<p>Ever had one of those moments?</p>
<p>I was finally able to duplicate one of my favorite types of mac and cheese sucessfully (mind you not without its hiccups). </p>
<p>It feels good that i was able to get it right.</p>
<p>Yes! After years of trying, I was finally able to successfully emulsify something. I immediately emailed all my friends who, quite puzzlingly, were not that excited…</p>
<p>I never trusted my cooking abiliies. For a long while that was justified, there were quite a few diasters. When my husband suggested we order out for pizza, I know it was a goner. But as the years went on, I improved. I’d say I was a functional cook, you wouldnt go hungry around my house, but it wasnt anything to writer home about! </p>
<p>Now I’m decent, seasoned with years of experience (and experimenting) so each meal feels like an accomplishment. Course now thats its a matter of “want to cook” vs “have to cook”, its different. Just wish I had a family at home to cook for!</p>
<p>I’ve been interested in cooking since I was a young adult living on my own for the first time. I watched all the PBS shows (Julia, Frugal Gourmet, etc) and bought a Fannie Farmer cookbook. I studiously cut out recipes from magazines. I made plenty of missteps, including roasting a chicken with the giblet package left inside the bird, and a recipe that DH and I referred to as “tasteless gruel.” But what a thrill when it comes out right! And I’m proud to say that both DD and DS have become great cooks, and aren’t afraid to make something from scratch. </p>
<p>My own mother wasn’t much of a cook, even though she had a few recipes that I still make today. She enjoyed coming to my house for dinner, but I always got the feeling that she thought I was wasting my time. So I’m gratified that my kids didn’t think so, and have picked up some great life skills.</p>
<p>The last few years I have discovered the joy in the intense flavors of triple reduction sauces. I make one with about 15 cups of liquid reduced to about 2 cups of sauce, yum.</p>
<p>I think I need a sous chef to do all that chopping and dicing for me to be a better cook. And access to fresh stuff would make it a thousand times better.
However, right now I’m attempting bread which makes no sense because it’s pretty cheap to buy and isn’t that great for you (so they say). But I love the smell and it makes me happy so even if it flops, it’ll still be a success (as least therapy-wise!).
And I LOVE reduction sauces–my H is great at this!</p>
<p>The biggest triumph I had was the day I was FINALLY able to make a successful roux into a bechamel sauce. I immediately called my mom…and then promptly burned the sauce. :(</p>
<p>We live and learn.</p>
<p>I just made what is quite possibly my best batch of sausage lentil soup yet. I do all of the spices to taste… so I don’t know that I’ll be able to replicate this! Should have written it down!! I did however use zucchini’s and basil from my own garden in it!</p>
<p>I won a chili cook-off. Third time’s the charm! A thirty dollar grand prize, gift certificate to an upscale Italian restaurant.</p>
<p>Most of my cooking skills are self taught. I admired a woman I lived across the hallway from about 25 yrs ago who was also self taught and learned a lot from her about how to trust instincts and not necessarily follow recipes to the T.
I think a few things come to mind…I make awesome gravy and mastered all kinds of breads…and my Swedish version of pancakes ( kind of like a crepe ) are according to my family , better than farmor’s. And omelets are also a specialty…I am constantly learning. My oldest daughter is far more advanced in the kitchen than I was at her age.</p>
<p>My proudest moments are when I have some stuff on hand I need to use, I proceed without a recipe, and the results come out stellar.</p>
<p>I once had some Bing cherries that were getting a little soft, so I wanted to cook them instead of eating them raw. But I was at my then-boyfriend’s house, and he didn’t have any flour, oats, etc. – no basic baking ingredients. I put the cherry halves into a pan of hot butter, flambeed them with brandy, and ate them with Haagen-Dasz honey vanilla ice cream and Pep Farm Bordeaux cookies crumbled over the top. Literally one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten in my entire life, counting restaurants.</p>
<p>My DH recently complimented my improvement in cooking. Apparently, adding onions was the key factor … if only I’d know all those years ago!</p>
<p>You all intimidate me.</p>
<p>I’m just hoping that this year I’ll (1) remember to remove the giblets from the turkey, (2) put it in the pan right side up, and (3) get it out of the oven without dropping it on the floor.</p>
<p>And really, there’s nothing that’s easier to cook than a turkey.</p>
<p>My proudest cooking accomplishment was a stuffed pork tenderloin. The tenderloin gets butterflied, stuffed with herbs, apples, and prunes, before you sew it closed with an curved needle. It’s cooked in a dutch oven, pulled out to warn while you make a gravy with the pan drippings. Here is the kicker…my MIL waltzes into my kitchen (which is barely big enough for one) and turns her nose up at my gravy in progress insisting its lumpy and must be thrown out. This is her traditional dish and its Christmas Eve. I am 25 and pregnant, not in the mood to be bullied. I thank her for her help, hand her a glass of wine, and physically point her shoulders out of the kitchen. </p>
<p>The pork loin, red cabbage, rice pudding, cucumber salad, beets, caramelized potatoes, and most of all GRAVY (which has no lumps) were all outstanding and I received many compliments, specifically from her mother, who taught her. :)</p>
<p>There are a few other dishes I like to make, but that is the one that will always stick with me.</p>
<p>I make a lot of stuff and it goes in cycles. For a while, I was into canning my own fruits and veggies and making my own yoghurt. I’m a pretty good pastry chef and have a few specialty desserts like chocolate eclairs and cream cakes. I make a pretty mean lemon cheesecake. </p>
<p>The one thing I’m still working on is a potato cut into chain links. Then you fry it, and it makes a “wow” accompaniment to a meal. I guess I still haven’t found the right potato to use because they always break on me.</p>
<p>Tango, could you attach the links after cooking them?</p>
<p>Cute idea for a thread…</p>
<p>I’m really a great cook, but my problem is that I make the same things! I need to expand my repitoire more…making a reduction sauce sounds crazy wonderful…hmmm, someday!</p>
<p>I find that either you’re a great cook OR a great baker…if you’re both then “hats off to you!” I enjoy cooking much more than baking…I just need to experiment more and to find the time to do that! :)</p>
<p>Made a butternut squash and spinach gratin on Thanksgiving–doesn’t seem all that exciting, except that I finally mastered using a mandoline slicer and was able to create thin, rectangular strips of butternut squash. The result was a five-layer gratin of squash with spinach/cream/shallots/parmesan cheese in between. It looked like a butternut squash lasagna. Got rave reviews on T-day and it was the only dish where nothing was left over. Made it again last night and took it to a friend’s pot luck dinner. Everyone loved it there as well.</p>
<p>I wish I had some. Accomplishments that is. My family does not like my cooking, and I really don’t enjoy it. I will have to look up some of the vocabulary here - madoline, bechamel </p>
<p>I do make great brownies.</p>
<p>Bromfield, your dish sounds wonderful! Where did you get the recipe?</p>