Re: Do you cook?
Avalanche, Wed Mar 15 2006, 09:16PM

My cooking abilities are limited to throwing things into the oven and reading the instructions...

I used to eat too many pot noodles, but I've moved onto those noodles you cook in the pan now. I often remind my parents that it costs me less to feed myself than it costs to feed the cat - which is true.

Re: Do you cook?
Alex, Wed Mar 15 2006, 09:27PM

I don't cook much because I always seem to have better things to do, but when I can find time I usually enjoy it. Most of my cooking is done on camping trips (though not if it's a backpacking trip, then I eat noodles and oatmeal).

I used to make an awesome six-bean multi-meat many-seasoned dish, but I have not been interested in it ever since I got food poisoning from it several years ago. Puking in the woods and then having to hike out and drive home at 1:00 will turn you off anything. Strangely, no one else got sick.

Other good things to cook: Pancakes, muffins, bread, pork fried rice. I have yet to make really good pork fried rice, mine seems to be missing something. It tastes pretty good, but it just seems lacking, and I don't know why.

Re: Do you cook?
Simon, Wed Mar 15 2006, 11:52PM

I cook. I think eating good food is something to avoid compromising on so I put some effort into it.

Re: Do you cook?
Mike, Thu Mar 16 2006, 12:04AM

I also enjoy cooking alot to.
One of my favorites is home made fagasa. It is an Italian bread that my grandmother gave me the recipe to, It is really really good, and extremely simple to make:

Just go to Safeway and get those frozen dough loaves from the freezer, thaw it, roll it out and put it in a rectangular pan, throw it in the oven at very low heat, and put a towel on it to let it rise, it should rise alot. Then take it out again, coat the top in olive oil and salt, and bake at 375degrees F
Check on it every 5-6minutes and add more olive oil and salt on to it. should take 15-20minutes to bake?
Cant remember for sure, so just make sure to watch it.
It is a quite addicting bread!

Re: Do you cook?
Tipp, Thu Mar 16 2006, 02:52AM

I cook! [Sorta... ] I'll usually eat/make whatever's avaliable [Meaning pizza, noodles. etc] Pretty much a drifter. I'll take what I can get my hands on

Re: Do you cook?
HV Enthusiast, Thu Mar 16 2006, 02:57AM

I love cooking, although i'm not that good. However, i can cook a killer peppercorn filet mignon and coupled with a good bottle of merlot makes for a memorable evening for sure!!

Re: Do you cook?
..., Thu Mar 16 2006, 03:01AM

Still living with my parents (being only 16) I only cook once a week. Every other week I make stir fry and on the others I alternate between ravioli or chicken shake and bake. I like it all, it pwns the crap my brother makes (I never thought it was possible to make spaghetti w/marinara sauce taste bad but he proved me wrong )

I think that the biggest problem with my cooking is the lack of meat. Because my mom is a vegetarian it has been banned from all of our meals (except for when we bbq)

Re: Do you cook?
GimpyJoe, Thu Mar 16 2006, 03:10AM

If you mean cook in the sense of heating food before you eat it, then yes, I do cook. Occasionally...
I have to confess I've actually eaten waffles that were still frozen and without anything on them just because I didn't feel like going to the trouble of heating them.

Re: Do you cook?
Sam, Thu Mar 16 2006, 03:25AM

Ha! cooking is fun! But for me, If it takes longer than 5 minutes and doesn't go in the microwave its not food! My dad says I'm in the MO erra. I usualy never use the stove.

Re: Do you cook?
Alex, Thu Mar 16 2006, 05:11AM


Ouch, that really sucks! My mom is also a vegetarian, but the rest of us have always been able to eat something with meat in it. The only time we all have the same thing is when we have something like spaghetti or... Heh, that's pretty much it.

Re: Do you cook?
Michael W., Thu Mar 16 2006, 03:55PM

I make the ocassional cake, and then my family eats it before I get any......

Re: Do you cook?
Madgyver, Thu Mar 16 2006, 05:19PM


Yeah me too. But after 2 Months I couldn't stand it. But it's a nice thing onve in while. We all have these lazy days...


Yeah, I experienced the same with a fried chicken dish. It hurt like I ate some toothpicks.

Thats actually my point too. You want todo you something good every now and then.


Merlot is a nice choice. I guess it must be realy juicy then?


Ever NEEDED a knive for spaghetti? I did...

make two then , doubles the fun.

Re: Do you cook?
Steve Conner, Thu Mar 16 2006, 05:56PM

I've been vegetarian for over 10 years. My cooking skills aren't too amazing, I don't mind eating it myself, but I wouldn't ask anyone else to. It's definitely more pizza and beer than filet mignon and Merlot.

Madgyver: That pizza looks nice. But cream instead of tomato sauce in the topping?

Re: Do you cook?
HV Enthusiast, Thu Mar 16 2006, 06:13PM


Remember, that you can't have your cake and eat it to!

Re: Do you cook?
Madgyver, Thu Mar 16 2006, 06:40PM


Well it's called "Flammkuchen" (yes, Flame Pie ) and the original recipe goes with creme fraiche or a comparable cream. Tastes better then one would think.

Re: Do you cook?
WaveRider, Fri Mar 17 2006, 10:38AM

My wife and I are pretty handy in the kitchen.. While I was Down Under, learned a bit of Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cooking (mmmm...the smell of scorched thick soy sauce! )

Also, my wife is Italian.....need I say more?! (She makes a smashing Tiramisu among lots of other things)..

Should we start a 4HV recipes thread??

Re: Do you cook?
ragnar, Fri Mar 17 2006, 12:12PM

I'm handy with chicken schnitzels, anything you can roast, and a barbeque. My biggest cooking difficulty remains the issue of having components of composite courses ready at the same time.

Just how do you blanch the asparagus, cook those onions, drain the meat, and have those chickens brown both sides at the right (same) time? Takes practise, I guess...

Re: Do you cook?
Michael W., Sat Mar 18 2006, 05:46AM

How convienient is this? ------>

Re: Do you cook?
..., Sat Mar 18 2006, 06:12AM

hehe, the good 'old cookin' with high voltage
I tried making carmel with a little hv supply and some sugar once... It melted/browned nicely and even looked like carmel but I decided against eating it for fear that the extreme temps might have converted the sugar into something nasty...

As to the getting everything done at the right time...

Most people just do it by practice but if you have the capability to count in hours/minutes/seconds you can make like a lot easier by taking a guess as to how long it takes to cook a dish (x minutes) and the time when everyone will be sitting down expecting food (y o'clock) and using some confusing math to put it on at the right time. I guess us Americans have it easier here because we are used to counting in odd numbers (like 16oz to a lb, a few tsp to a tbs, and a ton of tbs to a cup, even more to a gallon, etc )

Re: Do you cook?
EEYORE, Sat Mar 18 2006, 06:54AM

Now that im in college i cook everyday. I used to simply eat noodles and chicken wings until my GF came along a few years back with her Colombian food...Now i cook lotsa things such as steaks, chicken, pork, pizza, rice+beans. She actually banned me from noodles and chicken wings (except every now and then) but i still sneak them

My fav thing to cook-Grouper, grilled. Filet Mignon is good too, but way to $$$ for me(my roomate will buy it and I will cook it).
I actually find it fun to cook and relate it to HV and other projects. Everything becomes a circuit to me

Now, if i can just get a cooker and my dad's championship BBQ recipes

Do drinks count?I love to "cook" up drinks!mmmm Bloody Mary, screwdriver and MARGARITAS!
(I think ill have one now...)

Matt

Re: Do you cook?
GimpyJoe, Sat Mar 18 2006, 07:02AM

Don't worry about getting everything done at the same time. I suspect if you really researched it you would find that there has never been a group of people who arrived at their dinner table on time anyway, so you might as well just let things get cold and then pop them in the microwave. Or you could set the table and then heat everything at once with a big HERF...

Re: Do you cook?
ragnar, Sat Mar 18 2006, 07:38AM


Aww I've found it's never that easy. Things go wrong, stuff gets burned, stuff is ready early and you need to work out how to keep it hot etc. Just a matter of better future co-ordination for me, I'll get the hang of it with practise.

Re: Do you cook?
Plasmaniac, Sat Mar 18 2006, 10:05AM

Mhhh... marshmallows...





I'm living with my parents, but both of them work and I have to cook 1-5 times a week. No, I actually don't "cook" marshmallows every day I really love to make xtra hot ghoulash soup(my sister doesn't...), pizza or pancakes and saucages(yeah, right). But I often haven't got enough time to cook and just threw in a pizza from the fridge.

Re: Do you cook?
Madgyver, Sat Mar 18 2006, 11:26AM


Yeah. Actually I can somehow solve this with practise, but I realy screw up at friends kitchens. Because the heat intensity of the stoves are different. Also I am NOT used to use gas.

Re: Do you cook?
Heiders, Sun Mar 19 2006, 08:01PM

Any else have/use a slow cooker? Solves all timing issues, you just make your veggie/side dish and whenever its done, you serve the slow-cooker! Great and hilarious slow-cooker recipes here.

Re: Do you cook?
GODSFUSION, Sun Mar 19 2006, 10:50PM

I LOVE to cook. i really want to appriciate the food im about to consume and i want it to taste good and original. I can make a lot of stuff with reasonable accuracy. my rents refuse to get an electric oven so i cant really bake anything and have it come out unburt of fully cooked. i love to tkae on a new challange and love to do foreign dishes to broaden my abilities. Epicurious is my favorite website, cooking related. and umm...

kinda sad...i cant even make a good pizza

- wayne -

Re: Do you cook?
Ben, Mon Mar 20 2006, 03:58AM

Whe I can work up the gumption, I'mactually a pretty decent cook. Lst good thing I made was kind of accidental. I left some chicken marinating in the fridge for ~2 weeks. I found it yesterday. I was just about to go to the gym so I put it in the oven at 250 deg. F. I came back a few hours later and it looked kinda bad, dark brown and all the marinade was crispy black. But it tasted amazing. I ended up making some alfredo sauce and mixing in the chicken cut up with some sun dried tomatoes. It was great with some linguine. My mouth ached for more afterwards.

Re: Do you cook?
Simon, Tue Mar 21 2006, 12:16AM

What's an alfredo sauce to you?

I once went to an Italian restaurant and saw an alfredo sauce on the menu. I'd made an alfredo from a recipe in a book once so I thought I'd try a "real" sauce - it turned out to be a completely different sauce! I think one was cream based and the other a tomato based sauce.

Re: Do you cook?
..., Tue Mar 21 2006, 01:12AM

To me alfredo sauce is a thick/creamy white sauce, usually served over flat noodles and possibly with chicken/seafood mixed in. There is an italian chain about 5 minutes from here that has a huge (like a pound of pasta in there) bowtie pasta with the best alfreido/sun dried tomatoes and chicken. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it

Re: Do you cook?
Ben, Tue Mar 21 2006, 03:58AM

Alfredo is cream based as far as I know. I also like me some carbonara.

Re: Do you cook?
Simon, Wed Mar 22 2006, 02:27AM

My carbonara never turns out quite right.

This thread is making mine water!

Re: Do you cook?
Madgyver, Wed Mar 22 2006, 03:09PM


How do you usualy try to make it?

Re: Do you cook?
Chris Russell, Wed Mar 22 2006, 04:45PM

I love to cook. Sometimes it's not always easy to find the time, but it's almost always worth the effort. The local Chinese restaurant makes some excellent General Tso's Chicken, and none of the recipes I could find duplicated the taste. I spent a few weeks in the kitchen, working on it on and off, until I finally cracked it. It's now my signature dish. Never fails to impress.

I also do some Korean dishes that my aunt taught me how to make, as well as a lot of southern and southwestern dishes. I have my parents send me tortillas, chiles, and sauces that just can't be found in New England. It's nice to have a unique flavor, even if some of my dishes are a tad too bold for your typical Mainer. :) Noelle doesn't seem to mind that much. I'm still working on absorbing some of the local flavor... I'd like to incorporate some New England cuisine into my repertoire.

A recipe thread would be an interesting idea. However, I know that in person, people tend to carefully guard their best recipes. Maybe they'd be more willing to share if they know they aren't going to encounter their very own dish, credited to someone else, at the next pot luck.

Re: Do you cook?
Thingmaker3, Wed Mar 22 2006, 06:59PM

Sadly, there are a lot of places that use flour or corstarch in their "alfredo" sauce. Makes it taste pasty and gooky to me. Yuck.

I make mine with heavy cream in a double boiler. Tillamook butter (unsalted), and egg yolk are absolute requirements. I sneak a little Romano in with the Parmesian. A pinch of fresh ground nutmeg never hurts.


Hmmm.... I may break for lunch early today...

The common tomato sauce is called "marinara."


As to a recipe thread...
"Of course I'll gladly give de rule I meks beat biscuits by,
Dough I ain't sure dat you will mek dat bread de same as I.
'Case cookin's like religion is - some's 'lected, an' some ain't,
An' rules don't no more mek a cook den sermons mek a Saint."
- Howard Weeden

I have a beaten biscuits "quickie" variation I call "damascus biscuits."

Re: Do you cook?
Simon, Thu Mar 23 2006, 09:14AM

I checked my recipe book and it gives a cream-based alfredo recipe. I don't know that this Italian restaurant was on...

As to carbonara sauce, all the recipes I've come across involve cooking pasta and throwing beaten egg into it, along with bacon and oil straight from a frying pan. The egg is supposed to be cooked by the still-hot pasta and blend with the oil to make a smooth sauce.

Actually, I lied. I have achieved it a couple of times but mostly I have a cross between carbonara and scrambled egg.

Re: Do you cook?
FastMHz, Fri Mar 24 2006, 09:27PM

I cook...quite a bit. 6 days out of 7 I make dinner for everyone. Never with red meat, dairy or other unhealthy things. Instead I prepare soy and chicken based dishes that surprised everyone the first time they had them...and when they learned it had tofu in it they were even more surprised I also make a great smoothie with this self-developed recipe:

Ultimate Tofu Smoothie
1 cup Tropicana Orange-Pineapple juice
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 TBS Honey
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 pack Nasoya SILKEN tofu
1 cup Silk Very Vanilla soymilk
1 large banana
12 packets Splenda
Spike w/Coconut Rum (optional but recommended!)

Place all ingredients into powerful blender and blend until smooth and creamy!

Re: Do you cook?
rev, Fri Mar 24 2006, 09:34PM

i began cooking when i was 15 so when i moved out at 18 i had some tricks up my sleave . the cheep ingredeints such as flour, rice, pea's and beens (dry), potatos, butter, ground beef, ramen, pasta, ham, chiken dark meat, ect... enabled me to have biscuts (with or without gravy), gravy, potato soup, pea soup, any soup, stir fry, spegeti, ect...

when i wasn't to worn out from work i would make bread and incorporate more steps in fabrication of a meal and such. you can have some nice filling meals for cheep with some basic ingredents but you have to work for it.

now (12 years later) i have more money to work with and a propane grill (i love that thing!).
i enjoy steamed or stir fried vegitables with most of my meals and some form of animal flesh grilled or baked to perfection. my flesh intake is ~50% fish ranging from cheep to more costly types (mmmm tuna steaks on the grill) and i often make a suace for the cheeper fish to swim in (joke intended). i enjoy midle-eastern and indian inspired creations also. mmmm curry :)

i still make soups when i'm fealing lazy or when i want some left over for the next day so i don't have to cook. my ingredients are still the same cheep basics but with the adition of fish, fresh vegie's, more variety of spices and items for the creation of fancy suaces. oh, and my rice has been upgraded to gormet jasmati/basmati rice :P