Eat

9

What Kind of Cook Are You?

Saturday, 24 November 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
By: Anna & Kristina

Are you a recipe follower or rogue warrior in the kitchen? While filming our series Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag, we find out that we both have very different cooking styles. Recipe for success, or disaster?

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  • Guest

    Love the new site! Been watching you since way back in the day. I’m curious…is Grocery Bag filmed at one of your homes? Or is it a set? Its beautiful either way.

  • http://www.facebook.com/phyllis.classon Phyllis Lardner Classon

    Hi Anna and Kristina! I love your new site – I’m pretty devastated because I live in California and was addicted to Grocery Bag (I’m a cookbook junkie!) but now you are on only in Canada!!! I wish, wish, wish you were still on here and hope you will be back! Until then, I will happily follow you on this site. Happy Holidays to you both!

    • http://www.annaandkristina.com/ Anna & Kristina

      Thanks Phyllis! We’re working hard to get our shows back on the air in the USA. Keep your fingers crossed! – A&K

  • D. Lee

    I’m totally a rogue warrior when it comes to cooking. I don’t really follow recipes and pretty much put whatever I think would go good together. Basically trial and error. I find a lot of recipes to be too confusing. After watching grocery bags, I think you would have to agree with some of the cookbooks you’ve reviewed. I imagine both of you are exactly like you are in the kitchen. Kristina a carefree person that goes with the flow and Anna a perfectionist who has to be organized and in control. Pretty close or way out in left field? lol Keep up the great work! You guys are awesome.

    • http://www.annaandkristina.com/ Anna & Kristina

      Pretty close D.! Thanks for watching!

  • http://www.facebook.com/karen.ricci.9634 Karen Ricci

    I am a warrior. I always take a recipe and make it my own. Also if I find something in the store I like, ex: almond tarts, I will just figure out how to make them myself. I make alot of dishes from scratch with no recipe at all i just make it up as I go. I love to cook.

    • http://www.annaandkristina.com/ Anna & Kristina

      That’s great, Karen! A rogue warrior, and perhaps a bit of a pioneer too! -A&K

  • http://www.facebook.com/lacey.organsutherland Lacey Organ

    The first time I make something, I follow the recipe to the letter. If it turns out well, I get a little less worried I’m going to mess it up and relax a bit, add things, take them away, etc. Make it my own.

    • annaandkristina

      Sounds like a great strategy!

  • samONT2011

    Total rogue warrior cook. I take the essence of a recipe and make it my own. If I happen to be missing a few ingredients I look in the fridge and cupboard and wing it.

    • annaandkristina

      Fantastic! Missing ingredients is often a stumbling block for most. Bet you’ve discovered some tasty things by winging it!

  • http://www.facebook.com/BettyCroker Josee Desautels

    I am more like Anna, and I try to keep my kitchen clean as I go at the same time, I’m a neet freak ! and a perfectionist so Anna I understand you in the kitchen !! you rock girl !!

    • annaandkristina

      Yes, clean as you go so you have less to clean up afterwards. Great tip!

  • http://twitter.com/SomeOfEvrything House Girl

    I am more of a “winger” than a “follower”, however, if I was creating from a book to be judged, I would definitely follow the recipe as written. After all, it’s the books being judged, not my cooking. *Pssssssst! I think secretly you’re both wingers! Both of you use your common sense; both of you have excellent taste. Just in different areas. It’s why you compliment each other so well. K reminds me of my best friends – playful, and they remind me to not take life too seriously. Anna does remind me more of myself – there’s a time for this, a time for that.

    • annaandkristina

      LOL, thanks! We do have to admit we both wing it at times. But for the show, we have to try and stick to the recipes.

  • pamela blanchet

    I could watch you guys COOK, all day :)

  • Eugen

    I’ve long enjoyed the show. Here’s hoping for another season of fun from you two in the near future.

    As to what type of cook I am, I’m someone who much prefers baking — bread, pastries, etc but not cakes (I hate making cakes, except cheesecakes … ah, cheesecakes…). My son says it’s the frustrated chemist in me. Cooking is just too boring, too easy. Not a true challenge — except if you want to go nuts with plating or something. But getting the food cooked, not a big deal (recipe or no). The problem is getting guests to sit down when it’s actually done, instead of yakking endlessly all over the house. That bugs me most. But I digress…

    Back to the joy of baking. Especially bread where you have 4 ingredients and you can make such variety! A tinkerer’s dream! I could easily be a baker but never a chef. Well, a baker if it weren’t for the weird hours…

    • annaandkristina

      That’s an interesting point of view. Talk about bringing your work home! Hopefully you keep the chemicals out of the kitchen (except the edible ones.) ;)

      • Eugen

        I probably should have been clearer, I’m not a chemist — I’m in high tech. My son, though, is taking a degree in advanced, molecular and atomic chemistry. That’s why he says I’m a frustrated chemist. He says I bake the way he’s been taught chemistry: very very accurately. He says it’s quite interesting watching me bake because I treat the kitchen like a lab. My wife likes when I bake as I leave the kitchen spotless when I’m done — I clean as I go.

        I’ve been fiddling with croissant recipes of late. Quite cool what you can do if you’re willing to look at the recipe as a chemical equation as opposed to a recipe :-) .

  • http://www.facebook.com/widya74 Widya Khoe

    As a beginner cooker, i often feel intimidated when it comes to cooking. I will read tons of recipes and then get confused and tired with what i read…. and end up doing nothing.

    Until recently i watch anna and kristina’s show and see the way you cook. Just read the recipe and cook. And the way you cook is like how ordinary people cook, there is no “masterchef” skills or some kind of advanced technique used. Both of you just enjoy the cooking process and have no fear on what the result will be. You even invite a chef to try the food.

    So I get really inspired and start to cook. I am still a RECIPE FOLLOWER at the moment. But I hope when my experience and understanding in cooking has improved, I will be able to give my personal touch into my cooking.

    Thanks Anna and Kristina for the inspirations. I enjoy watching your show.

    Love
    widya (from indonesia)

  • http://alwaysaredhead.com/ AlwaysARedhead

    I tend to deviate from recipes especially if there is spice in them. I like to double up on the heat.