[adreamstorm]

How much do INTJ men and women enjoy cooking and entertaining? Have you found cooking brings out a different side of you, the sensing side of you perhaps? For me, it feels like I can shut off the analytical side of me, just follow the recipe or be a bit creative and daring. But what tops it off is when you present it to your family and friends, it feels tres rewarding!

[JustMel]

I cook a lot. We do big dinners regularly. I do some catering. I bake a lot and spend time in the kitchen with the kids on candy, cookies, pies and cakes.

We have people over a lot for dinner and such so I stay in the kitchen and neenerhead entertains. I like feeding people, he likes talking to people. Win-win.

[blueranger]

I must admit I enjoy cooking but I dont much care for the dinner parties but then I dont know anyone that I would invite to dinner.

The effect on the senses is definately what appeals to me, experimenting is definately greatfun, but I don't much enjoy following recipes, I prefer to learn through trial and error.

[N0c7urn3]

I enjoy cooking, but I don't entertain. I love to try cooking new stuff but I really hate the shopping for ingredients and the cleaning up after parts.

[Izzy]

I enjoy cooking. I enjoy feeding people. I do not enjoy inviting people to my house.

I have found with cooking, I just know what works and doesn't.

My husband on the other hand cannot cook hardly anything. He also cannot follow a recipe. Recipe says "add x" he says "why not add y instead". Recipe says "bake at 225 for 4 hours" he says "why not bake at 450 for 2 hours".

As my husband is INTJ as well and an engineer, I tried to explain that following a recipe is like following a schematic. His reply was "well I'm the one that writes the schematics". So I do all the cooking.
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[gecko]

I look forward to these when I get older.

[ElstonGunn]

I generally don't like cooking. Every once in a while, I'll enjoy making something, but it only happens once or twice a year that I get out all the pots and pans and cutting boards and whatnot. I'm not terrible at it, but I'm not great at it, either. The last thing I made was a big vat of shchi (cabbage soup). I've also made Cornish game hens and pasta primavera. So on the rare occasions when I actually do cook something, I stick to simple things.

Entertaining can be a lot of fun if you have the right group of people. As much as I dislike cooking, I really do enjoy mixing drinks for people. That's interesting to me for some reason, even though that and cooking are pretty much the same general concept.

Speaking of cooking, I have a friend who's a professional chef. He likes to say "Recipes are for moms and bakers."
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[Oblivious]

I love to cook for myself, and I'm pretty good at it. I don't really like cooking for other people though. Imagine that.

[karenann33]

7 years ago I quit my job to be a homemaker. Prior to that my dh did most of the cooking. I first started cooking to be frugal but quickly learned that I liked it. I began by recreating meals we used to get by eating out like pizza. That led to baking more, experimenting with new recipes, etc.

Of course now it's backfired. My family groans when I don't feel like cooking and want to go out or just want to pop in a frozen pizza. They won't eat it. They want "mine". My son doesn't even like pizza unless I made it and he's a kid. LOL! Aren't all kids supposed to like pizza?

As a general rule I don't like cooking for others but will happily do it if I feel "safe" with you.

[Artio]

I don't cook. It's a disaster every time I enter the kitchen. I'm glad my husband is a great cook.

I love entertaining, but we don't do that very often, maybe 4-6 times a year.

[Warrior]

I'm not so big on cooking in the kitchen, although I do it when needed. I don't mind grilling things at all. If people want to sit out on the deck with me and talk while I'm grilling, that's fine too.

I'm really not into having a house full of people on a regular basis. Every now and then is okay, but it isn't something I would like every week, or even every month.

[Kricket]

I enjoy cooking for people who are close to me. When entertaining I prefer to do big meat dishes that are 1. easier for me than baking and 2. impressive.

The hard part for me is keeping track of the food when people are trying to socialize with me. I need my husband or best friend to run interference while I man the fire.

[Booko]

I love to cook. I do it for the family, friends, and sometimes for large groups. I've done some volunteer catering in a few venues, from Master Gardener events to my regional religious community.

For those large social occasions there will be a call for volunteers to do various tasks, and I hastily sign up for food before someone erroneously decides I would be good working the phone tree (hah!).

Also, I find if I have to pay attention to the buffet line during those events I'm not expected to socialize on the level all the extroverts normally expect and I can duck out of nearly any pointless conversation on the grounds I have to do some time-sensitive food-related task.

Cooking allows me to bring out my artistic side more and gives me a framework to socialize on terms comfortable for an INTJ.

I mean if you want someone to plan your banquet for 200 people, surely an INTJ who cooks would be the person to ask just because of our ability to plan and adjust those plans in a second if something happens?

---------- Post added 12-02-2010 at 04:12 PM ----------

	Originally Posted by karenann33 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Of course now it's backfired. My family groans when I don't feel like cooking and want to go out or just want to pop in a frozen pizza. They won't eat it. They want "mine". My son doesn't even like pizza unless I made it and he's a kid. LOL!

My solution to this problem came from my mother-in-law, who spent her Saturday mornings cooking things that could be frozen. So I have a deep freeze and it's stuffed with homemade things that freeze well for those days when I just don't feel like cooking. It's easy to take a frozen pastisio out and put it in the oven with the timer set. It defrosts during the day then cooks itself. Someone makes a salad and we call it dinner.

	Aren't all kids supposed to like pizza?

My daughter wouldn't eat pizza when she was young. She hated cheese. Turns out she had a dairy allergy.

My son is in his early 20s and has never eaten a hamburger. His Japanese host family was stunned to meet an American that had never eaten a hamburger or not even something similar like a veggie burger.

As for frozen pizza you can buy -- I wouldn't eat it either and I like pizza. I just like real pizza, and I've yet to meet a frozen one that didn't taste awful.

Have you tried any of the Once A Month Cooking sites for tips?

I've made my own whole wheat herbed pizza crusts, baked them, and put them in the deep freeze. It doesn't take any time to dress them and stick them in the oven, and my family can do that on their own if I don't feel up to it. So voila -- good quality frozen pizza, but homemade. Really it doesn't take me much more effort to make half a dozen pizza crusts than it does to make just one. Oh, the wonders of a Kitchenaid mixer with bread hook.
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[Arcanist]

Cooking is a lot of fun. I've found that I'm pretty good at it. Entertaining, not so much but I enjoy seeing people's expressions as I blow them away with something I've made. I spent hours upon hours making beef wellington with a pesto stuffing (last time I ever make that) and people couldn't stop fawning over it. It was nice.

[Booko]

	Originally Posted by Arcanist To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I spent hours upon hours making beef wellington with a pesto stuffing (last time I ever make that) and people couldn't stop fawning over it. It was nice.

Hey, if you ever want to try a leg of lamb that's easy to make but impresses the hell out of people, let me know. If you can cut up and saute an onion you can do this easy. If you don't know how to carve lamb just get a boneless one.

And for leftovers you warm it up and wrap it in pita for a great gyro. Yum.

I don't know why people are so impressed by something so simple. I guess it's because it's unfamiliar? Except my Jewish neighbor came and asked me for the recipe and she's no stranger to lamb. *shrug*

[Arcanist]

I think part of it is, that most people don't know good food. It sounds a bit snobbish but after seeing how close friends and other family members eat, I'm inclined to believe it.

Does anyone have the "Gourmet" cookbook? It has a 1000+ recipes from the various issues of Gourmet magazine condensed into one book. It's like the best purchase I ever made. Endless variety, lots of classics. I haven't even gotten through 1/20th of it. Another great resource is
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[TigerL]

Well, cooking is one of my creative outlets.

I usually follow the recipe exactly for something I am not familiar with but I won't serve a recipe I'm not experienced with for a dinner party. For family, close friends, myself, I'm pretty good at looking at what I/ they have available and putting something together on the spot. I have a variety of spices/ condiments in my house and my hobby of reading recipes gives me an idea of what items would go well together vs. clashing.

I don't throw dinner parties much anymore but when I did them in the past, I always had a co-conspirator(s) who would help me plan/ cook/ clean up. We would limit the guests to 10 or less; for dinners of more than 10, we usually made it a potluck with us doing the main course. At one point, I lived in a dorm with an industrial kitchen and three of my friends were great cooks (one baked exclusively) so we had some fun times there. Two of my best recipes were linguine with a fresh clam sauce (we bought the clams fresh off the boat) and a modified apple strudel using phyllo dough.

Also, the atmosphere at our dinners were very casual and my fellow cooks were not uptight people so I think that turned down the stress level a lot. I think a large part why people don't have dinner parties more is because there is this expectation every party has to be a Martha Stewart affair with fancy dishes and matching silverware.

I like pizza but don't eat it much. Trader Joe's has a pretty good frozen Margherita or 4-cheese pizza but it's not as good as it used to be. Add some veggie and meat if you want. The crust though is more Italian than American -- meaning thinner and crisper not bready and thick. (My pizza tastes lean toward the simple wood-fired pizzas and not the fully loaded thick types though.)

[operatorfivetwo]

I love cooking, it mellows me out if I'm annoyed. I entertain only small groups of my closest friends though, I rarely invite anyone over for dinner besides those close friends, my home is my sanctuary and I keep it to myself. However when I do cook for my friends, I love the fact that they go home with sore stomachs because they ate too much. Being able to provide for them and treat them makes me feel good to.

[GettingBetter]

I like having parties (not very intj of me I know), but I get nervous about cooking for them. Some dish always comes out wrong. I try to stick with simpler things. I definitely don't love cooking.