I was a young bride when we immigrated here. I did not know how to cook and had to depend on DH's cooking. Unfortunately. his repertoire was limited and even many ethnic ingredients were not easily available here. This was before internet was a useful tool for recipes. My mom used to send me letters with tons of recipes in them (before email, before affordable international calls, before Skype!).

Anyways, long story short - I am an excellent cook now. All kinds of cuisine. I can go semi-homemade to full scale "everything from scratch" gourmet food! I can pretty much replicate any dish that we eat at any restaurant and that my DH or kids request.

We are foodies, love to entertain, I love to cook for large number of people. People have asked me to cater for them - because I have cooked for huge celebrations for family and friends - but I do not think I can do that kind of back breaking work every day. For me it is a labor of love and for my family and friends only.

I recently cooked for 3 different parties for around 70 people, all within a period of 2 weeks. 3 different cuisines. Everything from appetizers, cocktails, entrees, sides, desserts. I had to prep for 2 weeks before that, and I worked for at least 4-5 hours every night to do the prep work. Needless to say, it was a great success - and then I fell ill from exhaustion and was bed-ridden for a week.

Sometimes I feel that I need to go to a culinary school so that I am trained in some fancier techniques and learn how to use the professional equipments that the top chefs use on food network. If I had the money to burn I would do that - just for my enjoyment. I do not think that I have the stamina or desire to actually do the kind of work professional chefs do every single day!

My parents aren't really into food at all. They're food is fuel types. I taught my self to cook as a teenager to escape endless ready meals.

Anonymous wrote:I don't cook. I only put stuff in the microwave and put something frozen, in the oven. No one taught me, I taught that to myself.

This is me, although I'd like to learn. Have tried in the past but am still stuck at boiling water for pasta and scrambling eggs. Sigh.

I went to cooking school for a career change and cook for a living.

I'm basically a pasta and scrambled eggs type of cook. I have always hated cooking even since I was a kid.

At least I make excellent scrambled eggs.
My parents taught me to cook. I never got the impression either really enjoyed it.

I love cooking, I have a ridiculous amount of cookery books that I shipped when we moved from the UK and my Pinterest is full of recipe boards. I like to make my own bread, pasta, grinding my own meat for burgers, granola, ice cream etc. I cook old favourites without recipes but what I really like is to cook new things.

Anonymous wrote:I am a good cook, and no longer use recipes. However, I like to cook and eat simple dishes. A roasted chicken, potatoes and green beans, or a pot roast, an expertly grilled steak, a well-seasoned soup are thing I make. I am not really interested in fancy ingredients or complicated dishes.

This is us, too. We don't use recipes.

I'm a recipe user. I don't think I'll ever reach the level of not using a recipe, besides throwing stuff on the grill or a simple stir fry.

Advanced enough that I now learn techniques, not recipes. Give me five ingredients and I'll figure out how to make them a meal.

But I bake from recipes and really rely on trial and error. I can't bake from scratch in my head, and I can't always read a recipe for baked goods and imagine the finished product. For other recipes, I can read the recipe through, figure how to make it, then make it my own.

I'm something well above semi-homemade, but a bit below gourmet. We use lots of fresh and sometimes high-end ingredients. Grate our own Parm, fresh herbs, that sort of thing. But we don't make our own sausage or smoke our own meat or anything. My dad was that kind of gourmet chef, but cooking is truly his passion in life above all else. I'm more of a dilettante who likes good food and who has a husband who appreciates same. (He's the same kind of cook, btw. Love a man who cooks!) I usually follow recipes except for things like sauces and soups that I know well and are easy to tinker with. I specialize in baking, sometimes quite complicated things.

I am a good cook, and no longer use recipes. However, I like to cook and eat simple dishes. A roasted chicken, potatoes and green beans, or a pot roast, an expertly grilled steak, a well-seasoned soup are thing I make. I am not really interested in fancy ingredients or complicated dishes.

I don't cook. I only put stuff in the microwave and put something frozen, in the oven. No one taught me, I taught that to myself and I don't care to learn, even with a husband and kids.

I'm fine, but I will never be gourmet. The family gets fed, but it's plainer fare. The not-gourmet thing doesn't really bother me, though I wish I were better at adding flavors to foods. There's a flavor dictionary I want, but haven't gotten around to buying yet.

I learned from my mother and America's Test Kitchen. Seriously. That show was absolutely invaluable,

Sorry, hopeless was the wrong word. Beginner cook or uninterested?

Hopeless, can only boil pasta and scrambled eggs? Semi-homemade with cans and pre-made food to help. Top chef wannabe with a taste for fancy ingredients? Do you follow recipes or cook by feel or somewhere in between? Who taught you to cook?