Is cooking a skill to be taken for granted?

>>9052805
nope, everyone should be able to cook if they even spend 15 mins learning.
it's just following the fucking recipe.
if you can't follow simple directions you failed at life

It's definitely not something to be taken for granted, especially in the age of increasingly well designed prepackaged, ready-to-eat meals and fast food chains.
Most people now will get into their 30's and realize "shit we need to cook sometimes" and will end up eating burnt to shit, awful slop you'd expect from a 1950's housewife that never learned to cook because she was running the factories during WW2

>>9052805
don't you have a mom or grandma to ask this?

>>9052805
>dont add salt to cheese and bacon
>how to cook a potato
You in the 6th grade, anon?

my palate is so simple that I can't even tell if there are herbs and spices in things so what to use in all situations for me is none at all

>>9052818
>it's just following the fucking recipe.
Assuming it's a perfect recipe. I've read a lot of recipes that have problems and teach bad habits or just don't produce good food.

>>9052805
>>Avoid using multiple types of starches/carbohydrates in a meal
wut? You cant eat burger+fries or sushi+soba?

>>9053043
People think you're just adding another portion of carbs to your carbs, but they don't realize you're supposed to take a smaller serving of both. It's healthier to do that too since it'll turn foods into complete proteins like combining corn or rice and beans, wheat and peanut butter, etc. And it tastes better with more textures and flavors.

>>9052963
Blindly following recipes can be a problem in many ways.

First off, heat settings and timing. These all vary depending on the size of the food, the temperature of the food before you started cooking, the exact oven/range you have. Even your type of cookware. So if someone follows the recipe to the letter it's entirely possible that the food comes out under- or over-cooked.

Likewise, ingredients vary in potency and therefore the amount of any flavorful ingredient should be altered based on tasting it first. Suppose your recipe calls for "1 tsp of chili powder". If you have some crappy stuff like McCormick--or any kind that's been sitting around for a long time--that's probably nowhere near enough. OTOH if you have some really strong chili powder (like from India, for example) that 1 tsp could be far too much.

Recipes are guidelines. To prepare them successfully a cook still needs to taste ingredients & adjust amounts accordingly. They also need to pay attention to the cooking process and adjust the heat level and/or cooking time appropriately. That comes with experience.

>>9052958
Well I always use what suits me. Someone I know I fucked up but the next time I use something else. Also, eating always the same spices with exact food is just plain boring.

>>9052805
I think it all boils down to how much attention you are willing to pay to the process and how often you actually practice.

For instance, it can take me several attempts to master again some strongly seasonal recipes when the right season comes back. I just can't take them for granted as I don't practice them the rest of the year.

you know what i do when i don't know how to do something? i google it


in the 21st century with the invention of the internet there's no excuse to be ignorant of anything that you want/need to do. none, beyond not having a way to access the internet or a library.

>>9053060
It can't be stressed enough that the bottom of the pan you happen to be using can make all the difference in the world. Most recipes that call for searing recommend med-high, you try that with some cheap pan with a thin bottom and you'll end up with charcoal.

>>9052805
I cooked pretty good recipes even when I was a noob. I'd always watched my dad so when I dewcided to coo ka familky recipe it mroe or less came out fine. There were some things I didn't know how to do though. I'd always fuck up soups by using way too muc hwater