- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Statements like in this in print baffle me.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:19 am to Tigertown in ATL
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:19 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Y'all be funny.
The key words are things like "I don't understand." Of course you don't because nothing is hard if it is easy to you.
I have a friend (a woman) who can take apart all sorts of mechanical things and put them back together without directions. She can rewire and re-plumb a house. She thinks cooking is hard and is intimidated by it.
My brother was a D-1 full scholarship swimmer and can't cook. He'd tell you swimming fast is easy.
Agreed
I just don't find all these "hacks" to be particularly useful for someone that is a cooking novice
0
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:28 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
I think you first need the desire, then the foundation and knowledge, and techniques, and then incorporating different flavor profiles, and using different textures and skills acquired will lead you in that direction. There are things that work and make sense when you immerse yourself in the science behind cooking rather than just following directions to pull off a dish
With this explanation, why would you be baffled?
Making eggs benedict with a perfectly toasted muffin, a poached egg that is not over or under and a balanced hollaindaise sauce is pretty hard.
I could go to computer school and it would take at least a semester to understand what "code a complex piece of software" even means.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:44 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Y'all be funny.
The key words are things like "I don't understand." Of course you don't because nothing is hard if it is easy to you.
I have a friend (a woman) who can take apart all sorts of mechanical things and put them back together without directions. She can rewire and re-plumb a house. She thinks cooking is hard and is intimidated by it.
My brother was a D-1 full scholarship swimmer and can't cook. He'd tell you swimming fast is easy.
Again, this gets down to a few common denominators, desire and knowledge, however in difference to a natural born talent in athletics as you mentioned to cause you to separate yourself from the pack with training, there are no natural talents for cooking, just desire and knowledge, as well as acting upon that. None of the great chefs in this world have ever done anything from osmosis from the womb, or on an island devoid of sound principles that are found in knowledge gained from others who have passed down the arts in cooking. To believe such a thing is actually a slight to the long hours of hard work put into attaining that in the culinary world.
I suppose the thing that's odd to me about cooking being seen as hard or intimidating is that it's as much a cornerstone in civilization as getting out of the rain. To be so far removed from something as rudimentary to humanity as cooking has always been throughout civilization is quite odd in every human sense of the word odd can be.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:47 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Making eggs benedict with a perfectly toasted muffin, a poached egg that is not over or under and a balanced hollaindaise sauce is pretty hard.
If I told a kid... Make me a roux, and didn't teach them what makes up a roux, or explained the process to make a roux, or even the purpose behind it all, that kid is going to look at me like I'm a magical creature that does magic tricks in my laboratory.
However, if I explain it, show him, and get him to do it proper, the light will turn on and then that child will get it like Up is Up.
This post was edited on 1/28/14 at 8:49 am
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:48 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
natural born talent in athletics
Ya the swimming thing is not the best example. What about my other example?
quote:
there are no natural talents for cooking
That's a total crock. See my other example.
quote:
the thing that's odd to me
Exactly. Odd to you. You have to see from other folks' perspective.
Don't take this wrong because I like you and like interacting with you and learn a lot from your perspective. BUT seeing things from other people's side is not your strongest point.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:52 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
That's a total crock. See my other example
I'm sorry, but there is no cooking gene, and nobody pulls anything out their arse on an island devoid of traditional cooking or scientific principles, save perhaps some mad scientist molecular gastronomy shite. You learn basics, learn more techniques, work with flavors and textures, learn why this works with this, and why it will also work with other things, and build upon that.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:54 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Exactly. Odd to you. You have to see from other folks' perspective.
I realize the perspective, and am certain what it stems from, but it still doesn't cause it to make any human sense.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:59 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
Mike da Tigah
Thanks for posting those books....... I'll be buying some new reading/reference books.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:01 am to Mike da Tigah
Add Jacque Pepins' Complete Tecniques, and Julia Childs'book on baking to your list.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:01 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
I'm sorry, but there is no cooking gene
Then there is no gene for mechanical aptitude either.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:07 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Then there is no gene for mechanical aptitude either.
You're right. You have to desire it enough to seek the knowledge out, and then build upon that which you have learned.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:11 am to CITWTT
quote:
Add Jacque Pepins' Complete Tecniques, and Julia Childs'book on baking to your list.
Excellent... I have Pepin's, and French Cooking by Julia, but will look into her book on baking. I've spent my allowance I've set for myself this month however. I just laid down buck fitty over the weekend on a couple of new books.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:13 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
You're right. You have to desire it enough to seek the knowledge out, and then build upon that which you have learned.
I could go to school and learn and study for the rest of my life and I couldn't tear apart an engine and put it back together.
I can build things, but my woman friend just has an aptitude for building things that I don't have.
Some people can do it with very little training. I can't see things in three dimensions. Algebra, and the algebraic part of calculus, accounting, etc. are a piece of cake.
Trig, geometry, the geometric part of calculus. Impossible. In my mind there is no "z axis."
It's the same with cooking. Smell, taste, vision, imagination, etc. It's not just training and desire.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:16 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
I could go to school and learn and study for the rest of my life and I couldn't tear apart an engine and put it back together.
I can build things, but my woman friend just has an aptitude for building things that I don't have.
Some people can do it with very little training. I can't see things in three dimensions. Algebra, and the algebraic part of calculus, accounting, etc. are a piece of cake.
Trig, geometry, the geometric part of calculus. Impossible. In my mind there is no "z axis."
It's the same with cooking. Smell, taste, vision, imagination, etc. It's not just training and desire.
If I give you a set of instructions can you follow them, and commit it to memory?
If so, then you can cook, and it's not difficult.
What gives you difficulty, and what do you find hard about cooking in general?
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:31 am to Mike da Tigah
Adding to the great basic books list....Peter Reinhart, Bread Bakers Apprentice (best beginners bread baking book in English), Shirley Corriher's Cookwise (applied cooking science), and a good general American cookbook like The Joy of Cooking (not haute cuisine, but a pretty comprehensive collection of basic recipes).
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:40 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
If I give you a set of instructions can you follow them, and commit it to memory?
Of course.
quote:
What gives you difficulty, and what do you find hard about cooking in general?
I don't find it hard. I think I have a pretty good aptitude for it and lack training and experience.
Not everyone has that aptitude. There is more to cooking than just following instructions.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:43 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
There is more to cooking than just following instructions.
For instance.....
Posted on 1/28/14 at 9:50 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
For instance...
Smell
Palate
Imagination
Sense of timing
Small motor skills
Focus
Attention to detail
Posted on 1/28/14 at 10:03 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Smell
Palate
Imagination
Sense of timing
Small motor skills
Focus
Attention to detail
Smell and palate are things we can all improve through working those senses. If we didn't have smell or palate, we couldn't distinguish that which tastes good in our mouth from that which tastes bad or not as good when we eat food. So, in that sense, it reverts back to knowledge when cooking and why say acid cuts fat and carbs and brings out flavor profiles that are otherwise masked and ready to be revealed.
Imagination is something that also comes through knowledge. When I was a little kid, I often thought about things like what it would take to create the ultimate sandwich and soft drink, but because I had no knowledge, my imagination was limited to pot shot nonsense ideas that were not grounded in anything but the mind of a child. As I grew up and became interested in these things, and gained knowledge of flavors, my imagination for inventing food concepts now has direction which only comes from that which I have learned pair well, intensify flavors, build texture and depth and add to the experience.
Sense of timing and motor skills are things that come with time in the kitchen.
Focus and attention to detail are both things that we also work on in everything in life, not just cooking or food.
Posted on 1/28/14 at 10:05 am to Mike da Tigah
I agree with all of that, but no amount of knowledge, training and practice makes us all the same.
There are varying degrees of all of those things.
Now leave me the hell alone. I have work to do.
There are varying degrees of all of those things.
Now leave me the hell alone. I have work to do.
Page 2 of 3
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News