfortunately I didn't follow a recipe but i'll sum it up. I made like a vinaigrette/sauce with the parsley, garlic, olive oil and green onions, just mixed everything in the food processor and marinated the chicken in that around six hours earlier. Then just peeled and chopped the potatoes, flavored the tomatoes and potatoes with salt and pepper, greased the pan, put the marinated chicken and the veggies on top, preheat the oven at 180°, then put the pan for about two hours. An hour and a half later I put the basil on top of the dish and kept cooking. I didn't flavored the chicken with salt and pepper because the "sauce" with garlic and all the stuff is enough for me.

Sorry I suck at writing a recipe... Lol!

 

[ladybug15]

I actually keep the innards of the chicken and cook it with other stuff for the dog (all the leftover veggies - peels, meet, the innards and then add rice or other grain). Our senior is 15 and still hanging strong.

We have an old George Forman(?) rotisserie and we usually roast chicken that way. I love cooking but it was a family affair when I was growing up and I plan to do the  same with my kids.

 

[SweetJuly]

This is a horrible, horrible thread drift.

I'm currently in the "constantly hungry"-stage of pregnancy, and reading all these delicious recipes and food ideas make my mouth water!

Stop it, for the love of Rufus!!!

Side note: Keep it coming! Preferably with detailed recipes  

[elliha]

Cooking without a recipe is super easy when you have been taught to cook that way. Throw me some ingredients and I will make something you can eat from it. I know how to combine certain products and flavors and what they will taste like without having ever made that dish or seen a recipe.

I grew up with a mom who was a SAHM and she taught me to cook that way so that is my cooking language. I see, feel and smell how something should be cooked and some "recipes" my mom taught me are like this one for "palt", potato dumplings with pork. "Use enough potatoes to feed the number of people you are cooking for. Grind them in a meat processor. Add salt. Add flour (wheat or wheat and barley) until the mixture feels the right way. If you are unsure make a test dumpling. Try the dough to see if you can fold it the proper way before you put salted pork and onions in the hole in the middle. Once you have put the pork and onions in fold the potatoes over the pork *flop flop flop*. Put the dumpling in boiling water and boil it until it is done" That is basically how I would describe the conscious part of this recipe, there are probably a lot of different things that I notice but don't know how they play in. Like when I write this I can smell the raw ground potato, the smell of the salted pork and onions and the smell when they mix and later the smell when they cook. I can feel the sensation when I stir in the imaginary flour and form the dough in my hands. This is when I make a "recipe", when I just have ingredients I can play this video in my head and make something before I start and mostly I am right about the outcome. The reason I don't fully follow recipes is that I can often just play the video and see that 3 teaspoons of x substance will be better than 4 or that this will be better with oregano added. I just know and it works 98% of the time. I can see that my daughter seems to make the same observations when I cook as I did and often ask me very relevant questions about my cooking so while I haven't really tried to teach her much yet it has still happened. 

[Nargus]

8 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

I prefer to use a recipe at least the first time I make something before I start experimenting.

Same. I always tell my husband follow the recipe once, then if it’s good you can tweak it to be better. But if you make a bunch of substitutions and it doesn’t turn out, you can’t blame the recipe. (Biggest pet peeve when reading comments on a recipe I’ve found. One star review ‘I made this exactly except I swapped almond milk for half and half and cauliflower for the potatoes and it was a gloopy mess. Don’t recommend’)

The only exception to that is garlic. If something calls for garlic I usually double it. 1 clove of garlic is nothing. Usually we have a 4 clove *minimum* per recipe in our house. 

[JillyO]

8 hours ago, Jellybean said:

I took evening classes in patisserie while I was at university (I studied physics and needed the head space!) and not using a recipe would have been seen as the height of folly.

To be fair, baking/patisserie and cooking are completely different in that regard. Baking is far less flexible, and so it is usually sensible to follow a recipe word-for-word. Adding a little less baking powder than the recipe calls for, or substituting whole wheat for white flour, can completely ruin the final product. As you said, you need a lot of experience to know what parts of a recipe you can change and still get a good final result.

Cooking, on the other hand, gives you a lot more leeway. I definitely use recipes to guide me, but I almost never follow them word-for-word. I'll leave out/substitute spices or herbs that I don't have on hand. I almost never measure exactly how much water/milk/cream/tomato sauce I add to the pan. I'll use a different cheese than the recipe calls for because I like it better. That works really well in cooking, but definitely wouldn't fly in baking.

[Nargus]

Just now, JillyO said:

To be fair, baking/patisserie and cooking are completely different in that regard. Baking is far less flexible, and so it is usually sensible to follow a recipe word-for-word. Adding a little less baking powder than the recipe calls for, or substituting whole what for white flour, can completely ruin the final product. As you said, you need a lot of experience to know what parts of a recipe you can change and still get a good final result.

Cooking, on the other hand, gives you a lot more leeway. I definitely use recipes to guide me, but I almost never follow them word-for-word. I'll leave out/substitute spices or herbs that I don't have on hand. I almost never measure exactly how much water/milk/cream/tomato sauce I add to the pan. I'll use a different cheese than the recipe calls for because I like it better. That works really well in cooking, but definitely wouldn't fly in baking.

A lady I used to work with said that cooking was an art and baking was a science. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

36 minutes ago, Nargus said:

A lady I used to work with said that cooking was an art and baking was a science. 

True. I actually bake once or twice a week (bread). It's an exact thing. And the bread is awesome.  

[Audrey2]

To put my favorite nerd hat on, baked goods turn out the way they do because of reactions among the ingredients, like the growth of yeast, which feeds on sugars and whose growth is restricted by salt, as I remember from my 4-H breads project books. Sodium bicarbonate also produces reactions.

[SassyPants]

I am a good/creative savory cook. I do not bake beyond bread. I don't care for the clean up.

I like to cook because I like to eat good, healthy (most of the time) food. I HATE restaurant dining- hate it. Vacations without a kitchen, which are very, very rare [we try to get places with cooking facilities], are a nightmare.

[justoneoftwo]

I love cooking, but mostly baking.  That is frustrating because you can't eat baked goods all the time, its super unhealthy.  But I enjoy cooking too, it can be hard to come up with a new idea of what to cook though.  

Also, having only one kid I can see how having 2 so little (like Jesse) would make cooking much harder.  I spent Sunday cooking, and wow it takes so much longer when your 1.5 year old wants to stir.  Also really good recipes often take a long time.  My bread recipe takes around 3 days.  Working full time make that a bit hard to do

[SassyPants]

1 minute ago, justoneoftwo said:

I love cooking, but mostly baking.  That is frustrating because you can't eat baked goods all the time, its super unhealthy.  But I enjoy cooking too, it can be hard to come up with a new idea of what to cook though.  

Also, having only one kid I can see how having 2 so little (like Jesse) would make cooking much harder.  I spent Sunday cooking, and wow it takes so much longer when your 1.5 year old wants to stir.  Also really good recipes often take a long time.  My bread recipe takes around 3 days.  Working full time make that a bit hard to do

My sourdough recipe is the same. If I want to have bread within 2 days, I have to take the starter out early in the day, and then start the process after dinner, so proofing can be done overnight. EEK, that's the last thing I want to do in the evening

[WhoompThereItIs]

11 hours ago, GoddessOfVictory said:

 But what I hate the most is doing the dishes. 

Same! My husband hates cooking but is a clean freak (whereas I'm the exact opposite), so I do all the cooking and he does the dishes 

1 hour ago, Nargus said:

A lady I used to work with said that cooking was an art and baking was a science. 

So true. I went to grad school for chemistry, and found baking very similar to performing a chemical reaction since both require exact measurements, temperatures, order of mixing, and cooking/reaction times. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I love to cook and I'm pretty good at it. I can follow a recipe when required, I can tweak them to my liking and I can make something with out one at all.  Most of what I make is based off of a recipe that I have down and tweaked to my desire, i don't measure for the most part, unless I'm baking.  I usually a pinch of this a bit of that, I'll eye ball if I want about  cup of this or a teaspoon of that. The more free time I have the more I cook, so weekends we usually eat pretty big meals because I have lots of time to make things. 

[AstroNot]

I only started to enjoy cooking as an adult. I was the designated cook for my family, but my family had a very specific menu rotation that I wasn't allowed to stray from-- it drove me crazy! I thought I was a picky eater, turns out I  was just bored. However, the transition from feeding 6+ people to just my s.o and I was difficult for me. (I was raised to just throw out extra food because my parents HATED reheated food?!) I realized after about 6 months of being on my own I don't mind reheated food. I also don't have the time to cook breakfast/lunch, but my s.o and I work long, laborious days and eating only one meal KILLS. We'd both come back in and gorge horrendously and feel icky for the rest of the night. Leftover food is a lifesaver. 

Leftover spaghetti noodles become a nice lemon parsley dish for the next few days, ham becomes sandwiches/wraps and soup, steak gets turned into loco moco or lomo saltado, etc etc.  I live in the middle of nowhere, where the only places to eat around here is an overpriced yucky pizza place, and Subway. Eating out isn't exactly an option...

I also grow/raise most of my own food, we only make a two hour drive once a month to pick up all the stuff that we can't grow/make ourselves. So getting creative with my extras is a vital skill... It's sooo wasteful to spend all that time/money/effort growing squash to just toss half+ of it out. I mean... we still have food waste as I think most people do, but still, most of that goes to the animals/compost. I'm still mastering how to be resourceful with my food, but I'm definitely getting there, imo.

Ps. I HATE BAKING. I don't have the patience to be that exact. 

Thankfully, we have an incredible artisan bakery about 45 mins from us, we go every two weeks, stock up/freeze, and it's all good. They also make the world's best donuts, not debatable. 

[feministxtian]

MOST of the time I don't use a recipe for anything (cooking not baking). I have a few go-to spices that get used regularly on just about everything (Sazon, Adobo and Old Bay). A typical dinner here happens like this: I stand in the kitchen, check freezer, fridge and pantry. Start pulling stuff out along with appropriate pots/pans. Pull spices out, put it all together...30 minutes later, we're ready to eat. 

[Threff]

I love to cook.

Now.

Didn’t always.

When I was growing up in the UK in the 70s and 80s in the feminist movement (which I am very grateful for), cooking was kind of seen as a trap. Something to avoid, lest you become sucked into the traditional model of an oppressed woman. There’s a lot of truth on that. Same with touch-typing. I remember a woman business success sort of thing speaker at our school telling us never to learn to touch-type, as once the men found out we could, that would be all they would give us to do. I think she was right, on balance. Which is why I’ve always hidden the obvious signs that I can touch-type.

I learned to cook when I had to (won’t go into the story here as it will ID me to some of the world), and the wonderful thing about it was that I cooked for people I loved, to give them a gift of my love, and hey, that was not just okay as a feminist, but a nice thing to do.  It gave, and still gives me so much joy. It’s my hobby, really.

However, on the domestic front, I hate, and will not, GARDEN.

[elliha]

14 minutes ago, Threff said:

Same with touch-typing. I remember a woman business success sort of thing speaker at our school telling us never to learn to touch-type, as once the men found out we could, that would be all they would give us to do. I think she was right, on balance. Which is why I’ve always hidden the obvious signs that I can touch-type.

Is this just a modern thing but I thought precisely everyone knew how to touch-type if they worked in an office. I work in front of a computer all day and cannot remember seeing anyone at my office who doesn't touch-type.