Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I was thinking of all you this morning as I practiced taking cleansing breaths. I was making brunch and my 18 year old came in and took over the egg making portion of the meal as she believes she makes killer scrambled eggs. I did get her to turn the heat down but bit my tongue hard as she added a goodly portion of Aromat (a Swiss, mostly MSG, flavoring that often takes the place of any real cooking skills) and a bit too much milk. And I ate them and smiled and thanked her profusely.

I am by far the best cook in my little kingdom of 4 but don't want to be the only one. Nothing would turn them off more than me back seat driving but damn it is hard to let those little birdies fly solo. How do I get them to up their skills without them realizing I am doing it? Is there any way I can get someone else to serve me a decent plate of scrambled eggs?

Mary

You could come to our house. We make killer scrambled eggs.
fitzie

I wish I could help but it's all I can do not to scream at DH "get the hell out of my kitchen!" whenever he undertakes something. He also thinks he makes killer scrambled eggs, and to his credit he is getting better but he also uses too much milk and he lets them get brown sometimes (yuck).

He wants to help and I want him to help, but even though I've showed him several times how to dice an onion, he always produces large, irregular chunks. He sees no difference from my end result. Sigh.

Honey turns eggs into little egg-nuttles - just awful. Kids think it takes a carton of eggs to make scrambled eggs. When there is a perfectly good cook in their midst, why do they suddenly think they shine at making breakfast? Probably the same syndrome that makes guys who don't cook think they can barbeque/grill??

My problem is that I am kind of split. I want my husband cheerfully manning the barbecue and the kids happily making their suck ass scrambled eggs while I leaf through the latest Cosmo. In reality I am only pretending to flip through my glossy mag while in fact I am making a mental list of what they are doing wrong. I strongly believe they need to make some mistakes to learn but it is rough hanging back.

I think tomorrow, when the house is all mine again, I am going to scramble myself a couple eggs and eat them while I read.

Mary

How about offering cash prizes? Or iTunes credits, whatever.

Seriously though, it might work.

I am much better at not jumping all over the hubby when he gets in there.

Dare I suggest you buy them (for a gift of course) the CK cook-along video thingy?! Make sure they get KP duty too, it's all part of cooking.

I refined my scrambled egg technique after reading Jean-Georges Vongerichten'sSimple to Spectacular. The book introduces a base recipe and then builds on the primary ingredient from there.

He has a recipe called "Best Scrambled Eggs," and he's right. No extravagant ingredients, just eggs, butter, S&P. It's all in the technique. They are the best, creamiest eggs I've ever eaten. It's the only way I make scrambled eggs.

You might want to give her a copy of the book and dogear the page.

Amy

Who adds milk to scrambled eggs?

That's the first issue ... shouldn't be any milk at all. I use 1-2 tsp of half & half. That's it.

Anyway, the problem with teaching people to cook is that they have to want to learn. If turn it into a lesson, they'll stop making it. Personally, I learned to cook by trial & error and having nobody there to help.

On the other hand, a good way to teach them would be to enlist their help in dishes which really could use more than one person, preferably things they really like. If they're in the kitchen with you, they'll watch how you do things.

I don't add milk to scrambled eggs (basically because my mom never did) and just use eggs, butter and s & p and cook them slow. My husband and daughters do use milk as he insists you must (his mom must make them with milk). His are OK though.
I think I just have to not overwhelm them with help and give them just 1 tiny tip at a time and in about 100 years I will get my egg. I learned to cook by trial and error too and I don't want to make other people's food I want to make mine so I totally get that they don't want me playing Mama Know-it-all. And they do help me out and ask questions and basically do an ok job. I am the one with the problem and need to hold myself back in order that they make those mistakes and learn their own way of doing things. I think the answers probably lies in more alcohol.

Mary