How many of you guys cook?

Not really. A recipe is nothing more than normalization and replication of someone else's application of basic concepts.

All you need to know what spices/herbs go with what others is your own sense of palate. 99+% of recipes out there are bland or overbearing.

Whenever someone says "I don't know what spices to add!" you can ask them "what flavors do you like?" and they have no clue. Then you ask "okay, what foods do you like?" and they tell you, then you can very easily break down the concepts and spices/herbs used in those dishes and let them go forth into experimentation.

The idea there's a "right" way to cook or that there's "proper meals" is what you should be calling BS on. The end result of cooking for yourself should be something you like.

go forth into experimentation.

This.

I once made a garlic butter sauce served in a crab's shell when I cooked crab for the first time. Parents came over, asked me how I learned the sauce 'recipe' from Visayas (a main group of islands in the Philippines). Didn't learn it. I had no idea people did it like that there. I just did what I felt like doing or experimenting for the sauce. They told me of other variations of it like mixing coconut milk or chili to the butter and garlic.

I was also doing the 'basics' of french toast (bread in egg) before I even knew of french toast because I was experimenting with a microwave that can toast, bake, and broil (yes it can damn broil! good times). Mixed in milk or cheese with the egg before I knew french toast or other ways it is prepared.

Woman cook....man eat.

There's a reason the chef world is dominated by males, cooking is just another thing women fail at.

I don't think I've ever dated, or even known a female of around my age who can cook. This may be one of the great achievements of the feminist movement, they've saved us from the incompetent women.

then you can very easily break down the concepts and spices/herbs used in those dishes and let them go forth into experimentation.

This is awesome, except what if you don't have someone to tell you this and break down foods for you? Then you get a recipe.

You need someone to tell you what you like and don't like?

Cavemen were cooking. You're saying you're not better informed than a caveman?

We aren't talking about gastronomical molecularization, we're talking about taking fire and applying fire to objects. This shit ain't rocket science.

Anyone who claims they can't cook, or need a recipe in order to cook, is someone who is claiming they are literally too stupid to stick something in an oven or throw it in a pan. Yet they think they can operate a motor vehicle.

I really think I'm a pretty good cook considering that I'm a student and still living at home.

I can do all sorts of stuff like Pasta (I can make good Spaghetti Carbonara), Casserolle (I think that what's it called in English), gratin potatoes etc. ...

I also like my green salad, tomato mozzarella salad.

I'm not that good a cooking meat. I can make some great steaks, but it should be easy recipes.

I can fry and cook rice using a rice cooker. That's about it.

Sometimes I cook breakfast for my family ( sausages, fried eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.) when I'm feelin' cookin.

Anyone who claims they can't cook, or need a recipe in order to cook, is someone who is claiming they are literally too stupid to stick something in an oven or throw it in a pan. Yet they think they can operate a motor vehicle.

And what if the recipe is more complex than throwing something in a pan?

For example...
http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/2 ... ke-recipe/

youre being extremely black and white here when something much different is called for

You need someone to tell you what you like and don't like?

Yes. Until someone tells me what spices/herbs are in foods, I'm not going to know what I like. Sure, I could spend days and experiment with hundreds of different meals and I could find it eventually, but why not just read a recipe?
I really don't understand why you think recipes are so shit

I can cook pretty well when I apply myself, but usually I just end up eating oatmeal or making sandwiches. Tacos are probably the thing I can make the best outside of 'easy cooking'

Well, I've been cooking for almost 15 years now. I learned it from my mom back then and gradually got more skilled over the years. Right now, I cook a fresh meal almost every day, you name it. But it's been less fun since my girlfriend moved in with me, since she's vegetarian. Cooking without meat is good and healthy and all, but just not as satisfying.

A man needs his meat! Show her who's the boss around the house!

A man needs his meat! Show her who's the boss around the house!

And then sign those divorce papers.

Hopefully she gets the piece of meat


I do cook, I've been living by myself since 2007.