Worst cook in the world

[Jujujudo]

I’m a grown up. 51 years old, two boys. I own a fresh produce business (mainly seasonal locally grown fruit and veg). I also have access to the best quality food you can buy: olive oil, raw tachini, etc through the business.
I have been cooking from scratch since we got married, mainly because it was cheaper and easier than the other options. My husband is from the Middle East and is very used to well seasoned and delicious food.
But no matter what I make, it tastes like crap. My kids call my cooking “grey”. I follow recipes and use fresh ingredients. I’m creative, a fast learner, I put love into it. But nothing comes out good.
I’ve now got a 16 year old who is always hungry and would rather go without than eat my food (I suggested he learn how to cook - still waiting), and a 9 year old Coeliac which makes everything more complicated.
It’s not inedible, it’s just not good.
Any advice?

Yes I’ve bought him a wok and then he’s going to start cooking and making what he likes

I'm a big fan of this recipe .
https://www.recipetineats.com/oven-baked-chicken-and-rice/

You can use boneless thighs .
I find it makes too much rice so I reduce the rice to 143g and add 356ml of liquid ( thats stock +water = 356)

Seems straightforward enough, thank you!

It is hard when you want to make people happy. I've found that accepting the mon-fri meals will have to be more pragmatic but then I can try for something fancier at the weekend when there's more time. You're also juggling dietary requirements and the fact that you're cooking meat that you don't eat - honestly, it's a big ask!

Maybe you could get everyone involved at the weekends to find and try some recipes that you can all cook well and enjoy. I'd also consider getting the meat eaters to make something that can be frozen and accompany a number of meals - then you could concentrate your efforts on the veggie part of meals (which you can taste and know how your want it to be) and they can add their protein portion later. I was on some fieldwork where the cook was veggie and this worked really well - we got great veggie food with a bit of additional carnivorous protein.

See, the bit about removing the skin is huge.. that’s something I wouldn’t have thought of and the rice would have been greasy. I’ll give this a go. Thank you

Brilliant advice - thank you

Are you actually tasting and checking things as you go? You can’t just follow a recipe and poof it comes out tasting great. You have to firstly, know what something is supposed to taste like and to be able to discern what it needs. And then secondly, you have to taste and adjust as you go.

I personally rarely use recipes as I find food actually turns out tasting a bit wrong because it’s very difficult to replicate the exact conditions and exact weights (you may only be able to get 700g of something whereas recipe uses 1.1kg).

If you are cooking chicken soup and it takes like nothing, you haven’t cooked it long enough or added enough salt (it needs a lot of salt to season the stock).

You might benefit from watching some YouTube videos on some basic techniques. How to make a stock, how to make a roux, how to make pastry, but then you need to experiment. You only learn by making mistakes and correcting them.

I made a fruit pie yesterday. The pastry was hopelessly dry and crumbly and not coming together. I made it exactly as the recipe said. The recipe was just wrong or maybe used a higher fat butter or something. But I knew from experience that I could shave some more butter and add a bit of cold water in to bring it together. That worked and the pie was lovely. But I only know that from trying, failing, trying it again and doing it slightly differently.

Totally makes sense. I just don’t “get” how to do it practically or instinctively, that’s the problem. I do understand the theory

Beef cheeks - now you're talking. I first had these in Spain, gorgeous. Certainly on my winter list for this year to try.

Well this is the problem with cooking and peoples preferences

Personally I would not remove the skins, I would want the chicken fat juices to be in the rice, I would remove the butter
Secondly, the picture of her rice isnt how I like rice to be, it does look a touch mushy to me
Thirdly, she gives a cooking time for 50 mins for bone in thigh, to my mind that is not long enough, I cook mine for much longer with the bone in.

I'm exactly the same. I can wreck literally anything. I have no natural talent for it and even if I'm shown step by step, I still go awry if left to my own devices. I'm utterly hopeless. Hello Fresh, Gusto etc are absolutely the way forward for you.

A few things - but honestly is this really about your food or is it your DH who is tasteless?

My top tips would be.
Don't overcook meat or fish. A digital thermometer will help you make sure things are cooked but not overdone.

Taste & season as you go.

Don’t add too much liquid to anything and especially rice. For rice, rinse it first, add salt and only about a centimetre of water above the rice in the pan. Turn the heat off 5 mins before the recommended cooking time and leave it to steam.

for roast potatoes, Yorkshires, pastry and anything that needs to be crispy you need good baking trays that transfer the heat. Easiglide are great but scoville are nearly nearly as good and more budget friendly.

Do come back and tell us what he cooks for you how how it tastes

Same here!. I was driving north through Spain from the algarve and stopped at Fromista, the evening meal was 12 euro for 3 courses and beef cheeks was the main course - it was one superb meal, the 12 euro included a glass of wine.

I came home and found a butcher that would order the in for me, so had two beef cheeks. Did them both on different occasions in the slow cooker with redline and a multitude of vegetables underneath

Yes I’ve cooked it for much longer too

@Jujujudo do you watch any cookery shows or cooking videos online? I get a lot of "how to " tips from these.

Yes! Always! I know the theory but in practice I just can’t get it right..

I was just thinking about this thread OP when preparing the dinner just now.

It reminded me of another thread recently and one a bit further back. One was where the OP had been steeping her onions in water, lots of people had never heard of steeping onions, which you do with onions and or garlic/chillis in order to take the acid and heat out of them a bit, take the rawness out of them (if you're eating them raw).

Another thread someone mentioned about flavour of onions and some of us were pointing out that onions, like garlic, have a different flavour according to whether you slice, chop or grate/crush them. People didnt know this.

When I make my porridge as an example, I toast off the porridge oats in a dry pan, this makes the flavour enhanced, theres a big difference.

Small things like this in terms of how you enhance and add flavour are all little tweaks to make to recipes to bring them to life more.

Buy Whats for Dinner by Sarah Rossi.
Easy, tasty, foolproof.

onions, like garlic, have a different flavour according to whether you slice, chop or grate/crush them. People didnt know this.

I didn't know this either! Would you mind expanding on this? 🙏

@Lifeinthepit <a class="break-all" href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wowww.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/feb/01/garlic-press-chefs-methodrdofmouth/2010/feb/01/garlic-press-chefs-method" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wowww.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/feb/01/garlic-press-chefs-methodrdofmouth/2010/feb/01/garlic-press-chefs-method 

Lots of information on it here. I tend to use it sliced in Chinese food for example and it's a 'sharper' taste, cooked whole cloves in stews are really mellow.

That's so interesting. I knew about cooking it gently but never about method of cutting. Thank you!

Also always fry off your rice prior to putting liquid in. I also admit to using a lot of animal fats, so if I cook chicken I keep the fat, same with pork and use that to fry off things. I particularly use that fat for frying off veg when making a soup.

I cant get into the link for some reason

But yes, the difference is in how strong, sweet, sharp, hot, 'raw' you want the flavour as to how you prepare onions and garlic. And of course there are differences in different types of onion although most of us see the bog standard ones in the shops

I didn’t know that about onions!!!! Can you explain it to me?