DivaEroticus wrote:
I love Welsh rarebit, ZOMG.

But the best thing I ever made at home (or at least one of the best things) was duck confit.  Or the orange balsamic gastrique for the duck breasts I made following the confit I made.

AWESOME

Koryn wrote:
tikka masala

yum

Tim Little Photography wrote:
I am not a great cook. Thank God my Fiancee is. The one thing I make that I think is the best of it's kind anywhere is the peanut butter and banana sandwich. Start with:

2 slices of your favorite bread. I like sour dough.

a very ripe banana. spots are fine.

Take a non-stick skillet and melt some butter. To that add one sliced banana. Over low heat add cinnamon and a smige of vanilla flavor. Remove when the bananas are warm and have brown edges.

Add more butter and grill both pieces of bread on one side. Remove and on the uncooked side add as much peanut butter you like. To that add honey. Swirl it around so they meld together. Add your bananas and there you are. I sometimes do it open face with two bananas and I add whipped cream. Jill and I enjoy it as breakfast in bed.  Yummy!

sounds good I like and I know it is sin , fried banana fritters !

BlueMoonPics wrote:
I can hardly cook so for me the best I've done so far has been empanadas, shepherds pie and lasagna.  They were all yummy!

I loved to cook , and for some reason I love the weird Uk dishes I come across !

Koryn wrote:
tikka masala

ooh, controversial!

DougArt Photography wrote:
Maybe not the best but pretty close. I cook like this all the time.  Last night's dinner:

Tamarind Crusted Pork Tenderloin
with
Roasted Yam and Beet Mélange
over
Wilted Greens
and
Seasoned Polenta

St Innocent 2011
Pinot Noir Villages Cuvee

sounds pretty damned good though ! you can cook bravo !

Al Lock Photography wrote:
My lasagna -

fresh homemade pasta
a homemade tomato sauce simmered for 24 hours with just the right blend of herbs (and a little strong on the oregano)
minced sirloin browned
ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses

Layer all in a glass baking pan and bake for no more than 30 minutes (fresh pasta doesn't take the time that dried pasta does).

you can come cook for me lol wow I love Italian !

Artifice wrote:

ooh, controversial!

Lohkee wrote:
The best (most expensive) food I ever made at home was lobster for two.

** looks at ground and shuffles feet **

I totally freaking destroyed it (hard to admit since most of you know that I love to cook)!

Hell, even the dog raised her eyebrows and took a while to decide if she even wanted to eat it.

IIRC we ended up going out for Chinese.   

Sigh.

Hmmm... I tried cooking lobster once, screwed the pooch as well. Memorial Day weekend is "Lobstermania" at a local grocery chain, they ship in piles of live lobsters. Gonna ignore it like I always do now. Once bitten, twice shy.

Besides, 3 miles south of town on a gorgeous stretch of coastal road is Taylor Shellfish Farm. LIVE Dungeness crabs, easy to prepare properly and as good as lobster anyday.

My best dish is somewhat improvisational. Start with organic coconut oil, finely chopped applewood smoked bacon, garlic, red onion, ginger and habenaro pepper. Saute, add protein of choice (beef, chicken, pork, tofu, hippie muck) and then at the last add vegetables so they don't overcook. Serve over Basmati rice or quinoa and lentils. Is good, everybody likes it.

Lohkee wrote:
The best (most expensive) food I ever made at home was lobster for two.

** looks at ground and shuffles feet **

I totally freaking destroyed it (hard to admit since most of you know that I love to cook)!

Hell, even the dog raised her eyebrows and took a while to decide if she even wanted to eat it.

IIRC we ended up going out for Chinese.   

Sigh.

How in the world do you mess up lobster?!! You throw it in a stock pot of boiling water for 12 minutes. Done.

Model Sarah wrote:
How in the world do you mess up lobster?!! You throw it in a stock pot of boiling water for 12 minutes. Done.

Ummmmm, yeah. I hear what your saying. Do you want me to get on my hands and knees now? I freely admit that I **totally** freaking screwed the pooch. I mean, when your pooch needs time to decide if she even wants to eat it, you know things did not go well (at all).

It's one of my culinary embarrassments (and I so wanted to really impress the lady in question).

**whimpers**

Lohkee wrote:

Ummmmm, yeah. I hear what your saying. Do you want me to get on my hands and knees now? I freely admit that I **totally** freaking screwed the pooch. I mean, when your pooch needs time to decide if she even wants to eat it, you know things did not go well (at all).

It's one of my culinary embarrassments (and I so wanted to really impress the lady in question).

**whimpers**

Try again then!

Orca Bay Images wrote:
Best thing I make on a fairly regular basis is chicken cacciatore.

I love making this. I make the red sauce and I put pureed roasted red peppers in mine and I reduce it for an hour. I also pan sear skinless chicken, not fried. What do you do?

Model Sarah wrote:

I love making this. I make the red sauce and I put pureed roasted red peppers in mine and I reduce it for an hour. I also pan sear skinless chicken, not fried. What do you do?

I put a variety of chiles (usually jalapenos and serranos) into just about any pasta sauce these days, but just enough to give the sauce a bite. A little less so with the cacciatore.

I sometimes sear the chicken (always skinless) and sometimes I just dump it in unseared. Haven't fried the chicken in decades. I cook it all day until the meat falls off the bones and I just fish the bones out; I use thighs. It's more of a stew than red sauce and pieces of chicken.

Orca Bay Images wrote:
I put a variety of chiles (usually jalapenos and serranos) into just about any pasta sauce these days, but just enough to give the sauce a bite. A little less so with the cacciatore.

I sometimes sear the chicken (always skinless) and sometimes I just dump it in unseared. Haven't fried the chicken in decades. I cook it all day until the meat falls off the bones and I just fish the bones out; I use thighs. It's more of a stew than red sauce and pieces of chicken.

I don't use peppers in red sauce, except roasted red. Well, I put in cracked red pepper for a bite but I use a lot of dried and fresh herbs. I'm so traditional.

Model Sarah wrote:
I have a question for those of you who say you can't cook or don't have time...why is that? Cooking is so simple. I can somewhat understand not being interested in it, but it is kind of a life skill you have to learn.

I'm asking this because I'm going into the field and I want to focus on people who claim they can't cook or don't have time. I want to know why because that answer isn't good enough.

I'll wager that a lot of it has to do with just not knowing how to cook, and being afraid, and thinking it'll take forever.

DivaEroticus wrote:
I'll wager that a lot of it has to do with just not knowing how to cook, and being afraid, and thinking it'll take forever.

Well yeah, it is a combination of all three. But I just wonder if people who do not know how to cook truly think and feel that way. I understand the being afraid part, but the other two are silly. Everyone can learn how to cook pretty quickly. The one answer I'd accept is if you live alone. It can be really hard to cook for one person. It took me years to perfect it. After you practice it all becomes intuition. Like I made my first hollandaise sauce a month ago and I basically read a recipe once and was like; "oh duh, I'm just tempering eggs with the butter." It just made sense and I didn't have to read it anymore.

My sister drives me insane. She knows how to cook she just doesn't. She'll buy pizzas and chicken fingers for the kids that are pre-frozen and throw them in the oven. I'm like; why don't you just make it? Making a pizza from start to finish takes less time than ordering it or even throwing a frozen one in the oven. And what is so hard about breading chicken tenderloins and frying/baking them? And jar pasta sauce...really? An actual red sauce is crazy simple. They sell frozen pasta and sauce now. Frozen? I just don't get it. It's one thing to cut corners like buying pre mixed salad greens or even boxed cous cous but making everything from start to finish is just so easy and nowhere near time consuming.

Model Sarah wrote:
I have a question for those of you who say you can't cook or don't have time...why is that? Cooking is so simple. I can somewhat understand not being interested in it, but it is kind of a life skill you have to learn.

I'm asking this because I'm going into the field and I want to focus on people who claim they can't cook or don't have time. I want to know why because that answer isn't good enough.

I think some dishes take a lot of time, mostly prep work - lasagna for instance. I put so much into it that prep time is about an hour or more.

Most people who I hear of saying they don't have time to cook are the same people who will waste 20 mins in a drive thru that's completely out of their way. Everyone has time to make a healthy home cooked meal because what's more important? We do things everyday less important then that.  People in todays day and age, being used to fast food are just plain lazy and don't want to put effort into something when they can order crap from the seat of their car.

Model Sarah wrote:

Well yeah, it is a combination of all three. But I just wonder if people who do not know how to cook truly think and feel that way. I understand the being afraid part, but the other two are silly. Everyone can learn how to cook pretty quickly. The one answer I'd accept is if you live alone. It can be really hard to cook for one person

One big advantage in learning to cook for one (when you live alone) is that there's no embarrassment factor. You can eat (or toss) the mistakes with no one else the wiser.

Granted, it's easier to cook a large batch than a one-meal batch, but there's nothing to stop a single person from making a big batch and then freezing a bunch of one-meal portions for later. I've long operated that way. I make chili or pasta sauce or cacciatore a gallon or two at a time.