The first question we ask in our weekly Cookthink Questionnaire is “Sweet or salty?”

And while there are certain unequivocal adherents to one or the other camp, the answer we most hear is “both,” usually followed by “at the same time.”

I do think that most people are born with a predominantly sweet or salty tooth, but it’s the combination of the two qualities that often seduces us in the end. Oatmeal cookies sprinkled with sea salt, pineapple fried rice, a watermelon and feta salad, chicken pot pie with apples — these dishes sing to us because they hit sweet and the salty (or savory) notes at once.

How about you? Are you sweet or salty? Or both at the same time?

The late James Beard — often hailed as the “father of American gastronomy” and the man Julia Child called “the quintessential American cook” had something to say about the art of culinary improvisation:

“I’m going to break one of the rules of the trade here. I’m going to tell you some of the secrets of improvisation. Just remember — it’s always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you’re on your own.”

Do you obey recipes to the letter or use them as a blueprint? Are you confident winging a dish you’ve never attempted or do you prefer to follow directions before riffing on it? Or something in between?

With news that the world may or may not be on the verge of a swine flu pandemic, Bloomberg is reporting that the World Health Organization is dropping the colloquial term for the H1N1 virus, due in part to objections from the pork industry. The World Organization for Animal Health called Egypt’s decision yesterday to slaughter every pig in the nation “inappropriate” and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack confessed to eating pork twice in the last 24 hours as part of an effort to demonstrate that the combination human/avian/swine flu is not a food-borne illness and has not at this point been found in any actual swine.

So has the news affected your cooking or your appetite this week? Is it business as usual in your kitchen or does the thought of bacon give you pause?

Mark Bittman started a lively discussion about the merits of TV cooking vs. real cooking on his Bitten blog recently, calling the demonstrations by most celebrity cooks baffling, intimidating and a charade. He harkened back to the days of Julia Child, whose producers allowed her to make mistakes on camera from her very own Cambridge kitchen, now eternally preserved in the Smithsonian.

What good does it do to watch a celebrity chef show off his bionic onion-chopping abilities, Bittman argued, and anyone who watches his cooking demonstrations on the New York Times website knows that he has attracted a cult following precisely by not showing off, creating an if-I-can-do-it relatability by demonstrating the pared down recipes and simple techniques that define his persona as The Minimalist.

Watching a turbocharged celebrity chef coast his or her way through a dish (”Bam!”) usually means consuming a load of empty calories. Depending on the charm of the performer, the exercise can provide a welcome time-wasting distraction or feel as cringe-worthy as watching a lousy magician pull a rabbit from a hat.

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Google fear of frying and you will get tens of thousands of results for that corny culinary pun. But the fear of maiming oneself with hot oil is a real one. One of the most telling questions on our weekly Cookthink Questionnaire asks for participants to confess their cooking fears. And while some brave souls proudly declare that they have none, most cooks admit to a hang-up or phobia of one sort or another. Some are afraid of accidentally mutilating ourselves with knives. Others are scared to butcher meat, to kill crustaceans, to cook a whole turkey, to make candy or to flambé.

What are you afraid to do in the kitchen?

I once had an English professor who told us at the start of the semester that every writer is by nature a sprinter (poet) or a long-distance runner (novelist), and that nurturing and resolve had only so much influence over how far your genetics could take you.

Over the years, I have found this know-thyself metaphor useful in evaluating many of life’s challenges, including my own approach to cooking and how it differs from those around me.

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Are you familiar with this cooking-related phobia? (Hint: Reading this blog is most likely an indicator that you don’t have it.)

Late bloomer Julia Child famously said: “I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.”

When did you stop merely eating and get cooking? And when did your cooking skills really come of age?

The New York Times ran a Well column the other day asking whether the uptrend in home cooking means that people are eating healthier meals. It doesn’t take a scientific mind to figure out that cooking with raw materials instead of processed foods is better for you than opening a can, zapping a readymade dinner in the microwave or ordering take-out.

But studies have long shown that the “nutrition gatekeeper” of the house — the one who buys the food and does most of the cooking — is the one holding the nutritional cards for the rest of the family. Researchers at Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab did an interesting study to determine how the personality, favorite ingredients and culinary habits of 770 people had a bearing on the nutritional value of their cooking. The results broke down into five categories.

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In the olden days, when I used to dine out at restaurants without fearing for my rent, I made a policy of ordering dishes I could or would not make at home. So I went out for Mexican and Indian and Thai and Japanese, deciding there was no reason to figure out how to make my own curry or butter chicken when I could afford to hire a pro.

But in times when even buying a sandwich seems extravagant, eating out is the first thing to go. Conventional wisdom dictates that home-cooked food should be homey — that those who try to replicate the restaurant experience at home are foolhardy and pretentious. But most of us have grown up eating out frequently enough that the idea of restaurant food is broader than a high-end dinner in a fancy restaurant. And when times are tough and eating out becomes a luxury instead of a reflex, I find it cheering to try and replicate dishes I once paid other people to cook.

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