Is there anything you can't cook?

United States
February 4, 2009 11:51am CST
I'm sure that even the great cooks have something they just cannot cook. I'm a rather good cook myself, but there's 1 thing I've never been able to cook properly. Bacon! I know, some of you are probably laughing at me now. But never once have I been able to cook bacon properly. My husband cooks bacon beautifully, so usually I leave that to him. When I have attempted to cook bacon, I will either burn it (the edges get a weird orangy color) or I undercook for fear of burning it. Hubby has pointed out what I'm doing wrong, apparently I just have the heat up too high. But I'm so insecure in my bacon cooking capabilities, that I rarely try to correct my mistake. Is there something you just cannot cook?
3 people like this
30 responses
@phoenix25 (1541)
• United States
4 Feb 09
How high do you have the heat turned up? I cook all meat on the medium heat setting on my stove. Meat is best to cook slowly so that it stays tender and doesn't get overcooked. You should give the bacon another shot! Just keep turning it over every few minutes to make sure both sides get cooked and take it out when it's at the point where you like it. Just keep in mind that bacon tends to get a little crisper once you take it out and drain it on paper towels, so don't cook it too crisp. I am a great cook, but honestly the thing that I can never seem to make right is macaroni and cheese! Every time I try to make macaroni and cheese from scratch (not from the box, no problem there) it doesn't turn out right. I've tried different recipes and different kinds of cheese...never works. Oh well. I'll just use boxed. No biggie.
• United States
4 Feb 09
My husband and son fight over my macaroni and cheese, and whenever there's a function I need to make a dish for, macaroni and cheese is the one requested. Perhaps it's just your recipe you're using. I also cook my meats on medium, but today I cooked bacon on medium low and it came out fine. I took a few pieces out before they were done, because I had to put them in the slow cooker for the soup I'm making, but the rest stayed in there until they were done, and I'm going to make a BLT out of them. Hubby did supervise though, lol.
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Feb 09
Ha, sadly I lost that recipe, but I have most of it memorized... here goes. About 4 cups cooked macaroni 2 cups mozz 3 cups cheddar (both mozz and cheddar should be shredded) about 3 cups milk dash of salt and pepper an egg mix all together, dump in a 9x13 dish, cover with foil, bake at 350 about 45 mins remove foil, stir, top with more cheddar (i usually do about another cup or so) leave uncovered and return to oven for another 10-15 mins let me know how it turns out for you
@phoenix25 (1541)
• United States
4 Feb 09
Can you send me your macaroni and cheese recipe or one similar to it? I'd love to try it. I'd like to be able to make it at least for holiday meals.
1 person likes this
@nchap36 (556)
• United States
4 Feb 09
Oh its a chef I can't think of her name right now. It's something Dean I think. The way she cook her bacon is in the deep fryer. She say it comes out so pretty and crispy. The next time we do bacon I'm try that. I don't really cook because of my condition, but I can teach. My daughter has been cooking every since she was 7. With my knowledge of cooking and her hands we make a good team. I can teach the worse cook to cook.
• United States
4 Feb 09
Paula Dean! She's my favorite chef of all time. I trust her more than any other, mostly because she's a big lady. You can't trust a skinny cook, like Rachel Ray. I just don't think skinny people can possibly make such good food if they're that skinny, you know? My opinion.
2 people like this
@phoenix25 (1541)
• United States
4 Feb 09
Rachael Ray isn't that skinny...but it's funny that you say that because my grandmother says the same thing about Rachael Ray. Whatevs, though...my grandmother weighs like 400 pounds. I weight in at a hearty, but smaller-than-my-weight-looking 220 pounds. I'm a good cook, but do we really have to be huge to be a good cook lol?
1 person likes this
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
4 Feb 09
Nothing really comes to mind that I can't cook. Maybe there is stuff I don't cook well but my husband just never had the guts to tell me lol. If I have a recipe I can usually do things pretty well. I know, I usually tend to burn biscuits. I just can't seem to get the timing down right on those.
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Feb 09
Yeah, I've done that too. Especially when I'm trying to cook a double batch, they always seem to mess up. But I learned my lesson, I do 1 batch at a time, and make sure to set the timer! I never walk away from the stove without setting that timer anymore.
1 person likes this
@4ofmyown (1119)
• United States
4 Feb 09
I hate cooking bacon!!! We have just recently started eating turkey bacon, mainly because it was cheaper than regular bacon at Costco but then we realized we all really liked it alot. And you don't get that yuck feeling after eating it like you do really bacon sometimes. I do miss my bacon fat to cook in though! One thing I always screw up is rice. Either the bottom of than burns or the rice is still a little crunchy. Once that happens, you're done, cause you can't really fix it. Another thing is hard boiled eggs. I cannot get the shell of half the time, but sometimes it comes off awesome. Maybe it's the eggs...not me. Also, about the turkey bacon...you can put it on a broiler pan in bake it in the oven, it is so easy and you don't get burned by the little spatters.
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Feb 09
I've messed up rice more times than I can count, normally when I'm cooking it as part of another dish, such as in a casserole, for some reason is just doesn't like to come out right that way for me. So now I cook it at least half way before adding it to the casserole. As for hard boiled eggs, I've heard they're best if they're at least a week old. If you try to boil some that you've just purchased, it's going to be a slight hassle.
1 person likes this
@fasttalker (2796)
• United States
4 Feb 09
I pride myslf on my cooking but I have never been able to make good cornbread. It either falls apart or you could use for a frisbie! LOL I have mastered gravy though. It used to b a major problem and hubby would always fix it but I have got it down pat now. Although I still play the card and make him fix it
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Feb 09
I've made my own cornbread from scratch once, and it came out well. Normally I just save myself the trouble and buy the box though. I personally don't notice a difference. We don't eat much gravy, only at holidays, and again, normally I'll buy the cans. I've tried gravy once or twice, and I guess I'm not too good at that either, but it's mostly because I haven't had the practice. I just prefer the cans of it.
2 people like this
@luvandpower (2048)
• United States
4 Feb 09
I can't cook rabbit stew right. It just doesn't turn out like my fathers, nto sure why.
2 people like this
• United States
4 Feb 09
Never had that, and not really interested in trying. Around here rabbits are pets, not food, lol.
2 people like this
• United States
4 Feb 09
Ha ha it is actually an americaqn dish, just my parents are like big hunter type people.
1 person likes this
@gracie04 (4549)
• Philippines
5 Feb 09
I'm a basic cook. I can cook easy to prepare meals. but i've never been able to cook scrambled egg properly.. yay! haha!
• United States
5 Feb 09
I swear that I'm no good at cooking eggs either, and my husband cooks beautiful eggs, but he always tells me he prefers the taste of my eggs to his. I've gotten better with cooking eggs, the one thing I can't do is flip an egg without breaking the yolk, but I think that has to do with the pan I use and the spatula. A cook is only as good as their equipment!
@rocketj1 (6955)
• United States
4 Feb 09
Now.... for this one I'm blaming the pan I had...... but I had a little trouble for about a month with, of all things, grilled cheese. I had a non-stick pan that should have been tossed I guess. I was a thin one (cheapie) and the temp would get too hot and if I was cooking other things to go with the meal, I would forget about the sandwiches and suddenly they would be burned! Other times, I would turn the temp down and they would basically fall apart! I was starting to get a concept about it! Here I am , a great cook for over 20 years and now I couldn't even make a decent grilled cheese! I have since thrown away that pan and use a heavier one and do not have any of those problems anymore! Thank goodness!! I love grilled cheese!
• United States
4 Feb 09
I normally make grilled cheese on the griddle, so much easier. But when I don't feel like dragging the griddle down, I will just use my skillet. My skillet cost $30, and we've had it maybe a year, but it's already time to replace it. I use the darn thing at least once a day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, it's like my favorite pan, so all the non stick-ness has warn away. It's definitly time for a new one. Paula Dean just came out with a line of cookware and I want it!!
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Feb 09
Every item in her cookware set comes with a recipe inside! Just the thought of that is making me drool!
@rocketj1 (6955)
• United States
4 Feb 09
I love Paula Dean, gurl-fren!!
@TnWoman (1895)
• United States
5 Feb 09
hello katsmeow i really cannot make homemade bread all that good. i can never get my homemade yeast bread to turn out properly. it either has a really good taste to it and it will be too doughy or heavy. lol or it seems like sometimes when i bake my homemade bread, it doesn't act like it rises enough while it is in the oven. i would love to be able to make delicious homemade sweet yeast bread or rolls that turned out perfect every time that i made them. take care and have a beauitful evening.
• United States
5 Feb 09
Bread is tricky, and it took me quite a while to get it down pat. The water has to be a specific tempurature. Actually what I do is melt the butter in the water, and heat that up quite a bit, then I take it off the heat and let it cool till about 125 degrees. In the meantime I mix a cup of flour, a tbsp of sugar, and a tsp of salt along with 2 tsps of yeast in a bowl. Once the water is at the right temp I add the flour mix to the water, then add 3 or 4 more cups of flour until it's the right consistancy. Kneed it for awhile, then leave it for half an hour or longer to rise, covered of course. Then I'll place it in my bread pan while preheating the oven, cover it with foil and let it rise again while the oven is heating. This time I do not punch it down, I let it stay risen when I put it in the oven.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
5 Feb 09
I'm o.k. with bacon but not with fish.I adore smoked salmon and I can't spoil that but the downside of this is that because of its expense I rarely buy more than once or twice a year. I have one white fish recipe that is good - or I should day that I can cook. I season with salt and pepper and garlic, whit fillets. The I brown them in butter and turn them once. Then I add orange some juice and let it simmer for a few minutes before serving. That's it. No other recipe concerning fish can I do.
• United States
5 Feb 09
I've never cooked fish, because we don't really like it much. Fried haddock is the only fish we like, and that's rare. When we get that, we'll have someone else fry it like the store, or we'll get it at a fish fry place.
@raxxie (128)
• Mexico
4 Feb 09
I'd like to cook rice mexican style but I can't. It gets like pudding :(
1 person likes this
@user_786 (1338)
4 Feb 09
There are so many things i cant cook instead :) I like cooking and often learn new dishes but still i could have learned more.
1 person likes this
@dik_an (475)
• Malaysia
5 Feb 09
I can not cook crabs! I don't know how make it taste nicely. Should I break the shell before I cook and how to make sure that the inner part of the crab is already cooked? The most difficult to cook fish soup is to make the stinky smell disappear. I try to use tomatoes or lime or ginger but suddenly the taste of the fish will less strong.
• United States
5 Feb 09
I've never cooked crab, but my husband does. You don't cook them for very long, so far as I can remember, but no, you should not break the shell, at least not until after if you want to see if it's cooked or not.
• China
5 Feb 09
I wash the dishes and bowls everytimes, becaus I cann't cook.so,there are many things I can cook.
• China
5 Feb 09
sorry, made a mistake, there are many things I cann't cook.But I like eating .
• India
11 Feb 09
If i start telling 'what i cant cook' that list will be endless....the only thing i can cook is omlette....
@GreenMoo (11833)
6 Feb 09
My husband cooks these wonderful courgettes (zucchinis?), fried in olive oil with pepper. When I try to cook them they just turn to mush and taste like oily sludge. I have no idea what he does differently!!
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
5 Feb 09
I used to be able to cook bacon, but lately It has been coming out bad. I was thinking it was my skillet. Now I buy the microwave bacon from Aldi's. I can get fifteen slices, much cheaper than the raw bacon bought from the supermarket. But the one thing I can not cook is a meatloaf. I have tried all kinds of recipes but my meatloaf is terrible. Whenever I make it, I will not eat it, that's how bad it is.
• United States
5 Feb 09
Aww, that's too bad. I love meatloaf, and make it periodically. Even my husband is starting to like it now, and he never did before. Bacon comes out best on the griddle, but even I tend to mess it up there, because I have the heat up way to high.
• United States
10 Feb 09
i consider myself a very good cook however i cant make a pie crust from scratch to save my but. and i have a friend who doesn't even eat pie and she can whip them up with out even reading anything. can anyone help me or am i a lost cause.. as for the bacon my sis uses the precooked kind you heat in micro since she like you has probs making bacon
• Philippines
5 Feb 09
they said that everybody can cook but not everybody should not cook. i think my cooking skill sucks i tried thousand time but i cant cook. :(
• Philippines
11 Feb 09
I am a cook myself. But if you ask me what food can't i cook because i haven't tried to cook yet is Paella. They say that it is difficult to cook since there are lots of ingredients. And you need a good Paellera for that food to be cooked. Since i am in a foreign country, i won't be able to prepare that dish here.