How confident a cook are you?

[Alethea]

Silly question, but I started to think about this after last night when my DBF had me crying from laughter with his rendition of what he thinks could be my own cooking show, "The Uncertain Cook: In Thea's Kitchen." Instead of Emeril's "bam" or Julia's "bon appetit" my dialogue would be peppered with "I don't think this is going to work," "This may not taste good," or "Do you think it's supposed to look like that?" :o

And it's true, I know that I sound very skeptical when I'm in the process of cooking. I think this is partly because I'm usually trying something new, and partly because I do have a strong perfectionist bent in me.:rolleyes: It's funny though, because overall I find cooking very enjoyable and even addictive, have a pretty good ratio of successes to disasters, will try preparing anything at least once, and usually can't wait to cook again. DBF finds this contradiction very puzzling (and amusing), but he has learned to generally just ignore most of what I say within the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, or pour me a glass of wine. ;) But his joke last night had me wondering whether there are other uncertain chefs out there? Just curious! :)

-Thea

[RebeccaT]

Absolutely! In fact, your description had me chuckling... my catch phrase would be "Oh, I just hope you like it." :rolleyes:

I don't have much problem with the act of cooking... unless I am serving it to other people. I think it's my "people pleaser" personality - I love receiving compliments, and I worry that whatever I have made won't warrant any praise. :o And, with my inlaws (whom I cook for often), I can't help wondering if they *really* like it, or are just being nice. :o :o

[J Vienna]

What a riot! I can just picture it...

Nope, none of that in my kitchen. 'Round here, the "do you think it's supposed to look like that?" only ever comes at the end :eek:.

I guess I'm a pretty confident cook even though I've had my share of disasters since I started cooking :o. From what you said about loving cooking, though, I would label you an "adventurous cook", not an uncertain one ;).

Jessica

[SusanMac]

I really, really think you have a great idea for a show here! I mean, if Average Joe can get millions of viewers each week, I know people would tune in to watch The Uncertain Cook. Heck, FoodNetwork now several programs featuring packaged foods. Millions and millions of households could relate to you & your down-home, real-world, not-quite-so-confident cooking escapades. Send your proposal into the programming gods now...or else I will!

[CompassRose]

I'm very confident IN the kitchen -- I'll try anything and improvise anyhow.

Non-confident -- when serving things to others. I'm always afraid they'll hate it, or it'll be too spicy, or too foreign, or too "healthy", or they'll think it's gross but won't say anything, only look at me with pity and contempt. And I'm afraid if I eat it, and like it, everyone else will think I'm some kind of pathetic freak, and drive away mocking me, the way people do about "physical culture" freaks in early 20th century novels.

So I always take obsessive care with how food LOOKS when I'm serving it to others, in the hopes that a really pretty basil leaf will disguise any possible horrors in the actual food. I plan menus for WEEKS if I know I'm feeding anyone at all other than me and A. I've learned to stop apologising for what I serve in advance, AND to stop detailing the wholesomeness of the ingredients -- but now, maybe I go too far in the other direction? :confused: Unless I know someone has allergies or special foodie needs, if they ask me what's in something, or if "this is healthy food as usual, Cat?" I now smile mysteriously and tell them to "just try it." 'Cos I know if I say "tofu" or "brown rice" they'll go into it predisposed to hate it...

Ug. I love to cook, but sometimes it is a source of great anxiety to me. A. says I'm a good cook, other people usually do too... maybe they are only being kind. I don't know. I like my own cooking, but I DO eat "regular" food sometimes too, so it's not as if I'm completely accustomed to abstemiousness, such that I can no longer tell the difference.

The nicest thing to happen to me in a long time, at least as far as cooking adventures, was last summer. I went home, and my sister and I made dinner for my parents. Nothing way-out adventurous -- but my mother, you know, is very much old-fashioned, Germanic in her cooking, meat, potatoes, mushy vegetables... and she LIKED what we made, and even got me to help her a few days later to make one of the dishes again.

[Canice]

Thea, are you writing up your proposal to Food Network as I keyboard?

My line is a little more vague: "I don't have a lot of faith in this fish" (or whatever) is what's heard in my kitchen.

[tbb113]

I keep my comments to myself...cuz if the boys heard, they wouldn't eat :D I did say to them after I made the fried rice the other day "the correct phrase if you don't like this is ... its interesting" Fortunately younger son had 3 helpings after saying it to me :cool:

I would think most of us feel that way when cooking for a crowd or trying new recipes. I would love to get to the point where I could tell something is good just by looking at it.

[LaraW]

DH laughs at me because as we're walking to the table with our plates full of food, I frequently say "well, I hope this doesn't suck". And its usually just fine.

:rolleyes:

[swquilts]

I'm always picking the food apart verbally during dinner. DH has to say "OK Norm". Norm is my dad and he always picks apart his culinary adventures too! ;) :p

I just wish DH would say something other than "It's OK". "OK" in my book means its marginal at best. I keep telling him to stretch his vocabulary a bit in the food dept.

I feel confident most of the time. My food show would be called "The Sporting Try". :)

[wallycat]

I'm always saying "I sure hope this is edible when I'm done" or
"I made a few tweaks, hope that won't ruin it..."
so, to answer your question, NO...I do not consider myself a confident cook.
Lucky sometimes when everything goes well...
able to look at a recipe and tell if I ought to like it...but actually making stuff...I still don't consider myself confident :(

[PoppyJ]

I am very doubtful about my cooking ability. I am always saying "I hope this works," "I hope this isn't too dry," "I hope, I hope, I hope....." Just the other night, I was making pork chops and I was convinced that they were going to be dry. So before I even got them out of the oven, I got out the BBQ sauce to make the edible. They actually turned out great. We didn't need to even touch the BBQ sauce.

I wish I had the confidence to believe in my abilities in the kitchen.

[Alethea]

Well, I'm in good company with y'all, and am glad to know I'm not the only person who mutters something dubious right before serving diner!

I'll have to tell DBF that there may be a market for his show!;):D

SWQuilts, I love "The Sporting Try" title, BTW.

[MandMs]

I'm going to say....pretty uncondfident. I try. I usually do okay. I've also been told I am way too hard on myself. I was so afraid of making the Garlic and Rosemary Cloverleaf rolls that I hauled all my ingredients over to my Mom's and made them there under her watchful eye. They turned out beautifully...though I thought a bit dry. My family was all raving about them. I thought they were just being nice.

I will also serve something and say "Sorry if this sucks". My Dad always said "Well, if it doesn't kill me, then it was probably pretty good".

Positive feedback usually has me saying, "Atleast I tried".

But my pear bread....oh yeah. The best! People come up to me all raving about it. And all I do is smile and say to myself, "Yeah,I know".

[stefania4]

LOL! My phrase is "I'll understand if you want to fix yourself a sandwich instead."

Usually I'm a pretty confident cook; I usually have a good idea of what substitutions I can successfully make, and at least half the time can salvage something that doesn't turn out.

This past year has been dedicated to stretching my wings, so I've tried a lot of recipes I wouldn't normally make - hence the sandwich offer.

[Little Bit]

I'm confident in the kitchen but I tend to get flustered when people hover asking questions, especially in the last 15 minutes before service. (Much as I'd generally love to give them an eight part answer to their query about _________, right in the moment, my mind is otherwise engaged, lol!)

I am timid about cooking meats, though, since it seems so incredibly wasteful when a meat you've prepared turns out badly. (A pot full of yucky noodles just doesn't stress me out in quite the same way.)

[Sarah428]

Although I love to cook and I'll try anything I hardly ever stray from the ingredient list or directions, too worried I'll mess it up. I'll cook for a room full of people but must follow the recipes. On the other hand my DBF never uses a recipe and if it's "missing something" he just adds garlic :D

[kima]

I am very confident when feeding people I know well.
But a new person or group scares me. I am not a fancy cook. People come into my kitchen and see all my cookbooks-they then think I am a gourmet cook!:eek: I have to say -"oh no I just read most of them"!!!:o but still I know the expectations are high. I don't do alot of garnishes-of course for every day cooking my family could care less where the kale is!:)

My idea for a cooking show- a mother and daughter (or son) cooking together. Simple everyday fare and they share events and crises in their lives as they cook. Together they solve the problems of the world and by the time the soup is done everything is fine. The mum has her quirks and the DD gets exasperated but still they love each other and that comes though.... okay so it stars me....what do ya think???
(Oprah and Dr. Phil in the kitchen!)

[Grace]

I LOVE it!! I'd watch every single day....a cross between a soap opera and a cooking show! :D :D :D

[Ms. Chevious]

I'm pretty confident - that I suck! I have pretty much given up on cooking since 9 times out of 10 its a disaster and is inedible. And I'm sure its user error, not the recipes! :o But I've come to accept that - I'm not a great cook, probably never will be because I'd rather microwave something in 5 minutes that I know is good than spend an hour on something that probably isn't.

BUT baking, that's another story. I make **** good cookies and I know it. ;)

[kima]

Originally posted by Grace
I LOVE it!! I'd watch every single day....a cross between a soap opera and a cooking show! :D :D :D

That's the idea! We could discuss my DD's boyfriend, what she should do with her life, my perimenopausal issues- must see TV!:D
(sorry Althea for straying off topic!)

[golden1225]

I'm with CompassRose. I'm confident and adventurous in the kitchen, but cooking for others makes me nervous. I'm extremely proud of my DH, as he was very unsure in the kitchen when we first me, and was insistent upon following a recipe exactly. Now he uses his experience, intuition and my suggestions to create new dishes on his own. And presentation is most definitely a key for both of us...making a dish look pretty can change the way even a ho-hum meal is perceived!

[KristinK]

I agree, it's serving company that suppresses my usual confidence. It doesn't help when people turn their noses up at something just because it's healthy, or unusual (meaning, something other than meat and potatoes).

I was a nervous wreck when I made dinner for our parents a few weeks ago. I had everything perfectly planned, right down to an exact time table of when everything had to be in and out of the oven. I didn't relax until everyone started eating. Thankfully, I was told that my chicken was the best they had ever tasted. (Thanks, Ina Garten! ;) )

I've had only one "failure" - and that was when I realized I hated vinegar in anything other than a vinaigrette. Other than that, I've come to learn what DBF and I both like, which helps me both in selecting recipes, improvising, and most importantly, avoiding any more failures. When I'm preparing something new for us, I usually precede it with something like, "I hope you like it" - and then watch him until he says something, although usually he's busy gobbling it up. :D

[claire797]

I'm fairly confident in my own kitchen, but put me in someone else's and I'm a bungling mess!

My television show personality would be the validation-seeking cook.

"So do you like it? Yeah? Good? Are you sure? What do you really think? Does it need more X? No? Okay, but I can tell you really think it doesn't have enough Y. Next time it will be better. I promise. Sorry."

[Beth H]

My television show personality would be the validation-seeking cook.

That would be me too! I always ask my DH, "do you like this? are you sure?" And I wait expectantly for the reaction of my fellow supper club members when they taste what I've brought. I feel disappointed if I bring something to a pot-luck and no one says, "wow, this is great!"

So I guess I'm in between the "validation-seeking" and "uncertain cook."

[rosie_one]

You know, I get confidence streaks. And then they end. I read this thread two days ago and thought, "dang, I'm good, I'm confident. We eat really well and healthfully. You da bomb baby. Mistress of the Kitchen."

And then, gack, I ran into that recipe in the Dec. cooking light for pasta shrimp and nutmeg, the one with the spinach. Looked soooo easy and completely kicked my patootie. I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention or what but man, it flopped and I'll just be here eating my humble pie for a while.

[CompassRose]

I made that shrimp and nutmeg thing, and did not think it was so red-hot as all that. Mind, I ate it over spaghetti squash instead of pasta, but still. It didn't flop, not so that I could point and laugh, but it certainly slunk through the mouth without much to say for itself.

[adrianna!!]

This is such a great thread! I always assumed I was the only one who craved positive feeback for my cooking. This serves as a great reminder to *all* of us that when someone prepares something for us that we like we *should* make a big deal over it!

I have a bad habit of presenting DH with his plate of food and saying, "I tasted this when I was cooking and I don't think it is very good." One day he finally vented and said, "Honey, it is not appetizing after a hard day of work to sit down to food that the cook is TELLING me I am not gonna like!" I never really thought of it, but he is right...how annoying!

We have to remember to most people who do not cook, almost anything we make will be good. They are most likely not sitting there critiquing every little detail like a "foodie" would.

[RebeccaT]

Originally posted by claire797
"So do you like it? Yeah? Good? Are you sure? What do you really think? Does it need more X? No? Okay, but I can tell you really think it doesn't have enough Y. Next time it will be better. I promise. Sorry."

You could be quoting me. Drives DH up the wall. Sometimes I'll ask him, "Do you like it?" He'll say, "Yeah, it's really good." After a long pause, "Are you sure you like it?" He'll look me in the eye and say, "You know, you've caught me. I was just lying before. This sucks." :rolleyes:

He gets the same way when I ask him repeatedly if I look ok.

[cryskie]

How funny! I'm usually fairly confident with DH. With others, I don't think I say anything at all, because I want to see their reactions before I tell them mine. If I'm really unsure about something, I'll tell DH, "It won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to eat this...we also have _____ to eat if you want..." but that's not too often. Actually, the most common thing I say is "it may need more salt"...I'm pretty stingy with the salt, but usually everyone else thinks it needs more!

I agree that a cooking show based on a real home cook who is trying new things and possibly failing, and who is actually seen looking at a recipe and chopping things without perfect form and all that sounds lots of fun!

:)
Crystal

[Beth]

I guess I'm on the more confident end -- I'm the kind who makes new recipes and takes them to parties and luncheons without trying, makes up new twists on things or just make thing up altogether. Doesn't mean I don't ever have a bomb or that my kids will eat everything I make -- when that happens, I know it will be time to check and see if I still have a pulse. ;)

[TerriS]

I'm pretty confident but I am starting to think I must not be very adventurous because bombs are rare. I guess maybe I only try new things that are tried and true from here or from cookbooks I trust. I do definitely seek validation but just once, asking DH if he likes something if it is new. He always enthusiastically praises what I make, with two exceptions: I've learned he does not like pureed soups or cold soups.

I get pretty nervous about cooking for other people and plan obsessively for weeks, but again, I'm not afraid to try a new recipe if it's tried and true and highly recommened.

I make substitutions more than I follow original recipes and I make stuff up all the time. I know my limits, though...I stay away from cream sauces because I know I'd be taking out all the fat and increasing the chances that I'd ruin it, and I am still pretty skittish about baking from scratch. I'm getting a lot better. That Gooey Apple Cake opened up a whole new world for me.

I think I'm a pretty confident cook! :D