According to Jill Dupleix, the Times cook, there are several basic culinary skills that everyone should have. If you can't do any of the following then you really can't call yourself a cook!
Now I don't really class myself as a 'cook' more a follower of recipes; I couldn't bake a cake or make a mouse without following a recipe. But how about you?
3Dice and onion should be on that list. also peel a vegetable with out a peeler and able to peel garlic without a fancy gadget. My aunt would cut up most everything cupped in her hand like onion or boiled egg without cutting herself! Now she was a wonderful cook. Southern style from virginia. Some people cant function in the kitchen without a millions gadgets. I have a microwave........ No blender, food processor, garlic peeler. Oh... I do own a hand mixer, cakes are a muscle adder if you try to stir by hand!! LOL
6So, does it still count if I use a recipe? There isn't too much I can't do in the kitchen if I have a good recipe to follow. That's not egotism, either. I think the same is true of everyone. The results may not be Michelin star quality, but they should always be edible. So am I a bad cook if I can't remember measurements for a cake? Or is it enough that I can follow the procedure with skill, efficiency and good taste? That would be my definition of a good cook.
8If a recipe is written correctly, anyone can make the dish brilliantly by following the directions... so if the measure of being a cook is being able to walk into the kitchen and make edible food without a recipe, then no, you're not a cook. You're capable of putting dinner on the table, though, which is probably more important.
I'd substitute "custard" for "mousse." Mousse is a single dessert -- custards are a whole category of related dishes that you can use for a bunch of purposes.
9I agree with mella, with the right recipe, ingredients/supplies and a little patience, I don't think there's anything people can't make in the kitchen. I've made a lot of things that I thought I could only get ordering out because I did my homework and found a recipe that worked.
By now some things are second nature (especially mixing a martini, *hic!*) but even for my family's secret cookie recipe, something I've made over a hundred times, I still have to pull that recipe card out.
I appreciate books that encourage/teach one to be able to cook without a cookbook, but I'd rather improvise after reading a recipe instead of having to make something up on the fly because I've forgotten a crucial step or ingredient.
11My mom always said, if you can read, you can cook. I think that is pretty much true, whether cake, mousse, stock, whatever. What comes with experience is knowing when to follow the receipe exactly and when you can stray and modify it. I am still working on that, with many succesful and failed experiments behind me.
127-31-2006 @ 6:09PM
I read that this morning and was puzzled by the inclusion of the mousse. I mean who makes mousse??
15Well, since Andrew isn't American, I don't get the point of the question....
But as for making a mouse, well, now, I have made and eaten many a fine mouse in my time. As well as fine and tasty moose. It all is in the wristwork, people. All in the wrist.
That is a good basic skill list--I would add cook eggs in five different ways, make a stock from scratch and take apart and bone out a whole chicken.
16@ Barbara
POOT-TOOP is trying to say that the list has a certain cultural bias. Perhaps a greek chef might not know how to properly fry a steak but can make a beautiful spanakopita, or roast lamb. Or a chinese cook might be able to make a great fried rice but not know how to make a mousse or mix a martini. How can you deny calling them a cook?
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