PrintWhat is your cooking level?
An exchange between Perky & I got me to thinking about one bit of information that is sometimes easy to share here, and sometimes difficult. What is your "cooking level"? Are you an advanced cook....a beginner? Do you cook mainly at home or is it your profession as well?
Personally I am a home cook, and consider myself somewhat advanced....
I am willing to try new recipes & ingredients, and usually make something new a couple times a week. I still have some techniques I'd like to try....but I do try to absorb everything my brain comes across. I did cook 'professionally' for about 11 years...starting as a short order cook when I was 14, culminating in a year of restaurant management when I was 25. I'm 43 now...and have spent the past 18 years as a cube dweller!
What about you?
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19 Comments:
Oh, I know I still have a lot to learn! I do finally have decent knifing skills (at the age of 46). But I still gotta figure out how to keep my fingers out of the way. At least with a well-sharpened Calphalon the cuts aren't as bad now. Maybe some butchering gloves ...
LunaPierCook at 8:19AM on 04/15/08
My cooking "level" is related directly to the amount of time and $$$ I have. Plus who I'm cooking for - my family of mostly males with very pedestrian and traditional tastes.
So...I try for a homemade sit-down meal each night (very important to me), almost never using box mixes or convenience foods unless necessary for time's sake, and using the weekends to do more involved things that challenge me. I also hate wasting food and money, so tend to avoid recipes that are too experimental or unusual, knowing it won't go over with my gang here. Cooking is not my profession per se, but it IS part of my vocation - I love nothing more than making a good hot meal for my family.
As for skill level, that too is dictated by who I'm cooking for. I made flan for the first time last year, and my family was repulsed by the texture, so now I only make it when my DIL's are here to eat it. So I stick mainly to fairly straightforward cooking methods that won't freak my family out. But I am perfectly willing to try new things as long as I know someone's going to want to eat it.
Sad, isn't it? Which is why I love this place - I can live vicariously through your cooking adventures.
moibec at 8:33AM on 04/15/08
Think Kindergarten here!
izatryt at 8:48AM on 04/15/08
I'm a retired pre-school teacher/ family daycare provider, 69 yrs old, married off the five kids, 3 step and 1 foster. I cook at home but pretty much now just Sunday dinner for 8, and entertain friends once a week. I did make breakfast, lunch and dinner for over 20 years for the daycare kids. There is a sign in my kitchen that says "Many people have eaten my cooking and gone on to lead normal lives". My daughter has convinced me to write a cook book which I am working on, she brings her camera and tripod to dinner every Sunday.
NanaJoie at 9:17AM on 04/15/08
I am 23 in human years, but cookery years I feel I am possibly a little stunted, my up bringing was working class, and whilst the food we ate was delicious, the focus was on the nutrition and content rather than of flavor.
Now I am becoming far more adventurous in the kitchen, I'm currently reading up on curing my own bacon. I see cooking now as a way of cooling down from my work life (psychiatric nurse) rather than getting sustenance.
TheManchesterKitchen at 9:21AM on 04/15/08
I went to Culinary Arts School after high school, but feel madly in love at the end of my 2nd year so instead of cooking somewhere I did the family thing, I wouldn't have traded that for anything. Now my children are older and I've been married for 24 yrs. At 43 I've become a cooking addict! I am a personal chef and do dinner parties in peoples homes and lunch for a professional office of 40 bi-weekly. It keeps things interesting because the menus are always customized. I would rather shop at the grocery store than the mall. My happy place in in my kitchen.
joanpieroni2 at 9:27AM on 04/15/08
Joan...we're in the same geographical area....in the horsy sauce thread you mentioned being in WNY....I am too....south of the city, in Angola. Glad to see another WNY'er here! :-)
mepolo at 9:41AM on 04/15/08
I think my skill level is pretty basic, unfortunately. I've worked as a prep cook in a rest in RI and run a kitchen in a coffee/bookstore here in ala. I also do some catering on occasion and up until recently I had a side line of ppl calling me into their homes to show them how to put together a decent fast meal for their family on a budget.
huney_bumper at 9:59AM on 04/15/08
Strictly a home cook for friends and family. Family all grown and flown the coop to the opposite coast. Friends still love my cooking and I still love to entertain. Sidelined now with some physical issues, so I can't spend hours (or too many minutes) standing at the stove, so I've had to improvise plenty in the kitchen. Still much preferred to any alternatives. I love my cooking and look forward to trying new ingredients and recipes. Never too old to learn and experience!
PerkyMac at 10:43AM on 04/15/08
@mepolo.........Great idea for a thread, but I'll forget who said what. A number in parenthesis next to our name would be helpful. On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd rate myself a 2.5. Based on what I just read about you, you'd be at least a 4, but we'd have to rate ourselves. Too complicated and arbitrary?
PerkyMac at 11:13AM on 04/15/08
I worked in several different food venues in my late teens and 20's. A bakery, a deli, a couple of fast food joints as both staff and mgmnt, sit down restaurants as both a waitress and a short order cook, also a bartender in a tavern that had plate lunch specials and killer burgers. I wasn't as flighty as this seems to sound. Some of these were at the same time as others. I even competed in a bake-off at one point due to the urging of my friends. Placed second, too!
Ultimately, I was planning on having my own bakery. I went so far as to attend Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI in my late 20's as a baking and pastry arts major. The first time I donned the hounsdtooth pants, jacket, turquoise neckerchief and toque, then stepped in front of a mirror, I was reminded of the phrase "the clothes make the man." Or in my case woman, lol. Because seeing myself that way really made me excited to be part of the program, part of the culinary tradition. It was loads of fun to be in the company of other students who shared my interests. And even better, were the resources of the chef instructors.
A curve was thrown my way after my first year and I came back to TN richer for the learning experience, but sans degree. My 8 YO recently told me that she wants to be a chef when she grows up and attend J&W and that we can be roommates, LOL. She has no idea how much fun that sounds like to me (or what a drag she will think that really is when she gets of age ;-)).
I'm not so sure how to answer what my cooking level is. I guess I would consider myself a 4 out of 5 in most baking applications since I am pretty skilled in that arena, but have a few things that I have little or no experience on. But a family that prefers comfort foods with little deviation and a limited budget keep me from experimenting in lots of savory cooking. I am good at what I do make and create mostly from scratch, so 3.5 out of 5 there.
Great question, mepolo!
coffeefrappe at 1:31PM on 04/15/08
It really is a great thread, mepolo, and I've enjoyed reading every post!
I'm definitely a home cook, and would probably consider myself advanced (Um, Perky, I'll try to figure out the "1-5" rating for myself by the end of this post:-)).
I never cooked professionally (although I once "catered" a party for my friend's fashion boutique, and it was a lot of fun), and I don't think I ever will, even though I absolutely love cooking. I'm 34 and I have 22 years of cooking experience (ouch, now this makes me feel so old!). I started cooking for my family when I was12, when my Mum was hospitalised for a week, for the first time. It was a huge step for me, but not entirely out of the blue since both my Mum and my Gran were brilliant cooks, and I loved helping them and learning from them even when there was no "real" need to (I did know how to fillet a whole fish when I was 10, which is why seeing how this task petrified TNFNS contestants 2 years ago was quite amusing:-)).
In my thesaurus, cooking equals love. I'm never afraid of experimenting, learning and trying new things and/or going with my "gut" in the kitchen (come to think of it, one probably should always go with their gut in the kitchen:-) I know, bad joke, but I couldn't help it). I don't have any cooking "fears". Preferences - yes, fears - nope. This gives me enormous freedom, which is probably why I enjoy cooking so much. Well, anyway, if I tried to rate myself, I'd probably be at 4.
brooke29 at 2:45PM on 04/15/08
I'm definitely a home cook, but cooking dinner (usually the only meal I can manage with work) is the high point of my day. I'm rarely afraid to try new things, but my budget often prohibits me. There's a lot I'm still learning (at 22 how much can you really know!) but I like to push myself. I made my first apple pie at 4, but didn't really start experimenting on my own until college. Every day is something new! Also, I can't chop to save my life.
embolini9 at 3:24PM on 04/15/08
I like to think of myself as "accomplished" or "very comfortable in a kitchen." Is there more to learn? Always.
chiff0nade at 3:25PM on 04/15/08
I'm definitely a "wannabe." I've tried cooking and baking, but most of the time I get discouraged or lazy and end up just throwing something simple and boring together. If I only I could spend less time here sitting at my desk at work, and more time in the kitchen experimenting!
LiveToEat at 3:47PM on 04/15/08
I'm an advanced home cook, I think. My question is: how do you know when you've made it to advanced? Many of the things I can do now are considered hot sh*t by my friends -- pie crusts & pasta from scratch, biscuits, etc. All these things were second nature to my gradmothers' generation. Have the standards changed?
I think I'm a 3.8 (I have yet to fillet a fish and debone a chicken). Can someone give examples of accomplishments within the 1-5 scale?
http://nujoikitchendiary.blogspot.com/
NuJoi at 9:26AM on 04/16/08
Have the standards changed?
Yes and no.
No, because "cooking" is still considered by some to be a very utilitarian task performed by people who get paid a minimum to provide for a well-to-do family. (Yawn..)
Yes, because those of us who are enlightened enough to recognize and appreciate cooking skill for what it is - an enviable ability lacked by others to create a memorable and pleasurable culinary experience - truly appreciate the finer things on a plate, especially when created by our own hands. To us, cooking is and should be a source of great pride. We care enough about what we put into our bodies to want to dictate the ingredients of a dish. We care enough about our friends and family to try and get some of that good stuff into them.
What comes around goes around... Sometime in the future people will get over their snobbery of working in a kitchen. And if I'm feeling magnanimous, I'll invite them over to eat.
chiff0nade at 10:19AM on 04/16/08
I'm an advanced home cook myself. Been coooking for 10 years, and that really picked up when I got married. I do all the cooking, because frankly, the idea of my wife in the kitchen scares me!
I say advanced because I can de-bone a chicken, fillet a fish, and have nearly mastered the art of the souffle... I am never afraid to try a new recipe, but budget constraints and the wife's taste does limit.
Never cooked professionally, and absolutely refuse to. I love to cook, but once it becomes my job, I'm afraid that I will no longer enjoy doing so.
NinjaFluff at 10:54AM on 04/17/08
Neat thread. Never really gave it much thought.
I have always worked in food service, from waiting/bar to line cook/prep, catering and bakery...and I will never stop loving it.
I do most of my 'meal' cooking at home, and consider myself fairly advanced as I love to tackle new things, but also have many of those base skills. I also grew up in the country (sort of) and had to do things like make 'fresh' chicken for dinner/bone and cook fresh fish etc.
I also had 'hippie' parents so I learned to eat from the wild and identify/prepare edibles.
I know I have much to learn, always will, and in some areas I lack badly, but I would think for cooking in general a 3.5 or so.
Now for baking/pastry work I would like to think I rate a bit higher as I do that for a living. maybe a 4-4.2 or so? Hmm... But I don't do a lot of the conventional stuff in my work so maybe that rates me a bit lower since I am stubborn. (Example: I do wedding cakes, but I won't do traditional-styles. No frosting roses or fondant...more the different or weird.)
Interesting thing to contemplate for sure!
I am new to the site and already so addicted!!! Great place!
sadiepix at 4:16PM on 04/18/08