Cooking, do you do it?

[skylights]

Eh. I'm a pretty good baker and enjoy baking well enough but I am not so hot on cooking. I'm and get inspired sometimes, but I don't really enjoy the process of it. It always seems like a lot of precision and a lot of keeping track of things - not to mention a lot of work for an end result that is consumed very quickly! I'm okay with playing "sous chef" though and helping someone else out by doing the littler tasks.

To be honest more than anything I'd just rather eat the spoils and wash the cook's dishes!

Right but I think baking is far more of an art than cooking.

Actually that's funny, I usually think of baking being more chemistry and cooking being more art. Not that there isn't art to baking, but so much of it is getting the right ratios and the right temperatures. It seems like with cooking I can throw a pinch here and a pinch there and it's usually okay but maybe not very delicious. That's the other thing about cooking versus baking... with cooking it seems like you can get a pretty wide spectrum of "ew" to "I can eat this" to "amazing", but with baking it's usually either inedible or great. Though maybe that's just how it works for me

 

[ceecee]

Actually that's funny, I usually think of baking being more chemistry and cooking being more art. Not that there isn't art to baking, but so much of it is getting the right ratios and the right temperatures. It seems like with cooking I can throw a pinch here and a pinch there and it's usually okay but maybe not very delicious. That's the other thing about cooking versus baking... with cooking it seems like you can get a pretty wide spectrum of "ew" to "I can eat this" to "amazing", but with baking it's usually either inedible or great. Though maybe that's just how it works for me

It totally is chemistry but it's an artistic outlet more than cooking, imo. For example, I made a bûche de Noël for Christmas Even dessert. Meringue "mushrooms" dusted with coco, perfectly imperfect "bark", sprinkled with fresh raspberries. It was a masterpiece and this is as close as I can come to one. I can't draw or paint or sculpt but I can bake and I love baking those very challenging, beautiful to look at dishes.

 

[skylights]

It totally is chemistry but it's an artistic outlet more than cooking, imo. For example, I made a bûche de Noël for Christmas Even dessert. Meringue "mushrooms" dusted with coco, perfectly imperfect "bark", sprinkled with fresh raspberries. It was a masterpiece and this is as close as I can come to one. I can't draw or paint or sculpt but I can bake and I love baking those very challenging, beautiful to look at dishes.

Oh that sounds wonderful!! I totally agree there is more latitude for artistry in baking... my real love in food is cake decorating, so I am right there with you. Did you take a photo of of your masterpiece?

 

[Coriolis]

It totally is chemistry but it's an artistic outlet more than cooking, imo. For example, I made a bûche de Noël for Christmas Even dessert. Meringue "mushrooms" dusted with coco, perfectly imperfect "bark", sprinkled with fresh raspberries. It was a masterpiece and this is as close as I can come to one. I can't draw or paint or sculpt but I can bake and I love baking those very challenging, beautiful to look at dishes.

Well, yes, there is more leeway to be artistic in baking, though Japanese cooking brings that approach to everything. The fanciest cakes I have made were birthday cakes designed to look like the space shuttle, and the sorting hat from Harry Potter. Dusting with cocoa powder at the end helped make the second one look, well - dusty. They were tasty, too. Mostly, though, I just make simple things like cakes in springform pans with glaze, or pies, cookies, muffins.

 

[chubber]

Do you guys ever watch that show Bakery Boss? The art comes in when decorating the cake. If I recall correctly, they have this professional artist (with a degree) there that creates ornaments out of cake.

 

[greenfairy]

A lot of what I eat doesn't require much in the way of cooking. I enjoy the process, but I'm not very creative with it and I'm too lazy to do more than heating up frozen vegetables most of the time. I eat enough sugar, so I don't bake sweets. I'll cook sweet potatoes and squashes in the toaster oven, a pot of brown rice, a big pot of beans which I then put into glass jars and freeze to eat as needed, steel cut oats, or fried eggs most often, aside from steaming vegetables and mushrooms on the stove. Occasionally I make soup.

I aspire to learn some Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Indian dishes.

 

[empertet]

I'm told I'm a good cook and a decent baker, but I don't find it rewarding unless someone's there to appreciate it.
I'd like to learn more than just the basic British, Italian, Indian and Oriental dishes I know. After all, they're the four most common takeaway's in England so it invites the comparison. Which is a tad insulting....

 

[011235813]

Yes, I do it and I like it. It's usually a lot of fun for me. I'm not a fancy cook though and I don't like following overly fiddly recipes that take hours and hours.

 

[Morpeko]

I enjoy it when I have time. It's not exactly a passion for me and I wouldn't say I love it, but I do enjoy cooking as an occasional creative outlet when I am feeling particularly inspired.

 

[fatgurl]

I don't have to, so no. The most I've ever cooked was french toasts. Yea I only cook breakfast foods and that's extremely rare.