Women master art of cooking not before 55: Survey

LONDON: Women master their culinary skills only when they hit the age of 55, a new survey has found.
Researchers in the UK found that even master cooks experience their fair share of dinner disasters over the years, ranging from collapsed souffles and leathery joints of beef to soggy vegetables and under-done eggs. Confirming that it takes decades to learn all the tricks of the kitchen, the survey found that the average woman does not become a perfect cook until she reaches 55, the Telegraph reported.
Women gather the confidence by that age and experience to throw together baking ingredients without weighing them, make a tasty supper out of random leftovers, put on a dinner party.
Researchers found that women who have reached their mid-50s have a repertoire of more than 15 meals they can quickly rustle up, have mastered the timings for a roast dinner.
The survey of 1,000 women found that 85% of respondents aged 55 and over could confidently cook a perfect fried or boiled egg, and 80% could make a delicious meal from random ingredients. Half of the respondents said they never used artificial sauces and always made their own, and three-quarters said they regularly baked cakes and biscuits.
Two-thirds in this age group can confidently cook bread from scratch and 55% know which herbs should go with which meats.
‘Smell of freshly baked food makes you kind’
The smell of freshly baked breads, cakes and pastries don’t just stimulate our appetites — they make us nicer people, a new study has claimed. Benefits of a freshly baked bread extend far beyond the obvious ones — such as being comforting, homely and undeniably delicious, researchers said. Researchers at the University of Southern Brittany in France, believe it may also make us kinder to strangers, the Daily Mail said. They found that shoppers were more likely to alert a passer-by they had dropped a belonging if, at the time, they were passing near a bakery giving off the mouth-watering aroma.