I cook by ear. Cookbooks are mostly for inspiration, and I usually end up altering very nearly any recipe I use. However, I am teaching my boys to cook too. Well. The little one mostly cares to bake. He's 8. He makes muffins from a mix, or scones, that sort of thing. The other one's more inclined to do chili or spaghetti, etc. And I don't cook as often as I'd like, not really because the husband is damn picky, and I'm highly anti-social and do not host dinner parties. Ever.
*grumble*
The flip side of all your advice here, is this: the reason cooks don't tell you this shit, is they don't know it (consciously). You know? I mean, it's very difficult for me not to swerve thru the nifty gadget aisle at Fred Meyer and pick up some new toy, which is fair enough because my step-dad is the same. It was all I could do recently not to buy myself a cute little doodad that decides when your eggs are soft-boiled, nearly-hard, or hard-boiled, by being in the water with them. So nifty. I have two vegetable peelers plus one that also has little spiky thingers to use in creating long skinny shreds of carrot. I have a garlic press and a tiny shredder, though usually I hack up garlic by hand. I don't have a bread machine because that defeats the purpose. And so on. So it would actually never occur to me that anyone would need to make sure they have a vegetable peeler because I've always had one. Hell, I think I had one when I lived in the dorms, because I might want to peel a carrot.
Anyway, as I help my kids cook, I do have them follow recipes, and I explain terms and stuff, and I'm always astounded, because I forget, kinda every time, that it's possible to not know what "simmer" or "blanch" means, that in fact not everyone already knows the butter has marks on the sides of the sticks to measure, that actually some folks don't know about butter, starch, milk to make white sauce. Heh. And I get frustrated over and over, even though I shouldn't, when Kid One needs clear and specific direction. Sometimes I want him to add more of something. Throw in some more chili powder. I dunno, until it smeels right. Or I want him to heat that in the microwave. I dunno how long, until it's hot. Or to thin the sauce. I dunno how much milk! Until it's thinner. See?
In any case, we don't mean to be annoying. Hee! Also, I second that Joy of Cooking rec. Bestest cookbook, that and this immense 600-page book of breads my mom has.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-07-14 10:21 pm (UTC)I cook by ear. Cookbooks are mostly for inspiration, and I usually end up altering very nearly any recipe I use. However, I am teaching my boys to cook too. Well. The little one mostly cares to bake. He's 8. He makes muffins from a mix, or scones, that sort of thing. The other one's more inclined to do chili or spaghetti, etc. And I don't cook as often as I'd like, not really because the husband is damn picky, and I'm highly anti-social and do not host dinner parties. Ever.
*grumble*
The flip side of all your advice here, is this: the reason cooks don't tell you this shit, is they don't know it (consciously). You know? I mean, it's very difficult for me not to swerve thru the nifty gadget aisle at Fred Meyer and pick up some new toy, which is fair enough because my step-dad is the same. It was all I could do recently not to buy myself a cute little doodad that decides when your eggs are soft-boiled, nearly-hard, or hard-boiled, by being in the water with them. So nifty. I have two vegetable peelers plus one that also has little spiky thingers to use in creating long skinny shreds of carrot. I have a garlic press and a tiny shredder, though usually I hack up garlic by hand. I don't have a bread machine because that defeats the purpose. And so on. So it would actually never occur to me that anyone would need to make sure they have a vegetable peeler because I've always had one. Hell, I think I had one when I lived in the dorms, because I might want to peel a carrot.
Anyway, as I help my kids cook, I do have them follow recipes, and I explain terms and stuff, and I'm always astounded, because I forget, kinda every time, that it's possible to not know what "simmer" or "blanch" means, that in fact not everyone already knows the butter has marks on the sides of the sticks to measure, that actually some folks don't know about butter, starch, milk to make white sauce. Heh. And I get frustrated over and over, even though I shouldn't, when Kid One needs clear and specific direction. Sometimes I want him to add more of something. Throw in some more chili powder. I dunno, until it smeels right. Or I want him to heat that in the microwave. I dunno how long, until it's hot. Or to thin the sauce. I dunno how much milk! Until it's thinner. See?
In any case, we don't mean to be annoying. Hee! Also, I second that Joy of Cooking rec. Bestest cookbook, that and this immense 600-page book of breads my mom has.