How many shadetree chefs we got?

[66KingFisher]

Bassboss's recent thread on "best leftovers" got me to wonderin how many of you big ol burly boys out there know yer way around a kitchen....and I ain't jest talkin about eatin....i'm talkin bout cookin.

When I was just knee high to a duck, my momma started havin me help out in the kitchen with preparing the meals....I guess that always stuck with me cause i've always enjoyed cooking....not just the typical man thang of burnin a chunk of dead cow over some chared wood on the weekend....but more the chef thing....all around cook....I have gone so far as to officially fire my wife as the dinner chef and I now prepare 95% of our evening meals...we eat out the other 4% which just leaves 1% for her.....Working from home does give me a bit more time around the house then the average guy, but even when I worked 40 hours a week for the man i'd still rather cook then let her....lol...I know that sounded terrible, but the truth was my wifes cooking was too "plane jane" and I could always blow her away in the kitchen....she's the kind of person that was happy with hamburger helper....(follow the directions exactly)....open a can of corn and theres dinner.........I can't do that and must modify all meals with extra spices and ingredience(sp?)along with better side dishes....so we worked it out so that I cook all the evening meals and she cleans up....she loads and I unload.....Its worked out great believe it or not, and she must love my food cause she's gained.....Weeeeeeell, we won't go there.....lol.....i'm joking honey, i'm joking.

I'm a lover of spicey foods and always have been....Mexican and Tex-Mex style foods make up 50% of the meals I prepare.....I make some mean chicken fajitas....a version of Chicken mexicana and an Carne-ala ranchero dish that are to die for.....My family also raves about my chili as long as I don't make it too hot for them.....I love side dishes like Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon and grilled.....Mmmmmmmm.....Baked potato skins with all the fixin's....Baked beans with ham, bacon and jalapeno's and onions....etc,etc.

Beyond that I love stuff like Italian foods but i'm new at them and have a hard time obtaining some ingrediants here in the boonies of Arkansas....lol....I do have my own recipe for a wicked Chicken fettichini alfredo.....and a Spagetti with meat sauce that gets doctor'd up with extras.....and a recipe for Lasagna spiked with pepperoni's that I got from the Food networks website.....lol.

I also like cajun food, but I haven't been able to reproduce the tastes I get when i've been to cajun restaraunts in Louisiana....hopefully one of these days I'll get some good recipes to that I can get to come out right.....lol

I've got a wok, and do a bit of Chinese stirfry now and then.....some items have turned out killer while others were just so-so.....the ol'lady likes some of it so I make it occasionally for her.

I do a little baking, but not alot....I've got a bread maker and have used it several times with good success.....I love making cookies from scratch, and occasionally i'll bake a pie....but mostly I bake cookies.

Yes, I love the Food network....and thanks to them i'm always trying something new....I used to watch it all the time till we decided to stop paying for broadcast tv, so I can no longer watch the food channels, but I do keep up with them online and the Food networks got a great line up of chefs and recipes....lots of videos and helpful cooking ideas for those interested....there are several more cooking sites that I frequent but I won't bore you with the details.

So thats it....the cats outta the bag.....I'm a big'ol manly guy that loves ta cook, so's ya'll might as well join me and lets hear who else of you big burly boys like ta cook?

If there be enough of us, maybe we need to start our own recipe thread and do a bit of sharin?.....I just put a good'un on the "leftovers thread" if'n yer hungry.

[1/4 stick]

Yea man What you just said is almost me. Except I really have to be in the mood for anything hot, spicy I love, just not usually hot. Though I will on occasion, especially when I get the first tomatos out of the garden and they start coming in more than we eat, I get some of the hot peppers I have planted and make a salsa that will melt your ears.

And I don't have a wife anymore. Thank God! (who said that? )

My father retired as head chef at the VA in town, and I was always under foot when Grandma was cooking so I picked up a lot of southern style cooking from her. So I sorta guess it's in my blood.

I like to experiment too, with the exception of my chicken and pastry (real pastry that I roll myself) and a couple other things, I rarely make the samething the same way, but I rarely get complaints.

[crankybait]

I had to learn to cook last summer when i was staying in the Bronx. Either that or eat at the same place for breakfast lunch or dinner for 2 and a half months, which i wasn't feeling...
I'm pretty solid with thai food, just a bunch of coconut milk and spices. Not much cooking "technique" there. I always love to cook seafood, and have pulled out some crazy shrimp/salmon dishes. Of course I usually use more butter than anything else, but hey I can wait to worry about clogged arteries later because food just tastes so good.

[BigBassin144]

Actually, I have changed my mind a bit, but I originally wanted to attend culinary school and be a chef.

seafood, being my favorite to eat, is also one of my favorites to cook. I also know my way out of the kitchen and to the grill, cause that's probably my favorite way to cook.


BB

[Jim80]

I am mean with a grill and not to bad in the kitchen myself


Jim

[JB]

i love to cook too and learned the same way you did king. My mom was a home economics teacher and always cooked. Then later her class would make daily dishes to simulate them cooking at home and we'd always get one to bring home, and she'd tell me how to fix it. My wifes mother was a restaurant cook all her life and showed me lots of other southern dishes that we still cook all the time. I do all the cooking around here, I grill out most of the time

[flfireman]

Always cooking, at work and at home. Just made baked stuffed pork chops last night. Made chicken marsala the other day. No real specialty, but can cook most stuff. Don't think I own a recipe book.

[MallenManson]

I know my way around the kitchen quite well. A lot of what I make involves the BBQ grill though.
Some of my specialties would be
Char Crusted Steak
Shishkabobs
Ribs
Mallenburgers
And definitely my baked beans.

Love my slow cooker as well.
Always confuses me when people don't know how to cook. If you can follow a recipe, you can cook. If you're not afraid to experiment, you can be a great cook

[nofearengineer]

I know how to cook...but I'm very out of practice. I spent about ten years in there where most of my cooked food came out of a microwave LOL. It's called being too busy. Of course, that's around the same time I worked myself into the hospital hehe.

[MallenManson]

If I ever am able to retire, there's 2 things that would keep me busy. Fishing and cooking.
Maybe 3 things...knockin on bama's door and running away to hide. I'd do it just to be called a daggum whippersnapper

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

Actually, I have changed my mind a bit, but I originally wanted to attend culinary school and be a chef.

seafood, being my favorite to eat, is also one of my favorites to cook. I also know my way out of the kitchen and to the grill, cause that's probably my favorite way to cook.


BB

I gave a lot of thought to taking courses in cooking, simply because I had the GI Bill and love to cook. Never wanted to be a chef, but if I could have become a better cook at home on the government's dime, why not?

[66KingFisher]

Well out of a 100 views we got 10 replies so were runnin about 10% of us guys enjoy cooking or grilling.....I guess thats not bad.....least its nice to know I ain't the only weirdo....lol

Tonite I wasn't in the mood to cook but I already had chicken thawed sooooooo.....I had to keep it simple and quick so I made my "HotRod chicken strips".....cut some chicken breasts into thin strips and coat them with a mixture of "Shake-n-bake original" mixed with a 1/3 cup of Parmesian cheese and however much cayanne pepper you care to spice it up with.....bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.....quick and easy....serve with baked beans and/or french fries.....Mmmmm, mmmmmm.

[WaffleJaw]

Originally Posted by MallenManson

I know my way around the kitchen quite well. A lot of what I make involves the BBQ grill though.
Some of my specialties would be
Char Crusted Steak
Shishkabobs
Ribs
Mallenburgers
And definitely my baked beans.

Love my slow cooker as well.
Always confuses me when people don't know how to cook. If you can follow a recipe, you can cook. If you're not afraid to experiment, you can be a great cook

dare i ask how you make em?....alot of screaming and knives?,lol

im trying my best to be better on the grill and in the kitchen.....since im on a diet,its been aloooooooooot of chicken brst and ground turkey meat..so im getting dangerous on the grill with that.(do i sound like a man,yet?).everything else is pretty much simple to prepare...

66- that chicken recipe sounds pretty good...i dont bake chicken alot,might have to try that out..keep em coming!

[BigBassin144]

with avacado and tomato.

Made this the other night and it was really good. Just though I'd share.

What you need:

-2 shallots
-2 cloves of garlic
-1 stick and 2 Tbs of butter
-some white wine (amt. depends on how much your gonna drink ) (I used chardonnay)
-approx. 2lbs of fish (I used Halibut, but the recipe called for sea bass. you can really use whatever you want though, but I'd stick with a fish that the meat is white)
-1 avacado
-1 large tomato (beefsteak work great)
salt and pepper

First, take a small sauce pan. heat a Tbs of butter along with a Tbs of olive oil in the bottom. Chop your garlic and shallots and sautee them in the pan until shallots are translucent (like a house ).

Then add about two cups of wine to the pan. bring it to a boil, then lower it so a simmer. You need to let almost all of it cook out, leavin about 1/4 inch in the bottom of the pan.

While that's happening, cut your fish (if it's in a steak like the haibut I used) into 1/2" thick slices. In another pan, add a Tbs of oil and a Tbs of butter. Fry the pieces of fish, seasoning each side once with salt and pepper. don't squish them in the pan, make a couple batches if you need to. Set these aside for a minute.

When the wine cooks out enough, add the stick of butter and let it melt. Them pull it off the heat.

Remove the seed from the avacado, and cut it into 8 wedges. use a spoon to remove the skin. Cut the tomato into 8 wedges.

Place two tomato and two avacado wedges on your plate, a put a piece or two of fish, depnding on how big the pieces are. Then put a spoonful or two of the wine, shallot, and butter sauce over the top.

Serves 4.

Tips.

Make sure you cut the avacado right before serving or it'll get brown. you still might want to drizzle some lemon juice on it to keep it from turning brown.

don't cook the wine sauce too longer after the cutter is added, the butter will burn.

BB

[MallenManson]

66- That sounds like a great recipe!

Waffle- NO BURGER FOR YOU!