Are you a control freak?

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Well, Jay Rayner calls it meddling.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/s ... he-kitchen

[Suffs Profile]

I really hate cooking in other people’s kitchens ... so I just leave them to get on with it ... and put up with the results ... smiling nicely through gritted teeth and thanking the cook god a lovely meal

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Jay won't ever be invited here for a meal then - anyone who messes with my food cooking away risks getting their fingers chopped!
Real Time!!!

I think that's the height of rudeness - if you don't like what other people are cooking for you & think you can do better, then it's simplees - just don't accept the invite, & do your hosts a favour!

I'm pretty sure he's posted this just to be controversial...………..

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Of course he did!

[WWordsworth Profile]

We are staying with friends just outside Murcia.
Tonight I have cooked a fish stew on a bl%%dy electric hob.

That was hard work.

I have poached the hake, fried the calamari and made the base.
I have now retired with a Tanqueray Lime and tonic, the components will be assembled when we are ready to eat.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Enjoy that Gin....!

Murcia is a lovely place to stay

[WWordsworth Profile]

Had a wander round the cathedral today.
Spectacular.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

It is a very spectacular cathedral.

We have Spanish friends who live in Murcia & every Xmas they send us a whole leg of jamon - how it gets through customs I don't want to know...… it's always huge & delicious!

[WWordsworth Profile]

What an amazing gift.

Fish stew assembled and consumed.
The chorizo / tomato / onion / chilli / garlic base plus hake, calamari, clams and prawns.

I am excused washing up.

Couldn't get fresh fennel anywhere.

[WWordsworth Profile]

PS the weather is atrocious.
Torrential rain, thunder & lightning.

The rain is coming under the front door

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Am on my way - that meal is straight up my street...……..!!

But I'll be late - so I'll have to sweep the water from the door..!! No problem.....I'll do anything for a good meal!

Hope all is well with you

[Joanbunting Profile]

I don't ever cook in other peoples kitchens - other than ds when he askes me to i am however a huge control freak in my own

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Jay wasn’t cooking, he was passing by. That’s why it was a provocative article,

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Jay would probably get a smack up the hooter if he said that when I was cooking. Politely, of course.
If I´m cooking, then it´s my recipe and, generally, I know what I´m doing, so any suggestions are usually ignored.
If things get heavy ( like when my wife comes in) I take off my apron and offer it….
I suppose it´s the Chef - Sous chef thing!!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I may have tendencies in that direction...

The trick is probably to give me a slow fiddly job to do in a corner, to keep me out of the way - bearding mussels, podding and skinning broad beans, that kind of thing

I remember when we left uni. A group of 4, not generally keen cooks, decided to cook a celebratory paella from a book, and requested no interference. I and one of them were alone in the kitchen, and I noticed she was chopping more garlic than even I would enjoy. I commented that this seemed a lot. so she showed me the recipe, which said 2 cloves. I selected the two nicest looking cloves from the head in front of her and said “that’s 2 cloves, you are chopping 2 heads”. I then apologised for interfering but fortunately she felt there was a difference between interfering, and allowing her to ruin a treat. I took my coffee and left

My mum used to wash equipment I was using - I’d put down a spoon, reach for it and it wouldn’t be there, it would be on the draining board

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Well, I'm told I'm easy going and a delight in another kitchen.
My sister won't let anyone else cook in her huge kitchen, that frankly, has everything. (Some of it should be thrown away, she's a hoarder, but a very tidy one).

I'm the only one she will sit back, and allow to just get on with it, although she prefers it if we cook together.
I'll start prep first thing when I get up at 6am, so it all looks effortless when it's not really.

Last year, I was surprised she didn't know how to make gravy. And interfered not one bit, as she added gravy flavouring this, chicken enhancer that.
Inside my head tho, I was premeditating the roux + juices.
But it's her home, not mine.

[cherrytree Profile]

It was typical Jay Rayner. Great fun and self deprecating. When you read any of his articles you know what you’re going to get. His review of the restaurant in that extremely posh Paris hotel is one of the highlights of my culinary reading anywhere in my whole life.

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

I do like Jay Rayner. I haven't read that many of his articles but he always comes across well whenever I've seen him on the TV.

As far as control freakery in the kitchen is concerned, I never used to be like that. However, since Mr Strictly and my health conditions have been diagnosed, I have needed to exercise a certain amount of control over what we eat and any specific preparation requirements. Luckily, at the moment everything is plain sailing, although my blood sugars have a little low on a few occasions, but nothing I haven't been able to deal with. We now always have cereal bars in the cupboard to remedy that.