If I could a buffalo chicken chili kale salad would the show off my cooking skills?

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Patnou@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

Mother says I can not cook. And can only order out but she told me that she will give me one WED. in Sept. to cook. And I want to show her I can be on the level of her. Only things I can come up with to impress is buffalo chicken chili kale salad or a 7 layered lasagna. Really asking for help here.

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CombatWombat@feddit.online ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Whatever you do, don’t make something for the first time. If you’re looking to impress, adding an array of side dishes, like rolls, potatoes, steamed vegetables, green salad, fruit salad etc is much more effective than one really killer main.

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southsamurai@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I mean, can you cook? It isn’t like we’re born knowing how, and the learning curve is real. You eat your own food, presumably. Is it good, or just edible?

That matters because if you seek praise, and you can’t tell if you can cook, chances are high that you can’t.

Being a good cook isn’t about recipes. It’s about practice. Doing things over and over until you don’t have to think about timing or ingredients. In terms of your specific idea, have you mastered that dish well enough that your chicken is juicy, safely cooked, and flavorful? That’s going to be the part anyone judgy is going to be right about if they find fault. If you can’t cook the chicken right, the sauce don’t mean shit.

If you can, then those flavors will absolutely slap yo mama in the face and make her ask for more.

Lasagna is easier. Well, more labor intensive, but easier to not fuck up, depending on the stuff in between the pasta. So if you’re just an okay cook, go with that. It’s just a lot more forgiving when trying to feed someone that’s looking for faults. You can still fuck it up, but as long as you don’t go that far, it’s a very filling, satisfying dish.

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- orgrinrt@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  And doing lasagne from your own raw pasta is one of the easiest possible cases for that. No need to noodle or shape, or dry for that matter, just fresh pasta rolled thin will be amazing and give it a bit of a personal touch and “oomph”. It’s like 15 minutes extra active work beyond the waits, and most people will be impressed since not many do it. One of the easier ways to score some “wow” factor if it ends up good. Which, lasagne, is almost guaranteed to do since it’s so forgiving like you say.
  
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RBWells@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
What does she like to eat, and why is she demanding you cook only on one day as some bizarre test?

If you make a kale salad and she doesn’t like kale, it won’t work. It could be amazing and she might still say it sucks.

Personally I’d be inclined to not play that game at all. If you like your own cooking you are fine. But if you are going to play, consider your audience.

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Treczoks@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Well, that depends on how good you make it, and on if the other person likes it.

If you actually can cook, make a dish that a) your mom likes and b) that you can easily make because you have done it often enough.

Producing something from a random recipe off the internet, or worse, a chatbot, that happens to look fancy, but you are doing this first ever on this day, well, that is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

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- orgrinrt@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yeah I’d recommend not to overthink it. Just cook what you usually cook, especially the kind you just “know” how to do without any recipes, eyes closed.
  
  But if you really don’t have any such, your mom might be right. In which case you have some time to prep before if you really want to prove something that isn’t necessarily true as such. Enough to learn, enough to get some habits and routine going so you won’t need any references at hand.
  
  Trying too much or something too new to prove a point might turn out to prove the opposite point you want.
  
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BassTurd@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Make everything from scratch, and make sure you can do it successfully before trying it live if you want to show off.

It’s not very flashy, but I make green bean casserole from scratch every thanksgiving. Instead of buying canned beans and cream of mushroom, get green beans from produce and prep them, make a roux, chop some fresh mushrooms and make your own sauce. I do buy fries onion rather than make my own, but that’s an option. All of that is extremely easy to do, looks impressive to people who don’t know how to cook, and tastes better.

For lasagna, make the sauce instead of buying it.

A buffalo chicken salad can be good an option, but you probably need to make the chicken yourself rather than just throwing precooked buff chicken on some kale.

If you can make a dessert in advance that will add to your cause. If you have a spring form pan, NY style cheesecake is very easy to make and provides the option for people to choose their own toppings.

Soups are a good choice. Most require some level of prep like making a mirepoix and can be made as a side dish. Most are prep and then wait, so the soup can cook while you’re doing other cooking.

Salmon in a cast iron or stainless is easy and looks impressive. Start skin side down, butter baste, and finish by sticking the whole pan in the over. Just don’t over do it.

Just make sure everything is cooked all of the way through and nothing is burnt. Whatever you decide, I say find a recipe, or something similar to what you have planned online, and get a good feel for time and temp, because those will ruin anything you’ve done prior if you get it wrong.

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bassicvgyn@lemmy.vg ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
What is your relationship to your mom? The way you describe it, it sounds like she is putting you down which is sad and not ok. Shouldn’t she help you learn if she feels you don’t know? What is the point of giving you one day to prove yourself? But maybe there is context I am missing.

As others have said, you develop your ability to cook through repeated use, trial and error, and ideally knowledge passed down from your family. If you want to become someone who can cook, it won’t happen after one try or ten. Just keep trying out recipes that sound good to you, and treat each one as a learning experience. Overtime you will build up recipes that you have memorized and can riff on confidently.

You must like to cook, since you want to prove you can. Whatever you make, take your time, trust your gut, and do it to feed yourself something you like. Cooking is a personal thing, just because not everyone likes what you make doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

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wesker@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
i think the key is to put a lot of love in it. just pump it full of love.

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Tetsuo@jlai.lu ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I suggest a Tiramisu as a dessert.

It’s not too complicated to do but you need decent ingredients and especially at least half decent mascarpone and good (strong coffee).

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HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Ive got a super simple recipe for thai fish curry if youre interested.

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haywire7@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Depending on your tastes a cottage pie or moussaka are simple (each has their own challenges like the mash on the cottage pie) but they are tasty and can look quite good in a big crock pot or something.

If you are doing this to impress then no matter what, tidy up after yourself and have a plan for any leftovers if you make too much.

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