Re: It's not True! Is it?

Erm..
Behind me of course!

Re: It's not True! Is it?

errrrr . . .

Re: It's not True! Is it?

My other half is a chef. He's a much much better cook than I am.

Re: It's not True! Is it?

Make that three Realist......
I do all the cooking in our house except for the weekends.....
But nothing as tasty as you mentioned.....Especially the fish dishes...

Re: It's not True! Is it?

Its very raunchy here today!

Re: It's not True! Is it?

I can cook beans on toast, anyone want to move in would be welcome....anyone..??

Re: It's not True! Is it?

That sounds more ranchy.

Re: It's not True! Is it?

Nope not at all.

But I was fortunate to have an independent life from age 18yrs which effectively "made me". I left home at that age, got a job, got a flat with a flat mate and never looked back.

I learned to how to make bread properly at special teaching place and then spent time in real artisan bakeries, volunteering to gain valuable experience.

My abilities with food stem from my interest in "survival" and "being prepared" for inevitable national crises and failure of transport systems leading to shops running dry and so on.

I self learned a whole lot of stuff about long term food storage, how to use long term foods and so on.
Storing grains was a part of that, buying and using a grain mill a natural progression of that and learning to create and maintain sourdough culture (starter) a natural progression of that.

I learned about growing vegetables and for a couple of years grew all sorts of veg including,

squash, aubergine, courgettes, leeks, onions, radishes, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and so on.

Once you have that you learn how to preserve those foods so they don't go to waste.

I then learned about vegetable fermentation, a hugely healthy pratice that has been with us 1000s of years. I make saurkraut as I've highlighted in other threads.

I source all my meat from a reputable farm shop, almost never from supermarkets.

I cook what my wife and I like to eat. If we enjoy something whilst eating out or on holiday, I learn to reproduce it. That's where Sole Meuniere comes from. Wife's favourite fish dish when we go to Spain. It's simple but super tasty.

For a bloke, cooking is little different from putting up an Ikea flat pack bit of furniture.

You first just follow instructions (some recipe) and in doing so get an understanding of the processes and the foods that naturally go together. With that knowledge you can start to experiment and create your own dishes which have great depth and flavour.

You learn to make soups, stews, fish dishes, pies and so on.

It's kinda mechanical in many ways for a bloke, not really romantic like cookery programs push it. The best meals are simple ones with fab ingredients that are married together.

Tomatoes, basil, mozarella
Squash, ginger
Lemon, garlic, paprika

etc etc

All chefs will tell you this. Fancy stuff is just fancy stuff for show and to get more profit in Michelin restaurants but deep down chefs and food lovers alike simply love good simple dishes where the ingredients speak for themselves.

My food is all about flavour. I hate bland dishes so I always use herbs, spices, garlic, ginger and so on.

None of it is particularly difficult

Above all, the collective knowledge of cooking, bread making, long term food storage, fermentation and more and being able to whip up a meal from almost anything, gives you great confidence and the peace and security of mind in knowing that in any national disaster or food shortage I will sail through it pretty obliviously, having probably 6 months or more food supply and the knowledge of what to do with it.

Meanwhile . . . .

These 2 beauties have came out of the oven at 7.30pm tonight.



Sourdoughs with wheat, spelt and rye and malted flakes.

Mixed at 1pm today and then given a 6hr long fermentation/retard in the fridge before baking.

Came out really well.

Re: It's not True! Is it?

I'm another bloke that does all the cooking at home. My wife is a fine cook but she works full time and just want's to chill when she gets home which is fine with me. I like to treat her with the best stuff I can do so I guess we're talking about the way to her heart. I love cooking anyway and it's become a bit of a hobby for me. Our kitchen is not big so there's only room for one "chef" and I like it that way.

Re: It's not True! Is it?

Neither of us are interested in cooking.We don't buy junk though, it's mostly organic and if it can fit in the steamer.