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Plenty of "real" cooks use cookbooks and recipes. And, speaking of art, "real" artists use rough sketches. Bartenders often have a book with drink recipes behind the bar. I've seen physicians whip out a copy of the "Physician's Desk Reference" during an office visit. This doesn't mean that any of the above are incompetent. Lots of people use reference materials, guides, etc. Because we are human, not robots. We can't just pluck knowledge out of thin air, nor can we retain all there is to know about a particular subject.
Your MIL sounded like she was one of those that was insecure about her son's wife "usurping" her role in his life. When he complimented your cooking she could have just said "that's good" and then kept her mouth shut.
My memory isnt so good that i can remember hundreds if not thousands of recipes and their ingredients without using a cook book as a loose reference or to come up with creative ideas as to what to cook and how to cook it.
Over time i've been more using my computer as my main cook book rather than the hundreds of cook books i have in the book case.
Tonight i'll be scouring the computer for something new for Chicken breasts.
Oh, b.s. I get great ideas from cookbooks. Now I may tweak the recipes to make them taste better (IMO), but I don't believe real cooks don't use cookbooks. That being said, my mother is the closest to a master cook/chef I have ever met (can do practically any dish from any ethnicity, etc, and make it taste magnificent), and I've never seen her look at a recipe. It makes it hard for her when she teaches cooking classes.
If real cooks don't use cookbooks, how do you explain recipes from such chefs as the ones on the Food network or cook books by Julia Childs and James Beard? Of course real cooks use cook books, but they also have a knack for creating something a little different. We all have a talent, something we do better than others, most good cooks have a creative section in their brain that needs to be used, but they also have a reading section in their brain that says "read the recipe dummy"
I feel that cooking is instinctive.. and you either "have it or you don't", like other things. I will know how long to cook each segment of my meal and really cannot be interrupted since there is a "science" to it. I am not really a cookbook person, myself. Once I know how to make something, it is in my head and do so naturally. I will know how much of an ingredient to add, based whatever amount of other ingredients I'm using, when making deviled eggs, macaroni salad, soups, etc. Now, if it is something that requires specific measurements, that's different and ALWAYS follow a recipe when baking, which I think is necessary.
Oh, b.s. I get great ideas from cookbooks. Now I may tweak the recipes to make them taste better (IMO), but I don't believe real cooks don't use cookbooks. That being said, my mother is the closest to a master cook/chef I have ever met (can do practically any dish from any ethnicity, etc, and make it taste magnificent), and I've never seen her look at a recipe. It makes it hard for her when she teaches cooking classes.
What about the cooks on shows such as "Top Chef", where they will create something on the spot. These people are already very skilled, experienced and knowledgeable about food before entering these contests, but it will show them running around to get ingredients they need and throwing something together, during the timed competition. They do so naturally and are not following recipes. I think this is an example of what is being addressed here.
How else would anyone learn how to make stuff without learning from a recipe or cookbook? I can see it now, "what is this"? "Oh just a few things I threw together, gravy, apples, duct tape, onions, oysters. Since I'm a real cook I don't follow recipes".
Anyway, I learned from recipes from friends, a few cookbooks. Then take those and tweak them to my tastes.
What about the cooks on shows such as "Top Chef", where they will create something on the spot. These people are already very skilled, experienced and knowledgeable about food before entering these contests, but it will show them running around to get ingredients they need and throwing something together, during the timed competition. They do so naturally and are not following recipes. I think this is an example of what is being addressed here.
But they learned the recipes initially. They learned what goes what together based on that knowledge. I also have heard them say again and again that they wished they had their recipes. I have also heard them say numerous times, "I use this recipe at my restaurant."
What about the cooks on shows such as "Top Chef", where they will create something on the spot. These people are already very skilled, experienced and knowledgeable about food before entering these contests, but it will show them running around to get ingredients they need and throwing something together, during the timed competition. They do so naturally and are not following recipes. I think this is an example of what is being addressed here.
No.
That is not "natural."
That is based on experience.
Based on experience of having cooked recipes from cookbooks, I now have a good feel for which flavors go well together, what needs to be cooked for how long, etc.
You can bet money that most of those "on the fly" dishes on those shows have been done before in one form or another.
My mother never used a cookbook.
Sometimes , as a kid, I would ask why something didn't taste right and she would reply............" maybe I forgot something this time "
Wish she would have used a cookbook more often.
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