cmcadams
Quintessential Chatty Farker
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Location
- Waynesvi...
There's a difference between cooking, and being a cook. Lots of people are capable of cooking, but a cook is more than that, to me. A cook is someone that can tackle a variety of things with a pretty good chance of making something good out of it, with or without recipes. I think maybe I'm saying it's about a level of confidence with cooking.
What made me think about this is the years of turkeys in my past, with a lot of trial and error, and lots of mistakes. The first time I tried smoking one was in a Chargriller, and I used soaked cheesecloth over the bird to help keep it moist. The wind picked up, and the cheesecloth caught on fire. Fun! The bird was ok, but got overcooked and dry (thank God for the gift of gravy!).
Now, I've got a bird on my BGE, and it's just churning along, and I know it will be ready around noon, to sit in a cooler for a bit before everything else is done. I know that at 9:30ish, I need to make some bread dough for rolls and loaves. I know that the mashed potatoes will get put on about noon, etc.
So, to get to a point... What made you realize you were a cook, and weren't just trying to cook?
My real epiphany in this was prime rib... When I knew I could spend over $100 on a piece of meat and have no fear of it not being a great meal.
Just for fun, I've added a variety of photos of things over the last year, foodwise:
What made me think about this is the years of turkeys in my past, with a lot of trial and error, and lots of mistakes. The first time I tried smoking one was in a Chargriller, and I used soaked cheesecloth over the bird to help keep it moist. The wind picked up, and the cheesecloth caught on fire. Fun! The bird was ok, but got overcooked and dry (thank God for the gift of gravy!).
Now, I've got a bird on my BGE, and it's just churning along, and I know it will be ready around noon, to sit in a cooler for a bit before everything else is done. I know that at 9:30ish, I need to make some bread dough for rolls and loaves. I know that the mashed potatoes will get put on about noon, etc.
So, to get to a point... What made you realize you were a cook, and weren't just trying to cook?
My real epiphany in this was prime rib... When I knew I could spend over $100 on a piece of meat and have no fear of it not being a great meal.
Just for fun, I've added a variety of photos of things over the last year, foodwise:
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