I cook at home because I get really annoyed paying good money for something I can cook better myself and for a lot less money.

I know eating out is more of an occasion and restaurants have more overheads, but i've lost count of the bad steaks i've had. I mean how hard can it be to serve me a flavourful NY strip, cooked med-rare and served with a sharp knife and on a hot plate?

I cook at home simply because I love cooking and that's the only place I have to do it...they won't let me do it at the restaurants I go to! 

I agree with you. There won't be much hassle if the family will just stay at home and I will cook. I know how to cook good food. It is definitely less expensive and the whole family will enjoy the food as much as they want because I can cook more with how much it would cost us dining out.

 mother of three kids who love good food

What a can of worms this one is.

Going out to eat when you are a professional in the culinary arts is a practice in self control and sometimes it can be futile.

Indianwells you have taken the words right out of my mouth.

Apparently it IS difficult to cook a steak medium rare and serve it on a hot plate with a sharp knife. 

My main curiosity has always been why I have to pay top dollar for good food and service.

Shouldn't all service and food be equal regardless of menu price?

Why should I have to pay $42.00 a la carte for that steak in order to get good service and tasty food, when the corner restaurant serves that same steak for $17.95 with salad, baked potato, and vegetable?.  

But the clincher here is that the service sucks.

The steak is overcooked, vegetable overcooked and baked potato sat in the steam table for 3 hours before it went on your plate.

There will always be poor "diners, drive-ins and dives."  

So I can experiment with small amounts of various foods, and so I can wear my shorts and slippers and relax.. I also am a better server then 95% of those in restaurants and don't expect a tip.

Hahaha, it's funny that for me the opposite is true.  I really don't feel like eating after I've made a mess of the place, am covered in grease and have smelled my food the entire day.  I generally cook very austere and simple meals at home and I am not a huge fan of cooking in the same clothes I'll eat in.  Also I'm used to the equipment and space available in a professional kitchen, cooking at home infuriates me sometimes

Quote:

Originally Posted by halmstad 

 

why we cook at home

   Hi halmstad,

  I love the flavors of food!  I really do...I can often times be obsessed with food.  

  There was a time when I thought my entire motivation for cooking was only to enjoy the flavors of food.  I even thought that if I would ever lose my sense of taste I simply wouldn't cook.  

    Then came the day when my taste was turned completely upside down.  Everything had an extreme bitter taste that made one food indistinguishable from another, I had "pinemouth".  This loss of taste lasted about two weeks.  After my taste returned I remember cooking for a party at our house with some friends and family.  My food doesn't always turn out perfect every time...but I do know when it has turned out well, and this time things turned out quite good.  I remember standing in the kitchen, after cooking, and feeling completely satisfied as people were eating.  I didn't even feel a need to make a plate and it.

     My mine inspiration for cooking is the flavors of food.  But I really think I enjoy feeding people???

   dan
 

I cook all day

                    I come home and the difference is I can cook with a nice "Cold One")

I enjoy cooking at home, and love seeing clean plates at the end of the meal.

Thing is though that sometimes, if it's been a long sesssion of cooking, I sit down with the family and am just not hungry after making, tasting, checking if it's done, been looking at it for ages, etc etc.  So I'll still sit down to enjoy the company and chat, but have just half a serve so I'm involved in the meal.

Anyone else have this dilemma?

That's why I'd rather go out sometimes to places I know I can trust to deliver a good meal.  But in general, as gonefishing says, I enjoy feeding people too.

We eat there the most and who else is going to do the job?

I do appreciate restaurants for two things:  stuff I cannot or just will not cook at home.  For instance, I love & can cook Indian food, but I don't have a tandoor, so that's what I'll usually order.  Deep-frying oysters?  I will happily pay someone to do that for me.

But I just got back from a month-long road trip & most of the food I had - well, I'm going to skip the full-scale rant.  There were some bright spots, but for the most part, I'd rather do it myself.

First of all, it's not an option to do otherwise - I cook at home because i couldn't afford to eat out very often. 

I cook at home because i like to cook.

If I had more money, I would eat out more if the restaurants around here would serve more difficult dishes, more complex ones to prepare, if there were a menu that didn't seem like it came off a central city-wide photocopier (they all make the same things, nobody experiments, and they're all easy dishes to make).  Or if i could afford fancier restaurants that made difficult and time-consuming dishes, like classic sauces, that i would never do at home,. those things that take forever.   The problem with roman restaurants in the reasonable price range is they make the exact same things i cook at home, and i think i do them better.  I see no point in eating home cooking when i'm out.  It's depressing.  I actually cook better and more complicated and more creative things at home. 

I never ever have the problem of not wanting to eat what i've cooked - i only cook what i want to eat and i cook it because I want to eat it. 

For me, eating at the restaurant when we don't have time to cook. In addition for some one that do not know how to cook. Advantages when eat at home we will save our badget accept we are rich person, we don't care how many time we eat at the restaurant for one month..

well i pretty much agree with all points here... initially, home cooking was survival for me. now, i just like to cook. many dishes i can do better (and cheaper) than i can get out.

i go out to eat to try new things, whether its fine dining or some hole in the wall ma and pa place. i also go out to eat something i don't want to cook at home that i can get of very high quality elsewhere... like french fries and fried chicken. (it is hard to beat popeyes chicken or mcdonalds fries, in my opinion)