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.

Mmm interesting OP.
We have just had roast guinea fowl marinaded in lemon and bay with a small portion of roast squash and braised chicory and a jus of white wine and redcurrent jelly. There will be enough guinea fowl for a stir fry tomorrow and enough chicory to make witloof ( I am sure you know this recipe - chicory wrapped in ham with béchamel and gruyère) - for lunch.

Who are your culinary influences? For basics I still use Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Alan Davidson; Marcella Hazan for Italian cookery, Madhur Jaffrey for Indian food and I enjoy some Tamasin Day-Lewis - especially The Art of the Tart. My favourite book of the moment is the wonderful Zaitoun for Palestinian cookery.

I would be interested to know your sources.

Ah yes witloof, currently enjoying a slice with my port.

You sound odd and over bearing

I do that because I enjoy it.

So you enjoy cooking... great

I HATE it, its a chore, boring and something i want done fast, easily and little prep or clean up after.
If i can spend less than 20 to 30 min in the kitchen cooking dinner, im so bloody happy and i may actually eat the food cos im not sick of looking at it from too long cooking
I have no desire to cook more, from scratch or try random shite just cos.
How much time and effort you pour into just 1 weeks food sounds like my hell

This is just such a random and odd post. I can cook and have done a few Leith’s course but this is literally the first time I have mentioned that on mumsnet. Most people don’t post about their cooking skills OP so your 97% of people on here can’t cook is a ridiculous thing to say.

I can cook enough to give my kids a balanced diet. My lovely DM every so often drops off a treat that she's made that I have no hope of cooking. Cooking isn't my strength at all

@blueangel19

Not sure if British can cook but they sure make laugh! 😂👍🏻

Ahhh, Laugh. I've not made that in ages.

I do wonder about people like the OP. What would it be like to be the sort of person so lacking in self awareness that they can declare themselves superior to 97% of people based on... Well, based on fuck all really. I quite often don't like food other people make. That doesn't mean they can't cook, it just means that their food isn't to my taste. My taste buds are not the bar against which culinary skills are measured.

@littlepattilou

Meant to add. 89% disagreed with you when you posted *@ShrikeAttack* and now it's 88%. And it's only 12% who agree. Not nearly 90% like you claim! LOL! That was a typo. I am not shit at maths. 😂

The OP got her maths right - she’s concluding that the vast majority who’ve said YABU are doing so because they can’t cook. Proving her point.

I don’t think it does.

I’d love to become a better cook OP, but I have a four year old and a one year old who can climb out of her high chair in about ten seconds flat.

Any tips on how to cook roast pheasant one handed while holding a grumpy baby? And then any tips on how to get the four year old to eat roast pheasant?

And again OP - why do you refer to a (watery) tomato sauce as a ‘ragu’?

@QueenPawPaws

I think people cook to their taste and/or budget So some people like baked beans in chilli, some people do it to bulk it out for budget reasons. Might not be to everyone's taste or authentic but if they and their family enjoy it 🤷🏽‍♀️

Made a cottage pie today that probably a lot of people would say was grim but it tasted really nice to me! So you can judge it was carrot/celery/onion fried off with minced beef, oxo, a tiny bit of marmite, mushrooms because they needed using up, red wine, tomato purée, mash with mustard and cheese on top

Some people might add peas or sweetcorn or garlic but again, taste/budget

Some people put baked beans in their chilli because it’s the only way to disguise the taste of the horrible ones we were given as a substitution during the March lockdown!

Well this isn't froth-inducing goad in a bun? is 10/10 for being a massive gf op. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

I’m inclined to agree that most people aren’t amazing cooks.

I’m not. I’m good enough, cook a lot from scratch, don’t need a recipe for many things. But I’m not in the same league as the (very few) people I know who are really good at it, who ‘get’ flavours, and basically conjure up magic on a plate from a few delicious fresh ingredients.

It’s a skill that not many have, for sure.

However, I don’t think it’s the end of the world.

Cooking just isn’t something everyone enjoys (at least on a relentless, daily basis - as opposed to going all out when entertaining), or wants to spend time/money on.

I’m happy enough with my level of cooking, creating tasty, enjoyable food. Maybe when the kids have left home and I have more time on my hands, I’ll spend time getting better at it. I definitely would like to be better at it, but, you know, life....

@HilaryThorpe

Mmm interesting OP. We have just had roast guinea fowl marinaded in lemon and bay with a small portion of roast squash and braised chicory and a jus of white wine and redcurrent jelly. There will be enough guinea fowl for a stir fry tomorrow and enough chicory to make witloof ( I am sure you know this recipe - chicory wrapped in ham with béchamel and gruyère) - for lunch. Who are your culinary influences? For basics I still use Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Alan Davidson; Marcella Hazan for Italian cookery, Madhur Jaffrey for Indian food and I enjoy some Tamasin Day-Lewis - especially The Art of the Tart. My favourite book of the moment is the wonderful Zaitoun for Palestinian cookery. I would be interested to know your sources.

Witloof - is that just Belgian Endive - must say no a great fan of bechamel sauce the dish you describe sounds a bit 1970's.

I think OP is trying, and failing terribly, to be funny.

Firstly, you seem really bothered by this. If you're genuinely concerned perhaps you could run some zoom classes or similar? For free of course because you clearly care very much.

More an understanding of what actually tastes great. It surely depends on their tastebuds and prpreferences. If someone doesn't like something you've made you surely wouldn't say "no it tastes amazing, you don't understand it"

I just want people to treat themselves to good food,, it doesn't have to be expensive or hard. Some people eat to live rather than live to eat. I don't know many people who are bad cooks. It's more they don't cook. Give someone a good recipe to follow and of they can read, they can usually cook.

I honestly want you to all eat good stuff. Not 'orrible mixes of shite. Weird that this is what you think about or that you seem to think you're the only person who can cook.

Sorry for being an arse, it just pains me when I read about rubbish food. And I know it's everywhere, because I've eaten it. Maybe you're the one with malfunctioning tastebuds?

So 70s it’s kind of back like leeks mornay. We used to have that at school. Nigel Slater recently did a version.

Gruyere is one of the only cheese sauces I like. Cannot stand cheddar.

I don’t know where your figures came from, OP, but in 2018, a survey in the Independent ( I believe commissioned by Hello Fresh) said that 4 in 10 people in the UK only knew 3 recipes, and that 4 in 10 knew 9 or more, so to claim that only 3 in 100 can cook is a bit of a stretch!
FWIW, I can cook (without recipe) at least 30 different meals from scratch, including catering for vegetarian, vegan, allergy and gluten- free diets - but then I have 40+ years of experience, curiosity and love of all things cooking - particularly when recreating dishes I have tried abroad. Most of my friends and acquaintances are also able to do this, too, so I don’t consider myself or them as anything other than completely normal!
Maybe to get a better idea of the actual situation you should start a thread “to ask what staple recipes you can prepare without written instructions”...

Yes Tarnished Silver I have probably been making it as a lunchtime dish since the 70s. 😂 I don't normally do a béchamel any more, just grated gruyère with beaten egg. Makes it a lot lighter.

I do know what I’m missing: I used to eat red meat, I don’t like it so I stopped

Fair enough @TatianaBis

I thought you did eat red meat as you were praising the OP's menu, which contained black pudding.

@Bilgepumper

I do know what I’m missing: I used to eat red meat, I don’t like it so I stopped

Fair enough @TatianaBis

I thought you did eat red meat as you were praising the OP's menu, which contained black pudding.

Tbf black pudding doesn't have meat in it🙈 So maybe that would be ok

Even when I did eat red meat I didn’t eat black pudding as it is grim.

It has blood in it though and suet. Gah.

I bloody love black pudding. And haggis. And yes, I know what's in them and how they're made.

@TatianaBis

Just to remind you what you said you liked the look of:

Sunday- Brunch: Bacon, sausage and duck eggs. Rosti using the leftover potatoes from last night. Roast tomatoes and mushrooms. Black pudding

Dinner; Roast pheasant. Roast potatoes. Braised red cabbage. Roast parsnips. Port gravy.

Monday: Jerusalem artichoke soup for lunch with hm bread.

Dinner; Roast beetroot with smoked mackerel, potatoes with soured cream and dill, cucumber salad.

Tuesday; Lunch: Ribollita, ciabatta, cheese, green salad.

Dinner; slow-cooked brisket. Rice. Soured cream. Hm guacamole. Pico de gallo. Hm tacos.