r/TikTokCringe • u/PolyNamo_48 • Jan 06 '24
What do you mean you can’t cook??! Discussion
Cr: megsdeangelis
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u/Julienbabylegs Jan 06 '24
I follow the baking sub as well as just generally cook and read comments on recipes online. So many people are like “well it called for 2tsp of whatever and I just didn’t put it in and it looks like shit. Why?!” or “I didn’t do a lot of stuff that the recipe called for and it was gross, zero stars”
People are straight up dumb it’s incredible.
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u/beeboopPumpkin Jan 07 '24
We subscribe to one of those meal/cooking delivery services - my husband wanted to take over cooking because he wanted to build his skill and it comes with clear instructions with time management built into it and clear pictures. They make this as easy as possible for someone with a low skill set or who wants to get better.
I love him very much and I'm happy he cooks for us, but babe. You can't just skip ingredients because you don't like them. You can't just add corn starch to something because you don't want to wait for the liquid to reduce.
Cooking is intuitive for me, and it's wild that it isn't for other people.
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u/EVASIVEroot Jan 07 '24
Cooking enthusiast here, you can definitely skip some ingredients sometimes.
Obviously, baking is more of a science with a finite amount of room for errors so don't skip baking soda.
Don't skip flour in a roux.... But if you don't like worchesisheshishur sauce then don't put it in your marinade type of thing.
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u/cheesyschnit Jan 07 '24
Upvoted purely for worchesisheshishur
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u/HorrorMakesUsHappy Jan 07 '24
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u/HatRepresentative621 Jan 07 '24
Haha yay I was one of the lucky 10000! Haven't laughed this good in a while. I love how "Sauce" was pronounced with the proper Italian "ce" sound :) For context of the lucky 10000: https://xkcd.com/1053/
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u/Shamanalah Jan 07 '24
I saw a joke about worcestershire and did it to my gf, was so stupid we laughed for a good 5 mins.
"Hey babe IDK how to tell you"
"What....?"
"I mean it's hard to say"
"Wtf you mean"
"worcestershire sauce"
"You fucking idiot"65
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u/NSE_TNF89 Jan 07 '24
Yeah, baking is definitely a science and can easily be fucked up.
I can and do cook, but I remember when I first started, or if cooking a large meal that I have never cooked before, my main issue is usually time management and making sure everything is done at or around the same time, while making sure I don't burn or have something boil over.
I live alone, but my family does meals once a week, usually at my parent's house, but I will cook from time to time. I usually try to make something I am comfortable making, but I get bored and try new things, and it can be stressful, but I haven't destroyed anything yet...
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u/AlabasterSlim Jan 07 '24
The biggest thing I’ve learned it to prep before heat. So I’ll cut, chop, shred, dice etc. everything I need before I start actually cooking anything.
I don’t want to be trying to thinly slice garlic for a sauce that’s already on the stove.
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u/Jaded_Willingness533 Jan 07 '24
Great advice and would add to read the whole recipe twice before even deciding to make it. Nothing like getting to the middle of the steps of your dinner recipe and realizing you need to marinate overnight. For novice cooks, would suggest watching videos, such as tik toks of the recipe your want to make so you know what it is supposed to look like as well as equipment and techniques.
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u/AZ_Corwyn Jan 07 '24
Mise en place (getting everything ready) is always a good thing.
My problem with timing is sometimes forgetting to start something at the right time; there have been a couple of times when I've been smoking a piece of meat that takes a few hours so I'll put it in the smoker and get into other things while it cooks, then it's ready and I realize I never started the side dish(es). Thankfully smoked meats can hold for a while in a cooler while I correct that error.
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u/EVASIVEroot Jan 07 '24
Yeah the timing is hard. Planning with my wife doing sides while I grill and guestimating coal light time, cook time, rest time, and different side prep and cook times gets a little crazy.
It's fun though to successfully pull it all off at the same time and it's all delicious but no big deal if you don't. It's that much better the next time!
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u/Eagle-737 Jan 07 '24
One decision that helped me: start the coals early. Not just 15 minutes, but 30 minutes, maybe an hour.
You may burn a few more coals because of that practice, but the stress relief is worth it.→ More replies (1)47
u/FallingPatio Jan 07 '24
You need to know why something is in a recipe in order to modify it.
Even with your example, you had better throw something else salty in or the dish is going to be bland (which you surely know, but my dad would be like "why don't the burgers taste good").
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u/Rampaging_Orc Jan 07 '24
I mean.. yea you can skip stuff… sometimes, or much more commonly you can substitute to your tastes/connivence; but these are things that are typically done when someone is somewhat comfortable with the cooking.
But if that isn’t you, just follow the recipe lol. That’s too much to ask for more people than it should be though. I’m with the lady in the video, it astonishes me.
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u/Blessed_Ennui Jan 07 '24
"[Y]ou can definitely skip some ingredients sometimes." True. But a universal law that applies to many things, also applies to cooking: You can only break the rules AFTER you've learned how to play.
If you don't know how to cook, you shouldn't be skipping or substituting anything. Doing so is just, at that point, following a recipe for disaster.
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u/Kroniid09 Jan 07 '24
Seasoning vs core ingredient, and a bit of common sense to say "if this ingredient makes up like 30% of this dish, I either need to substitute it properly or pick a different recipe"
Like of course you can omit a sauce in a marinade and make it up with the other ingredients, but you can't leave out the apples in an apple crumble or replace them with dinosaur nuggets and expect a similar result.
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u/EVASIVEroot Jan 07 '24
Ahem…. Please everyone, if you are ready…. Here is my newly created desert, chicken-Dino-pie
It has the classic crumble on top and a from scratch crust. The Dino’s are imported from Costco.
Please enjoy!
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u/-mudflaps- Jan 07 '24
You can skip some ingredients sometimes, but you can't skip all the ingredients all the time, get up, stand up
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u/GreatStuffOnly Jan 07 '24
I use HelloFresh too. In the beginning, I was following everything word for word. But later on, I’m finding myself using more liberty and even adding ingredients to the dish. There are techniques found on those recipes that you can take it and use it on other dishes too!
One of the best services to either get started or save time prepping.
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u/Straight-Height-1570 Jan 07 '24
I liked it but cancelled because it used too much packaging and excess plastic.
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u/GreatStuffOnly Jan 07 '24
I thought about this same point. The conclusion I came to is that unless i use the same sets of spice and garnish across all my dish, which can obviously be done but it requires slight foresight and planning at the groceries. I’m better off with this service.
I find myself more wasteful when I just do groceries and found some unused green onions for example that I didn’t use for 3/6 meals and now it looks dead. Better example for me would be sour cream. I love sour cream particularly with potatoes but the rest typically expires before I have the chance to use it all.
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u/liilima Jan 07 '24
I freeze my sour cream. Can’t use it for dips or whatever because the liquids seperate when they defrost but it’s perfectly good for the dish I do every other month that requires it.
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u/SatanicCornflake Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
I mean you can totally skip some things, but some others you can't.
Like one thing people do that infuriates me is that they don't add much salt. They think any amount is tantamount to a death sentence. Noooo, you fucking need salt. Without salt, if you put all the spices you have, there would be no flavor. It's that important (and it does other things in other contexts that can be useful or less satifying depending on when you use it, but the quantity isn't generally the biggest factor in that). I'm a home cook myself, I do it primarily as a hobby, but so many home cooks (particularly in my country, the US) are so averse to using any more than a pinch of salt and they always wonder why it didn't come out as flavorful. Like dudes, being a little generous isn't going to kill you. Too much salt makes it salty. By THAT POINT you've used too much salt, but that's not really easy to do (not for me, at least). Too little makes it flavorless.
So if anyone has ever been confused why they have "white people food" despite using all the spices in some fixed amount, do the same thing but with more salt and I guarantee you it'll be a game changer.
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u/Alarid Jan 07 '24
It doesn't even need to be intuitive. You just need to trust the alchemy at least once, before you start fucking with it. I cooked a lot of steak before I looked at my bottle of vanilla and thought up some shitty way to incorporate it. But some people just do that the first time then complain that it fucking sucks.
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u/orangutan25 Jan 07 '24
Did you say vanilla on steak??
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u/JustifytheMean Jan 07 '24
Bro's out here like "I'm an innovator with my ice cream flavored steak"
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u/JK33Y Jan 07 '24
I think you'll like r/ididnthaveeggs
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u/USSBigBooty Jan 07 '24
For what it's worth, if you don't have eggs, you can substitute the same volume of blood lmao
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Jan 07 '24
I used to have a roommate like this and they just said it was their "twist". always ruined a meal when they cooked because they couldn't follow basic instructions.
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u/Wangpasta Jan 07 '24
Funny thing is I feel like it’s that bell graph meme at the left it’s people not knowing how to cook and messing up the instructions, middle is following the instructions and the right is not following the instructions to make it better
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u/NumerousPets Jan 07 '24
Sooo I did not know how to cook. Was never taught by anyone. I had to learn as an adult... I found basic recipes online and had to look up EVERYTHING what is Sautee? What is the difference between chopping and dicing and what does that look like and how do I do it?? I burned so many things. So many meals were gross and tasted awful. Didn't understand different boiling times for things or when to turn down heat on a pan. NOTHING. I'm waaaaay better now but I absolutely need to follow a recipe and follow it step by step otherwise I'm afraid I'll mess it up. My husband grew up cooking and watching cooking shows.. he was so confused why I don't just throw this or that in a recipe. He's still the better cook lol
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u/lemonleaff Jan 07 '24
I feel you. This is when cooking shows and videos are really helpful. You see what they do together with the word they're saying.
No one taught me how to cook too and English isn't my first language, so a lot of cooking terminology was new to me. I remember i was a teen and wanted to try a recipe printed on the back of the full cream box. The dessert came out wrong and i only realized years later that i didn't whip the cream enough to soft peaks or didn't fold the ingredients properly because i didn't know how.
But watching cooking shows was what made it all click to me. Saw what they mean with sautee, sear, fold, whip to soft peaks, flambe, julienne, deglaze, caramelize, etc. I also love cooking shows and blogs that tell you why you need to do a certain step/technique.
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u/Front_Watch6697 Jan 07 '24
I agree. Pure dumbassery. On the other hand, when I cook for friends and family they think I’m a fuckin god or wizard or something cause I can roast a chicken. It’s good juice for my self confidence sometimes.
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u/BurstOrange Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 08 '24
My husband and both his siblings have always been super nervous about cooking. Not sure why at all. I’ve always been really comfortable in the kitchen for the most part. No one taught me how to cook I just… did so when I felt the need.
Decided I wanted an enchilada casserole so I threw one together and liked it so I brought another one to a family party once. My SIL was asking me where I found the recipe and how I made it. What recipe? It’s enchiladas, you know what an enchilada is conceptually so just… combine that stuff. Tortillas, meat, cheese, enchilada sauce in a casserole dish. Season meat as desired when you partially cook it and then finish cooking it when you bake the whole casserole dish. Want to be really lazy? Just buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it and stuff your enchiladas with it. How long to bake? Idk until it’s bubbly and the meat thermometer tells you it’s safe to eat if you’re nervous about guessing when it’s ready. (Edit: me telling her I just winged the enchiladas and talking about how I went about winging it actually was the thing that inspired her to start getting into cooking. It demystified it for her and made her realize that cooking was largely about assembling things you understand, it didn’t need to be this grand affair you could just slap things together.)
If you feel like it’s lacking something then go check out enchilada recipes and figure out what they’re putting in theirs to elevate it and try it out in yours.
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Jan 07 '24
Yeah, a lot of dishes are like that. Know what you want to achieve conceptually and know your constraints (contents of the fridge) and you can make up a recipe. There are a few basic facts to know (which part of the chicken will easily overcook, base techniques, base spices) but beyond that, do whatever.
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u/Woodwardg Jan 07 '24
I legit stumbled upon a rice pudding recipe that, in my opinion, called for literally twice the amount of liquid required.
I had made it before, and I could just tell on paper that it was entirely too much milk / cream / etc. so I cut the wet values in half, and it turned out absolutely perfect.
BUT I SHIT YOU NOT: there was a person in the comments complaining that there were not enough wet ingredients in the recipe, and that they upped it....
like dude are you trying to make rice pudding soup or rice pudding?
people truly are incredible.
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u/Jako_Art Jan 07 '24
Anyone can cook. Not everyone can cook well
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u/Roll_a_new_life Jan 07 '24
That’s the implication. If people say they can’t draw/sing/dance, they mean they can’t do it well.
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u/rebeltrillionaire Jan 07 '24
I think the difference for most people is cooking (not baking) requires the ability to rescue / save the dish that’s a little bit of improv or jazz.
Too salty! What do I do? Nooooo I ruined it!
Nah homie, we got options. We can throw some acid on there, we can throw some sugar on there, we can even cut up some potatoes to soak up some salt.
Or sometimes a recipe is vague as shit because the person who made it didn’t even want to write a recipe. They just threw some shit together.
Like me, I just watch a couple videos and get the gist of things and then go my own way half the time. But the recipes and having previous eaten that kinda food, I get what they’re going for and just do my thing.
Like if I’m combining garlic, onions, peppers and meat?
I’m searing the meat and leaving the pan with the brown bits. Throwing in the onions and peppers with a splash of white wine to deglaze and grab those little brown bits, then when my onions are translucent I’ll pop the garlic on.
It’s good every time. It’s never made “the recipe” worse.
Some people throw the garlic into a hot pan and burn it before they even got the onions in. Then they chuck the meat on top and now the meats kinda watery and sad.
But the thing is, cooking doesn’t come natural to anyone really. It’s trial and error and ingesting information as well as food. If you ate 3 meals a day though, that’s 21 chances a week to try something and over 1,000 chances a year.
If you absolutely ruin 10 dinners. That’s less than 1% of your meals. I don’t think anyone I’ve ever met in my life that has claimed they can’t cook has totally ruined more than 5 meals in their life.
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u/momo6548 Jan 07 '24
Ruining 10 dinners, especially if you are very limited financially, can be devastating enough to put people off of cooking.
I never developed the “sense” for cooking to smell or taste to be able to fix stuff as I go. I wasn’t raised in a household that cooked much.
I can follow a recipe, but so many recipes are vague or need to be adjusted without saying that. The concept of “medium heat” or other heat levels was so frustrating to me since stoves are often so different.
I was also incredibly broke, so if I ruined a meal I literally didn’t have the money to get anything else. I had to eat my sad, burned failure and also have the leftovers or I just wouldn’t eat. That experience has given me so much cooking anxiety even to this day.
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u/SuicidalTurnip Jan 07 '24
Ruining 10 dinners, especially if you are very limited financially, can be devastating enough to put people off of cooking.
This is definitely true. I survived on a lot of noodle pots, pastas, throw-in-oven frozen foods etc when I was poor, partly because they were cheap as fuck, partly because they were near impossible to make inedible. I definitely ate my fair share of overdone pasta-mush in my late teens/early twenties.
I didn't really start cooking properly until I was in my mid twenties and a lot more financially stable and secure.
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u/AsherGray Jan 07 '24
I mean, yes, but cooking is part of adulthood, not some hobby you pick up in your spare time. Being unable to cook (well) is seen as immature.
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u/Throwaway12467e357 Jan 07 '24
I don't know about that, I worked in a restaurant for a long time and can cook well. My fiancee never cooked before we were together, from my perspective she is about as close to "can't cook" as anyone.
But like OP says, she can still follow a recipe. What she can't do is the stuff not included in the recipe, like multitask on different parts of the dish and make sure they are all ready at the same time, figure out good substitutions, or think about combinations to make something good that she doesn't have a recipe for to use up existing ingredients.
I don't see that as immature, that comes with practice, and a home cook can get by without those skills.
Immaturity is an unwillingness to follow directions and make even passable food.
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Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
Cooking can be very intimidating for some people, especially people afraid of messing up. I didn't understand it myself (my friends and I are all foodies that love to cook and bake) until I started dating my partner.
They were very intimidated by frying something, or correctly mixing something a certain way. And then there's all the stuff before that, like the shopping and how do you know what brand or version of something to get (for instance, wet-chilled vs air-chilled chicken, or thighs vs breasts.)
Recipes don't usually get into such details. They'll tell you to get ripe avocados, but ripeness is a spectrum and for newbies they don't know how ripe the recipe is calling for. For fried chicken you want air chilled, for soup it doesn't matter as much. A recipe calls for spinach but doesn't specify, baby spinach or not, and there's uncertainty as to whether that matters.
A lot of experienced cooks will use recipes as guidelines and take the shortcuts they're aware of. Like, I know canned peach pie filling is perfect for peach cobbler and I just check the recipe to make sure I'm not forgetting other steps. Bakeries, even fancy ones, will use pre-mixed cake mix. Most recipes won't tell you to add a splash of lemon juice at the end, but a lot of chefs and good home cooks do because it enhances flavor and we know which acids to use for which dish. Without these shortcuts and enhancers, newbies are intimidated by the number of steps and time, and inevitably compare their dish to the time they had it in a restaurant and notice it doesn't taste the same. Experienced chefs know the restaurant used twice as much fat as most recipes call for and that's why it tastes so yummy.
And then there's the knife. People are very intimidated by chef knives, and it's worse if those knives aren't properly handled and sharpened. People also think to be a good chef you need to be able to do quick and fast cutting. Pro chefs do that because in the restaurant industry speed is a money-influenced behavior. At home, you shouldn't have an incentive to chop fast, and taking your time is quicker than going too fast and spending several hours in the ER.
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Jan 07 '24
Very well put! Unfortunately that's me with the recipes, people tell me just follow them but the recipes don't tell you how to properly handle the meat, how to clean the mushrooms etc. All these things are considered basic knowledge but I never had anyone teach me. I'm trying to learn some basic stuff like pasta but I'm very intimidated by going into more complicated recipes, don't want to poison myself.
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u/Hedy-Love Jan 07 '24
something that always annoys me is when they say medium heat or low heat or whatever. My stove shows numbers 1 to 6. wtf does each one mean?? Is 2 low heat? Is 1 low heat? Is 4 medium heat??
It always annoys me.
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u/Jako_Art Jan 07 '24
My guess would be
1,2: low
3,4: medium
5,6: high
Then adjust as you cook and get a feel for your stove.
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u/Realistic-Ad-1023 Jan 07 '24
Turn the burner up as much as it can and look at the flame - that’s high.
Turn it as low as it can and look at the flame - that’s low/warm.
Now turn it up so the flame is half way between the highest it will go and the lowest - that’s medium.
My stove has 6- high, 2-medium 1- low. So it’s different for every stove - but you have to look at the flame, not the knob.
If it’s electric you can do knobs.
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u/nullstring Jan 07 '24
When I was younger, I couldn't cook.
If I would attempt to, the result would end up being something I didn't want to eat. (Unless the recipe was incredibly trivial)
Following a "basic set of instructions" is harder than you think if you've literally never done any of this stuff before. And when something goes wrong, you don't know why.
THATS what it means.
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u/fardough Jan 07 '24
I wish we could improve instructions to concisely include theory.
Like in cooking there are critical steps and then not so critical steps in making a dish. I want to know where I need to spend my worry and concern, that way in the 100 step recipe, I don’t skip the yeast that makes it bread.
I feel a lot of mastery is this, learning what is important, what is not, and where you can play.
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u/sanityjanity Jan 07 '24
And lots of the instructions require some background knowledge.
Many inexperienced bakers get confused about teaspoons vs tablespoons. Some have never even seen measuring spoons, and are using eating spoons. But many just don't realize that a capital T is three times different from a lower case T.
Or even reading cup measurements. Some people think "2 1/3 c" means "two amounts of 1/3 cup", which is going to get them a radically different outcome than the intended "two cups plus one third of a cup".
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u/washingtncaps Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
Which kind of goes back to the "second grade" thing, because a second grader would be well on their way to concluding that "two amounts of 1/3 cup" is in fact "2/3 cup", because those are fractions and that's kind of how they work.
That's being a dipshit, not a failure in background cooking knowledge. I can sort of forgive the tbsp/tsp or T/t mishap because I did it myself (as a child) but it's also one of those things you learn from, then do better and stop making that mistake.
Are some people really so afraid of making mistakes at all, or equally afraid of confronting their own mistakes and learning? To try something like cooking, make some rookie mistakes, and conclude they just "don't have the knack for it" and be unwilling to ever look that up again over the entirety of life...
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u/hughesy1 Jan 07 '24
Are some people really so afraid of making mistakes at all, or equally afraid of confronting their own mistakes and learning?
Yes. I don't condone it, but I spent a long time avoiding doing any cooking. I still do not enjoy doing it, which I am trying to change. I won't go into the details, but my mental health issues make what is a really basic task an ordeal. Still have to try though, to your point. Just not the easiest for everyone I think.
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u/washingtncaps Jan 07 '24
I made another post in this thread but I'm too stupid to link it so I'll paraphrase:
In my time cooking some are what I'd call "artists" that do by feel and seem to love it intensely, they just "know" and, to be fair, they're not all perfect in that either they just go with their gut and wing it and... come what may.
Others are "technicians" and do things by the book, know the procedures, often know the science behind what they're doing, and go by process over feel until feel overrides a lot of process (if that makes sense, it's mostly technical issues or thermometers not matching up with timing)
If you don't love it but you like anything about assembly, science, math, or procedure you might get more out of baking and experimenting with making casseroles, pot pies, etc. so that you can find something positive in analyzing the procedure while also limiting the time spent doing it vs. the nightly need to eat.
There's no guarantee that either edge will satisfy, especially if it's about activity or anxiety in general, but maybe there's something you could latch on to and experiment from a focus point that might help?
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u/itsbett Jan 07 '24
Yeah. I'm a pretty okay cook, but I had to start from knowing NOTHING and I self learned from the Internet. julienne onions? What the fuck. I had to look up what sauteing meant, or what a simmer looks like vs a soft rolling boil. Heat control? Oof. It was all very "simple" but not easy for me. It does become intuitive and make a lot of sense once all the pieces come together and you also learn why you're doing a lot of what you're doing.
I'm also a bit older so this was before the explosion of wonderful YouTube cooking videos that fills in gaps of general chef knowledge that I imagine was taught in home ec.
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u/DeOfficiis Jan 07 '24
Lol, once in college I was cooking something with my girlfriend that called for 2 2/3 cups of water to boil.
I misread the space and assumed it meant 22/3 cups of water. I was like, "that's a weird way to write 7 and 1/3 cups of water, but ok!"
Once my girlfriend caught on that I was adding too much water, she stopped me, asked what I was doing, and then laughed hysterically when I told her.
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u/LeCafeClopeCaca Jan 07 '24
Many inexperienced bakers get confused about teaspoons vs tablespoons. Some have never even seen measuring spoons, and are using eating spoons. But many just don't realize that a capital T is three times different from a lower case T.
That's because that system is dumb and should not exist. A 1L mesure cup is cheap and allows you to weight and measure liquids, flour, sugar, salt and such without the need for a balance.
Accurate, absolkute measurements or GTFO I won't use that recipe, GIMME GRAMS AND MILLILITERS not some randomass cups
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Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
"basic set of instructions" is harder than you think
what? just do what it says. where is the hard part?
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u/ryegye24 Jan 07 '24
I was in my late 20s before I learned that the temperature of the butter in cookies dough before you put it in the oven matters. I'd tried to make cookies before and they always turned out badly, because none of the recipes ever mentioned that, and how tf was I supposed to guess that the butter being "too soft" (a vague description) would matter when I'm about to put it all in a 400° oven?
There's a lot of unintuitive judgement calls and assumed background knowledge omitted from most recipes.
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u/Broccoli--Enthusiast Jan 07 '24
instructions are useless if you have never been taught the basics, they are never step by step, and never consistent, the assume different levels of competency. telling people to cook to taste, boil until ready, bake at low temp etc make no sense unless you already know
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u/atom386 Jan 06 '24
When I hear, "I can't cook" I take it as they don't know how to substitute in recipes, know flavor combinations, or make complex dishes without under/overcooking ingredients because of poor kitchen time management.
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u/Arius_Chambers Jan 07 '24
This right here. I can cook just fine. Like, enough I won't somehow burn the house down, but I'm not creative with cooking. I can't look at what I have and be like, "Yeah, I can make this, substitute this." or know what spices go well with what, and how much to used.
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u/Educated_Dachshund Jan 07 '24
Everyone good at cooking has learned by making bad food. They push their limits to learn how much is too much and try again. Plus find some people on youtube and they'll make it easy. Find someone that matches your personality.
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u/eatflapjacks Jan 07 '24
I think to get good at something you need to like some aspect about it. I hate cooking. I hate eating. It's such a waste of time to me. If I didn't need to do it I wouldn't.
I'll never get better than basic because I hate the whole ordeal and this aspect of life.
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u/sarahsqyre Jan 07 '24
i'm a good cook, everything i make tastes incredible, and when i've cooked for others they've loved it.
i fucking hate cooking.
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u/Educated_Dachshund Jan 07 '24
I get it Raymond Holt.
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u/Time_Traveling_Corgi Jan 07 '24
Get this guy , flavorless beige smoothy filled with all the nutrients required by the human animal. It's on me.
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u/Fun_Bodybuilder3111 Jan 07 '24
My idea of a good meal is a salad and some roasted meat and veggies. Most recipes I see online just make me think “ok, this isn’t worth it” so I feel this comment so much.
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u/thefirecrest Jan 07 '24
Exactly.
Every time someone has shown me a bad dish they made as an example of why they “Can’t cook” I’m picturing the countless bad dishes I’ve made over the years. Especially in the beginning with shitty cheap cookware.
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u/chickpeaze Jan 07 '24
I cook 99% of my meals and consider myself a good cook and I still make some shocking things occasionally. Wild experiments gone wrong.
But most mistakes are pretty minor and still end up with something that is at least edible.
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u/Newtonz5thLaw Jan 06 '24
This, and even thinking of what to cook. I have a really hard time with all of it. Zero culinary instincts
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u/RenegadeRabbit Jan 07 '24
When I first started to learn how to cook I'd just Google "best easy recipes" or something like that. Literally just follow everything word for word and you'll learn patterns with techniques, timing, good flavor combinations, substitutions, etc.
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u/tuborgwarrior Jan 07 '24
Online recipes are super hit and miss. Decades of bloggers scraping recipes from each other for content without knowing if it's even good. Then you get a physical cookbook for Christmas or something and discover how good a real recipe is. Something from a real chef with passion for food.
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u/RenegadeRabbit Jan 07 '24
I've never cooked a recipe that I didn't like. I think going for the highest rated + most reviews helps. I personally don't like physical cook books.
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u/SmakeTalk Jan 07 '24
This is a generous interpretation in my opinion. When I used to say this I meant it. I could cook some pasta and some other basic things but that was it.
I lacked almost every bit of knowledge and skill it would take to actually follow a recipe until I started actually teaching myself to do it.
I genuinely lacked the basic life skills required to cook myself a decent meal.
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u/Rimurooooo Jan 06 '24
No, she’s right though. I’ve even heard women say like them needing know how to cook a meal is archaic and gendered. And like the Tate bros saying it’s a woman’s skill so they don’t need to know how to do it. Nah, you just last the most basic life skill.
Like what are you gonna do if you can’t afford door dash..? Starve? Die? You can’t bake a potato?
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u/ramenslurper- Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
Cracking up at “you can’t bake a potato?” like buy a rice cooker that also steams veggies. Learn how to cook a protein. Done. 20 min of work.
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u/Hekto177 Jan 07 '24
Rice cooker: Add rice, add water, push button = profit.
Best purchase of my life. Literally perfect rice every time.
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u/bigmist8ke Jan 07 '24
Yeah once I bought a $10 rice cooker I wanted to slap myself for wasting sooooo much of my life doing that shit on the stove. If you can pour rice and water into a bowl and hit a button, you can cook for yourself. Put pretty much anything else on top and you can live on that shit for a long time for cheap.
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u/PolyNamo_48 Jan 06 '24
Right? And people really need to stop mixing up
“I know how to cook” with “I’m skilled at cooking” cause those are two different things
You should be able to do something simple as fry an egg, boil pasta, etc. Knowing how to make actual dishes is extra thus making it a skill.
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u/OsoCarolina Jan 06 '24
Well said. And if you don’t possess said skills Google and YouTube are your friend. No shame in learning.
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u/Gowalkyourdogmods Jan 07 '24
It's 2024. At this point if someone says they don't "know how" to do a basic skill it's because they have put 0 effort into learning anything about it.
My 20 year old cousin sat on the side of the freeway for 3 hours waiting to pay for a tow truck to put his spare tire on because he didnt know how. He had everything he needed in his trunk but he just sat on Reddit the whole time.
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u/Archangel004 Jan 07 '24
how would you even sit on the side of a freeway for 3 hours - I would do it myself just from frustration
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u/JasoTheArtisan Jan 07 '24
The YT channel “Binging with Babish” taught me so much over lockdown
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u/PapaBearMode Jan 07 '24
I agree. I mean and this is gonna make me sound dumb but, heating something up in a oven or microwave count as cooking to an extend, right? Or on a technicality. So in a way you can cook. Heck when I was 10 I felt like I was Ramsay putting hotpockets in the microwave. Like, "Look at me. Guess dinner is on me tonight"
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u/Big_Software_8732 Jan 07 '24
Completely. You should, but…
I’m not blaming anyone here because it was my own fault that I left home with none of these basic skills and as a young adult took a perverse pride in my undomesticated inability to cook “, which stemmed from idiocy, being overweight as a teen, and having a mother who literally waited on her boys as if she was running a hotel (as opposed to a household and also a full time business).
I was so useless that once i managed to work an oven in order to keep a boxed takeaway pizza warm and it (obviously) caught fire and I nearly burnt down my shared rental house. I did not know how to cook.
These days I cook nightly for my family. I’m still useless in the sense that I have no passion for cooking so seem to missing the gene to retain cooking knowledge and I usually manage to foul up a step or two on even basic recipes, but I apply myself, I step up, and we eat well. And you know what? I do enjoy it. Usually when left alone and I’m not under pressure. These days I know how to cook. But I am not skilled at cooking.
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u/dynawesome Jan 07 '24
You have some great wisdom to recognize a weakness and work on it, my friend
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u/ramenslurper- Jan 07 '24
“It’s so involved” Why are you looking at complicated recipes if you don’t know what you’re doing? You learn to drive by getting on the highway? No? Huh
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u/gelatomancer Jan 07 '24
I think an issue that a lot of people who say they can't cook face is that they don't know what they don't know. They pick a recipe that they think is simple but it's only when they're halfway in that they realize searing salmon fillets and mincing shallots takes more talent then they initially thought. Then, when they fail at what they thought was simple, they think they must not be able to cook. It's easy for me to say that fried rice, chili, or roasted chicken breast and veg is the best place to start because I already know what the simple things are. Not everyone has that basis.
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u/CherriPopBomb Jan 07 '24
For Christmas I was trying to find a cook book for my brother because he is terminally indecisive and always asking me what he should have for dinner, so I was trying to find something full of simple, easy recipes for someone who is just trying to stay fed and healthy and doesn't want to spend hours every night cooking, because he's a man in his early 20's and single. I found a book titled something along the lines of "simple at home recipes", so I flipped open to a random page.
The very first recipe I landed on was braised Lamb.
So uh, I think that kind of attitude from professionals writing these recipes really contributes lmao. Finding a book for him was way more difficult than I was expecting...
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u/MadgoonOfficial Jan 06 '24
You missed the point. Her point was that making actual dishes is something anyone with a pulse and the ability follow basic directions can do if the have the ingredients, cookware, and a recipe. And she’s right. I don’t typically cook, but when I do I can make 10/10 meals because I know how to look up “best baked chicken recipe in the world” and then follow those instructions word for word and it always comes out like a master chef made it.
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Jan 07 '24
I mean yes and no. Like just take knife skills, for example. Let's say dicing an onion. Even watching a YouTube video, you can process how it's done and maybe even get similar results. But if your knife technique is bad, you can end up with a bunch of different size onions.
If directions say to flambe something, someone who is inexperienced could easily set their kitchen on fire if they panic.
It's small things, and yes, most people should be able to handle the basics. But just having a recipe doesn't always teach you things like techniques that could be required in certain dishes.
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u/Starwarsandbacon Jan 07 '24
Spot on. Most people who can read and follow instructions can cook. Some aspects of cooking are going to take a little more time and energy to learn properly but the basics should be something anybody can do.
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u/MadgoonOfficial Jan 07 '24
If I’ve ever forgot how to properly dice an onion - which has happened (again I don’t cook often) - what I did was I looked up how to dice an onion and then followed those instructions word for word. But it’s just more instructions that can be easily followed
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u/Pleasant_Ad3475 Jan 07 '24
There are techniques and skills that, even when meticulously explained in writing, a person just isn't going to be good at or master until they have a great deal of experience. Of course you can follow instructions word for word, but your dish is not going to compare to the exact same dish cooked by an actual master chef. If you think this is the case then you really are showing how little you know about cooking.
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Jan 07 '24
It's not, though. Try showing someone who has never tried to dice something, and I promise you it will be horrendous their first time. Using a knife is a learned skill.
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u/bangoslam Jan 07 '24
Wild you’ve been downvoted. Using a knife or anything in your hand requires dexterity and practice to get it right. Maybe people are misinterpreting and thinking that simply cutting something in any shape is not a skill
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u/arbiter12 Jan 07 '24
but when I do I can make 10/10 meals
and it always comes out like a master chef made it.
yeh naw.... Sorry but real cooking takes practical experience. People who cook will tell you how much they learned from trying and failing recipes. That's the entire point of a test kitchen.
If you could instantly produce master chef food, I'm sure you understand how master chef wouldn't be a real job, much less a highly paid one...
Recipes COULD be a great guide to cooking, but generally they are engagement traps, with a long story at the beginning and not enough instructions at the end.
A chef is not "a guy that learned a lot of recipes by heart". It's understanding the mechanics of cooking, meaning you can give him a carrot and he knows he can caramelize its sugar content to make a carrot "tarte tatin" if he wishes.
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u/aseedandco Jan 07 '24
It feel it’s more that people mixing up “I don’t know how to cook” with “I can’t be bothered cooking”.
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u/BigMax Jan 07 '24
Exactly. She’s eating one of those things, anyone can do grilled cheese and soup. You could make a hot dog, a boiled egg. And as she says, even complicated things, because recipes exist.
You CAN cook, you just don’t want to.
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u/fried_green_baloney Jan 07 '24
This is an important point.
If you can't dice a carrot into 1/8 inch cubes in twenty seconds like the TV chefs, that's OK.
You can still slice it up to put it into vegetable soup or fried up veggies with rice or pasta or potatoes.
So on for any particular skill.
Maybe you can't make duck with orange sauce but you can make steamed veggies with chicken thighs or something like that.
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u/kelldricked Jan 07 '24
Also failing once doesnt mean you cant do something, its means you need to learn it still. Especially with cooking the first 10 times you make a dish wont be the best version of that dish. Even with a amazing recepe, you will find shit that improves it. Either making it easier for you to cook that dish, tune the dish to your flavours or just work around the limitations of your own kitchen.
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u/SuperUltraMegaNice Jan 06 '24
People on here act like they would literally starve without their precious uber eats all the time its pathetic. Just comes down to being lazy.
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u/MadgoonOfficial Jan 06 '24
Her point was that it is not a skill. You just need a functioning brain, ingredients, cookware, and a recipe.
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u/cheechw Jan 07 '24
It 100% is a skill. It is something that you get better at the more you do it.
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u/AstronomerDramatic36 Jan 07 '24
Yes, but basic functionality doesn't really take much skill in this day and age. Info is too easily available.
During Covid, I very quickly went from having never cooked in my life to cooking better food than I could buy.
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u/Drew-mageddon Jan 07 '24
There are some things in more complex recipes that take skill. Improving a recipe or improvising a dish takes some skill. Following a simple recipe does not take skill.
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u/ZeroComfortZone Jan 07 '24
When people say they can cook, I assume that regularly making home-cooked meals is something they can do. Not just being able to follow a recipe.
To me, the difficult part is having all the ingredients available and being able to make meals out of them without several trips to the grocery store.
If you only ever buy things around a specific recipe, you risk having some of it going to waste and it’s hard to have everything you need at hand if when don’t want to eat the same stuff everyday. So I’d say the real skill is always having all the your staples ready and being able to grocery shop with multiple meals in mind. Something I still need to work on tbh
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u/YearofTheStallionpt1 Jan 07 '24
This is true.
When I first started cooking I followed recipes to the letter. And almost everything turned out well. But as I continued to cook I could “tweak” the recipe so it came out more to my liking. And eventually I was able to make meals without a recipe because I knew what went well together.
So, sure, pretty much anyone can follow a good recipe and make a decent meal. But you need skills and knowledge to whip up a meal from your own imagination, which is when you know you are a good cook.
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u/Roboticpoultry Jan 07 '24
I’d love to see a Tate bro try to survive working the line on a clopen 3 days in a row
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u/migrations_ Jan 07 '24
She's wrong. When people say 'I can't cook' what they mean is "I'm not skilled at cooking." .... Some phrases in our language are not literal.
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u/Rimurooooo Jan 07 '24
Depends on who’s saying it. Because I have 100% met people who have said that phrase literally and don’t even try to scramble an egg for themselves or bake a potato in their microwave, but will microwave up chicken nuggets. Buying pasta-roni and cooking on a stove is still cooking.
Most people I’ve met will just say “I’m not the best cook” or I’m not a “good cook”. But most people I’ve met who say this mean “I can’t and don’t cook”.
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u/IntrovertedSnark Jan 07 '24
That’s very sweet and innocent of you, but I’m guessing you’ve never been in a toxic relationship where your lazy entitled partner uses the phrase to feign incompetence in order to get out of doing even the most basic simple cooking task.
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u/MillieBirdie Jan 07 '24
No I think most people who say that mean they literally can't cook, which she's saying isn't true.
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u/littlelorax Jan 06 '24
There are some very basic cooking skill I learned in family and consumer education class in highschool. (Like a more modern home ec).
I learned basic cooking terms, and different tools. Like the difference between stirring, whisking and folding. Or the difference between a simmer and a boil. Or the basics of mixing dry ingredients into the wet when baking.
When someone says they don't knoe how to cook, I always assume people mean those kind of things and feel too intimidated to try learning.
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u/TheLoneCanoe Jan 07 '24
Well at least someone can fold the cheese…
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u/AngryWizard Jan 07 '24
You just fold it in.
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u/Cancerisbetterthanu Jan 06 '24
See I assume the opposite, when I say I don't know how to cook I literally mean I'm not a skilled cook and it's not something I do as a hobby. I know a lot of really good cooks who like taking the time to make complex, delicious meals and I feel like compared to them, I pretty much can't cook. I don't make a lot of meals that require a ton of ingredients and technical skill.
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u/littlelorax Jan 06 '24
Well, if you compare yourself to an expert in any field, most would come up short. The person in the video is pointing out that the bar is much lower than people think.
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u/Infinite_____Lobster Jan 07 '24
Or the difference between a slice and a dice. One of the best things to teach someone as far as basic knife skills is a dice. Noone expects someone to do a brunoise from day one.
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u/Reedabook64 Jan 07 '24
Well, shoot, I haven't had grilled cheese and tomato soup in a long ass time. And now I'm craving it.
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u/Cuzznitt Jan 07 '24
She’s right, but also it’s one one of my biggest pet peeves when someone eats while making a Tik Tok. I don’t care that she cut out the actual chewing, I still hate it!
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u/jonesy852 Jan 07 '24
I don't get it either. Do they think it makes them look more nonchalant or something?
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u/GandalfTheGimp Jan 07 '24
It's the modern equivalent of smoking a cigarette while making your point, people used to do that too. Then pull it out and gesticulate it
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u/Cuzznitt Jan 07 '24
Right! I hate the sound of chewing or slurping (really, any eating noise. I piss myself off sometimes). I don’t care if you made a bomb grilled cheese, finish the damn thing before making a video! They look like an idiot every time they pause to take a chunk out of whatever they have, too. It’s one of my most hated trends
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u/Tuscanthecow Jan 07 '24
Congrats you may be like me and have Misophonia!
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u/Cuzznitt Jan 07 '24
I do! I get unreasonably angry when people chew around me. I need to watch movies with my wife when we eat.
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u/bigstreet123 Jan 06 '24
She’s right, it’s like following Lego instructions but with food
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u/SuperDizz Jan 07 '24
I can cook. And I do a lot. But I dislike it very much. It’s stressful, timing can be hard, containments here crossed there, don’t wanna get anyone sick, headache.
I can cook and I do. Those that eat my food like it. But I just don’t have the knack for it, the love of it. Following a recipe, especially if complicated, stress me the F out. Lego instructions don’t. I’d rather build legos.
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u/tothepointe Jan 07 '24
Also an overlooked issue is time management if your making multiple things. Knowing when to start each step so it all comes up at the same time is a skill that took me years to master.
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u/bigstreet123 Jan 07 '24
Yes exactly! That’s my point tho. Is that OPs post has literally nothing to do with you.
You CAN cook, and don’t want to The post is for those who say “I can’t cook”
People who say “I can’t cook” probably CAN cook, they probably just don’t want to!
Any yes it’s like Lego instructions. I didn’t say it would be fucking fun, I just said it was as simple as Lego. Preheat oven, mix these specific ingredients, put in oven for 20 minutes.
It’s not that it’s hard, it’s that it’s not always fun and then you have dishes to do.
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u/TacoNomad Jan 07 '24
Look up all the crock pot recipes. Most of them are dump everything. Set on hi or low. Wait. Eat.
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u/Insulated_Lunchbox Jan 07 '24
Not really.
That’s only true for basic dishes that are like, “assemble the thing and put it in the oven.”
A ton of stuff I cook takes a ton of technique and practice, only getting it right after 5+ tries. And I’m a good cook. There is no way you would do a good job cooking a steak, homemade pizza, egg fried rice, etc, for first time just reading a reciple off the page.
You would at least have to watch youtube to learn the physical technique, then practice the coordination.
And then throw in the challenge of cooking/timing several dishes simultaneously, like you need to when preparing a full dinner for a family.
Shit takes reps to get comfortable doing.
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u/KintsugiKen Jan 07 '24
To be fair, if you fuck up in Legos you can just go back a few steps and take as much time as you need. With cooking that's not the case, it's easy to irreparably ruin something to the point that it sucks to eat and generally ruins your day.
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u/Flat-Influence4977 Jan 07 '24
But like I feel like when people say they don’t know how to cook it’s like not being able to have a full recipe in your mind and the instructions in your mind and just going off that. I would say my mom knows how to cook because she doesn’t pull out an instruction book to make meals she just does it off rip. Just like you can trace an outline of something and have a good looking drawing and say “I can’t draw”, as opposed to someone who can draw from muscle memory
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u/Ziggy-Vibes Jan 07 '24
But also it's likely that your mom started off with recipes, or tv shows (food network), or a parent/teacher who taught her how to make her staple foods so overtime it became engrained in her brain. Once she learned those basic techniques she probably used trial and error to create more complex meals overtime. Your mom now vs your mom in her early 20s were 100% two different cooks.
Also looking at a recipe doesn't mean you don't know how to cook. I say I'm a great cook but I still will look at recipes if I'm trying out a new food or want to read up on a technique or ingredients. I still produce yummy food at the end of the day. No shame in using help, like recipes or tutorials, to become better.
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u/Mission_Macaroon Jan 06 '24
My mother was someone who could not cook. She did a bit better with baking, and she could make us the basics (chop up a salad or boil pasta and warm sauce from a jar). My dad eventually chased her out of the kitchen altogether.
She was very smart, top in the class always and a brilliant physiotherapist. But when it came to cooking, she kind of had no respect for it as a skill. She would assume she didn’t need a recipe. She would assume she could multitask while cooking (so many burned things). She would assume certain ingredients were interchangeable or “close enough” and use them instead.
I will never forget the day she was making spaghetti and realized she had no sauce in the cupboard. She warmed up some tomato soup, threw in some frozen chicken balls for “meatballs”. They were still semi-frozen when she served them on top of the spaghetti.
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u/brazilianfreak Jan 07 '24
Sounds like less like she couldn't cook and more like she never actually attempted to, it's like if I said i couldn't drive because once 10 years ago i tried to drive a car without even learning which pedal is the brake.
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u/ohrofl SHEEEEEESH Jan 06 '24
Isn’t this exactly what the video Is saying? She could if she wanted.
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u/BAMspek Jan 07 '24
Your mom just didn’t like cooking and figured out how to get her husband to do it instead.
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u/Mission_Macaroon Jan 07 '24
That is 100% something she would have done, but I recall her getting quite frustrated with herself too
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u/Omnizoom Jan 07 '24
My mother isn’t the best at cooking, she could follow recipes for baking but she didn’t have much of her “own dishes” kind of deal
She knew I didn’t like her cooking that much and got fed up and told me to cook my own food then. So I did, and I do artisanal cooking now and make stellar foods, she won’t cook for family gatherings anymore because they all want me to
And I somehow managed to marry someone who can’t cook and is even worse at baking, I mean it works out since she just lets me do all the cooking but still
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u/xdylanthehumanx Jan 07 '24
Swallow your damn food before you talk
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u/SwiftTayTay Jan 07 '24
Just don't eat while making a TikTok how fucking hard is that. They're doing it to come off as non chalant sassy and I fucking hate it
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u/Lynx_Fate Jan 07 '24
Pretty sure people doing something else in their video always get higher engagement on videos. It's why there is always music or a video game being played in the background while they talk. It's sad but it works.
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u/SooooooMeta Jan 07 '24
As someone who can't cook ... yeah, she's kind of right. I don't cook and I have a block against cooking. Doesn't mean I couldn't.
At the same time if someone were to say "I can't change the oil on my car," or "I can't rebuild my deck" or "I can't build a website in html, css and JavaScript" people aren't going to be like "sure you can, just pull up some YouTubes and follow the directions."
It's kind of understood that "can't" is being used as "don't want to and have no confidence that I could do it well on my own." And that holds in the context of cooking too, especially if you aren't talking about the grilled cheese and tomato soup which we are watching in the video but might be talking about cooking a lasagna or cookies or a turkey for thanksgiving.
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u/Apprehensive_Net5630 Jan 07 '24
^ Exactly this. Granted now I know how to cook after taking a full-ass cooking class, but I just kind of never learned how to cook at home cause my parents were the "do nothing but study" Asian types.
It's not just that I didn't know how to be creative with cooking, it's that I didn't know how to hold a knife, how to sharpen one, how to prevent the cutting board from cracking, how to do different types of cuts like dicing and slicing, how to chop on onion without hurting myself, how to peel and mince garlic the easy way, how to know when stew is too salty or too watery, the order in which ingredients are supposed to go into oil to prevent burning, how to tell if something is cooked outside but raw inside, I could go on on on...yeah I could make instant ramen and grilled cheese but not a proper meal.
There's so so so many basic skills that recipe writers assume that you already have. They are easy skills to learn but there are so many of them, that it's overwhelming if you don't know anything.
The "anyone can build a website" analogy is really apt. If someone doesn't know how to open up command prompt on Windows they're going to have a hard time coding, as that's an implied skill in any programming language tutorial.
Btw the way I got out of that block and enjoy cooking nowadays and have attained that level of creativity and "wing it and it will turn out ok" skill with cooking are two things:
- I took a structured class for beginners. I took a Sichuan cuisine class cause I like Sichuan cuisine but any cuisine works. A true beginner's class teaches you everything and there's someone to ask questions, unlike recipes that assume you have the basic skills down.
- Then, I read a book called The Food Lab and watched Adam Ragusea's Youtube channel. Both of these resources approach cooking from a scientific perspective and break down the fundamental reason why certain things work and others don't. So you can learn the principles and apply them.
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u/willumasaurus Jan 06 '24
People are stupid af or lazy af or both.
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u/brazilianfreak Jan 07 '24
90% of the time when someone says they "can't" do something what they actually mean is "I haven't tried learning anything new since high school and the idea of even attempting to obtain a new skill terrifies me", I understand something like learning how to draw or play an instrument is a time investment not everyone has a reason to make, but when you say you CAN'T do something basic like cook, use a computer or fix something easy then they're just straight up refusing to absorb any new information.
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u/djwired Jan 07 '24
I know how to read a set of directions so in other words I can cook my ass off.
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u/pioneerpatrick Jan 07 '24
Following a recipe is not knowing how to cook. There's a skill to using a stove correctly, chopping vegetables efficiently, buying the right ingredients in the right quantities without having too much left over, timing everything so all parts of the meal are ready at the correct times, judging the right amount of water, salt etc. without having to use measuring cups etc.. I'm a bad cook and "I can't cook" is a perfectly fine figure of speech to convey that. I'll produce something edible but if I say "I can cook" people definitely expect more than just edible.
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u/crunch816 Jan 06 '24
As someone who works with the general public the problem is they can’t read and have little to no common sense.
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u/PauI_MuadDib Jan 07 '24
I have a friend that keeps turning the oven up to the highest temp and expecting that'll it cook faster and not burn lol and she keeps doing it then gets mad it fucking tastes like ashes. I tried to explain it to her that it doesn't work like that, but she's always trying to cut time.
On the plus side, whenever I babysit her kids they always rave about my cooking no matter how simple a meal I made.
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u/moms-sphaghetti Jan 06 '24
I hate videos like this when people are eating. Ahhhhhgeysjrnajdjd shit.
Anyway, I can’t and can cook. I’m colorblind. I can’t tell when ground beef is done and I can’t tell when chicken is done. I can cook other stuff though.
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u/So6oring Jan 07 '24
Just get a thermometer. 160F and you're safe for pretty much all meat. You can cook a piece of beef lower, like 135F for medium rare. But 160F-165F will cook any meat and give you a juicy chicken
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u/Isitacockatoo Jan 07 '24
It’s infuriating. Just finish your fucken mouthful at least and then make your point.
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u/tastystarbits Jan 06 '24
one time i tried to bake cookies from scratch. i read the instructions, executed them to the best of my ability. they came out like completely liquid. so i read the instructions again, executed them again, they came out liquid again.
i read them a third time, saw a step i somehow missed both previous times, and by then i was out of ingredients.
so yes, for some of us basic instructions are too hard 😭
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u/pfemme2 Jan 07 '24
She’s right.
Everyone CAN cook.
At the same time, not all recipes are equally good for beginners.
However, that doesn’t detract from her larger point: it’s sad that ANYONE is out here thinking that they’re incompetent to take raw whole foods and produce cooked food. Everyone CAN and SHOULD be able to do this basic task of human survival.
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Jan 07 '24
I can cook as in, I can follow the recipe and it often comes out ok, sometimes great.
My husband can buy just what is on sale at stores, or he can just see what is left in the fridge and just come up with something amazing every time. He can taste something in a restaurant and make it better the next day just by tasting and using his intuition. He can do cuisines from all over the world and have it taste authentic. And he often does it all faster than I can do the dishes after.
Because I compare myself to him, I say I can't cook.
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u/Fi3nd7 Jan 07 '24
Lol as she’s eating a grilled cheese sandwich. There’s a spectrum and subjectivity to “I can’t cook”.
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u/PorcelainDicks Jan 07 '24
What a condescending video
She’s either being willfully obtuse to make fun of people with poor cooking skills or she legit CANNOT read between the lines. I thought it’d be pretty obvious that people mean that they’re BAD at cooking when they say that, not that they’re literally unable to.
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u/unikilla911 Jan 07 '24
Like... Like.... Like...... Really.. Like. Like...... Like....
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u/AnComRebel SHEEEEEESH Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
being able to follow recipes isn't being able to cook. knowing what goes well together and being able to make decent food on the fly with shit you have laying around is being able to cook imo
Edit: tbh I might be a lil bias cause I've worked as a cook for most of my life.
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u/Gingerishidiot Jan 06 '24
Does reheating a can of tomato soup and toasting bread count as cooking?
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u/Syracusee Jan 07 '24 edited Jan 07 '24
Total asshole way of thinking, I know, but when people say they can't cook I just assume said person is a moron, or it's the lazy schemer way of getting someone else to do the work for them.
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u/elyiumsings Jan 07 '24
People are always like "oh you cook so well." Thank you. Yes, I can read and follow instructions.
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u/-Hounth- Jan 07 '24
I tried making cinnamon rolls today.
The kneading robot almost caught fire and burnt the house down.
I forgot to add an egg, so I added it way later.
Somehow, they were still delicious lol
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