cooking postmortem
So I had that little experiment last month, and before the episode w/ the soup, it was going pretty well actually. On the plus side, I was cooking (usually edible) food. I found a couple recipies (one in particular) that I liked. And frankly? there was something reassuring about having a menu like that. Took a bunch of the decision making out of it.
The downside is what I want to spend a few minutes exploring here. The first and most obvious: Soup fail. So as I think I mentioned, the main problem with the soup was the size of the pot. Had I realized before hand that this would create too much soup, I would have just halved hte ingrediants. As it is, I had all of everyting except the potatoes, which was only half. That kinda threw off the flavors a bit. I think. The other thing I noticed is that I didn't like a single one of the recipies I pulled off of food network. I had been watching a show or 2, at Rai's suggestion, to try and figure something out about how flavors go together. I don't feel like I got a feel for that AT ALL. Every recipie I tried to make from that was too bland, like much of my cooking in general.
So I think I've written on here before, I think the main problem I have with my cooking is just that, it's too bland. Whenever I try and make something, I never quite get the spices where I want to. THe problem, as I've also suggested before, is that I don't know how to fix it. So i get frustrated, and depressed, and swear to high heaven that i'd rather die than try cooking again...and then I get hungry. Or I get the rediculous platitudes that "it's easy" and "you just have to practice." Nothing is more frustrating or depressing. Anyway, the point is, it freaks me out and I have no idea how to fix it. That was the purpose of this experiment, learn something from following recipies. So in that respect, not much good came out of this, other than a recipie or two that I kinda enjoyed.
So I'm not sure what to do now. I can't give up cooking, my budget won't allow it. There's a part of me that wants to learn, but I just have no idea how to do so. Blind experimentation just results in me throwing out half my dinners, as brought to light by that horrendous slow cooker vindaloo escapade. And the Pizza I tried to make the other night...
So I gueess the question is, where do I go from here?
The downside is what I want to spend a few minutes exploring here. The first and most obvious: Soup fail. So as I think I mentioned, the main problem with the soup was the size of the pot. Had I realized before hand that this would create too much soup, I would have just halved hte ingrediants. As it is, I had all of everyting except the potatoes, which was only half. That kinda threw off the flavors a bit. I think. The other thing I noticed is that I didn't like a single one of the recipies I pulled off of food network. I had been watching a show or 2, at Rai's suggestion, to try and figure something out about how flavors go together. I don't feel like I got a feel for that AT ALL. Every recipie I tried to make from that was too bland, like much of my cooking in general.
So I think I've written on here before, I think the main problem I have with my cooking is just that, it's too bland. Whenever I try and make something, I never quite get the spices where I want to. THe problem, as I've also suggested before, is that I don't know how to fix it. So i get frustrated, and depressed, and swear to high heaven that i'd rather die than try cooking again...and then I get hungry. Or I get the rediculous platitudes that "it's easy" and "you just have to practice." Nothing is more frustrating or depressing. Anyway, the point is, it freaks me out and I have no idea how to fix it. That was the purpose of this experiment, learn something from following recipies. So in that respect, not much good came out of this, other than a recipie or two that I kinda enjoyed.
So I'm not sure what to do now. I can't give up cooking, my budget won't allow it. There's a part of me that wants to learn, but I just have no idea how to do so. Blind experimentation just results in me throwing out half my dinners, as brought to light by that horrendous slow cooker vindaloo escapade. And the Pizza I tried to make the other night...
So I gueess the question is, where do I go from here?