Poll of the Day > Do you know how to cook?

(+) Yeah! (+)

What would you make if you were asked to make your "signature dish"?

Yes.

signature dish? A meat a veggie and a starch

Nope. My whole 5 yr career is a fraud.

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Nothing fancy, but enough to survive.

I don't know that I'd say I have a "signature dish". I make a pretty nice steak, but to be fair my standards for steak aren't overly elaborate. I suppose I make an okay chicken parm?

If you asked most of my friends what food they mainly associate with me, they'd probably say onion dip or deviled eggs, because I don't really cook a lot for other people except for party snack foods.



SunWuKung420 posted...

Nope. My whole 5 yr career is a fraud.

That's what most of PotD has been saying for years now.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

That's what most of PotD has been saying for years now.

And they are all so very wrong.

1 sunwu 0 naysayers

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JigsawTDC posted...

What would you make if you were asked to make your "signature dish"?

I woulda make the SPAGETT

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Tough call, are we grilling, crocking, or baking?
I'm not terribly diverse as a layman, but I have a few recipes I've never had complaints about.

An old roommate that is currently the head chef at a 4 star steak house still can't figure out my marinade and won't try to do a cook off against me if I'm slinging beef FWIW.

I've offered multiple times to show him how I make my marinade in exchange for the Sheppard's pie recipe the guy he apprenticed under made. It's the best goddamned Sheppard's pie I've ever had. He won't give up that recipe, so I won't give up my marinade recipe.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I suppose I make an okay chicken parm?

A chicken parm is how I've always judged an Italian place. Pizza is wildly inconsistent, and I accept that. Never realized how spoiled I was by good pizza in my hometown because 95% of the pizza I've had anywhere else sucks.

But if you can't make a passable parm, you're useless as an Italian eatery.

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Yeah and my favorite thing to make is meatball subs. I make some legit meatballs and then toast them in the oven with fat slices of fresh mozzarella melted on top

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SunWuKung420 posted...

1 sunwu 0 naysayers

Wouldn't that also just make you wrong, since you had just said that you agree with them?
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I can read the back of a packet and follow a NDA free recipe.

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LuciferSage posted...

An old roommate that is currently the head chef at a 4 star steak house

Four stars from where? Michelin only goes up to three stars and James Beard doesn't rate by star. I'm not aware of any other ranking system that would actually matter to anyone else.

As long as the instructions are legible, yes.

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I'd say I'm a pretty adept cook with a strong interest in the science of cooking and a lot of practice under my belt


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I've gotten random complements from people when I've cooked for them, and people asked me for the recipe. I'd say I'm good enough.

JigsawTDC posted...

Four stars from where? Michelin only goes up to three stars and James Beard doesn't rate by star. I'm not aware of any other ranking system that would actually matter to anyone else.

Yelp

Kind of, but I'm too lazy to challenge myself with making new dishes.

Plus, I'm restricted to a frying pan, a pot, a rice cooker, and a crockpot. I really wish I had an oven...

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I'm a pretty good chef, and I've invented a few dishes of my own. But the thing that everyone seems to rave about is my soups. I created a really great baked potato soup that everyone seems to love.

I've also managed to change a few people's minds about Brussels sprouts. If you don't like them, you've probably never had them prepared correctly.

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I spent the better part of a decade in a kitchen.

I cook mostly in slow cookers these days. I like doing pulled pork/chicken, and soups.

I also have pastas I make as well.

EclairReturns posted...

Wouldn't that also just make you wrong, since you had just said that you agree with them?

My OP was satire and sarcasm. PO's wasn't.

If I wasn't a good chef would I have retained my cooking jobs through a pandemic? Highly unlikely.

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My mom taught us kids how to cook, clean etc long ago because she always told us me and your dad won't be living forever so yeah I can cook and really impresses the ladies to guys.

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Yup. Gimme a recipe and I can cook it. Also I like to just come up with things on my own based on what's in my fridge about to go bad (ex: cilantro, cherry tomatoes, avocado, fish going bad ---> avocado+blistered tomato (they were very wrinkly)+corn+lime juice+cilantro salsa with a balsamic reduction drizzle, fish+smoked paprika+chile powder+garlic+honey+olive oil topped w/ cilantro and lime juice, make some cilantro+lime rice w/ black beans spiced)

Idk if I have any go to classics, I try to cook new things a lot. Some of my favorite recipes are a pretty complex white chicken chili, jerk chicken, chimichurri bowls, swedish meatballs (ikea sucks), coq au vin, chicken marsala, lemongrass pork, risotto, chicken filipino adobo, idk lots of things.

I can't bake very well. I think. Haven't really tried it other than making jalapeo cornbread muffins lol

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You drop in a couple of slices of bread, push the switch down, and wait until they jump back up. Do I need to know anything more?

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Yes. Most cooking is literally just following directions.

What I lack is the creativity to commit to making a variety of different meals. I eat the same ~15 different things on repeat.

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Signature dish is a whole roasted chicken with potatoes or a Spaghetti dish

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IronBornCorps posted...

I spent the better part of a decade in a kitchen.

I cook mostly in slow cookers these days. I like doing pulled pork/chicken, and soups.

I also have pastas I make as well.

I've said it in cooking topics many times. Crock Pots are magical. I give them to friends as housewarming gifts whenever possible. $20 worth of whatever you have laying around go in with ~20 min prep in the morning before you go to work, and you come home to a hot meal and plenty of leftovers. So many things you can do with them. Random starch, random protein, random veg, some stock or water and a buillon cube or 2 and you've got something. I have about a dozen crock recipes I love sorted out since I was in my 20s.

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I can cook.

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yeah

my wife can't, though. when we met she could burn water, but slowly she's been getting better and can now do pretty simple things, mostly baking things though

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Joe_Biden posted...

yeah

my wife can't, though. when we met she could burn water, but slowly she's been getting better and can now do pretty simple things, mostly baking things though

It is the opposite for me. I am not bad a cooking necessarily. I can follow most recipes and have it come out fairly on point and I'm good at seasoning things to my tastes. But my fiancee went to culinary school and has a way more sophisticated palate than me lol. Her cooking is on a totally different level than mine.

My SO can follow basic instructions, but the second it has to deviate slightly, ho boy that's when things go badly and she feels like she needs to cry.

I was a chef at a ramen bar for a few months, prep cook for a couple of years.

tbh I don't have a lot of variety in my cooking. I'd probably go meat veg and starch as someone else said. Get some cheese sauce on the brocolli. Yeet

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yes, and i would make pizza, in fact some here have told me i might be good enough to go professional, ok?

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LuciferSage posted...

I've said it in cooking topics many times. Crock Pots are magical. I give them to friends as housewarming gifts whenever possible. $20 worth of whatever you have laying around go in with ~20 min prep in the morning before you go to work, and you come home to a hot meal and plenty of leftovers. So many things you can do with them. Random starch, random protein, random veg, some stock or water and a buillon cube or 2 and you've got something. I have about a dozen crock recipes I love sorted out since I was in my 20s.

Looking around my house, I have 7 crock pots.

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I feel #of cookbooks owned is negatively correlated with skill in cooking

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Clench281 posted...

I feel #of cookbooks owned is negatively correlated with skill in cooking

I feel like that's a pretty silly assumption without any evidence backing you up?

Idk kinda reminds me about how some people say they've never seen a skinny person drinking diet coke, meanwhile plenty of anorexics practically live off that shit

Like it's a contrary observation but it's not really based on anything

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Clench281 posted...

I feel #of cookbooks owned is negatively correlated with skill in cooking

It shows an interest in cooking. Generally, the more interested in you are in something, the better you are than other people.

You're saying someone with a lot of chess books is bad a chess.

IronBornCorps posted...

Looking around my house, I have 7 crock pots.

This is The Way.

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LuciferSage posted...

I've said it in cooking topics many times. Crock Pots are magical.

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LuciferSage posted...

I've said it in cooking topics many times. Crock Pots are magical.

My wife makes a crock pot meal every Sunday.

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Yeah. First experience I had with cooking was helping my dad make Sunday morning breakfast back when I was 6 - my mom was in the hospital (miscarriage, I think), and my dad couldn't cook worth a damn. I took on a supervisory role and the end results got better - by the end of the day, my dad understood the smoke alarm wasn't an indication the food was done.

Now...I've cooked for my family quite a few times, and my parents have raved about how good my chicken wings and pork chops are - for some reason, I always hit upon the right ratio of spices and know just when it's supposed to come out of the oven. I've copied down recipes I've wanted to try - I actually went through with one recipe (Greek style lemon-roasted potatoes) and it turned out tasty.

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Hey... other than pizza what is best for roasted mozza on top?

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Lokarin posted...

Hey... other than pizza what is best for roasted mozza on top?

Chicken parm

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