Your real life baking skill?

[Unapuma]

What is your baking skill in real life?

[jamazar]

300 - Can do all recipes in the whole world and never fail

wouldn't that be nice

[GrimwoodCT]

Gourmet ice cream and gelato: 300
Red meat: 200+
Chicken/poultry: 200+
Salads: 200+
Bread/baking: 50

[KyrosKrane]

Honest to goodness, I almost managed to set fire to my apartment just by boiling water...

[gggrant]

Honest to goodness, I almost managed to set fire to my apartment just by boiling water...

Heh, while I do very well with some things that don't involve actual baking, when it comes to things like bread, cake and pies (you know, BAKING)...

Well, lets just say when I turn on an oven, prepare for armageddon.

[Tiroon]

Well I never fail putting 7 items into a picnic basket.

[Aetemius]

300 at the grill. /em Rawr manly grilling stuff!

225 everything else.

[Queletan]

hmmm...

50 - Most things baked (bread, cookies, etc) that aren't in a pillsbury can

100 - Breakfasts, Pastas (really good at alfredo based stuff, no patience to do complex things like lasagnas etc)

200 - Most things Sauteed, Fish, Cheesecakes

250 - Steaks and other land based meats, sandwiches, anything grilled

300 - Chili, Beer Brats

Q

[Azerik]

Anyone in danger of burning water, look up the show on Food Network called Good Eats. The host, Alton Brown, is the reason I no longer fear the concept of cooking from scratch and I can tell the done-ness level of a steak (or most other meats) simply by poking it.

He has a couple books out too, but they aren't quite as accessible as watching his show. Track them down (Wed on FoodTV, or the dvd's at foodnetwork.com) you will *not* regret it. The only caveat is be careful who you make these for, after doing his thanksgiving turkey process everyone in my family declared that they would no longer be cooking on Thanksgiving, they were all coming to my house. ;-)

[Xodar]

I realized early on I liked to eat, so have a lot of years of experience as an amateur hehe, none as a professional. I've done some esoteric stuff though, I can make a souffle that will rise and a hollandaise that will stay together. I dated a young lady who was an aspiring pastry chef for six months or so as well hehe, so at the very least I can make the things I like.

Personally I'd have to petition for a category between gourmet and King that is "I bought special knives and utensils" hehe. Everything I do may not be king worthy, but if you've started amassing gear, own a couple damascus knives, a microplane, and a mandolin, cooking is at least a hobby

[Grenoble]

You have become better at Poptarts (3)

[Unapuma]

Bad morning for me:

"You lacked the skills to fashion the items together."
Did not salvage the bread or the toaster.

Ended up with a too well done toast. The toaster's toasted apparently. Got to get a new one now. If I hadn't been in the kitched, I wouldn't have noticed the toaster was taking too long or the smoke that started coming out. It was set at setting of 3 (max 5) and should have popped at golden brown color. It didn't pop.

I can confirm the recipe is trival =>17 since it did fail on me.

[Zacatac]

I made the following recipe last week. I figure anything with that many items must be at least 200 trivai.

Indian Muligatawny Soup
4 quarts water (16 cups)
6 cups chicken stock
2 potatoes, peeled & sliced
2 carrots, peeled & sliced
2 stalks celery, with tops
2 cups peeled & diced eggplant (about 1/2 of an eggplant)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup frozen yellow corn
2/3 cup canned roasted red pepper, diced
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 cup roasted cashews
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
dash marjoram
dash nutmeg

1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot over high heat.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 hours or until soup has reduced by more than half, and is thick and brownish in color. It should have the consistency of chili. Stir occasionally for the first few hours, but stir often in the last hour. The edges of the potatoes should become more rounded, and the nuts will soften. Serve hot.

[Lilandraa]

ashamed of my lack of baking skills

if there is a recipe I can probably cook it, but have no instincts whatsoever about what goes with what. and definately need a cooking thermometer to tell me when the thanksgiving turkey is done

[Gorse]

Bad morning for me:

"You lacked the skills to fashion the items together."
Did not salvage the bread or the toaster.

Ended up with a too well done toast. The toaster's toasted apparently. Got to get a new one now. If I hadn't been in the kitched, I wouldn't have noticed the toaster was taking too long or the smoke that started coming out. It was set at setting of 3 (max 5) and should have popped at golden brown color. It didn't pop.

I can confirm the recipe is trival =>17 since it did fail on me.

A couple quick concepts about toasters (bread style, not toaster ovens).

If it is the first heating of the day, it will toast longer as the "auto" pop up is a mechanical device which works mostly the same way as your thermostat. Usually they are by metallic with one metal heating faster than the other once it moves enough it releases and pops up.

Sometimes the bread (especially if it is bent or folded or oversized) can catch and prevent the mechanical release, if it catches too early it can"hold" itself in place and it can still keep toasting (this sounds like what happened to you).

Also, if that does happen then the toaster builds up a lot of heat, so if you try to put in another piece of toast, it will autmatically release since the mechanical device is hot enough to think it should be releasing. Also many newer toasters have an audio alarm (sounds kind of like grinding inside the toaster) which will also activate when it is too hot (it also makes the same noise the entire time the previously mentioned oversized/bent bread was over cooking.

Nothing is wrong in this case, the toaster is doing what it is supposed to do. Let the toaster cool down and try again. Also most of this same information is in the operators manual. =)




I will also second the Alton Brown comments including the warning, I have now made that Turkey recipe myself the last four years.



Gorse