Post: #1

Inspired by recent posts at RoK, I figured we could talk a minute about what constitutes "good cooking". Sandwiches are great and all but let's not kid ourselves; it's not cooking. We can all go on for days about all the shitty stuff we've seen girls cook, so let's hear the other side.

For me, every single girl has been a shit cook except the current Filipina. Her Sinigang, Caldereta, and Adobo isn't just the best Filipino cooking I've had, it's some of the best home-cooked food I've had period.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinigang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaldereta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_adobo

Good home cooking to me typically has a few things in common: It takes time and patience, somewhat of a tall order these days. There's nothing better than long-cooked food, whether it's French Coq au Vin or Pot-au-Feau, Vietnamese broth for pho, Filipino stews, Mexican Carnitas or tamales that take all day to fold, Italian Bollito, Bulgarian Sarmi, or stuffed cabbage (My Bulgarian grandma's cabbage rolls were phenomenal)

Good home cooked food is seasoned perfectly. When I'm talking seasoning, I'm talking salt. The salt should just bring out enough of the natural flavor of the ingredients, but by the time you're done eating you shouldn't have that slight burn on your tongue from too much salt. It takes years to understand how much to salt food.

You know good home cooking when you walk in the front door; there's the inevitable aroma of long-and-slow cooked onions and garlic, meat broth, tomato paste, fresh herbs, butter. There's nothing better than the smell of a roast in the oven, and it's a luxury that most of us have forgotten.

Good home cooking is perfectly cooked starches. I know that sounds ridiculous but for asians, there is nothing, NOTHING better than perfectly cooked rice. It's something that I've picked up and obsess about. It's rare to find in restaurants. Or perfectly cooked pasta, or smashed potatoes with plenty of butter and a little cream.

The ultimate test for a cook is a properly made sauce. This is what separates the good cook from the amazing cook. A 7 hour bolognese sauce. A perfect tomato sauce, simmered with love. A butter sauce to go with fish or milanesa, a perfect Thanksgiving gravy.

Good cooking is a meditative process. The emphasis should not be on "how do I do this faster", but "how much attention can I give this?". It is is a mode of being that is lost on most women. Think about a man tinkering on an engine, or building a model, or re-wiring a circuit board. That same level of intent and concentration is required for good home cooking.

Modern American girls are so far behind in all categories, they have no idea how much catching up they have to do. If you're a man set on heading a family, it's your responsibility to ensure your wife has the above mentioned competence in the culinary arts, or at least she should be working towards proficiency. Otherwise, pump n dump.

Let's hear some other examples of good home cooking made by the girl you were with.

Post: #2

(02-05-2014 08:50 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  Good home cooked food is seasoned perfectly. When I'm talking seasoning, I'm talking salt. The salt should just bring out enough of the natural flavor of the ingredients, but by the time you're done eating you shouldn't have that slight burn on your tongue from too much salt. It takes years to understand how much to salt food.

You know good home cooking when you walk in the front door; there's the inevitable aroma of long-and-slow cooked onions and garlic, meat broth, tomato paste, fresh herbs, butter. There's nothing better than the smell of a roast in the oven, and it's a luxury that most of us have forgotten.

Good home cooking is perfectly cooked starches. I know that sounds ridiculous but for asians, there is nothing, NOTHING better than perfectly cooked rice. It's something that I've picked up and obsess about. It's rare to find in restaurants. Or perfectly cooked pasta, or smashed potatoes with plenty of butter and a little cream.

The ultimate test for a cook is a properly made sauce. This is what separates the good cook from the amazing cook. A 7 hour bolognese sauce. A perfect tomato sauce, simmered with love. A butter sauce to go with fish or milanesa, a perfect Thanksgiving gravy.

@thedude I don't have a story but I can tell you that this is about as good as writing about this stuff gets. Guys here are lucky to be getting this level. Not trying to embarrass you or anything but this kind of quality just has to be noted.

"It takes years to understand how much to salt food."

Fucking A.

What makes it good is that every single of word of this is true; and these truths are delivered with the inevitability that comes from both knowledge and emotion, inseparably intertwined.

Post: #3

I had milf when I was 22 cook me anything from scratch, especially w/ red sauces, cause she made with whole maters, and grew her own herbs.

I have good social circles of pinays here in the U.S., and always was invited to parties where a huge spread was on the table. All great food from scratch. And these girls are competitive and won't bring shit to the party, or they'll be 'talked' about by the other wimminz.

One girl I dated could cook anything Texas, including grilling proficiency for brisket and the best sauce from drippings I ever had. She had done it for a living and had a real enthusiasm for culinary stuff.

Every girl that came to my apartment in the DR taught me what they were making, including that bomb ass white spaghetti.

I've learned about cooking from girls that were better in the kitchen than me, and enjoy that interaction immensely.

Post: #4

Lasagna (a girl who was studying to be a chef).
Paella (an ex girlfriend).

Post: #5

My baby momma cooks every day. Everything she makes is good. Today she made bacon cheese burgers and some black pepper steamed cabbage with butter. Made sautéed onions to put on the burger too.

* I still can cook better her than though.

Post: #6

Meth.

Post: #7

redacted

Post: #8

I have no memory of a girl cooking me an entree or anything that was impressive, I'm a better cook than most girls I've met, and I'm very marginally skilled.
But I've had a couple decent desserts baked from scratch for me, girls do love their carbs.

I feel like the biggest factor in all this is just that there is no family cohesion anymore, both in terms of immediate family and extended family. Girls used to start in childhood, learning cooking skills and recipes handed down through generations via their elder matriarchs... My favorite part of the holidays is getting to eat all the amazing shit my super old female relatives still make.

Post: #9

Started off with some light appetizers--goat cheese with herbs and crackers and her aunt's homemade apricot preserves. Main dish: Pan fried venison steak with homemade biscuits and bacon gravy with a side of apple wood smoked bacon. Dessert: homemade chocolate espresso cake--she got the recipe from the Capital Grille. Add in my favorite 10% ABV stout beer.

I pretty much collapsed into a carb coma on the couch after the meal. Best part, she sent me home with all of the leftovers.

Post: #10

Hard to say, since I married a chef from a fine dining restaurant.

But while the fancy stuff is nice for special occasions, I still prefer something a bit more hearty like lasagne, chicken carbonara or a nice steak with creamy potatoes.

Post: #11

My mother cooked made an entirely self-made home cooked pizza with all natural ingredients. I love her so much for the fact that she home cooked meals for me.

Post: #12

Damn dupe post, due to intermittent wireless connection.

Post: #13

dude, this post was beautiful!

Quote:Good home cooking to me typically has a few things in common: It takes time and patience, somewhat of a tall order these days. There's nothing better than long-cooked food, whether it's French Coq au Vin or Pot-au-Feau, Vietnamese broth for pho, Filipino stews, Mexican Carnitas or tamales that take all day to fold, Italian Bollito, Bulgarian Sarmi, or stuffed cabbage (My Bulgarian grandma's cabbage rolls were phenomenal)

Amen, Halleilujah...PREACH IT!

Quote:Good home cooked food is seasoned perfectly. When I'm talking seasoning, I'm talking salt. The salt should just bring out enough of the natural flavor of the ingredients, but by the time you're done eating you shouldn't have that slight burn on your tongue from too much salt. It takes years to understand how much to salt food.

Co-sign 100%....but it is much easier to learn if you use fresh ground natural sea salt instead of processed, iodized table salt adulterated with anti-caking additives like aluminum silicate. I use nothing but Himalayan Pink Salt, Hawaiian 'Alae Red, and Hawaiian regular white sea salts.

Quote:You know good home cooking when you walk in the front door; there's the inevitable aroma of long-and-slow cooked onions and garlic, meat broth, tomato paste, fresh herbs, butter. There's nothing better than the smell of a roast in the oven, and it's a luxury that most of us have forgotten.

Not I. Part of the reason why I deliberately moved out to the boondocks, was to get away from restaurants and convenience foods of suburbia, so as to force my wife and I to cook all of our meals.

Quote:Good home cooking is perfectly cooked starches. I know that sounds ridiculous but for asians, there is nothing, NOTHING better than perfectly cooked rice. It's something that I've picked up and obsess about. It's rare to find in restaurants. Or perfectly cooked pasta, or smashed potatoes with plenty of butter and a little cream.

Meh. I find MOST restaurants and fine dining in the US Mainland simply don't know how to cook rice.

Quote:The ultimate test for a cook is a properly made sauce. This is what separates the good cook from the amazing cook. A 7 hour bolognese sauce. A perfect tomato sauce, simmered with love. A butter sauce to go with fish or milanesa, a perfect Thanksgiving gravy.

Agreed! This is my pet peeve. I've eaten dishes in which a lot of time and care was put into cooking the dish....only to have it ruined by pre-made box/package mix "brown gravy." There is NO substitute for boiled bone stocks and reductions.

Quote:Good cooking is a meditative process. The emphasis should not be on "how do I do this faster", but "how much attention can I give this?". It is is a mode of being that is lost on most women. Think about a man tinkering on an engine, or building a model, or re-wiring a circuit board. That same level of intent and concentration is required for good home cooking.

Oh, and to answer the OP - My wife's Lasagna.

Post: #14

Shae the whore in Game of Thrones once said "every time I cook for a man he tells me what a good whore I am." That's been my experience with virtually all women. They're such shitty cooks that I wind up complimenting the tightness of their snatch or BJ skills.

Post: #15

(02-05-2014 10:27 PM)K Galt Wrote:  

Quote:Good home cooked food is seasoned perfectly. When I'm talking seasoning, I'm talking salt. The salt should just bring out enough of the natural flavor of the ingredients, but by the time you're done eating you shouldn't have that slight burn on your tongue from too much salt. It takes years to understand how much to salt food.

Co-sign 100%....but it is much easier to learn if you use fresh ground natural sea salt instead of processed, iodized table salt adulterated with anti-caking additives like aluminum silicate. I use nothing but Himalayan Pink Salt, Hawaiian 'Alae Red, and Hawaiian regular white sea salts.

Great point. It blows me away how many people still have that can of Morton's Iodized Salt in the pantry. At any grocery store you can buy a 3lb box of kosher salt that is much easier to use. To me that's baseline. Any salt upgrade from there is an added bonus. Big fan of Maldon myself.

Post: #16

From what I know about the kitchen (very little), the chef has always been a masculine figure. I don't remember the last time I had a girl who wasn't a professional cook me a mind-blowing meal.

Good thread.

Post: #17

Woke up once to a blowjob with pancakes.

Simple food, but they were some pretty fucking good pancakes.

Post: #18

Thieboudienne

Post: #19

(02-06-2014 02:33 AM)soup Wrote:  From what I know about the kitchen (very little), the chef has always been a masculine figure. I don't remember the last time I had a girl who wasn't a professional cook me a mind-blowing meal.

The difference between a cook and a chef is that a chef has to manage a kitchen.

Many people can cook a good meal, great chefs don't really know much more, or can produce a great dinner for 4 more than these good cooks.

What a chef does is train and manage staff and ensure great food is made available for different people at disparate times.

A many good cook can do great shit when 4-8 guests all sit down at the same time.

For example, have someone uninvited show up 25 minutes later, and then start their dish while monitoring what you started 25 minutes earlier can increase the chance of inferior food.

This type of cognitive function.. involves a masculine mind... as you have observed.

Post: #20

Quote:Good home cooked food is seasoned perfectly. When I'm talking seasoning, I'm talking salt. The salt should just bring out enough of the natural flavor of the ingredients, but by the time you're done eating you shouldn't have that slight burn on your tongue from too much salt. It takes years to understand how much to salt food.

When friends cook pre-packaged/pre-prepared meals, i.e. not from scratch, they are usually too salty for my taste buds. Same goes for when I eat out. As I cook from scratch 90% of the time, the food is fresh, so there isn't excess salt to preserve it. I don't add as much salt either. Is it my palate or theirs? Many seem to complain about some dishes being under seasoned. Thedude, what can I do to reach the level you mentioned?


***

On topic:

thai girl: pad thai
filipino girl: sinigong

Post: #21

Breaded shrimp with salad and potatoes. Not very complicated, but it's a repetitive pain in the ass to fry those tiny shrimp tails. I appreciated it a lot.

Post: #22

T and a man Wrote:This type of cognitive function.. involves a masculine mind... as you have observed.

But women are better at multitasking!!! /whine

Post: #23

(02-05-2014 09:56 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  Argh, you never grill brisket.

I hope you are referring to "low and slow" on the grill opposed to "hot and fast".

But best thing my girl made me was a traditional Thanksgiving meal from scratch. The turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing/ stuffing, green bean casserole, gravy, biscuits, and peanut butter and oatmeal brownies for dessert.

Post: #24

I've got an in with a large gaggle of Thais here.

The girls make some damn good dishes. Most of them were born in BKK and came to school here.

Supposedly one of their father/uncle owns a private a hospital in BKK.

Post: #25

Jambolaya. By an Indonesian girl. Scrumptious