To think that cooking isn’t hard...

[CrabappleBiscuit]

....as long as you are physically fit and not unwell and don’t have a disability that makes it hard, and have access to a kitchen and equipment (disclaimer)

Friends who say they or their partners ‘can’t cook’. But hold down jobs, drive cars and can put together flat pack furniture.

It’s not rocket science, read a recipe and do it. I like cooking and I’m good at it, dh isn’t a great cook but he still cooks a fairly limited repertoire but he does.

Is it just laziness?

If you turn the heat down, the rest of the stir fry won't be cooking properly. If you don't know how to cook, you don't know to stick a knife in the spud to check, you don't know how brown they should be.

People are saying "its simple, just follow the recipe and it will be fine" and you're agreeing while saying actually you need instinct and to taste it and all that. So not agreeing at all really

I do agree Space. You have to have the inclination. You have to like food and want to learn. You have to want to get better. Like my world famous baked curried spaghetti dish... it was bleedin' vile!
Next time I thought, why don't I leave out the curry powder this time and see what it's like. Yep, better!

The thing is... me and my flatmates were broke, I mean really broke, so we ate the vile spaghetti, them declaring at the end it was pretty rubbish, but I soldiered on because I wanted to make it better. (not baking it to a dried mess helped!)

If you make a mistake and think oh I can't cook, of course you won't get better! It's the defeatist attitude that gets me. You can get better but you have to put a bit of effort in.

I love risotto BTW and it's my go to thing to do when I haven't got anything much in! Your risotto sounds ace, might need some tips on that! DD did one and added sage butter (sage leaves in melted butter), it was divine.

Graphista it does seem to be a cliche of older people overcooking things, doesn't it. My mum's always done it, I just didn't realise when it was all I ate, so it's not the equipment, but I wonder if it's only become "criminal" in the past 20-odd years.

I do understand middgledy but are people so daft they wouldn't know to stick a knife in a potato to see what it feels like? My DCs could've done that at 10 years old. I remember getting them to put a knife in a raw one and then a cooked one so they could work it all out.

I don't agree with 'just follow the recipe'. I think tasting and prodding food is far more important.

Sorry miggeldy didn't mean to type your name wrong

I do understand middgledy but are people so daft they wouldn't know to stick a knife in a potato to see what it feels like

Its not daft. Half the thread is people saying just follow the recipe you idiots, and if the recipe doesn't tell you to poke it, how would you know? Your DCs would know because they learned from you, you taught them and even showed them a comparison. So if you know its something to be taught why are you calling people idiots for not knowing?

I've not used the word idiot.

Bottom line is, you have to want to learn. If you don't want to, you won't.

If anyone is struggling with vegetables get an electric steamer. My DH got one for us a couple of years ago and they are so easy to use and the veg comes out perfect. You can even get potatoes to the right consistency for mash and boil perfect rice in them.

@MiggeldyHiggins
I agree, my DH is near to useless in the kitchen and it only struck me when he decided he wanted to give cooking a go, just how much of it is actually instinct and having learned by observation (watching parents cook and helping out etc) and trial and error that makes you a good cook. He had no experience cooking at all when he lived wit parents. They just did it all and weren't very adventurous in their cooking anyway.

He will do the Sunday roast dinner now, and has the theory of what to cook and when and for how long etc, but will have to ask me about 5000 questions constantly checking if he's doing it right or asking me to check if I think something is done. And if not, how much longer I think it will take. He's getting there, but I just don't think he has much interest in it so very often just doesn't commit the info to memory because its boring to him.

Unless a recipe gave absolutely explicit instructions, like as if the cook was from a totally alien planet or something and had no idea, then they're not that easy to follow for total beginners.

On top of the usual mak8ng cakes and other kids stuff My dc have all left home having been taught to make a roux sauce ( massively important base for lots of things) and learned, through participation, how to make a Sunday dinner which covers lots of basic skills.
Of the 6, 3 ddand 1 Ds are really excellent cooks. The others not so bothered but can still make a decent meal.

Bottom line is, you have to want to learn. If you don't want to, you won't

thats true, but people here are saying people are idiots if they can;t just follow a recipe and instantly cook. You're actually agreeing with me, not them, you have to LEARN. And its not easy for everyone to learn.

This thread makes me wantt o cry. I can't cook. There is nothing wrong with me and I cook everyday but I eff up everything I touch. Everything is dry, soggy, overcooked (never undercooked as I'm too scared I'll kill everyone!). I put too much of some things in, too little other times. Even when I follow recipes I eff it up. I've had things go on fire, forgotten to preheat the oven, burnt many a saucepan and pan. DH is an excellent cook and everyone is relieved at the weekend when he takes over. He's done simple stuff and tried to get me to help/do it and afterwards he says it wasn't so bad but I can see he's perplexed as to how it never ever works out! All I can do is lasagne, spag bol and stew and saying that I overheard my ds's talking about how mine tastes so weird compared to Daddys. It makes me feel like a failure as when bake sales etc come around I'd never send anything in and when eg mil or sil are recommending food etc they don't address me. Horrible to be a sahm and not be able to cook because it's nearly all there is to it really, isn't it? We all grow up with the smell of gorgeous baking etc in the house and with me it's more like the smell of burning!!!!!!!

I am a bit shocked at how many women on here say that their 'intelligent' DP can't cook, quoting one kitchen 'disaster'. IT takes practice, and it is easy to build on your skills, ie from heating jar sauce and pasta, to frying onions/ other veg before adding pasta, to making own sauces. And yes there are cooking terms that you don't know at first, but you can find anything out using youtube these days... I think if you are intelligent and want to learn to cook, you will.

ps I want to learn. So much.

School lessons put me off cooking. As well as a mum who never cooked anything that didn’t fall out of the freezer in a packet.

I am scared witless of killing someone with raw meat which I’ve cooked badly after hav by food poisoning myself.
I don’t cook at all. I buy the ‘cook’ range from Waitrose, chuck it in the oven for specified time and ta da job done. When I was younger it was microwave ready meals all the way, every single day. I often had a sandwich for dinner rather than risk cooking.
Now I have a family, I have to produce something for dinner so Waitrose cook and anything like a box of fresh chips or veg out a packet onto the hob.
I’ve never cooked anything from scratch. I’ve no idea how hard it is. It looks hard to me. Or at least hard work. In which case I’ll pass and continue my cool range experience

Oh and even just doing veg on the hob I managed to set alight a piece of kitchen roll I’d left too near the gas. I have no desire whatsoever to be good at cooking...

Laziness is a lot of it, but I also think it's about confidence - some people really think they can't cook and so it stops them from even trying to cook. Life's bad enough, but I actually find cooking a therapeutic activity (shame my kitchen is falling apart)...

My mother is extremely intelligent woman academically BUT common sense has always eluded her and that includes being able to feed her family.
My father can follow a recipe but is a very slow cook and struggles if things distract him, my mother could burn a pizza on the outside whilst it remains frozen on the inside, inedible even if she remembered to take the plastic off first. It's fair to say she can barely reheat food let alone cook. We were skinny kids, I learnt how to cook for the family at 8.

Funnily enough all of us kids managed to learn to cook and my baby brother (now 29) is a gourmet chef & I love it when he comes to visit.
My other brother now batch cooks for my mother as she has Alzheimer's now and wouldn't feed herself without someone else cooking for her.

My mum grew up in a foreign country and they had a cook, her mother couldn't cook and I suspect she never even tried to cook or saw anything cooked until she left home after university

Dont think this is a male/female issue. Of course men can cook - most (not all of course) professional chefs are men!

My Dad cooks and Stepmother 'can't'. Or she can, but she doesn't because she hates doing it. So she cleans and my Dad cooks gorgeous meals. Works for them. He does a better roast dinner than anyone else I know.

My DH isn't a very good cook. He can certainly make a meal, but always using a jarred sauce etc. And he mess he makes! He'll make a curry as in chop fresh chicken and veg, pour a sauce on and cook then boil rice and warm through naan breads. He wouldn't know how to make a casserole, or a gravy without granules though. Because his Mum doesn't cook from scratch, and he's never learned. When I moved in with him he was surprised that I made my own lasagne, because he'd always had bought ones from Marks and Spencer.

I learned how to cook (just by trial and error and following recipes) because I enjoy it and I love food. A lot of it is time too, I can see why if you're pushed for time you'd rely more on convenience food. We do sometimes still, but more often than not I cook. But anyone can learn the basics, it's not rocket science.

DS1's secondary school food tech lessons used to consist of taking in a pizza base, ready grated cheese and tomato past. Voila. Absolutely shocking.

Dear God.

Oh of course it's a male/female issue! It's thought of a quite normal for a man to be incompetent in the house.

My daughter in law can't cook, she is very intelligent me doing a second degree. When she gets hungry she wants to eat then and there, luckily DS can cook well so he does all the cooking. DD always said she couldn't cook but when push came to shove she found she can can cook and does it well, she just didn't have the confidence to do it.

I agree if you can follow a recipe you can cook.

Being able to cook is about so much more than following a recipe. I’ve cooked for years and people say my food is good. I think being able to cook food that people want to eat is about practice, opportunities to experiment, having a good palette, desire to feed people and a love of food.