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

[downsizingnow48]

Good topic. Since retiring I do a lot more. Biggest meal so far was for a daughter's private wedding reception dinner, outside under the redwoods for 30 people. Her husband's family is from Kansas City and a little suspicious of West Coast living! So we did mainstream -- steaks, barbecued chicken, potato salad, etc. I used 3 grilles. What I like the most is various chili and bean dishes, always something new to be learned and enjoyed. I spent a year baking bread just after retirement, got pretty good at pugliese loaves. That was in rural Virginia. Here in Sacramento great bread can be got just about anywhere so I stopped baking bread. My grandfather was a pastry chef in France and a bunch of his recipes have survived so I make apple pie, apricot pie, cherry pie as he taught us many years ago. That is always a hit. Anyway cooking is great fun.

 

[SPIKER]

I do cook a dang fine meals often myself, my 1st full on Thanksgiving Dinner I made 100% by myself I was 14, my sister got sick & someone had to cook... Everyone raved how good the bird and fixing came out most thought my sister did the cooking even though she was dog dead with flue (She could have been 5 star chef if they only cared what food tasted like.) I like a good steak on grill OR in cast iron with Onions & Shrooms.

Breakfast is always good too but we need better kitchen as its small ...

Mark

 

[MossRoad]

...
Breakfast is always good too but we need better kitchen as its small ...

Mark

We call our kitchen a one-butt kitchen. We'd like to have a two-butt kitchen some day. :laughing:

 

[SirReal63]

I do all of the cooking and wouldn't have it any other way. I haven't baked from scratch in years, I still can but don't have the time. My Dad drilled it into me starting at an early age that life and eating were about flavor, not sustanence. I have tried to live up to that.

 

[gsganzer]

I cook frequently. The wife and I enjoy food & wine magazine and I pick different things to cook and pair with wines on a regular basis. I have a great butternut squash soup recipe. Also a great smoked barbecue vinegrette salad recipe. Sea scallops, venison chili, pot roast... Man I'm getting hungry ��

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

no way, I leave that up to the wife, am I the only one like that on here?

 

[gsganzer]

We should get Muhammad to creat a food and cooking forum. If he'd post a "recipe template", we could all post recipes that would fit a format that could be printed and saved in a recipe box.

 

[TomSeller]

My wife hasn't cooked in 30 years. Last time was around 1985. We had friends over and were supposed to eat at 6. I think dinner was ready about 9:30 and she hasn't tried again since. I can't say I enjoy cooking every day, but I do like to do it on occasion. But I need to eat so I cook.

 

[MossRoad]

no way, I leave that up to the wife, am I the only one like that on here?

Well, there's tens of thousands of TBN members who haven't replied yet, so there's hope for you.

 

[JDgreen227]

We call our kitchen a one-butt kitchen. We'd like to have a two-butt kitchen some day. :laughing:

The original kitchen of my 1950's kit house was barely a two-butt....when I built on to that house I designed a new kitchen 14 feet by 14 feet.

 

[Ted Summey]

I don't bake bread or cakes but can cook about anything. I cook about 1/3 to 1/2 the time. My cooking started with being responsible for cooking the fish and game I bring home. Of course any cooking that involves fire is my job-camp cooking, grilling, smoking or fixing pork BBQ. Now it isn't unusual for me to fix a meal in the kitchen. If I want a certain food, the wife says, "Ok" but that usually means "Ok I'll eat it if you fix it." Buffalo wings, ribs, venison, fish, steaks, fried turkey, beer chicken, pot roast, spaghetti, potato soup, chowder, cube steak, crockpot chicken - our veggies come from our garden so beans, corn, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes and more comes from a canning jar or from the freezer.

 

[TomSeller]

The original kitchen of my 1950's kit house was barely a two-butt....when I built on to that house I designed a new kitchen 14 feet by 14 feet.

You have lots of room in there now! Nice.

 

[dave1949]

The original kitchen of my 1950's kit house was barely a two-butt....when I built on to that house I designed a new kitchen 14 feet by 14 feet

You have lots of room in there now! Nice.

You haven't seen the butts. Hard to say if that's enough room. :laughing:

 

[TomSeller]

The original kitchen of my 1950's kit house was barely a two-butt....when I built on to that house I designed a new kitchen 14 feet by 14 feet

You haven't seen the butts. Hard to say if that's enough room. :laughing:

Good one! And if two don't fit in that kitchen, I don't want to see them. What has been seen cannot be unseen.

 

[randy41]

cooking yes. planning no.

 

[dmccarty]

I do most of the cooking but I am so busy now, and I don't need the calories from a big meal, so I don't cook/eat much for dinner. The wifey has learned to cook a few things over the years but I am the one that cooks the most. If I was retired, I would cook more.

Years ago I saw some cooking shows and read some articles about no kneed bread. I found a few recipes, made a few batches and off I went. Some times I use the dutch oven some times I use the cast iron bread pans. Usually this time of year, I make two gallon batches of bean soups. One gallon gets canned and the other we eat off of for a week or so. To go with the beans I make bread. It is amazing to me how FILLING whole wheat bread is compared to white fluffy empty store bought bread. A couple slices of home made wheat bread and soup is really filling. Unfortunately, I have been to busy to make either bread or soup.

Our kitchen is right sized. Right sized for just me to be in it. :laughing: I REALLY do not like other people in the kitchen when cooking since they just get in my way and are a safety hazard. I have cooked quite a few big holiday meals and people will ask if I need help and the answer is no. Get out of the kitchen. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[TomSeller]

I REALLY do not like other people in the kitchen when cooking since they just get in my way and are a safety hazard.

I am the same unless they pull up a stool and visit, that I like. I find it hard to cook with someone standing in the way. I also often don't cook with recipes, I just do it my way and everyone is wanting to help measure some ingredients from a recipe. I also have a extensive set of nearly a hundred year old Griswold cast iron cookware that if I don't watch close enough someone still stick in the dishwasher. There are certain things like baking that I don't do but do appreciate.

 

[JDgreen227]

TomSeller: In your opinion, which is more of a science? Cooking or baking?

 

[TomSeller]

TomSeller: In your opinion, which is more of a science? Cooking or baking?

Good question. I would say baking? That whole bit about yeast rising is like a chemistry experiment to me. I don't have a sense for what goes into baked goods to make them taste good. With cooking, I can tell myself it will taste better with dill seed or whatever.

 

[polo1665]

TomSeller: In your opinion, which is more of a science? Cooking or baking?

How did your soup and bread turn out last night?