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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think loraine pascal is very condisending and everyone can cook

72 replies

sarahighseas · 14/09/2014 11:55

For some silly reason I just watched some food porn, teaching someone that claims no it to be able to cook.

She taught him how to fry peaches and serve with fancy cheese as a salad, fry fish, asparagus and carbs as a main. Then for desert they added pomegranate juice to normal jelly.

Seriously it wasn't hard stuff and the ingredients were hugely expensive. How can no one cook?

OP posts:

squoosh · 14/09/2014 14:32

She has a recipe for a pear, blue cheese and pancetta salad that I make all the time.

I like Lorraine.

overslept · 14/09/2014 14:43

I know somebody who can't cook.. I live with him. When I first moved in his idea of cooking a meal was to boil pasta until mush and put mayo and tuna on it... That is all he can make. He kept absolutely no food in the house apart from 1 jar of pickled gherkins. .

I wouldn't trust him in the kitchen, he is a hazard just walking about the house without fire/hot things/liquids/sharp objects to add to the mix.

I have no idea how he has survived this long.

fuzzpig · 14/09/2014 14:49

Because you've let him, overslept? :o

hackmum · 14/09/2014 15:06

overslept: you've reminded me of a uni friend who cooked pasta and tomato sauce for her and her boyfriend. She'd made it all, and asked the boyfriend to mix the pasta with the sauce. He did what she asked, but he didn't drain the pasta first, as he thought he was supposed to tip the boiling water in too.

He was doing a PhD in theoretical physics.

PetalToTheMetal · 14/09/2014 15:11

I don't understand how people claim to be unable to cook. You just follow a recipe. It's just heating stuff up FGS.

Thurlow · 14/09/2014 15:11

I suppose yes, in theory everyone has the ability to learn how to cook. But some people are better at it and some people are worse at it just, you know, like everything else in life..

It also depends if you are interested enough in food to learn to cook decently. I'm not. I can not fuck up on the basics and am perfectly capable of ensuring we eat ok, but I tend to fuck up anything more complicated because I'm really not interested in what I'm doing and I'm not paying much attention.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 14/09/2014 15:13

Well, think about it. If you don't know what the terms mean, you won't understand a recipe.

My first boyfriend had no idea you were meant to let oil heat up before you started frying things, or that you were meant to get water boiling first before putting things in. And then you get stuff like 'cream the butter and sugar'.

If you didn't know that stuff and tried to follow a recipe, the end results might put you off trying again.

Thurlow · 14/09/2014 15:19

Good point, LRD. I hate that in recipes - "caramelise the onions while also searing the meat... " Easy if you know what it means and are used to doing it, not quite so straightforward if you're not that confident!

Everyone has a slightly different interpretation of "being able to cook" too, of what sort of recipes and level constitutes an ability to cook or not cook.

IScreamForIceCream · 14/09/2014 15:20

Whaaat?

That was the point of the show - that it anyone can indeed learn to cook. That man had allegedly only ever made a cheese sandwich. He had zero confidence in the kitchen and just avoided coking entirely. She showed him that of course he could cook. They stated with those dishes as they were impressive but not hard per se - perfect for his first meal which was a dinner party for 8.

I love Lorraine. Love watching her cooking shows and find the things she does re adoption and fostering really interesting and moving also.

Bulbasaur · 14/09/2014 15:26

I am capable of cooking. But it is nothing special and I hate doing it. DH on the other hand can make fantastic and exotic dishes. He looks up recipe and makes authentic ethnic food, going out of his way to go to special marts to get ingredients. Really, he's amazing and I'm just sitting here like "I can dump jars of spaghetti sauce on noodles...".

Given the choice I'd rather do dishes than cook a meal. Which is how we split things.

However, I can make fantastic desserts and breakfast foods. :)

VeryPunny · 14/09/2014 15:30

I noticed that the non-cooking bloke had a Falcon range in his house which must have cost thousands. What a waste!

overslept · 14/09/2014 15:59

fuzzpig The things is I like nice food. At the risk of sounding like a total snob, it is very very hard to show any enthusiasm or gratitude for a bowl of sticky, gluey half burnt, instant packet noodles.

hackmum That is hilarious. This is the exact type of thing he would do, and he is also a very intelligent man... At the risk of contradicting myself - he can't tell a cucumber from a courgette and was baffled when I explained.

The gherkins thing wasn't a joke. I moved in and he honestly had a single sad looking jar of gherkins in the cupboard. He was running a fridge freezer to store and empty wine bottle, some milk and an empty Cornetto box. When I moved, my first online shop arrived and I put it in the cupboards, he came home from work and exclaimed "look at all this food. It's like mums house! " ... he's in his twenties and hasn't lived at his mums for about 8 years

Original poster

sarahighseas · 14/09/2014 18:16

I can believe she makes a desert out of 4 tubs of green and blacks ice cream and shop bought Swiss roll. Lots of it is just assembly with no skill required and would cost a fortune for a family.

Its like when nigela and Delia did those TV shows where everything can out of a packet or a tin.

OP posts:

DrCarolineTodd · 15/09/2014 10:29

Just because you find something easy, doesn't mean someone else does. If you can't cook, you can't just follow a recipe because most of them assume basic knowledge - and if you don't have this you end up feeling stupid and useless. And if you can't cook, it's hard to learn as the people who can say things like "just follow the recipe" and the only basic lessons I can find in my area are for people with learning difficulties.

It's easy to just do something if you know how.

I had a childhood in which I was not fed properly or taught anything about how to cook. As an adult I am deeply ashamed. At times I try to follow a recipe or a video but there is always some trial and error involved and when it goes wrong I just feel stupid and useless. I don't know really basic things and have no idea how to learn them - and everyone who does know seems to think it's too easy and obvious for me to need it explained.

So YABVU.

FindoGask · 15/09/2014 10:32

"I mean come on how does that get on TV."

because Lorraine Pascal is very beautiful.

momb · 15/09/2014 10:40

YABU. Not everyone can cook and anything which gives them confidence to try is great.
We have lovely friends (known them nearly 30 years) who always serve (yummy) packet mix mexican when we go over, and I'd always presumed it was because he cooks for us to give her a night off perhaps. When they come to us we have whatever, but because of budget I've always cooked from scratch. We were invited there for sunday lunch and we had Bernard Matthews roast, frozen yorkies, frozen roasts etc: all yummy and it was about the company of course but neither of them have the confidence to peel and roast potatoes even. They slice and fry chicken but have never cooked a whole one. They can read a packet and follow instructions, but have never tried to cook anything without instructions on. I don't think that trying to give someone like this the confidence to try is necessarily condescending.

Mrsjayy · 15/09/2014 10:55

Cooking is a science imo I cant cook that well I didn't know if you didn't have a pan hot enough meat stews and doesn't brown I am much better than I used to be still cant carmalise onions though

Mrsjayy · 15/09/2014 11:00

I also don't know about flavours etc I can cook basic meals like spag bol etc but thats weeknight dinners iyswim beyond that I dont know

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 15/09/2014 11:00

Totally agree OP. Cooking is easy, no?

You take the tin opener, open the tin of soup, empty into a pan and then heat on the hob until ready.

DaughterDilemma · 15/09/2014 11:07

What a nasty goady thread. How dare you diss Lorraine.

All her client needed was to stop asking how to do things and just get on with it and that's exactly what she made him do. What's the problem?

madamemuddle · 15/09/2014 11:08

I can remember being at University and not having a clue. I think it's some of the terminology in recipes which used to stump me. Like poolomoomon upthread, my Mum would always fuss about the mess and take over so I gave up trying to do anything at home.

I then discovered BBC Good Food and am now rather good (even if I do say so myself!).

Thurlow · 15/09/2014 11:12

Rafa

I'm with you, Mrsjayy - capable of producing something reasonably healthy and edible but not exactly exciting.

It winds me up when people who enjoy cooking and cook to a high standard expect other people to too. Like those threads you see where posters think it is awful that they have been served pre-made or packet food when at a friend's for dinner. Fuck that. I'm sure posh Waitrose ravioli will taste better than my bodged attempt at cooking from scratch.

I have an otherwise very lovely friend who is a fantastic cook and enjoys experimenting. But she was telling me once about a dinner she had gone to at a friend of hers and was complaining about the food - "just soup" for starter (homemade fresh soup, mind), stir fry for main, some sort of fruit and ice cream etc for dessert. "It's not really dinner party food, is it," she said to me afterwards.

Hate to think what she says after she has eaten dinner at mine. She gets a posh shop-bought quiche, salad and jacket potatoes

Subhuman · 15/09/2014 11:14

My wife used to be one of the "can't cook" group, although slow cooker was fine and if here was a set of instructions that she could follow to the letter (which is he side I find boring as I prefer to get a basic recipe and improvise and experiment with flavours). The problems arose if things weren't quite going to plan, so under/overcooked, or flavours not right, she'd panic and not know how to compensate and get things back on track. She's gradually picked up more of the instinctive side of it from me over the last couple of years though so people who think they can't cook can definitely learn. The key is to not panic when things go slightly wrong.

Pootles2010 · 15/09/2014 11:14

Oh I really liked it! It wasn't hard stuff.... because he was a complete beginner! That was the whole point!

Yes it was expensive, but it was for a dinner party, and it wasn't claiming to be cheap. Still cheaper than restaurant!

MrsLindor · 15/09/2014 11:17

I find her a bit smug.

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