I love cooking. I especially enjoy making complex dishes that require days of preparation and hours over the stove. Nothing that requires a Michelin Star chef, but it does require time, patience and sometimes specific tools.
From time to time, I bring dishes I made to friends or my office. Almost every time, I get asked how I made the dish, and almost every time, the person who asks seems disappointing from my answer. Some answers I tried:
- Give the full recipe (people seem disinterested after the 10th stage...)
- Give a general ingredients list (people think I hide stuff from them, so they either say a disappointed "oh..." or ask for the full recipe, and then we're back to #1)
- Say it's a bit complicated (people think I'm condescending, which I'm truly not, I just don't want a #1 scenario)
- Joke about it (e.g. for a homemade ice cream: "Oh, you know, just a lot of fat and sugar, and then some more fat and more sugar" - again, they're not satisfied from the answer)
- Ask "do you really want to know?" (to which the answer is always "yes", because that's the polite answer, and now we're back at square one)
I get that there are many reasons to ask "how did you make this dish": being polite, acknowledging my effort, genuinely being interested, etc. but it seems like no matter the reason for asking, or the way I answer, the people who ask always seem disappointed of my answer.
How can I answer this question without coming across as pretentious or boring the person who is asking?