Cooking the (insert type here) way

[Tamske]

I've just been cooking and am now waiting for my husband to come home. And I realised I've been cooking in a very ENTP way!

Here are the steps I took...
1) Husband calls. I decide to cook something.
2) I go to mall.
3) As husband said he wasn't feeling well: something light. As it is cold outside: something warm.
4) I feel like tomato soup.
5) Light? Check. Warm? Check. Okay, tomato soup it is.
6) I'm at the mall. Realize I don't know how to cook tomato soup.
7) Okay, what should go in it? A lot of tomatoes of course, and... a stick of celery, an onion, and some carrots. This would probably give a good tomato soup.
8) Back home: look up recipe. Book lists potatoes as main ingredient.
9) Potatoes? What potatoes? I'm making tomato soup! (And so a new recipe is born - tomato soup Tamske)
10) Clean ingredients. Put all ingredients in pot. Put pot on fire.
11) Realize the pot isn't big enough, because I still need to add the tomatoes.
12) Get bigger pot. Clean tomatoes. Add tomatoes.
13) Post steps on typologycentral, as I've realized how it fits the type by step 8 and was composing the post in my head during steps 9-12. (Pot is now on fire. A relatively low one with me in vicinity)
14) There is a smell coming from the kitchen. A good one...

How does an (insert type here) cook?

 

[StephMC]

Cute! I can't really think of how I cook at the moment... probably because I'm in a state of delerium from my hangover and trying to function at work. But usually it goes something like this:

Craving --> Weigh effort it would take to prepare meal vs. how strong the craving is and place into what I call the "Steph is Always Hungry And Lazy" Equation. Or the "SAHL."
This equation consists of a few different scaled indexes based on the following questions:
How strong is the craving?
How complex is the recipe?
How long will it take?
Do I have all of the components already?
How long would it take to get to the grocery store?
Do I have any money?
How far did I park away from my apartment last?
Where is my wallet, and how far away is it?
Am I wearing any clothes?
How long do I have before my stomach eats itself?
Is there anyone around that I can convince to cook for me?
Is there someone that will go out to eat with me instead?
Repeat: Do I have any money?
Etc., etc.

If Craving outweighs Laziness, then proceed:
Gather all components and accidentally forget something. Replace it with something that may or may not be sufficient. Create recipe. Eat.

 

[Halla74]

Open refrigerator.
Select yummy ingredients.
Cut up into small pieces.
Sautee in skillet with a wee tad of butter.
Add bread, pasta, or a slald as appropriate.
Pour glass of red wine.
Eat, drink, and be merry.

 

[Phantonym]

Can't speak for others but this INFJ cooks like this:

*Recipes? Bah. No recipes for me thanks. I hate this "put a pinch of X and a smidgeon of Y". Where would I put the rest? What a waste. Let's improvise and make it simple so that every ingredient is put to good use.

*Make it easy, nutricious and healthy, no slaving in front of the stove for hours. Efficiency first. If it's not done within 45 minutes (preparation time included), it's not worth the effort.

*Check what produce I have/don't have. List the needed ingredients (no writing them down). Maybe go buy the missing ingredients (unlikely event because I usually stock in advance. In and out of the supermarket in ten minutes. )

*Precision and timing. The preparation of produce is quickly done in pre-calculated steps. When the bell rings, it's done.

Bon Appétit!

Oh yeah, most of the time I plan my meals a week ahead but that's just me

 

[runvardh]

1) feel like cooking something
2) go to the mall
3) eat something
4) wander the grocery store with a cart throwing things in
5) get home and unpack everything
6) some stuff gets put away, other stuff gets prepaired for cooking
7) prepared stuff gets put into any of one to three pots depending on inspiration
8) eat some for supper, package the rest up for later

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

The ENTJ way.

Open fridge.

Order ingredients to cook themselves.

Eat.

 

[Athenian200]

It depends on how much money I have.

If I've got it to spend, I'll have a bunch of TV Dinners, Frozen Breakfast Biscuits, and Hot Pockets in there to eat, and just shove them in the Microwave. Or I'll pick up the phone, and call my nearest Chinese or Pizza place to have them deliever.

If I don't have much money, I'll probably just cook some rice, or make a sandwich.

 

[ceecee]

1) Create a 2-week meal plan
2) Write out shopping list for above plan, factoring in sales items, seasonal, local produce and bulk meat bundles I request from the butcher.
3) Clean out/rearrange fridge and freezer for optimal space
4) Do my shopping, dovetailing my trip (Aldi's to Meijer to Walmart)
5) Return home, put things away and store pantry items, leaving out anything that will be used the following day for bulk cooking session.
6) Begin cooking -this process takes about 3 hrs.
7) Admire my awesome efficiency and appreciate that when I can't cook from scratch I've got some really good meals put away that will last more than 2 weeks - read- contingency plan so no one is eating McDonald's any more than necessary.

 

[prplchknz]

stumble a recipe that looks like its simply and delcious, look at instruction, realize the measurement i need is dirty google conversions check the instructions 4 or 5 times before putting stuff in, put stuff in look at instructions again and go did i put enough in? what if i add more and it's too much? think about never eating because eating out is too expensive and cooking is too messy. Realize don't have an ingredient call mom ask her what I can substitute for or if I can just omit that ingredient.finish eat, realize an hour later I didn't turn off the stove go turn it off.

 

[Thalassa]

Generally it is one of two things:

Spontaneously decide that I want to make a certain recipe or meal. Go to store immediately to buy ingredients and go home to prepare idealized meal in a slap dash manner. Sometimes there is more long-term planning, but only for a single meal craved or specific dish for a special occasion. I don't DO any sort of itemized meal planning. I don't even eat my meals at the same time every day. It's just impossible for me, it seems.

The other thing that I do is just go in my kitchen and see what I have - because I do keep food in my kitchen even though I'm not huge on "meal planning" - and, again, spontaneously decide that the items which I already have would convieniently make X, Y, or Z. I might even add or subtract an ingredient to get creative. I have my own methods of doing things, and rarely follow recipes or directions exactly unless I'm making something especially difficult or special.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

INTJ way:

1. Choose a dish to master.
2. Collect a bunch of recipes for that dish.
3. Rank recipes based on criteria like quality of the source, ease of preparation, etc.
4. Make the dish using a few of the top recipes.
5. Try out any interesting ideas from some of the lesser recipes within the better recipes.
6. Using your newly acquired familiarity with the general concepts of the dish, freestyle and see what happens.
7. Arrive at a hybrid Frankenrecipe that incorporates the best of everything.
8. Accept praise from dinner guests.

Or, to be more succinct, the way they do it.

 

[rhinosaur]

Ha

I was discussing this with my INTP GF a while ago.

Her way (INTP):
Come up with an idea. Say, enchiladas, with some stuff on the side. Find a recipe to work from, and make changes as necessary to suit taste and/or available ingredients. Combine with other stuff in the same family, for example tortilla chips and beans.

My way (ISTP):
Find ingredients. Then improvise.

Here is an example. This is what I cooked & ate tonight:
- Cook brown rice in rice steamer
- Sautee tofurkey sausage, using a little salad dressing for the oil and added flavor
- Toast almond slivers
- Microwave leftover brussel sprouts
- Mix sausage, almonds, and brussel sprouts with the cooked rice
- Season with salt and random spices

Spice list:
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Turmeric
- Cinnamon
- Mustard
- Curry powder
- Cayenne pepper
- Pickapeppa

It turned out pretty good. The only thing I didn't like was that the sea salt didn't dissolve into the food, so there were these little hard salty chunks of salt that you'd occasionally get a good bite on. I ate a whole bowl of it and plan to finish it off tomorrow. Who knows what to call it though.

Her way is safer, and often turns out better and more consistent food, but I could never cook that way.

 

[Wonkavision]

When trying to figure out what to make, I usually do one or more of the following:

Scan the fridge and pantry for possibilities/inspirations.

Search grocery store or farmer's market for possibilities/inspirations.

"Feel out" what I'm in the mood for by exploring broad categories ( Mexican, Chinese, French, Italian, etc...? Salty, sweet, sour....etc? Light or heavy? Gourmet or down home? etc...) and then narrow it down.

"Feel out" what the others who will be eating are in the mood for by the same process as above.

Find ways to harmonize/reconcile what I'm in the mood for with what they're in the mood for. (Not difficult, usually---more of a fun challenge)


Once I know what I'm going to make and have the ingredients/tools I need, I usually do one or more of the following:

Combine basic knowledge of cooking techniques with inspiration/intuition.

Mostly wing it, and Google the parts I'm unsure of as I'm cooking.

Follow a recipe if it's important that it comes out a certain way.

Get excited about trying some really interesting recipe/technique I heard/read about---or one that I discovered in a previous experiment.



If I'm cooking for others I may incorporate different recipes/techniques in a pretty experimental and spontaneous way--but with an eye on what is generally known to produce good results.

But if I'm cooking only for myself , the experiments get pretty wild. I'll try all kinds of crazy things and note which things worked, for possible future use.

 

[Tamske]

When I cook for others, I get a little bit more conservative, too. I'll take a dish I've already prepared before. But there can still be a bit of improvising - unless ESTJ hubby goes to the grocery, of course. ("If there isn't 'this', take 'that' instead...")

 

[Mort Belfry]

Cooking the INTP way...

1. Open Fridge.
2. Drink all the beer.
3. Wake up. Hopefully by now you've eaten.

 

[Xenon]

My way:

1. Get packaged microwaveable meal from the freezer
2. Microwave it
3. Eat it while reading about something more interesting than cooking

I'd like to learn to cook someday. Haven't been bothered to do it so far, like many things.