Discussion»Questions»Food and Drink» In a scale from 1 to 5, where do your cooking skills fall? What would be your signature dish? Noodles and chips don't count. )
3. I can do pretty good, but sometimes rely on the box or can too much. If I knew a little bit more about spices, I'd rate myself a 4, and if I knew more about sauces and such a 5. Also, I make simple comfort food meat and potato dishes that are consistently good. From scratch, I can make a decent roast chicken with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy.
That's alright! Good consistent cooking is actually hard to achieve, at least it was for me. Fried Chicken was, hands down, the hardest thing for me to learn to cook consistently. There was a lot of chicken eaten as I went from one mess to the other. Chili was a close second, and pretty omelets a third. On spices, I believe in less is better. I learned that while messing around with curry. ) Thanks Tammy.
Lasagna Eh? That's a tricky one. Very easy to end up with a beef and noodle soup on one hand, or a heavy meat and cheese brick on the other. You know? It was years after I learned how to make that, that I found out you don't have to precook the noodles!! What's the secret of your Lasagna?
You know S, I didn't know how tough being a cook is until I saw my son directing a lunch for a couple hundred people. It is definitely not for the thin skinned, these guys are tough, tough, guys!!
Yeah.. I can work on the line in a restaurant, but that's NOT cooking in my view. I'm good at omelettes, I can flip eggs, and I'm very very fast, but that's NOT cooking either.. I am NOT a chef. I'm not close. In fact, because I understand the restaurant business, I can unequivocally state that my cooking skills are limited..
Here's my PROOF.. Years ago, having honed my very slick breakfast making skills, I applied for a cooks job at Andre's in Aspen. The manager asked me to make a soup. I FAILED at it. I absolutely FAILED.. Even today, I have NO idea how to make a soup from scratch.
It's ok if you doubt me. Most people do.
excon
This post was edited by excon at January 7, 2017 10:47 AM MST
I believe you. My son has wanted to cook since he was little, so my experience comes from having to learn those dishes, so I could teach them to him. Making an omelet, the right way, not the American, IHOP, dried up way, and chicken stock were some of the things he (we) had the most trouble with. And those, an omelet and chicken soup, were the two dishes he's been asked to make the most when apying for jobs. At first he thought they would test him on culinAry knowledge or dexterity but no, chicken soup and omelets.
Yes sir, Gumbo. You've made me salivate with that one. Now I want some. That's pretty good that you can cook that. Never tried cooking it, it's a little intimidating for me. ) But I do like having it. Thanks Ex.
All I did was download Emril Lagase's gumbo recipe. It's really EASY.. The roux is easy too. It just takes about 25 minutes of constant stirring. But, after that, it's gumbo heaven.
I've had it made by people who know what they're doing and the flavors were so perfectly put together that I know it would take me a while to get it to theirs or your level. Same with paella. I did tackle Chili tho. And that took me about six months to get it right and always the same. I think im going to look into this gumbo, Ex, you have inspired me. )
At least you know that much, B. Im sure there's people who wouldn't be able to even do that. How bout the quintessential noodles? Im sure you can cook that? ))
Benedict Arnold 