What makes someone a good cook? Sometimes even the same recipe tastes different when different people make it. Why?
by 
Emmagirl wants to leave and not leave...
ANSWERS: 12
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I think it is the time you put into it. I know what you mean though
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I think the ingredient source & freshness make a difference, as does the touch of an experienced hand. Some things require mixing to an exact point, and a less experienced person (with that recipe) will not know that exact point. I know exactly what you are talking about, I cannot even make a simple salmon and cream cheese sandwhich taste as good as what my Mum does, but I am getting better at the pizza :)
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I can hand people recipes all day long and they will say it didn't come out the same. I ask them if they used good quality ingredients and most important, did they follow all my instructions on technique? No, they never do. I think there is so much more to cooking then what you put in. It's the how you did it, ho wyoustirred or beat, how loing it cooked, or seared or fried, what it sounded like when you stirred it, what it felt like.
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All good answers ;) Experience is definately a determing factor though. I truly dread it when someone asks me for a recipe, because they swear it is not the same thing that I made. It is difficult to put down on paper a pinch of this, a palm full of that, whip until it feels right, cook 'til it smells like it is done. What makes a good cook? Using most of your sences...trial & error...experience...lots of love...and an appreciation for the recipes from other good cooks that don't quite turn out the way their's did.
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Cooking to me is art. How does an artist work? Where does he get his inspiration for his works of art? One of my professions is cooking and I love it because it gives me the opportunity to express myself through my work. I feel when I cook I am coming from a place of love and this is passed on to the people who eat what I prepare. Whenever you make a recipe that someone else has prepared, you are adding something personal from yourself. This can change the look and taste of the food even a little bit even if you are not aware of it. But others may detect the change. I studied the basics of cooking but my ideas come from intuition. Sometimes I feel I was a cook in another lifetime because the ability is already there. It seems that some people are just born with the ability to cook and others struggle with it and still do not succeed. It can be learned but it is important to remember that you need to listen to your heart and go with your intuition. Love what you are doing and those eating your cooking will also feel the vibrations of love.
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Well, experience and techniques are important, but usually, electromagnetic frequencies transmitted from your brain can often affect the taste of the food.
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Other factors can include the quality and composition of the cookware you use, the type of water in your area (hard, soft, chlorine, other additives) climate changes, elevation (I had to learn to cook all over again when I moved from mile-high Denver to the pacific coast)the utensils you choose (wood, plastic, stainless steel)how 'clean' your cookware is (residual soap, water spots).It can even be affected by where and how long the ingredients were stored and how long they were in the car when you bought them (or on the shelf at the store.
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Someone told me i'm a good cook because I can came out with a recipe from whatever is availabe inside the fridge. I can invent a recipe just a matter of seconds. And when i'm in a restaurant, after I tasted a certain food I already have this idea on how they cook it and what ingredients they used. I don't know how i do it.. all i know is that when i was a kid i loved helping my parents in the kitchen. They are a good cook too! As for your second question. Good choice of brand, and the process of how you cook the food has big influence when it comes to the taste.
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Cooking takes talent and imagination. You either "got it" or you don't. The reciepe is just the "outline" of the dish. It takes pratice and finesse.
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You can take ten people and have them follow the same recipe, and each will turn out slightly different. The reason for that is, a good cook, even though he or she is willing to share a recipe, may have a secret ingredient that is withheld. Outstanding recipes often remain secret, even in families, and people have been known to carry those secrets to their graves. Look at it this way. If you had an amazing recipe for chocolate chip cookies that everyone raved about, would you be willing to share that recipe? And even if you bowed to pressure, or felt obligated to share it, would you reveal the fact that you toasted the walnuts before you put them in the batter? Just keeping that one little ingredient change to yourself would still leave the top honors to you, and not to the people to whom you shared the recipe. That's my long-winded "take" on your question.
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I seem to have a knack of knowing what things will taste good together. And I guess that makes me braver and more likely to experiment and even veer away from a recipe or substitute or know when it's important and when it's not. Plus, it's fun.
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Hunger, a sense of adventure, and a hankering for a good meal that you are convinced you can whip out from the simplest ingredients without incurring a lot of expenses, or a trip to an expensive restaurant, makes a good cook. You have to love, and be able to eat, that baarbeque or stir-fry you just made, otherwise, what's the point? Recipes are only the starting point, not dogma, to a good cook.
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