The Escapist Presents: Recipe For Disaster

[LazerFX]

Outtakes please I want to see the help

 

[Playbahnosh]

[...]That said, there's no substitute for just plain trying something.[...]

I totally agree. If you want to learn how to cook, well, cook!

If you never cooked before, don't be afraid, the kitchen won't bite Start with something simple, like take a frying pan, put some oil in it, heat it up, put a nice piece of meat in it, cook it until golden brown then season it with whatever you like. You can't go wrong with plain fried meat. If you a vegetarian, take a few potatoes, peel them, cut them up, put them in a pot full of water and boil until soft (poke them with a fork every now and then to test). Pour the water off, and season with whatever. There you go, your first self-cooked meal.

If you feel like leveling up, just stand in the kitchen, shout "DING!", turn the lights on and off a few times, and then try adding to the recipe. For the fried meat, try coating it with beaten eggs, flour and sesame seeds (in that order) before frying. For the potato, after pouring the water off, (while the potatoes are still hot) warm a glass of milk in the microwave (not too hot), drop a stick of butter into the pot, pour the warm milk and then mash the whole stuff with a potato masher. There you have it, some nice fried meat with mashed potatoes.

Some tips from a gamer cook:
Don't worry about measurements and precise seasoning, forget the cookbook until you feel comfortable in the kitchen. Just grab some piece of meat or veggie and try to make the best of it! It doesn't matter if you put in one and a half tablespoon instead of one, or cook for twelve minutes instead of ten. Cookbooks contain recipes for someone else's taste anyway. Be adventurous, experiment with different spices, cooking times and ingredients, make it taste good to you! You can even try extreme combinations, like adding a little soy sauce or tabasco to your chocolate pudding, it might actually taste good! If you are not sure, use less salt and spices, remember, it's always much easier to put in some more afterwards than to take it back out

I hope I helped a little...

 

[CaptainCrunch]

Don't worry about measurements and precise seasoning, forget the cookbook until you feel comfortable in the kitchen. Just grab some piece of meat or veggie and try to make the best of it! It doesn't matter if you put in one and a half tablespoon instead of one, or cook for twelve minutes instead of ten.

Exactly. I tend to think of cooking as the art, and baking as the science.

Cooking - throw a bunch of ingredients together, using any techniques at your disposal. Eye-measure conservatively, and you'll wind up with something different and totally edible every time. Even if you mess up, just add another ingredient or technique, and it becomes potentially delicious again.

Baking - plan ahead to avoid catastrophe, and follow the recipe. You can fudge it a little, but it's largely a game of precision and repeatability. If you mess up, there is no way to salvage your work.

 

[fanklok]

Interesting if I wasn't already adept in the art of making things hot then eating them it might be a good idea.

Also I did expect Funk to look so ehrm "broad" like some kind of football player or a soldier in Gears.

 

[Bretty]

Cooking isn't very difficult...

The problem is that most fail and then don't cook again for ages. Then like half a year later they screw up again.

I have seen friends that cannot cook try taking on some really complex things as well. So when the guaranteed failure strikes they get even more dejected.

I started showing my brother how to cook through Kraft Mac. Learning how to make pasta well can keep you well fed for years!

 

[senorcromas]

Maybe I should get this game...

Then again, I am fully capable of scalding my face while trying to boil water...

I also once stabbed myself trying to make toast.

I stick to cereal nowadays.

 

[Playbahnosh]

Don't worry about measurements and precise seasoning, forget the cookbook until you feel comfortable in the kitchen. Just grab some piece of meat or veggie and try to make the best of it! It doesn't matter if you put in one and a half tablespoon instead of one, or cook for twelve minutes instead of ten.

Exactly. I tend to think of cooking as the art, and baking as the science.

Cooking - throw a bunch of ingredients together, using any techniques at your disposal. Eye-measure conservatively, and you'll wind up with something different and totally edible every time. Even if you mess up, just add another ingredient or technique, and it becomes potentially delicious again.

Baking - plan ahead to avoid catastrophe, and follow the recipe. You can fudge it a little, but it's largely a game of precision and repeatability. If you mess up, there is no way to salvage your work.

Agreed. Well, baking is very late-game stuff, needs a lot of power-leveling to do it right. With baking, there is no quick-load, only game over if you mess up. A burned cookie or cake cannot be salvaged, sadly. I'm still too n00b for baking, so I haven't really baked anything yet, but I'll try it sometime.

With cooking, you can save the food most of the time, even if you mess up real bad (I speak from experience ) The most common error is using too much spice or salt. When that happens, just soften the food up a bit, add more water or sour cream to dilute it and stir/simmer well, that should take care of strong spices nicely. Don't forget to add a little more of the other ingredients as well to balance things out, but if you don't have it, don't sweat it, you'll just have more sauce than usual

The other common error is singeing or burning the food. When that happens, quickly add some water or other diluent (like sour cream) to stop it from burning (turning the heat down is not enough, trust me), and with a wooden spoon, quickly scrape off the burned stuff from the bottom of the pot and stir it well into the food. Then add some green spices, like basil, thyme or oregano. It might sound crazy or even disgusting to some, but it will give the food a nice smoky flavor, and sometimes it will actually even taste a lot better this way! (When serving, don't tell anyone you burned it, and they won't even notice )

 

[Hulyen]

Personal Trainer Cooking is also really novice-friendly as it has a glossary you can jump to for a lot of terms with pictures showing examples.

Now if they make one of these for just baking I'd be all over it! My cookbooks are taking up too much space and I seem to always end up improvising techniques anyway...stupid Foxhound cheesecake.

 

[Chrinik]

Of course, but what's neat about the game is that it breaks everything down for you nicely. You will need the following tools, you will need the following ingredients, you will need the following time. If you don't know how to do Step X, you can watch this here video to learn.

It's also pretty clear that the game is hoping to get families involved, as you can keep track of individual's birthdays, their favorites, recipes they want to try, and suchlike. It also suggests menus for special events like Mother's Day. I could easily see dad and the kids following along to make some special meals for Mom as a fun group exercise.

Yes, this is the logical step that follows all "new media".
First you learned how to cook from your mom or grandma, hence the time where the women "belonged in the kitchen" since the man was hopelessly lost in it, and would probably put arsen instead of salt into his soup.
Then came printing times. Books with various recipes gathered and put into one.
You bought a simple book, followed it´s instructions and bingo, you learned how to cook something foreign, like Salsa sauce.
Then came cooking shows, hence the ever growing popularity of TVs in the Kitchen.
You´d watch the show and follow the guys instructions. Hope he sais what you have to do in the comercial break.
Now it´s games. And with that, comes new and improved ways of people to "learn" how to cook, or make something new, or whatever.
You can also whip your DS out and watch the recipe on the ride home to memorize it somewhat.
But when I´m handling dangerously tempretured liquids, powders and sharp objects, I don´t want to have a valuable piece of electronics around...
I can dry a wet page. Or slap the guy standing in my way.

After all it boils down to "is it worth it."
I dunno, a DS and a cooking game seems kinda more expensive then a cooking book and a beer for my readerfriend, but if you already have a DS, it becomes less expensive.
BUT might still be more expensive then a simple book.

(Me being a learned Offset-Printer doesn´t count into my favoring for printmedia in any way <.< )

 

[LackingSanity]

This concept + Cooking Mama = COMEDY GOLD!

 

[MasterSplinter]

This game just might make me buy a DS.

 

[rayen020]

I like your mutton chops Mr. Funk.

 

[Spiner909]

I want that N7 shirt...

 

[xanith02100]

This was actually pretty awesome. I think if I had a DS I'd pick that game up, simply to know how to cook some stuff now.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Hmmm, I was under the impression that Logan lived in the UK. Was I wrong, or was he just visiting?

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

[...]That said, there's no substitute for just plain trying something.[...]

I totally agree. If you want to learn how to cook, well, cook!

If you never cooked before, don't be afraid, the kitchen won't bite

If all fails firefighters exist for something. Cooking can be very funny, even addictive. And if you are dating or married it can be a nice experience to do together.

On another note, will they release a "Britain Test Kitchen: let's get cooking"?!
Cause when they say in hell the chef is english, it's not without reason.

 

[Klepa]

To be honest, I think a perfectly fine cooking book is equally effective, and this "game" is probably just a cooking book which some bloke reads to you.
So it can be perfectly replaced by a guy capable of reading, a bottle of beer for his expenses and a cooking book written in normalspeak.

True, but if it gets more people to try cooking, just because of the novelty, we're on our way to healthier people. It's often much healthier to cook for yourself (cuz you know what's going into it) than to buy food out. Usually cheaper, too.

What I did like about the program is the time references the game gave. "Brown the meat, about five minutes." That's a helpful gauge for people who really don't cook at all and for planning preparation.

I agree with you on that time thing. I haven't a clue how long a piece of chicken or some meaty bit should be on the frying pan, or how hot the stove should be set on.
I'm also too poor to just buy meat, only to screw it up, so stuff like that is really handy.

Kind of weird realizing that you could say I'm intimidated by cooking. All that responsibility, a juicy slab of cow, and I'm just minutes away from ruining it.. *shiver*

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Hmmm, I was under the impression that Logan lived in the UK. Was I wrong, or was he just visiting?

You're not wrong, I do live in the UK. I was visiting, and they put me to work in the kitchens *sob*

 

[PH3NOmenon]

The last three seconds made this entire video worth watching.


Also, in terms of "usefulness to learn how to cook", these things are great. Knowing how to cook comes from experience, if having a DS next to you that tells you what to do is great as long as it gets you experimenting and practising.

Cooking is just another skill, but people seem to be afraid of it.