What would you cook to impress your date?

[Jean-Marie_Céline]

I'd say the dish I can do best is my own version of spezzatino (meat stew) with mushrooms, mashed potatoes and my signature ingredient - Caprino vivace (goat cheese) - really tasty but very delicate at the same time.
She loves it although I don't make it very often because it takes long to do it properly and the combo usually makes her spend one hour in the bathroom afterwards.
What about you?

Updates

+1 y

Not exactly cooking, but for tonight we ordered pizza for her, and kebab for me.
Sometimes it's good to eat takeaways stuff too.

[Massageman]

Let's see -

Italian?
Antipasto board- cheese, salami, marinated artichoke hearts and olives, pepperoncini
Scratch cook Broccoli Cheddar Soup (ala Panera)
Fettuccine Carbonara (scratch)
Italian Bread (garlic bread if we will both eat some) :- )
Seasonal veggies in a lightly peppered cream sauce
My mother's recipe for cheesecake or store-bought mini-cannoli and spumoni.
Mangia!

Pasta Carbonara (with bacon)

Asian?
Sweet/sour stir fry- pea pods, carrot strips, onion, boy choy, red and yellow pepper strips, pineapple- pineapple juice, soy, brown sugar reduction sauce (scratch)- breaded chicken pieces (bought)
Serve of white rice or add a side of fried rice with peas, carrots, and maybe some egg.
Fortune cookies and almond cookies.
Chi!

Sweet-sour chicken with peppers

Mexican?
Fajitas- asst pepper strips, onions in tangy sauce (scratch) with chicken or steak strips
Served in a tortilla bowl (bake a store-bought flat tortilla in a bowl shape 5 minutes, let rest until plating)
Tex-Mex rice w/Adobo- mix - or scratch if she's really nice and worth the effort
Plating- Tortilla bowl, break out 1/4 of the edge, crumble and reserve. Add rice in bowl. Add a "flow" of shredded lettuce coming out of the bowl to one side.
Add fajitas coming out of bowl on the other side
Top with shredded cheese, diced tomato, reserved crumpled tortilla bits, a shot of taco sauce, sour cream.
Flan, churros or my date for dessert. :- )
Ole'!

Example of plating style only, a flow of food. Ole!

[razelove]

I like deception, so I'd go with my ultra-ramen. First get instant ramen packets, this sets the mood for dissapointment, then put on a movie or something and say you'll be done in a few minutes, boil up the water, mix in some eggs like you're making egg-drop soup, add in green onion, onion, mushroom, diced roast beef, garlic, lemon, the noodles, flavor packs, srirachi, and one diced red pepper, delicious, nutritious, and it seems like a fantastic meal when someone is only expecting.30 ramen noodles.

[AmandaYVR]

Your meal sounds very interesting. I hate mushrooms, and the bathroom thing is not so good, but otherwise sounds good!
Did you ever see the American movie 'Along Came Polly'? I'm not a Ben Stiller fan at all, but I watched it for Jennifer Aniston and I like rom-coms. Polly (Jen) is carefree and unstructured. Stiller is an insurance risk assessment guy who lives by rules rules rules. He nervously agrees to go to an Indian restaurant of Polly's choice on their first date (he's desperate to impress her) but he can't handle it, and when they finish he is pouring sweat and spends the night in her bathroom, clogs the toilet, and uses her grandma's embroidered hand towel to try and clean the mess. It was hilarious but kinda gave me PTSD. I hate potty humour. Anyway, yeah, bad meal for a date.

I sometimes make a Hungarian Chicken dish my German mum taught me decades ago. It's chicken breast, with sauteed green onions and butter underneath, then sour cream, bread crumbs, and worchesteshire sauce, baked 30 min in the oven. It's a seemingly bizarre combination, but everybody likes it. We eat it over steamed rice, with a side of peas.

[Yaaten]

Hmmm, my father was Hungarian and that recipe doesn't sound at all familiar. Do you remember what it was called?

[Jamie05rhs]

I liked that movie. :)

[AmandaYVR]

@Yaaten She's always just called it Hungarian Chicken. I forget where she got the recipe from, whether it was a book or a friend. I'll ask her again.

@Jamie05rhs Yeah it was very watchable. I always remember the satisfaction of Stiller finally destroying all the decorative bed pillows. Hank Azaria was soooo good as the strong accent scuba instructor. It was shocking the Simpsons character actor had such a body too.

[AmandaYVR]

I just talked to her on the phone and she said she got the recipe in a Hungarian cookbook about 40 years ago. I googled the main ingredients and found it's probably a variation on
www.daringgourmet.com/.../
I had forgotten she always topped it with paprika over the breadcrumb topping. We never ate it as a creamy sauce. The small amount of butter underneath, and sour cream on top, is enough to make it moist. I cook healthy so maybe I have adapted it a touch, but I know we never ate it as a red sauce.

[Ozanne]

Oooh! Cooking questions. I love it. :)

When I was dating, I preferred to make something that didn't seem so "housewifey". One time a guy accused me of acting like we were married when, for one of our first dates, I asked him over for dinner. I never forgot that, because I guess to him, creating a meal that is cooked, with sides, and served on plates must seem so marriagey. If he thought that way, I decided to make date food more fun if I was just getting to know a guy. So the non-committal, no-marriage type of meals like nachos.

But the dishes I made thereafter - several dates in to the relationship, but still trying to impress - were my lasagne, chicken fettuccine, or a barbecued steak.

[Cynicaldreamer]

I make a tasty bowl of cereal!

Haha, I am kidding. I would make some pasta with a salad and garlic bread. Or taco soup: it's simple but very tasty and filling.

[ProfessionalMusician]

I would make Veal Marsala

[Dongtai]

I’ve never cooked with the intention to impress a woman but just to feed her 😂. I know that sounds sarcastic but when I was regularly spending the night at my exes house or she’d stay over, I’d make her breakfast because making myself breakfast is routine. It felt rude not to make her anything.


After I’ve dated a new girl for a while I’ll invite her over for a dinner date. It’s more of a gesture than an attempt to impress her. It’s me saying “Hey, I like you enough to take some time to make you something special vs paying someone else to do it for me at a restaurant..”


I know there’s girls out there that can’t cook, but I always project the best qualities onto new girls I’m attracted to. So I naturally assume they can cook. It never crosses my mind that they’d be impressed with me cooking. In my head most people know how to cook.

[anexi]

As well most people should know how to cook, since it's pretty important to eat for survival 😂

[bolverk]

Try to find out if your date is allergic to or dislikes anything before you cook any meal for them, just one point if your date loves it, why is she spending an hour in the bathroom afterwards?

I'd cook Cumberland Tatie Pot but if you look at the recipe it includes black pudding which could put some dates off if they see the slices so I cube it and it forms the majority of the gravy the recipe says it serves 6 but they are small portions.
www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk/.../

[CYNICAL_CRYPTIC]

Don’t think I would do it to impress her. I literally enjoy cooking, baking and experimenting by blending cultures to create new authentic dishes and cuisines. Now if she happens to be impressed that a young guy like myself has grandmother like skills in the kitchen, cool but I wouldn’t do it
for points.

[DeeToPlay]

This is a very difficult thing for me to respond to because I have been cooking for the majority of my life and don't have a specific dish to designate the title of favorite. I have my favorite category of food which is southern cuisine or soul food so I guess I would do a few dishes from that genre.

[Kuressento]

cosmopolitan cocktails, chicken liver pâté, coq au vin, wide arrange of fruits and three types of chocolate, dark, milk and mexican chocolate with a tiny kick of spice,( now, add a blind fold to the mix with desert and soft music for a more exotic, erotic experience.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

I don't know I guess it depends. I have some weird stuff that tastes amazing I do like cream cheese and eggs. I'm planning on learning how to make Thai food which I'm sure girls will like a lot.

I can do a lot with pasta. Like I can make a great shrimp Alfredo.

I also like to cook fish and make a creamy sauce to go with it. Maybe steam some broccoli with garlic.

But my most impressive thing I can cook is my cheesecake, secret family recipe.

[anexi]

I would just ask them what they want for dinner and make it for them. If I look up a recipe and it seems too difficult for me to follow, I'd say to find something else or we can order that dish in. I don't really focus on trying to impress my date so much as just enjoying their company. Either they like me as I am or they do not lmao

[AlphaGhost]

That's one of my weakness cuz I don't awful lot about cooking or dishes but have very sensitive palate/very selective/overly critical about taste and its one of things I look in women before dating them.
I tried to impress my date by trying to cook Biryani (easiest dish in Sub-continent cuisine) and according to her... She loved it at that time BUT next week She cooked the same dish and it was mind blowing.

[Kiss_Me]

Sure, why not. Cooking is creating something both of you can enjoy. It's kind of like being an architect with food. Its manly, creative, provides some subjects top discuss over the meal.
Bonus points are awarded if a man can get her to help prepare the meal. Doing things together is a plus.

[Bananaman177]

I have the exact same situation with Fettucini Alfredo. I love it but it takes too long to make and dirties too many pans and then everybody else who eats it ends up parked on the toilet afterwards.

Buncha lactose intolerant motherfuckers, man.

So weak. So weak.

[Phoenix98]

Main Course
Italian Seafood linguine with a garlic herb sauce, mussels, shrimp and scallops.

Sides
1# Italian roasted potatoes

2#Burrata salad with stone fruit and asparagus

Desert
Affogato along with a small bowl of chilled raspberries with sugar sprinkled on top.

Wine
2017 Schiopetto Pinot Grigio

I rarely ever cook ( fancy meals ) but on occasion if given enough time ( in advance and preparation ) I can make a pretty good meal.

[Phoenix98]

I'd have to really want to impress her a lot though to cook something like that because that'd be quite a bit of time in the kitchen and my cooking skills are rusty hah.

[Quidthonian]

Nothing. I feel that I don't need to impress her. I just need to be myself. I would negotiate to what she would like to eat. We would go out to the grocery store, get the ingredients and prepare it together. Perhaps have a competition of who can make the better dish.

[Agape93]

Lobster with garlic butter sauce, hush puppies and scallops

[Xcommunicated]

Prime rib with garlic herb butter, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with fat back, and dessert. I have this chocolate Bundt cake made with a chocolate cake mix, brownie mix, chocolate chips. And covered in a chocolate ganache.

[19magic]

I think getting to know someone probably pizza and cookies, maybe make a fudge chocolate sauce to add with ice cream and cake, who knows I do prefer baking though so maybe I'll tryout a pie of some sorts

[Everglow5]

My world-famous egg

Coz that's one of the only things I know how to make

I can make egg, oatmeal, sandwich, macaroni, salsa, hot drinks and thats basically it ;-; like I can obviously make cereal and stuff buy yeah you get it

[The_Inquisitor]

Yes and no.
Would I cook a meal for us to enjoy at home? Yes, would I cook while they are there? No. By the time the date arrives I would of had the dinner premade and in the over nearly ready to come out.

[Sheyhoney]

I’d make an authentic Mexican plate: my specialty ;) or some honey lemon chicken with rice and asparagus if he’s healthy 😂😂 it’s really bomb tho I know it sounds simple

[Bismarck_96]

Sounds like pozole rojo 👀

[Sheyhoney]

@Bismarck_96 PERIOD !! 😍

[Bismarck_96]

Dont forget the Champurrado or Atole well that goes well with tamal 😂 i honestly thought you was Italian at first 😂💀💀

[Bismarck_96]

My mom made cafe de olla this morning 🤤

[Sheyhoney]

@Bismarck_96 Italian? Lmao I get that a lot but you’re Mexican ? You look white lmaoooo but yes that sounds so bomb especially now that it’s winter 🥰

[Bismarck_96]

Half Spaniard too my grandfather's side tho my mother and grandmother side are Mexicans 😂

[Sheyhoney]

@Bismarck_96 oh cool !! My grandpa is Spaniard too but he passed away already :( that’s why we’re white af I guess 😂

[Bismarck_96]

Mine did too in 2012 I was 15 at that time 😂 so I assume you got cooked by the sun and turn tanish to get the italian look? 👀

[Sheyhoney]

@Bismarck_96 in person I look red 😂😂😂 but yea my arms and upper half is a bit darker but my legs and butt stay pale 🥺😂

[Bismarck_96]

😂😂 they need sunlight too jk 😂 you got huge eyes too 👀 they're nice tho

[Sheyhoney]

@Bismarck_96 ahaha they burn they don’t even tan tho :( and thank youuu 🥰

[Bismarck_96]

I used to be white af in HS like I could blend in with the walls 😂 jk well if they dont tan that's good and you're welcome 👀

[Sheyhoney]

@Bismarck_96 damn fr 😭 and yesss that way handprints are much more visible 🥰

[Bismarck_96]

I didn't mean that way 💀💀💀 but true 😂 heilige Schieße 💀💀💀😭

[Everyoneisplastic]

I don't do anything to impress anyone. I would cook ratatouille though just because it's light, not too after-tasty, not too messy and stuff like that.