I'm going to say about 97% of people can't cook.

[ShrikeAttack]

I read threads on here about food all the time & even people who claim 'to 'cook', as in 'make stuff hot and eat it', have no idea about food. How to make delicious things, how to treat ingredients, what goes together.

It honestly makes me a bit sad.

The majority of people probably eat really rubbish food.

I really want people to understand food and eat better, not because I'm a dick, but because it would make their lives more pleasurable.

@TerrifiedOfTrying4No2

Please share a typical weeks menu that you would cook OP?

She did a few pages ago, one meal that showed off her superior cooking skills was a fry up, another was a very basic roast dinner 🤣

I think we should all just post photos of our meals and critique each other. No one can be snobby about food when a stranger on the internet is telling you ya sausage and mash looks like their dog shit out their own dick.

Most of the best cooks in my life are from immigrant backgrounds where how to cook is passed down and knowing how to mix and handle ingredients makes a huge difference to the flavour of the end result.

I cook very simply but thanks to my grandparents and parents know how to get the best out of what there is. I’m not a great cook but come from a culture where meals don’t involve jars and where ingredients are rarely random. I make very few meals where i just throw in lots of different veg or herbs. The only canned thing I use is tomato’s for some soups. And Heinz baked beans because I love beans on toast. I absolutely adore traditional British roast dinners though and all my friends of British heritage are very good cooks. I wish kids were taught to cook in schools because for those who don’t come from a home where there is Food Assembly rather than cooking, it would give them a good foundation.

@ineedaholidaynow

So are you going to tell us what you had for Christmas Dinner *@ShrikeAttack*

I reckon they had roast swan.

@wowfudge, I am smoking the mackerel myself!

Anyway, I've found my notebook now, so I can, if anyone so desires, give you my menu for the rest of the week. It's not really the point though. What I eat is irrelevant. I'm in no way advocating my personal tastes as as the apogee of all things culinary.

My point is, eat what you like, but cook it properly!

Sorry I mean for kids who come from homes where there is food assembly rather than cookery, it would be a good foundation.

Oh and not one person in my household would touch a single thing off of your menu, no offence but it doesn’t sound very appetising.
Also only one person in my home eats fish/seafood and I refuse to touch it or cook it as it turns my stomach.

Not everyone likes a variety of food, not everyone wants fancy meals, every single person is different and has different tastes, it’s not fair to act all superior just because others have different tastes from you.

I can't 'cook' a thing. I'm truly hopeless. But I can grill chicken and fish and boil rice and vegetables.

I eat very healthily. If I desire something truly lovely, I go out for dinner (well, I will be doing as soon as I can).

@Lweji

How do you cook the pheasant? It can be quite dry.

I tend to pot roast with root vegs.

The carcass makes lovely soup too.

OP if I could never eat again and just swallow pills every day to give me all my nutrition I would. I don’t care about food. Cooking is the dullest activity to me.

Thankfully all humans are not the same. We don’t all have to eat pheasant (which is gross by the way) to meet your standard. I happily live off salads, sandwiches, porridge, fruit, soup and bits. This may not meet your standards, but I get to enjoy my time doing other things that actually matter to me.

I think more people should know here food comes from, I think more people should understand nutrition and I think more people should have access to fruit and veg than they do. And it would be better if more people have the basic life skills to cook themselves healthy meals yes.

If that is what you meant then okay, but the way you have written this hasn’t come across well. Unless you are a chef in a Michelin starred restaurant? Your cooking might not be for everyone.

@SimonJT I saw it afterwards and laughed at the fry up.

We all know black pudding is the caviar of a fry up though. Only posh birds eat black pud.

@ShrikeAttack where in your menu is an ability to cook being employed? Roasting different veg on different days of the week is hardly great cooking

@ShrikeAttack

Well you can't *@midnightstar66*, obviously. I was comparing them to the cost of decent chicken eggs.

Anyway, duck eggs aren't obligatory. I eat them because I like them. I'm not suggesting anyone else does.

I hope they are free range duck eggs, I mean that seriously. Farmed ducks are treated horrendously.

I can cook and I quite enjoy it when I have time but my children think a bowl of porridge (cooked properly with whole organic milk, organic oats and stirred slowly on a moderate heat! Lol!) is the very apex of haute cuisine and would have it for dinner with chopped fruit every night if they could

ShrikeAttack. I do agree that you can cook very simple things but if they are cooked well they become more than the sum of their parts so to speak. I have a few friends who can pan fry a piece of fish and serve it with a salad yet it will taste really special. It’s knowing how to fry it that makes a difference between it being edible and being amazing.

@EmpressSuiko

What about people with food aversions? People with allergies? Sensory issues?

I am the cook in my family because dh has no idea how to, I’ve make plenty of meals from scratch but I have to tweak the recipes to suit everyone’s needs, I can’t eat any nuts or peanuts and I can’t eat cheese yet so many recipes call for these things.

None of us like onions, only one of us eats a variety of vegetables, one hates any form of potatoes, any sauce is a huge no no for the kids, everyone is particular about what meat they like.

Each individual in my family has very specific likes and dislikes and I do not have the energy nor passion to cater for each of us, if we all liked the same food and if the kids didn’t have sensory issues to work around life would be easier but alas I’m one of the ones who clearly feeds my family shit!

It was issues like this that turned my love of cooking when it was just two of us into a tedious chore.

Phases of multuple food allergies.
Texture issues.
Incompatible likes/ dislikes.

It's draining.

I can cook. It's just not worth investing much love and time into it these days.

You keep changing your "point".

How can anyone know what you are talking about if you keep doing that?

Send us a photo of your brunch. We can do a "rate my plate" on it

Lol 😂 troll on troll.

@ineedaholidaynow

So are you going to tell us what you had for Christmas Dinner *@ShrikeAttack*

She got a takeaway (yes - again I looked) 🤣🤣🤣

Anyway, duck eggs aren't obligatory. I eat them because I like them. I'm not suggesting anyone else does.

No, but you think that makes you superior and came here to brag about it, not the fact that some people can't cook!

@JerichosPenisInADeadChickHat best idea anyone has had yet. I bloody live a rate my plate 😂

I must know the percentage who can. Most of my friends are fantastic cooks.

She appears to have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with it.

That is completely untrue. I do spend a fair amount of time thinking about food (I also spend qiite a bit of time thinking about shoes, and books, and the utter futility of existence), but as I eat three times a day, I like to make each meal count. Why wouldn't I think about something that I have to three times a day? It's a bit careless not to.

[quote ShrikeAttack]@wowfudge, I am smoking the mackerel myself!

Anyway, I've found my notebook now, so I can, if anyone so desires, give you my menu for the rest of the week. It's not really the point though. What I eat is irrelevant. I'm in no way advocating my personal tastes as as the apogee of all things culinary.

My point is, eat what you like, but cook it properly![/quote]
So you have your own smokery? How come? And you can source duck eggs. How come?

I don't follow your logic

The point of eating and cooking is to survive.

Your menus are very unhealthy - far too much food, full stop, and far too many carbs and red/ processed meat. There is also an argument that smoked food is a carcinogen.

You don't have to be a skilled cook to put a roast on the table, or dish up some side dishes like you listed. Or rustle up a few banger and bacon and let's not forget the black pudding.

It's hardly 'fine dining' is it? You have far too many flavours going on for my taste and no 'theme' in it.

Not really sure what your point is?

You might be cooking all this stuff but you could still be a rubbish cook!

Your roast spuds might be soft and not crispy.
Your beetroot might be woody.
Your pheasant may be tough and dry.

Who knows?

@ShrikeAttack

I pulled that percentage from;

A) Stuff I have been fed.

B) Things I read.

C) Shit I have eaten in restaurants.

I'm with you on C. Even before covid we'd pretty much given up on eating out. I can think of 3 or 4 meals in the last 5 years that were a real pleasure.