Poll of the Day > Do you consider yourself to be a good cook?

(+) Yeah! (+)

topic i personally don't
---

No, I've never had a knack for or interest in cooking. What I'll make is edible, but it's not great.
---

Very much so
---

No. Not really.
---

I don't make anything flashy or outlandish but yeah, I think I'm good.
---

More importantly, others consider me a decent cook.
---

Crap just burned another salad....
---

Fair-to-middling on a good day.


---

I can trick people into thinking I am a good cook because I can roast a turkey or make a decent stew, but those are probably some of the easier things to make. If you are talking about dishes that require actual effort (like mashed potatoes from scratch), then no.

I am good enough to satisfy myself though, and that is what really matters.
---

Fried shrimp is about all I make that take any effort beyond boiling some water. My partner loves to cook, so I got lucky.
---

Ah, crap. The topic title says "cook"...

ffs.


---

Never cooked in my life, so I couldn't say. I'm a microwave wizard though......if that counts *shrugs*
---

Yes.
---

I'm a lazy fuck. Though I am capable but I'm almost always not motivated enough for the task.
---

Helllllllll no! I wouldn't even trust myself to pour myself a bowl of Lucky Charms because I'm afraid I'll screw up and make the horseshoes catch fire.

Yes. Though I still use a cookbook(technically a cooking website) for everything. Even when i know the recipe by heart. And people poke my food, so I guess that's a plus...
---

Yes. But not a great or amazing cook.
---

I'm alright, I have the basics down and can learn new dishes quickly.
---

I've never poisoned anyone.

Last time I tried to cook roommate comes back with "OMG it's like you don't even know what salt is"
---

Yes. I've been told as such. I don't find cooking that hard: just follow the recipe in front of you.
---

I'd say so. As far as savory stuff goes, I need more experience to develop the intuition needed to adjust spice palettes on the fly, and that means I'm not quite up to heavily deviating from recipes, but I do find that I have a really good eye for recipes that will turn out well, and I can follow them well. When I do cook without a recipe, it tends to turn out well, but those tend to be simpler dishes, seasoning-wise (salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder being the staples).

Now, baking? That's where I'm pretty awesome. I'm not able to make up my own recipes for cakes and the like just yet, because that involves a greater understanding of the underlying chemistry than I've got, but I'm at the point where I'm synthesizing recipes from multiple other recipes to make some pretty wild things, like a chocolate mousse mille-feuille covered in chocolate ganache, or a chocolate tart with a layer of candied clementine slices garnished with candied orange zest. Just last night, I made a basic cherry pie with a storebought chocolate crust and canned filling, then topped it with a bit of ganache and some ground toasted almonds to make a surprisingly gourmet dessert. Baking is definitely my forte, kitchen-wise.
---

No but that's more from lack of trying rather than anything else.
---

Yup.
---

AllstarSniper32 posted...

I don't make anything flashy or outlandish but yeah, I think I'm good.

---

@adjl posted...

Now, baking? That's where I'm pretty awesome. Baking is definitely my forte, kitchen-wise.

My mom is good at baking, too. And decorating cakes, too.

Here's one of the cakes she made. It's probably one of my favorites.

And everybody is always excited when she makes cupcakes. Every time we have an kind of event, they always beg her to make cupcakes. Haha.
---

Great cook with a cookbook handy.

Otherwise, I can do basic stuff all right, though I haven't memorized any recipes.
---

Dikitain posted...

actual effort (like mashed potatoes from scratch)

But that's one of the easiest things to make...

ChouBF posted...

Dikitain posted...

actual effort (like mashed potatoes from scratch)

But that's one of the easiest things to make...

But it probably still takes effort to make...
---

Yes and everbody who eats my food says so.
---

I'm decent. I need improvement though.
---

LinkPizza posted...

adjl posted...

Now, baking? That's where I'm pretty awesome. Baking is definitely my forte, kitchen-wise.

My mom is good at baking, too. And decorating cakes, too.

Here's one of the cakes she made. It's probably one of my favorites.

And everybody is always excited when she makes cupcakes. Every time we have an kind of event, they always beg her to make cupcakes. Haha.

That's a cake? Whoa! Your mom is very talented and hilarious!
---

No. I always follow instructions on a packet but anyone can do that. Cooking for scratch though? Eh I'd definitely need a recipe and things probably would go wrong.
---

Lil_Bit83 posted...

LinkPizza posted...

adjl posted...

Now, baking? That's where I'm pretty awesome. Baking is definitely my forte, kitchen-wise.

My mom is good at baking, too. And decorating cakes, too.

Here's one of the cakes she made. It's probably one of my favorites.

And everybody is always excited when she makes cupcakes. Every time we have an kind of event, they always beg her to make cupcakes. Haha.

That's a cake? Whoa! Your mom is very talented and hilarious!

Yeah. I think so, too. It was a birthday cake. She has made a bunch of other ones, too.
---

LinkPizza posted...

adjl posted...

Now, baking? That's where I'm pretty awesome. Baking is definitely my forte, kitchen-wise.

My mom is good at baking, too. And decorating cakes, too.

Here's one of the cakes she made. It's probably one of my favorites.

And everybody is always excited when she makes cupcakes. Every time we have an kind of event, they always beg her to make cupcakes. Haha.

Cake decorating is something I haven't done much of. I did get a set of piping bags for Christmas, which I've used a couple times since then, but anything really fancy is still far beyond me. They did come in really handy for the last batch of cupcakes I made (red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese butter cream), since piping a nice swirl is a whole lot nicer than spreading icing on. That's a very impressive cake, though.
---