Why are British women such shit cooks??

[moondog]

I mix with a lot of different people.
Over the years, the women I know who can cook could be counted on one hand (and my mother and sister are two of those.)

Seriously, people haven't got a fucking clue about even the most basic stuff.On the rare occasion I am even invited to eat in someone else's house it is usually inedible slop.

And yet,the tv has nothing but cookery programmes on it,Gordon Ramsey is a househole name and the bookshops burst with glossy tomes that make the best seller list.

Seriously, any ideas???

I have an utter obsession with manly men at the mo.

If you can't be arsed,fair enoigh.
But why do people eat shit?
If I can't be arsed to cook,I have a snadwich or a bowl of cereal.

you mean fat hairy men

We have adopted US style Cheap and Fast.

We no longer cook we just spend a lot of time watching bad-mannered cooks on tv and reading their wanky books.

Not shit exactly, i give it a fair shot (cook from scratch, lots of veggies etc) but don't LIKE doing it and have to drag myself into the kitchen to do it, therefore it never really tastes good iykwim.

I have a family of 5, unfortunately we can't live on sandwiches and cereal

Nooo manly types.
Am a huge admirer of the unreconstructed wonder that is the roadworker.
Do you think that 'must be smoker of rollies and reader of Sun' appears on their job description??

You'd be surprised Bluenose.
Mine have gone days on nowt but cheese and pickle sarnies.

I do admit that I find the fact that most women I talk to can't make a white sauce, from scratch, and seem to think its rocket science. If they were able to do so there would be no market for white sauce mix , cheese sauces in packets, in fact any kind of sauce mix that has a white sauce base, as it takes no longer to make the sauce from scratch and it doesn't even need measuring once you have done it a few times.

mmmm - now that i can do

I would say I am not a shit cook I don't tend to cook traditional style meat and 2 veg stuff though, anything but really.

My MIL bless her has been cooking for well a fair few years and still hasn't got he concept of timing or cooking more than 1 thing in the oven at a time. Her style involves cooking 1 thing at a time then wrapping in tinfoil to dry out, then putting the next thing in all the time there will be 3 pots going full blast with the lids askew and steam everywhere. All veg started at the same time. I try to do the meals when I am there, she admits she hates cooking and is quite happy if I take over .

moondog on a serious note i think you have a great point. I stated university last year and out of 8 people in a flt two of us could cook. By whih I mean not just bung a ready meal in the oven. My flatmates are amazed i can make a white sauce from scratch, can bake a cake, can cook a roat, make spaghetti bolagnase etcetc.

All of them arent fed much better at homeby the sounds of it. One girl had never had a sunday dinner that wasnt out of a packet. (im not trying to big myself up by the way!)

There is a while generation of young people who cant cook, and when they leave home continue to not cook and then in comes the high fat high salt ready meals that dont constitue a healthy diet. Schools need to teach children how to cook properly, not just design food technology. People also have misconceptions about what is healthy. People think eating healthy living ready meals is ok 3 times a day, and from that you will get all the nutrition you need. This is a problem I think in society as a whole, we need better education gfor young people.

When we lived in very far east of Turkey,I was harangued by terribly posh and mad middle aged English woman there (only about 10 expats) who used to ring me and bark 'Moondog,you can speak Turkish. You need to accompany me to the supermarket to find white sauce mix.

FFS!

1.) I had a new baby
2.) She should have effing made it herself
3.) What in God's name did she want making white sauce in a country with some of the best cooking in the world.
4.) I can't speak Turkish

She once invited my dd over to 'make Brownies'.It was a packet mix which needed an egg and water.

Oh and I can do a bechemel(white sauce) sauce too, and don't use cornflour to make it [yuch]. I do a proper carbonara not from a jar.

MIL was a terrific cook.
Very plain and traditional but boy she did it well.

My mum was a bit like that she was a school dinner cook. I learned the basics from her like sauces and lasagne etc.

I can do bechamel but sometimes it goes lumpy

You need quite a lot of energy to do a good bechamel

Through a sieve Bella.
Or hand held blender to whip it inot shape.

skribble moondaog my mum is like that too. taught me the basics, nothing too difficult but enough to be inventive, know what I can do with a few ingredients in the cupboard etc.

Message withdrawn

must admit, I'm a bit surprised at the extremity of this shit cooking. Most women I know can cook fairly well.

I use a good whisk and cook it very slowly stirring wildly all the time, If I loose it I get the hand blender in. But doesn't happen too often and can usually get it back with the non electric whisk.

Is it the welsh?

I can cook and I'm English.

I think the NVQ2 in Food Preperation and cooking helps

Yes Penelope.
That is important,that innate dfeeling of what goes with what.
An understanding of how ingredients work (or don't work ) together.

For starters,anyone buying salad dressing ready made needs to be shot.
Do it yourself yer lazy cows!!!

I still do supernoodles on toast though and I remember my mum buying frozen kebabs from farm foods or perhaps I bought them .