Rate Yourself as a Cook

[JohnDB]

I have never heard of this...it's fascinating. But I would probably hate it. I LOVE coffee and LOVE wine. But now I understand how sommeliers do what they do, right? I taste wine and I'm like, it's good, maybe a little fruity. heh. They taste wine and they're like "this flavor...now this one...wait here comes this one...now this one...." and I'm amazed. But now it makes sense.

After three wines I'm in palate shock and I can barely make it through #4&5.

Sensitive noses are a big part of that.

 

[Gagafritz]

Most people consider me a good cook. But, I stick to pretty basic dishes. I do bake breads by hand. And i always experiment. I have made everything from my own jelly donuts, bagels, macarons, french pattisserie fruit tart, palek paneer, oreos, cheese its, homemade pasta, my own butter, sour dough starter, etc. I like to try a lot of new recipes. I seem to do pretty well with savory dishes and breads. I don't really like baking that much so pretty basic at that though I can make cakes and things all from scratch. I like to make everything from scratch and I like to try new and interesting things to challenge myself

So, for home cooks I would say I am a 6 for my abilities, but I give myself higher marks than average for my willingness to try challenging dishes. My kitchen is fully stocked with every cooking gadget and I love to play.

 

[SweetSue92]

Most people consider me a good cook. But, I stick to pretty basic dishes. I do bake breads by hand. And i always experiment. I have made everything from my own jelly donuts, bagels, macarons, french pattisserie fruit tart, palek paneer, oreos, cheese its, homemade pasta, my own butter, sour dough starter, etc. I like to try a lot of new recipes. I seem to do pretty well with savory dishes and breads. I don't really like baking that much so pretty basic at that though I can make cakes and things all from scratch. I like to make everything from scratch and I like to try new and interesting things to challenge myself

So, for home cooks I would say I am a 6 for my abilities, but I give myself higher marks than average for my willingness to try challenging dishes. My kitchen is fully stocked with every cooking gadget and I love to play.

Trust me, if I rated myself a 5, you are at least an 8! Or maybe I'm a 4. Yeah I was probably too generous with myself to be honest.

The fact that you just like to be in the kitchen and experiment puts you way above average IMO

 

[JohnDB]

Wow I'm learning so much. I have heard that "wine goes with food" but didn't know why. But now it makes sense.

I am also thinking about all your food tasting like the first bite again. I'm thinking...."I guess the first bite is the best, right? So the idea is that your whole meal should be that experience?" and all the gourmet chefs around me cry. Because I have never understood this until now.

Kinda like when I take my husband to the symphony and we have just heard this mind-blowing premier (I love classical new release) and I can't barely breathe and he....has fallen asleep. I'm like this is a crime against humanity....heh

I need to take a "Food Enjoyment for Idiots" class.

This is why we can charge the big bucks for some foods we make.

Memories play a huge role in foods we like.

Like water for the thirsty....a food item that you have missed until you finally find it....woah Nelly....it's irresistible.

I made some extra sour sourdough English muffins....I've been without really fresh for a long time now. And I was in love again. It took my to my childhood. I ate them hot out of the oven...*way too soon*

It was awesome.

 

[JohnDB]

Most people consider me a good cook. But, I stick to pretty basic dishes. I do bake breads by hand. And i always experiment. I have made everything from my own jelly donuts, bagels, macarons, french pattisserie fruit tart, palek paneer, oreos, cheese its, homemade pasta, my own butter, sour dough starter, etc. I like to try a lot of new recipes. I seem to do pretty well with savory dishes and breads. I don't really like baking that much so pretty basic at that though I can make cakes and things all from scratch. I like to make everything from scratch and I like to try new and interesting things to challenge myself

So, for home cooks I would say I am a 6 for my abilities, but I give myself higher marks than average for my willingness to try challenging dishes. My kitchen is fully stocked with every cooking gadget and I love to play.

I'm going to agree with Sue on this one.

If you "play with food" and gadgets for food.....you are doing better than most.

Just remember that sometimes taste and appearances are at cross purposes.
It can look nasty but taste divine. But we do eat with our eyes first.

 

[SweetSue92]

This is why we can charge the big bucks for some foods we make.

Memories play a huge role in foods we like.

Like water for the thirsty....a food item that you have missed until you finally find it....woah Nelly....it's irresistible.

I made some extra sour sourdough English muffins....I've been without really fresh for a long time now. And I was in love again. It took my to my childhood. I ate them hot out of the oven...*way too soon*

It was awesome.

Okay. Yes.

I instantly thought of a patch of rhubarb we had in our old yard growing up...we moved when I was 11. My mom would make the BEST rhubarb pies with it. No mixing in of the sissy fruits either (ha)...straight rhubarb. My mom could make a pie crust like no one's business. I tried and tried when I married, but failed. It's store bought for me.

Anyway, you are right. Mom's rhubarb pies.

 

[petro]

I cooked professionally in many high class restaurants around the Twin Cities when younger before working construction.

Still can pull off excellent meals, but I actually hate cooking after cooking for hundreds of others for years.

Wasn't a profession I really enjoyed as you are stuck working weekends and nights and some customers are dicks.

 

[Dekster]

I have never heard of this...it's fascinating. But I would probably hate it. I LOVE coffee and LOVE wine. But now I understand how sommeliers do what they do, right? I taste wine and I'm like, it's good, maybe a little fruity. heh. They taste wine and they're like "this flavor...now this one...wait here comes this one...now this one...." and I'm amazed. But now it makes sense.

All I taste is intense sour.

 

[Anathema]

For basic stuff… C-
For anything beyond basic things… F-

Then again I’m male… cooking is what I have a wife for.

 

[Dekster]

So what things do you like?

And the spirit taste from alcohol is a numbing agent....it desensitizes your taste and smell. Just like super spicy will until all you taste is burning hot. Except alcohol is different....you will taste nothing.

Wine is different. It's made to go with food....not as a stand alone drink. A sip of the acids and tannins in wine make tasting easier. So that the food tastes like that first bite all over again.

The alcohol doesn't stop me from gagging at the mere sip of a wine. When I drink the hard stuff, I just bottoms up chug it so I can get me buzzy buzzing in a single at bat and only suffer through the ugh once. I am not an ETOH sipper of anything.

I like milk and dairy. I like liver and onions. I like peanut butter though some of it can have a burnt taste to me, particularly the JIF kinds. Unlike a lot of ST, I do like cauliflower but broccoli I can only eat raw. My sister can do brussel sprouts that strips all the flavor out that I can tolerate, but hers are the only ones. I can do milk or white chocolate but dark chocolate is super vile to me. My favorite meal of all time is still cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese.

 

[AMart]

I am an 8.

 

[Devils_Advocate]

My husband and I had this discussion a bit ago. He thinks my cooking is wonderful (God love him). I would give myself a FIVE on a scale of 1-10.

Here are my thoughts: a 10 would be a gourmet cook/chef, a professional or at least someone with training. A 1 would be the person who cannot boil water for a hot dog.

I rate myself a five because the food is good, and I can make more complicated food than when we first married. BUT I am not a creative cook. I rarely veer from recipes and I almost always use them. Additionally I do not enjoy cooking as a hobby. I don't hate it, but if I have free time, I'm not in the kitchen or looking up recipes.

Do you agree with my rating? What is yours?

7 because people will pay me for my dishes and have requested me to cook for their events.

People even pay for my time to show them how to cook like me and I am like my father…

 

[JohnDB]

The alcohol doesn't stop me from gagging at the mere sip of a wine. When I drink the hard stuff, I just bottoms up chug it so I can get me buzzy buzzing in a single at bat and only suffer through the ugh once. I am not an ETOH sipper of anything.

I like milk and dairy. I like liver and onions. I like peanut butter though some of it can have a burnt taste to me, particularly the JIF kinds. Unlike a lot of ST, I do like cauliflower but broccoli I can only eat raw. My sister can do brussel sprouts that strips all the flavor out that I can tolerate, but hers are the only ones. I can do milk or white chocolate but dark chocolate is super vile to me. My favorite meal of all time is still cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese.

So...strong sour and strong bitter are the things you don't like.
At a guess you really don't like beer, ale or lagers either. From the things you have said you probably prefer brandy, rum and Bourbon over scotch or gin.

You might like Port, Sherry, or flavored liquers....maybe.

And yet you like cauliflower and cabbage.
Some people will float a piece of bread in the water that simmers the cauliflower to help with the strong soapy Sulphur taste....those flavors get soaked up by the bread and get held there. (Skim off the bread before removing the veggies)


The cream of tomato is a surprise....sour & bitter being muted by cream....interesting.

 

[Dekster]

So...strong sour and strong bitter are the things you don't like.
At a guess you really don't like beer, ale or lagers either. From the things you have said you probably prefer brandy, rum and Bourbon over scotch or gin.

You might like Port, Sherry, or flavored liquers....maybe.

And yet you like cauliflower and cabbage.
Some people will float a piece of bread in the water that simmers the cauliflower to help with the strong soapy Sulphur taste....those flavors get soaked up by the bread and get held there. (Skim off the bread before removing the veggies)


The cream of tomato is a surprise....sour & bitter being muted by cream....interesting.

Fosters is the only beer I have ever really liked---but on tap, not out of the can.

I have never sensed sulfur or soapy flavors in cauliflower, but I usually eat it raw dipped into some sort of heavy cream based sauce or dip or do a curry batter and fry it half way and finish in the oven. I only really do cabbage cooking it to death in pork fat. Technically I also do a cabbage soup but I never really eat the actual cabbage in it. I never touch cole slaw.

 

[lg325]

I rate myself a 3. I really have to focus and force myself to cook to make a proper meal. Patience I do not have when it comes to cooking.

 

[Flash]

For 30 years my wife made excellent meals for the family. Always a good three course dinner when I came home from work. This was commendable because she worked as a school teacher. Yea, she would usually be home by 4:00 but still had to make a dinner for me and the family being home around 6:00.

We retired in 2003 at age 55. For some reason after we retired my wife lost all interest in cooking with having an empty nest with only the two of us.

I took over the cooking duties for the most part. I really didn't know the basic. I had done BBQ and Chili but for the most part did not know cooking fundamentals.

Over the years I have learned how to cook much better. I usually do the nightly meals nowadays.

I would have rated my wife an 8.5/10 back when she was doing it all the time. I am excellent with BBQ but with general cooking I am probably a 6/10 at best. I can come up with some really good things every once in awhile but then I occasionally screw a meal up or it is not very noteworthy.

 

[Anathema]

2.5/10 (at best)

I can do most basic cooking activities but anything that requires complex directions, or which requires touch/imagination or persons beyond me. Then again as a Man, cooking isn’t really something I was designed for.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I make a lot of my own recipes.
Something I would greatly enjoy would be for Chris Morocco to break down the dish and recreate it for accuracy.
Great show called Reverse Engineering...

This guy is amazing... I would kill to be able to have him do one of my dishes.

Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineering -

www.bonappetit.com

 

[Muhammed]

This made me laugh out loud....

I prefer them grilled, but grew up having them boiled. Maybe it's a midwestern thing?

I'm from your neck of the woods and that's what my mother often did too when I was a little kid, depending on the season.

If it was winter, she would boil them on the kitchen stove and if it was summer she would grill them outdoors.

I always preferred the grilled ones to the boiled ones too.

 

[JohnDB]

One is missing because someone couldn't wait for a pic to get taken.