"Home-cooked meal." It's one of the most common phrase that restaurants use to sell their dishes. They would be proud if people, and food critic most especially, would compare their entrees with that of home-cooked meals.
The one thing I like about home-cooked meals as compared to restaurant (never mind fast food) food is that home-cooked meals are oozing with flavor. They are what most would refer to as comfort food, because one way or the other, they remind us of our mother's cooking (that is if your mom cooks). It reminds us a lot of our childhood, of a time when we simply play and someone else cooks for us.
Regardless of the simplicity of the dish, it will always turn out to be delicious. Even hotdogs and a simple sunny-side up egg would taste so good, you'd swear it was dropped by the gods.
I think the reason why home-cooked meals are so good, aside from the fact that they are cooked with love, is that there seems to be no limit with the ingredients.
For lunch, I cooked Chricken Afritada, its chicken cooked in tomato sauce. Aside from the packed tomato sauce, I also used lots and lots of tomatoes, which I sauteed together with the onions and garlic.
When one of my housemates came in, after bringing the baby in the house to school, the first thing she said was, "What's that delicious smell?" I rest my case.
I'm proud of my cooking regardless if at home, my parents and siblings try to shy away from it. Must be because of the chili that I so love to put every now and then (even in scrambled eggs). No matter what the dish, it simply tastes better when it comes from my kitchen.
So, how about you? Do you think home-cooked meals trump restaurant dinners? Or are you more of an eater outer?
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Comments (20)
I love home-cooked meals. Unfortunately, I have the worst kitchen for quality cooking (the joy of living in a 300 square foot coach house with a fiance and a cat).
However, in three months, I'll be moving into my condo with a brand new kitchen and then it's home cooking all the time! I'm stoked!
@skylar_rose@xanga - I can totally relate! I used to live in a 100 year old brownstone and the kitchen was the old coat closet. :( No room to cook in there. Sounds like your new place is gonna be awesome. Happy cooking to you! :)
Home cooking is def the best! Esp when someone you love cooks you a special meal. :)
And then there are those that just cannot cook. So restaurant food tastes better to them. I swear, I've taught my girlfriend HOW to cook. I've made her do it with me standing over her shoulder. She just doesn't get it. Everything she cooks comes out wrong and she's just at the point where she's like....screw it. A cheeseburger has got to be better than this burned on mac & cheese.
I love home cooked meals for the following reasons:
- I know what is going into my food. I'm putting healthy ingredients into my food, and it is MSG free.
- Often times (not always), it is cheaper to cook at home, especially when you have a stocked pantry.
- Made too much food? call a friend and share. or better yet, put it away in the freezer for next time! - It allows em to experiment with vegetables/spices/fruits that I may never try otherwise.
home cooked meal makes me feel.. warm :) but somehow i can get sick of it if it's cooked toooooo often :/
Is it abnormal to not KNOW how to cook?
I've never made a real meal before involving meat-cooking or onion dicing.
Home cooked meals have their place. So does the restaurant meal.
If you asked me to answer this question as a general matter, I'd go with home cooked meals any day. Especially when the person cooking for you is sharing their love with you through their food.
But restaurant meals have purpose as well -- some things just don't make sense, or are not capable of being made at home because of either ingredient restrictions or equipment restrictions.
What I mean by this is: Often times, restaurants will stock ingredients that they use to prepare a menu with a set number of known items. This means it's okay to buy a bunch of truffles and have yuzu around or prepare things that would either be way too much effort to cook at home, or would be impractical to purchase ingredients for. The simple chirashizushi, for example -- for a Sushi chef, this is the easiest thing he can do, just cut fish and lay down on rice. For a home chef, this requires buying a ridiculous amount of sashimi, which will not be used up unless making chirashizushi for say, 12. The same goes for Pho, which you never make for one or two people -- Pho is always made in a giant vat in servings for like, 50. It's just plain impractical otherwise.
And then there are equipment restrictions: Most of us don't have the equipment necessary to say... dry-age a primal of beef for 28 days. Or have broilers that can hit 1500F. Or ovens that can fire a Pizza the way a real Pizza place does. In these cases, home cooks are limited by the kind of equipment they have at home; and can't produce the same results.
i get to control exactly what goes into my food. often restaurant food uses starchy things to help cook meat and that makes me feel guilty and purge cos my head says protein combined with carbs is bad and has to be purged.
at home i get to make my own salad with as much mustard and as little oil as i like it and i can grill my fish to perfection without worrying that the chef slathered extra oil to keep it from drying out or burning.
i know my reasons may not be the best, but i;ll take it if it keeps my head out of the toilet seat.
I love home cooked meals over any other meals. My mom is one hell of a cook. My mom will take all day to make something spectacular. Chefs in restaurants are on a schedule and probably rush through making a meal. I love the way my whole house smells of whatever my mom is making. It's mouth watering. Yesterday she made lasagna and I woke up to the smell of her gravy. You can't get that in a restaurant.
I love home-cooked meals. It's cheaper, healthier, and a lot more flavorful. You can tailor the meal to your own unique tastes, which makes it even better. I just made a roast the other day with onions, potatoes, and lots of herbs and spices. I've never had a roast from a restaurant that tasted as good as that.
Of course, I do enjoy eating out from time to time (especially at steakhouses) mainly because it gives me a break from cooking and time to relax and enjoy being out with my hubby.
Love is not a tangible ingredient, and is irrelevant. Meals always taste better when someone else cooks them. When you cook, you are smelling the ingredients and finished product the entire time, and your taste buds become numbed to it. By the time you sit down to eat, the meal appears to have lost much of its flavor. The same happens in restaurants where you are smelling the food from the moment you walk in.
I enjoy home cooked meals, but I have to say Im one of those that would eat at a restaurant every day if I could. Im not a terrible cook, but I dont exactly love cooking. I do it more out of necessity and because we cant afford to eat out every single day.
I love home cooked meals, but I kind of get tired of cooking sometimes. But I agree.... home cooked meals are much better.
I love home cooked! I think because it's prepared with someone who cares and it's fresh, unlike buying from places where it's from strangers and just their job.
@skylar_rose@xanga - wow, congratulations on your new place :D
@eugenia@xanga - it makes you feel that you are really special indeed... :D
@nickiesneon@xanga - i really haven't met someone who can't cook... they can start by frying... i think its a matter of paying attention to what he/she is doing... but in this age of multitasking... good luck :D bwahahahaha
@AmbitiousDeliciousness - that is so true... especially the first one... i mean if you are conscious about what goes to your food, home cooking is the best way to go...
@xueyo@xanga - you mean if its the same dish again and again
@BlehhItsTu@xanga - hahahaha that is such a great question... i think cooking is really born from passion, but not to be able to cook... i don't think its abnormal... its just not your passion :D
The point about it being cooked with love is a definite. You just care more when you're cooking for friends or family, and are more careful about the taste. Not to mention, it's not being churned out constantly...so there's something to be said for quality over quantity.
@tribong_upos@xanga - yeah the same dish again and again :)
I agree with what people have said about "What goes into the food." A home cooked meal doesn't concern a long shelf life, or cost effective ingredients, or consistency, or streamlined production work flow or what have you.
As such, home-cooked meals trump restaurant dinners. :D
the secret ingredient is always love. you can taste love in the dish!
Sunnyside egg over rice with a splash of soy sauce. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH thats all i want.
yes home-made foods are so yummy after slaving in the kitchen.