Who doesnt know how to cook??
 

I'm 22 and I just cooked my 2nd meal EVER tonight and my Grandmother and mother think this is a travesty. My younger sister has been cooking full course meals since she was about 11, yet I dont think Id be capable of making an edible grilled cheese sandwich.

Is anyone else like me or conversely, is anyone a realllly good cook and when did you start cooking? Whats your specialty??

I've known how to cook for ages, but I've never really enjoyed doing it until this year.

I make really good Indian food (thanks to my mama), all kinds of different dishes. I make really yummy pad thai as well, but desserts of any kind are my specialty. :D

I can make pretty good quesadilla's on the george forman.

I can grill the perfect steak. For me at least. Also, kick ass Taco Salad.

You know I think I'm a decent cook but Mr. valkyrie puts me to SHAME. He never uses a recipe and just comes up with the most amazing, random things.

The one thing I do that he doesn't is bake. Now that I've gotten the hang of high altitude baking, I make some killer cookies.

I've been cooking since I was a child - I made my first full dinner at seven. I cooked at least half of the time at home since I was 10. When I first took home-ec, the teacher asked who could make macaroni & cheese, and I was the only person who put up their hand. She asked how, and I said, "First you make a white sauce, then..." She stopped me and said, "You know how to make a white sauce?!" I was honestly confused, and said, "Who doesn't?" I think I got my A that day.

I know how to BBQ; does that count?

My mom started working afternoons when I was 15 so I learned to cook then. If I hadn't learned, my dad, brother and I wouldn't have been eating! My mom and I planned the menus together based on my school activities and when I would get home. She taught me how to do it all with very detailed directions. I had always enjoyed baking anyway though. I most like to bake and do Italian dishes.

Dee

There is a show I've found on the Food Network... "How to Boil Water". I won't get to see it when I'm at work but you might be able to watch/tape it. ;) :D

Like to eat:) Hate to cook!:(

With long days at work is hard to really get into cooking.

But, get a Slow Cooker and cook book!

Use oven for backing, can do a lot of items.

There is a recipe thread on site somewhere.:)

Instant Gravey, Potato, stuffing, and other potato instant recipes and in box.

Learn to cook, starve, or eat out all of the time and go broke!

Trust me you will make mistakes.

My dinner used to be ready when the smoke alarm went off!;)

I LOVE 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray on the Food Network! (That still doesnt mean I cook, haha)

She does seem to be on alot..good ideas but voice sounds like fingernails scratching a chalkboard.:p

I can cook, I just don't do it often. It seems pointless because I live alone. I just don't see the point in cooking for just me, so I only do it if I have friends coming over to eat as well.

Prior to enlisting in the United States Air Force, I could barely fix a macaroni and cheese dinner, much less burn water. Eight weeks of technical training and the Air Force turned me into a halfway decent cook - ahem... aerospace food service technician (Death From Within!) ;) - Once I got out and tried cooking for a living in civilian life I got tired of it mighty quick. You really have to love cooking to do it for hundreds of people, and be consistent the whole way through.

I'll cook only for myself, for family and close friends, and occasionally prepare a covered dish for dinner at my local Masonic lodge, but that's about it for me.

I CAN cook some, but it's more like I DON'T cook. I agree, it's not much fun to cook just for one person. My friends laugh at me for watching all the cooking shows.

I can make the most perfectly toasted bagel & some burnt toast. :) Thats about it.

My mother and grandmother are wonderful cooks! When I was young, I wanted to learn, but my mother wouldn't let me help. She would make me sit and watch her...I'm a tactile/visual learner, so I'd get bored and leave the kitchen...

Since then, if you give me a recipe with explicit instructions I can figure it out and make a good meal...but I cannot just "come up with something" on my own. I make chicken dinners (chicken parmesean is a specialty!) and breakfasts I'm great at (french toast, pancakes, eggs, etc.)...

The question is more do I like to cook? NOPE!

This, I understand. It's much more fun, much easier to cook for two or more than one.

I can cook, but I just don't like to. I get impatient easily, so I wont cook big meals. I did however cook Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year! Well, everything but the turkey. My boyfriends dad did that. My mom is a fantastic chef and can cook some good stuff, and keeps trying to teach me, but I just don't care. I have cooked for my boyfriend once, and it turned out terrible, so he has to cook now cause I hate our stove. I used to cook awesome meals for my ex-husband, but apparently lost my touch.

I'm not so good at the cooking. I can make boxed stuff, and I can cook like chicken and roast, but that's about it. My most famous meal was Easy Mac and Tequila. That was all we had to drink, and amazingly, it goes well with easy mac!

Damn, cooking is easy!:mad:

Read Instrctions, Drink, re-read instructions, drink.

Smoke alarm goes off, throw hockey puck dinner in trash and drink!:D

Well, it is harder than that or not! Maybe!:D

Try Meat Loaf! My MOM liked Mine better than Hers, I had to fix mine for every Family gathering!:(

But, a True Chef such as Myself has secrets to a degree.

Meat Loaf, Popeyes, Gooey Buns, Mac and Cheese Casarol, just a few!:p

Eat Cake you Peons or eat out!;)

I love Dharma!:o

Just remember the motto of the military cook: "When it's cooking, it's burning... when it's burning, it's done. Dinner's ready when the smoke alarm goes off!" :D

So I've heard there's a difference but never actually what the difference is. Is it the cooking time that's affected or what exactly?

same here....I find it really pointless. When I do cook, I end up taking the leftovers to school for lunch several times. My best friend moved in by herself a few apartments over and we swore we would take turns cooking instead of eating out, but that hasn't worked...now we call and decided where we are going to eat out at and if we are carrying out or eating in.

Both. Water boils at a much lower temperature at high altitude, and certain ingredients in baking that rely on water to activate (such as yeast) will react too quickly or not at all.

Oh Dude, AlphaSigOU, you be to funny!:D

Dont you know anybetter than to throw an equation like this at a new non cooking person!:rolleyes:

Well newbie cookers, live and learn! Go to the mountains to ski and drink, dont cook!:D

When water is boooiling, throw the shrimp in (Todays memu), and go like hell!:cool: :D

Heat is a bad thing at times.

Tried fried chicken for the first time, Hot grease, working oin chicken, Grease flamed Up, and burnt the Slats on the window and melted them!:(

Called a friend to see what I did wrong, was coughing my ass off. Called her husband who is a Highway Patrol Guy and he rushed over to take me to hospital for smoke inhalation.

Hell, all I wanted to do is do fried Chicken like Mom used to make.

Well, it aint happening, Mom Made The Best Fried Chicken.:)

Oh Yes, the smoke alarm was going off like crazy!:D

I like cooking, and I think I'm pretty good at it. My grandmother, mom, and dad are all good cooks. They all let me help them when I was little, so I've been cooking forever pretty much.

In theory I can cook. Since I live alone, I tend not to do it often and when Honeybaked Ham is so close, no need even for Christmas Eve! I don't trust myself with the big stuff.