How many of you guys here really, really enjoy cooking and planning meals?

[Parkanzky]

I bake all bread and cook all meals at our house, do the dishes too. I love baking sourdough.....getting ready to build up starter to bake 24 loaves Sunday. Got any pics of yours?


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I worked in a family-owned retail bakery all through high school and every summer when I was home from college.

I had a tradition where I'd go back and work for one or two days every year (at Thanksgiving). Unfortunately, the bakery went out of business last year.

There's nothing like a good loaf of bread right out of the oven!

 

[Cat_Driver]

For me cooking is an art form. I taught my wife how to cook and NOT follow recipes and doing the same with the daughter. I was a proud Dad the other night when the daughter just "poured" some olive oil in a meal she was cooking without measuring. She did ask for my help on when to stop when it hit a tablespoon. Still smiling over that one.

I remember when I was dating my wife, I always cooked for my wife's friends and family and everyone said " DON'T LET THIS ONE GET AWAY" while they ate Veal Piccata or a full Mexican feast, fresh fish stuffed with lemons and herbs. My wife's family is from Minnesota so I don't think they ever tasted seasonings before. Got to the point no one on her side would cook for me, thinking they wouldn't measure up.

I'm always the guy cooking for reunions, family gatherings, etc. I started cooking when I was 15, my first job in the cafeteria of a local college. I loved the students complimenting me on how good my cooking was. I always took the time to grill toast all the hamburger, hot dog buns in butter, then grill the dog. I cooked for them like I would like to eat the food. I then got my speed up whereas between classes when I had to cook for hundreds at a time. I'd take 10-12 orders by memory, turn around cook them all off, deliver them and take the next 12 people in line and do that all night long.

I made enough money to pay cash for a new Camaro when I was able to drive.

As a kid of 15 working full time and eating all the food I could shove down my throat was a pretty good deal. Working in the restaurant field you will never go hungry

They then transferred me to open a theme park where I grilled 5000 burgers in one day. I would drop 75 frozen burgers on the drill at a time and it would instantly cool down the entire grill top. Then they shipped me to a hotel where I would do 500 for breakfast every day cooked to order. Dropping eggs and pancakes on the grill by the dozens.

My latest craze is smoking all my meals. I bought a Traeger Barbecue Smokers and it makes food taste like I've never had in my life.

One never get tired of eating good food.

 

[k0ua]

I cook supper a lot, but I don't know how to make bread. The wife does.

I love sourdough bread..My favorite.:licking:

 

[JDgreen227]

Cat_Driver....my dad could not cook worth a d*mn but one of his favorite sayings was: "One of the best ways to live well is to eat well"....:laughing:

CONGRATULATIONS on your ability to prepare food so well!!! :thumbsup:

 

[charlz]

I do most of the cooking. Being able to work from home or at least be flexible with my schedule helps. I also started young learning to bake cookies and the like from my mom. We lived in a very rural area and there were four kids so if you wanted something like cookies or cake you had to make it yourself.... and a lot of it... the lifespan of a dozen cookies was measured in minutes if not seconds I learned to make everything from scratch and still shake my head when the wife or kids 'makes' something from a box :confused2:

 

[DFB]

Eggplant parmesan is one of my specialties and having a garden gives you even more motivation to cook.

I have a hardcover Better Homes and Garden cookbook from the 70's I lost in my divorce and luckily I found another pristine copy at a flea mkt. Its a book you couldn't be without. It is probably 2 inches thick and you make it for real...everything from scratch. None of this open a can crap the new versions have in them. A lot of history with that book for me in fact it came a late family member that built a million dollar restaurant business from the ground up many years ago.

Ha that bread stuff is funny to me. My late uncle my mothers brother, retired waaay too early (service pension and later post office placement) at 55. My ex FIL the farmer, still bailing hay at 70 today said to him when announced his retirement "What are going to do now? You know he had plans to like go fishing everyday simple stuff like that, and he said "I'm going to make bread". Till the day he died my ex fil at every family gathering asked him with an entirely straight face... "Did you make that bread yet?" :laughing:

BTW I don't bake!

 

[300UGUY]

I'd like to do more cooking, but my wife is pretty possessive of her kitchen. I really need to start at the beginning, I have never cooked much at all.

 

[oosik]

Since I'm recently widowed - if I don't cook, I don't eat. I wouldn't say I'm a good cook, but I've not lost any weight either. If I want a fancy meal, I can always go to the local hamburger joint.

 

[tcreeley]

I've just started doing the no-knead artisan bread in a dutch oven. We were looking for a bread machine without a no stick surface. We couldn't find one and I kept coming across references to using a dutch oven or a cloche. I ordered a dutch oven from lodge on line. After a few less than perfect loaves- I now get a great loaf every time. I mix it up the night before and cook it the next day, It is crusty just the way I like it. My cockatiel has to have some whenever I have some!
Also I don't eat salt/sodium anymore except what is naturally in an egg or a vegetable. I end up making most everything I eat. My bread is salt free and tastes great!
I enjoy cooking.

 

[MossRoad]

I've always enjoyed cooking. For that matter, the first Christmas I was dating my wife (I was 18) I asked for a frying pan! I've been cooking on weekends for 30 years. I've been cooking 5 days a week since May. Always have dinner on the table for my wife when she comes home from work.

Here's one of my favorite pot roast recipes. Not mine, but I modified it a bit. Pretty good stuff...

Ingredients
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 3 to 5-pound chuck roast
2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil
2 whole onions, peeled and halved
6 to 8 whole carrots, unpeeled, cut into 2-inch pieces
2-3 cups red wine
3 cups beef broth
2 or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
Directions
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Generously salt and pepper the chuck roast.

Heat the olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the halved onions to the pot, browning them on both sides. Remove the onions to a plate.

Throw the carrots into the same very hot pot and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so. Reserve the carrots with the onions.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pot. Place the meat in the pot and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pot, scraping the bottom with a whisk.

Place the roast in a large oven-safe pan add enough beef stock and wine to cover the meat halfway. Add the scrapings from above.

Add in the onions and the carrots, along with the fresh herbs.

Cover with foil tent or put a lid on, then roast for 3 hours for a 3-pound roast. For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 hours. The roast is ready when it's fall-apart tender.