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Valued Contributor
Posts: 662
Registered: ‎05-02-2011

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

cooking is an art, baking is a science.

1st: Use fresh ingredients. Grow your own herbs. I never buy anything in a box. I use nothing that have been processed.

2nd: When the recipe says 'brown the meat', you can brown it in butter or olive oil. Browning helps bring out flavor.

3rd: When caramelizing onions, etc, caramelizing brings out flavor

4th: get rid of margarine, use butter.

5th: make the recipe as written, then season as needed. Season according to tasting it. Is it salty enough? Is it bland? Does it need savory? Does it need a zing?

6th: On soups, make sure use make a rue when adding flour to the melted butter.

7th: Brown with Olive Oil, season and add flavor with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

8th: Cook with Marsala, Sherry, White Wine and Red Wine.

7th: Use EXCELLENT Italian Balsamic Vinegar

8th: Use and grate your own cheeses

9th: Use good Kosher Course Ground Salt

10th: Grind Peppercorns when adding pepper.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,570
Registered: ‎09-13-2012

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

I believe that good cooks are born, not made. I tried to combine some frozen vegetables with ground chicken in a skillet the other day and thought I'd get fancy and add spices. I added some Italian five herbs mix or something, a bit of oregano, powdered garlic, salt, and pepper. Then, at the end I added shredded cheese. I thought I was going to vomit about an hour after I ate it, but I felt better after a while.

I'm not saying you're as bad as I am, but it is very important to stick with things you can make and not try to wing it too much. I never cook for other people because it is too embarrassing. I can boil pasta and put bottled sauce on it or toast a baguette with cheese, then top with lettuce and slices from a store-bought rotisserie chicken. I can make oatmeal and add nuts. I took a nutrition course in college, so I know how to eat at least half nutritiously with a minimum of cooking.

Super Contributor
Posts: 2,010
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

I've never understood why people say you have to measure everything exactly. "Never mix metric and imperial measurements". Pah, my mom never measured anything, she made pastry and cakes just by eyeballing the amounts.

The only time I've ever had something go wrong, by not having the right amount of one ingredient, it was no-cook fudge and I skimped on the choc chips. I got sauce rather than solid fudge. It was still delicious.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,882
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

I love to cook, it's a high for me. To have 6 burners going, two ovens and a ton of hungry people.

My DILs hate to cook, and they are picky eaters. Thus some of the grandchildren are finicky too.

So when they're all here, I'm cooking three and four different meals at one time. That drives some people crazy when they find this out, but it doesn't bother me one bit.

Making tasty meals that get gobbled up and everyone complaining they ate waaay too much is such a pleasure for me to see and here

I get in the zone!

I don't eat 90% of what I cook since I've been a vegetarian for the past 8-9 years, but my memories of flavors is still spot on.

No one *taught* me to cook, I learned it all myself. Wouldn't even say through trial and error. I never use recipes and am not really a baker (from scratch). Although there's always something *homemade* for dessert if it's a big dinner event.

I love to cook at my DIL's houses for them on weekends. I only do that once in a while. They buy the meats and other ingredients and I cook away. Then everything gets stored in glass freezer dishes that they take out and defrost as needed. That is the ultimate high!

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,570
Registered: ‎09-13-2012

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

On 1/20/2015 Clover29 said:

I've never understood why people say you have to measure everything exactly. "Never mix metric and imperial measurements". Pah, my mom never measured anything, she made pastry and cakes just by eyeballing the amounts.

The only time I've ever had something go wrong, by not having the right amount of one ingredient, it was no-cook fudge and I skimped on the choc chips. I got sauce rather than solid fudge. It was still delicious.

That's because you are one of the lucky ones. You have a knack for it, an innate talent. I had to take cooking and sewing in junior high. I loved sewing but just never could get the hang of cooking at all.

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 81
Registered: ‎09-12-2011

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

On 1/19/2015 Harpa said:

If instinct has anything to do with it...

it's flavors, and knowing what flavors wakes up the food you are cooking. Like adding lemon zest to steamed broccoli, deglazing your pan with wine, curry with tuna, scraping your vanilla pod along with adding your teaspoonful, or simple salt & pepper.

Flavors by way of spices/herbs. Find out which are traditionally used for which foods, taste them yourself, read cookbooks, and you begin to develop your palette and flavor instinct.

Curry with tuna! I just did that today! ^^
Super Contributor
Posts: 344
Registered: ‎01-08-2014

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

I think people who find either cooking &/or baking easy first of all enjoy it. There's a passion about it. They use their senses of taste, smell, feel, sight and even hearing while making things. They adjust their recipes depending on how the ingredients are. For example, some batches of fruits may be sweeter than others. Grass feed beef can taste different than grain feed beef. Flour can loose some moisture during storage so extra liquid might be necessary in a recipe. The taste and aroma of vanilla is different depending on where it's from (much like wine from different vineyards.)

No matter how great a cook or baker is they will have disasters. Sometimes it's just from experimenting. Sometimes their equipment (oven, pan, roaster, etc.) fails. There's often a timing issue. You just clean up and start again.

I also love America's Test Kitchen since they do explain what happens to food with changes in the recipe. For bakers, "The Cake Bible" book, does the same and explains why each ingredient is used.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,109
Registered: ‎04-14-2013

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

On 1/19/2015 brii said:

Naturally good cooks don't use recipes. They instinctively know how to create something wonderful. They may look at a recipe for inspiration, but they can adapt it in just the right way to make it delicious.

I add wine and fresh herbs to almost everything. It adds that depth of flavor that just makes anything good.

Agree. I have The joy of Cooking on hand if I have a question about basic food prep, but I really never use a recipe. My family has been known to make fun of me because I close my eyes and imagine how something might go together, but they enjoy eating the end product. I love to cook creatively. Now, baking, that's a whole different beast - not my specialty. I'll bet you're a better cook than you think, cactusjack! Thanks to my Mom for schooling me in some old stand-by, fool-proof methods and dishes, also.

Cogito ergo sum
Contributor
Posts: 33
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

...If I were you.....this is what I would do....pick up this book...also she has monthly magazines you could buy....these recipes are very easy...and look fantastic too...you could make meals like the recipes in this book that are partially prepared and just add your homemade touches that are suggested.......and nobody needs to know...and then as you progress and get confidence in your cooking then you could try complete homemade meals.

Semi-Homemade The Complete Cookbook: Sandra Lee: 9780470874059: Amazon.com: Books

Valued Contributor
Posts: 748
Registered: ‎05-24-2011

Re: My first post on the food forum, question for naturally great cooks...

First of all, is your husband a picky eater? or just a nit picker in general? I think the advice from one posters who said, do you like it? do others like it? well, there you go.

I'm a plain cook (can't bake) who honed whatever skills I have on a big family: five children and a husband who'd eat anything. People tell me my pot roast is a marvel, but I don't follow recipes. I tell them, I just take a good hunk of meat, my old blue enamel roaster, throw in some onions, potatoes and carrots and cook the heck out of it for 3-4 hours.

Don't give up! And don't be a perfectionist. My sister-in-law cooks rings around me and bakes like a pastry chef, but my brother raves about my food when they come to stay.