to be annoyed by grown adults who say they can't cook?

[Mintyy]

I don't think I am.

It just makes me think that the person saying as much is a little bit useless.

At a loss as to why you think I meant restaurant-style cooking in my op? I would be unreasonable to be annoyed by people who can't or won't do that.

Well I sometimes wonder when people talk about "cooking from scratch"-how "from scratch" are you talking?

I mean I don´t find lasagne/bolognese that hard to make as I don´t do the tomatoes myself!

With a roast what I find most difficult is the timings.

But that´s because I find cooking boring & wander off to do other stuff!

I just think it is sad that people do not value their bodies and try to keep them healthy. I wouldn't put 2-stroke in my car, so I wouldn't put rubbish into my body.
You can eat very healthily without needing to be "able" to cook, cooking just makes things more varied and exciting.

If someone told me they 'can't cook' I'd assume they meant 'restaurant-style cooking'.
So by 'can't cook' what did you/they mean, Mintyy? Surely couldn't have meant unable to heat pasta/veg/boil and egg/etc?
(That said, I did tell someone I can't cook the other day - meant light heartedly and that my cooking is limited, I'm no Escoffier, etc. He seemed to take it to mean that I literally can't make a meal. )

I have no time for anyone who is incapable of whipping up a simple meal such as a ballotine of chicken, celeriac pureé, blanched fennell and a beurre noisette foam.

It's just laziness.

Probably because many people think cooking is far more complex than it is and so assume "cooking" means restaurant style stuff.

If you can read you can follow a recipe.

This is not always true. There are many cook books out there which assume that all their readers have a basic knowledge, which actually isn't true for quite a few people. Celeb chefs are the worst offenders.

As an example, it took me many years to work out how to cook something so basic as an omelette. As my mum is crap at coooking I've had to teach myself, but cook book after cook book left basic information out of a simple recipe for an omelette. I eventually discovered, from a Delia book, that the simple trick is to keep the heat high. But all the other books assumed people know this. I didn't and so my omelettes kept ending up more like scambled eggs.

I can cook quite well now, DP is soooo basic that he leaves it to me, but he's great at so many other things (especially the ironing ) that I'm not bothered.

Do they live on ready meals and take always?

Pretty much. 10 minutes ago my efforts to microwave two baking potatos with baked beans ended with rock hard potatoes and funny tasting beans.

Co-op pizza is now in the oven.

If you can read you can follow a recipe.

So following a recipe = being able to cook? (I mean like really cook.) I think not!

On of my best friends can't cook at all. But she is a consultant doctor and can save lives like no-one else i know! I know what skill i would rather she honed!

Pumpkin, re your potatoes and beans.

Microwaves can be quite tricky to use, because they don't heat in the same way that ovens do, so it's not really surprising it didn't cook in the time you gave it.

Potatoes are large solid objects, and are going to take a comparatively long time to cook in the microwave, compared to small soft objects like baded beans. So you can't put them in all at the same time and expect them to come out nicely.

If I wanted to cook a really nice baked potato, I would begin by pricking a few holes in it with a fork, and then cooking it in the microwave for around 5 mins. I'd check to see if it was just soft, and if it wasn't, I'd give it another minute, and then another minute, until it was just soft in the centre but not unpleasantly squidgy. It might take between 8 and 10 mins to do one potato. Then I would put it in the oven, pre-heated to about 200 degrees c, for around 10 mins to crisp up the skin. If I felt like it, I might dribble a teaspoon of olive oil on the top and rub it over before it went into the oven, and put a few grains of salt on top. You don't need to do them in the oven at the end, but I think it's much nicer.

You were doing two potatoes - two potatoes in a microwave need more time than one potato, so I'd probably up it to about 8 mins for the initial cooking time, and then check repeatedly at minute intervals.

I've not done baked beans in the microwave because I find them easier to judge done on a pan on top of the stove. But I'd put them into a bowl and give them about 1.5 mins, stir thoroughly, and then give them another 1.5 mins, and then check to see if they were heated through.

Does that help a bit?

When I went to uni I would say I 'couldn't cook'. I mean, i could make pasta and follow a few set recipes but I hadn't ever done much cooking off-plan.

For several years my mum got a phone call often at tea "I made x yesterday, can I reheat it?" "I've got veg y, how long do they need to be cooked for" and so on. Used to really annoy me when she would reply "a few mins then test" :-)

Now I would say I am an excellent cook. I like eating, I like cooking, I am good at thinking what to make, good at the fridge invention test, can cook rice, pasts, grains, veg etc without referring to the packet (a few mins then test) because after a while you just 'know'.

But I can totally see how people who don't like eating much, mainly eat ready meals, don't have anyone to ask, are afraid of going wrong (I had a few food disasters along the way!) and so on don't learn how to cook.

I cook "from scratch" everyday. Good, healthy food that everyone enjoys.

But I hate cooking - I find it a complete chore. If I lived alone I would eat only food that doesn't need cooking or tesco finest dauphoniose potatoes with a steak!

Just because I can do it doesn't mean I would if I didn't have to!

I think that the convenience food industry is set up with the specific aim of making people think that easy things are hard.

Cake mix. Fucking cake mix.

If you never made a cake, you might think, shit, I'll buy cake mix.

Carbonara. You don't know that if you melt down some dairylea stick some cream in the pan with the frying bacon and onions, crack in a couple of egg yolks and a shit load of parmesan then you'd buy some.

I think you have to be brave and try. But it's hard. A lot of times ingredients cost more than the jar. But not fucking cake mix And people might not have the money to make mistakes.

For me it was gravy. I had no idea how to make gravy. Granules make it so far from what it started out as, you can't even guess how to make it. Then you need a person to tell you. If you didn't grow up with that person, it's hard work.

Grendlesmum. I didnt put them in at the same time! I did as you suggested for the beans but potatoes only got six minutes (which might explain their rock hardness!) I've always put potatoes in the oven in the past but for quickness decided to try the microwave. Not something I'll be doing again. Thanks for the suggestions.

This is why I love Delia. Her recipes have precise measurements and timings, and "as you go" photos too sometimes. She is a bit patronising but takes nothing for granted.

We had her Lancashire Hotpot tonight. IMHO it is "chop stuff, put it in a pot in the right order, put in oven, come back when oven beeps" but DH thinks it is Cooking.

Just in case you try it again in the microwave, six minutes would have been good if you'd had one smallish potato, but for two pots, you have to think about potentially doubling the cooking time. But I agree with you, ovens are easier to use!

Right now I am fashioning a chickpea and aubergine curry
I am using Pataks curry paste-not freshly ground spices of my own making, and a carton of passata.
It's still cooking, as I am using fresh aubergine, onions, spinach and coriander.
I couldnt cook until I was 16, and my dad made me learn, by calling me every time he was cooking, and talking me thru what he was doing. I am nowhere near as a good a cook as he was, but I can make tasty and cheap stuff pretty quickly, as anyone can.
It's not a talent-some people are better at it than other naturally, but if you like eating it's a massive shame not to learn, because you save quids, and don't feel helpless in the face of raw ingredients.
Just learning a few basic techniques e.g how to make proper rice, how to marinate and sear meat,how to prepare veg, how long to simmer a casserole; these are basic skills, not rocket science.
I do like to eat tho, and maybe if you are not that bothered about food you never learn.

In fact, the few times I have tried to do a ready meal, it has taken AGES and been more hassle than just cobbling together a spanish ommelette.
Pointless.

Patak's pastes are brilliant.

I always buy carbonara because I have no idea what it's made of, just no it tastes nice.

And then people on here just say 'oh, just get some parmesan!!' well what the hell is that, and where do I get it? That's just as confusing a word as carbonara

well it seems i can cook according to some i scoffed steak pie for dinner made from scratch well with bisto and shop bought pastry but i did the rest

I agree that a certain native greed is an excellent motivator!

One reason I cook from scratch is that I really want my dcs to take for granted that cooking your own food is natural, healthy and cheap and I've always tricked got them to chop/stir/taste.

It makes my blood boil that we have failed a whole generation (possibly two?) by axing school cooking lessons, which is both a health time bomb and a whole other thread.

Mind you, I busted the sods came home unexpectedly on Friday night and found them all waiting with glee for the sainsbury pizza to cook, the lovingly home made steak pie shoved in the freezer

you need a person to tell you. If you didn't grow up with that person, it's hard work.

That is so true, Nagoo!

Surely everyone can prepare food which is edible, nutritious and reasonably cheap if they want to (or have to)? But being 'able to cook' is kind of a sliding scale and depends quite a bit on confidence (and how much you enjoy being in a kitchen working). A lot of 'good cooking' depends on having tricks up your sleeve that either come from someone else's wisdom (friend, family, partner...) or trial and error.

Carbonara's dead easy, pouffe. Several ways to do it, Google it...

by axing school cooking lessons, which is both a health time bomb and a whole other thread.

MY dd takes cooking at school but it is of course optional she just passed her mock last week and got a B she is on dinners from now on, she is a better baker than cook though