| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/8/2008 6:51:27 PM | I grew up in NY only child of a single mom and her boyfriend was to cheep to pay for a babysitter so instead he took me to some of the best restaurants on long island and NY City on his expense account so I developed very fine tastes in food at an early age so when I was 13 my mom started her masters degree so was not home at night so had to make dinner for us and TV dinners just did not cut it
So I started and while I made some things that were inedible I also made things wonderful so I continued learning and got better so not a bad cook at all now and yes I made very nice dishes such as beef wellington I also excellent on the grill and make wonderful omelets | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/8/2008 7:01:50 PM | | I was cooking before I could reach the stove. I learned from momma and grandma. Mud pies are not considered dessert. I learned that too. I was 5 and I put them in nice little bowels and even added marsh mellows . | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/8/2008 7:02:03 PM | | I pretty much learned by watching my mom (and to a lesser extent, my dad). My family wasn't into restaurants, so I had plenty of opportunities to observe how they cook. By age 6, I could already make breakfast foods and desserts. Over time, I picked up on things, so by the time I started high school, I knew how to make a complete meal. This served me quite well, especially after I got my own place. It's fun to try a recipe from the internet or my own rendition of a family classic, although like a lot of people pointed out, it gets boring when you know you'll be pretty much the only one to eat it. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/8/2008 7:11:56 PM | | My parents owned restaurants growing up, great-grandparents owned a bakery. It's in my blood to some extent. My mom would drop me off at the library in the summer. While she ran errands, I would sit in the kid's cookbook aisle and read recipe books. In grade school I ordered the Scholastic cookbooks. I still have them to this day and now my children use them. I also watched grandparents and neighbors cook, but mom was the one who showed me how to make baklava! As my Dad says.....Ahhhh it's good to be Greek! LOL | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/10/2008 6:55:18 PM | I learned to cook from my mom... at least for all of the family/cultural meals. My first 'official' attempt at cooking was when I was about 7... tried to cook rice, but didn't know that it expanded so much after boiling so I ended up with twice as much. 
Everything else I learned on my own. I love watching The Food Network (Iron Chef, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Ray, Nigella), so I pick up a lot of recipes from those types of shows. I own so many cookbooks that I'm running out of space on my bookshelf, but trying out different recipes, tweaking them and making them my own has always been something that I like to do.  | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/11/2008 6:50:25 AM | i was mostly self-taught. my parents are immigrants of german & austrian/north italian heritage, so that was the type of food i was raised on. my mom tended to rotate a dozen or so standard dinner recipes, and didn't experiment much -- while she's a good cook, she doesn't really love to cook, and so there wasn't much variety at the dinner table.
in my teens i took to the library, started bringing home cookbooks, and volunteered to take on one family dinner a week. i experimented and broadened my palate, and by association broadened my parents' palate a bit. i like spice, ethnic variety, and i'm not a fan of processed or fatty foods, and so my tastes have developed based on those preferences.
now i get many of my ideas from magazines, a collection of cookbooks, and i'm a huge fan of The Food Network. often i work from a recipe, sometimes i modify a recipe to make it my own, and other times i create something entirely unique through inspired experimentation. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/29/2008 11:11:16 PM | Like most of the previous posters, I learned to cook with my mother and Grandmothers. My one Grandmother was a farm wife and would some days make lunch for all the farmhands, which somedays would number as many as 30. Other Graandmother did alot of canning and baking at Christmas. While I never learned to can or enjoyed baking those were my first experiences.
I am now cooking for a living and use chow.com and epicurious.com alot for ideas. I write my own recipes now, some from others I have read and some from ideas in my head. I enjoy smoking meats with my own marinades and rubs. I also make great soups from scratch. I once had a collection of cookbooks that numbered several hundred but my home burnt to the ground. Now I have a large box of recipes, some from my restaurant experiences and others from newspapers and magazines.
It is my hope to one day go back to school and complete my degree in culinary arts and business. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/30/2008 7:53:20 PM | For me, it was just trial and error, although I had watched cooking shows in my late teens, for some weird reason.
I rarely, rarely use recipes, just my imagination, and it seems to work well.  | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/1/2008 5:13:31 PM | My mom worked very long hours after my dad passed away. I was doing the cooking for all of us after school since I was 12. I did have a cookbook in the beginning, but I used it only for baking stuff. I still have that cookbook with me, wherever I have been, It's a1960 edition. I always considered cooking a creative thing, just like painting or carpentry or sculpture, and I can duplicate any food I taste if I like it... Greek cuisine is my forte of course since I'm Greek, but later I learned to cook ethnic foods, like Mexican and Polish and Italian and German and French pastries - well, and it's easy and entertaining, and if EVER in doubt about ANYTHING, there's always Google these days!
 <- Me and my friends! | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/1/2008 5:32:42 PM | | I mostly learned on my own along with Betty Crocker cook book! My grandmother and mother were both great cooks and I am sure I picked up some things from them, but mostly learned on my own. Good ingredients and attention pay off. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/1/2008 9:27:08 PM | My parents were busy teachers and they didn't have enough time to take care of us. At first they left food at home. I didn't like cold food and the boring meals everyday. So I started to add something inside it. When they found out I made the kitchen in a mess , they told me the basic things of a kitchen and from then on I started to make my own food. It was about 14 years old.... When I was 16, my brother started to refused to have the dinner made by mum but mine  So from then on, I cooked the dinner for my family until I left for higher education in North China. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/1/2008 10:25:09 PM | When I was a little girl , spent my lazy day of Summer breaks at my Grandparents
farm in Virginia. There I got to spend time with two people that were my heart of
hearts and loves of my life- My sweet loving Grandparents. When being there with
them I'd help my Grandmother in the kitchen - Till one day at age 6 I pulled up a
a stoole and adorned apron just like my Grandmother wore and helped her in the
kitchen bake homemade bread & pies ! Then from that point on I watched her real
closely how she preparped meals of all kinds and her spices and special touches they
made everything taste fine. I learned to cook by someone I loved best and that loved
me unconditionaly that was my Grandmother Effie Mae whos jams and pickles were
the best and better than all the rest!
The rest of my cooking lessons was from my Mother,
then what I learned in cooking class at school ,
followed by many cook books that I collect.
I still feel I was taught by the best ...
My Grandmother she made everything taste great !
This Forum I Post In Loving Memory Of My Late Grandmother
.....................................She ... Taught Me The Real Meaning Of Life !!!!! 
-Brenny- | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 2:27:22 PM | | My Italian grandmother. She had her own garden and made everything from scratch, from sausage to bread to pasta. I was fascinated by her alchemy and spent a lot of time in her kitchen. She always had biscotti on hand to sweeten the deal and make sure I was around to lend a hand. Smart woman. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 2:56:46 PM | | My grandmother and my mom were the ones that got me into the kitchen. Food was always a big part in our family and I always loved helping pick herbs or cleaning beans. Watching Yan Can Cook as a kid also played a huge influence. Martin Yan love that guy | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 3:25:04 PM | For me, it started at a very early age. With 3 younger sisters, and 2 brothers, it was a necessity that the boys helped out in the kitchen. We made our sisters school lunches, washed dishes, helped with the baking, brought in the firewood to stoke the wood cook stove, hauled water from the well to cook and wash up in. OK, we were poor, so everyone helped out.
Mom was a terrible cook, and had a knack of making fried liver that could take up to an hour to cut apart and chew. Dad was worse, making things like sardine and onion sandwiches for suppers. It became a matter of self defense to volunteer to cook meals, so we could have something palatable once in a while.
While I did learn the basics at home, I learned the finesse of making a great meal by talking to the cooks in restaurants. It was amazing, how many would pass on tips and recipes to a stranger. Later in life, I became very adept at passing glowing compliments to the chef in whichever restaurant I happened to be visiting. You would be amazed at how many of the better chefs would come from the kitchen to accept a compliment, and actually divulge their inner secret recipes. I learned the secret to making a Caesar salad from scratch (I mean the wooden bowl, the rubbing of one anchovy around the bowl, etc.) from one chef who prided himself on the accolades over his salad. I learned Parmesan garlic potato balls from another chef who came to sit at my table after the waitress passed on my compliment. I learned the secret to a deep dish cast iron, oven baked chicken/vegetable medley from a renowned chef in Toronto, only because I was the last one in the dining room, and complimenting the chef brought him to my table to discuss culinary tips. By that time, I was quite learned in the ways of the kitchen and we actually traded recipes that night.
Of course, being married to a woman of German descent for so many years was another reason to explore new avenues of taste experimentation. To her, every meal was pork, potatoes and a vegetable. The more fat the pork had on it the better, according to her raising. It wasn't until her father keeled over of a heart attack, I could change her mind.
I suppose what I am saying is never be afraid to ask, when you taste a fantastic meal. You may get shot down 9 times out of 10, but the 1 will add immensely to your repertoire. | |
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zeeba
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Joined: 8/31/2008
Msg: 167 | |
| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 4:21:35 PM | So interesting to read all these responses, and what great and varied ways we all learned to cook!
I'm another one who learned mainly from my mother and maternal grandmother. It was always a bit funny because my paternal grandmother could NOT have been more different from my other one. She prided herself on not knowing how to cook (!) and when she came to visit us, she would sit on the couch, impeccably dressed and nails manicured. My poor mother and I would be getting supper together, and Grandma's response always was, "I have a nervous colon! I can't eat that!"
My maternal grandmother was very Southern in her cooking; I figured out years later that it was from Kentucky, where her mother grew up. So thanks to her and Mom, I'm great at all the things that are so bad for you yet so good: Chicken fried steak; fried chicken; real mashed potatoes; gravy made from drippings, flour, and milk; turkey and dressing (NOT stuffing); cornbread; cobbler; fried corn; and fresh green beans cooked down with bacon or a ham hock, salt and pepper, and diced onions. Can't make pie crust or biscuits from scratch, though. The Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts and frozen biscuits are just fine!
When I moved away from home, I started to experiment a lot more and I'm pretty good at stir-fries, Italian dishes, and some Indian cuisine. I'd like to learn more about international cuisines, though. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 4:34:52 PM | My Mother and my wonderful grannie in the hills of Arkansas taught me how to cook {She was German and one smart savvy cook} Then in Thailand my cook taught me lots of thai dishes,}So I go from german to soul food of the hills people to thai dishes,,,
In Vietnam I learned a few dishes but they bury their eggs and dig them up and put into food""""" YUCK They also eat dogs. ec etc etc | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 6:06:14 PM | A long time ago, I used to watch Julia Child, and then Graham Kerr.
They made cooking entertaining and fun, and EASY!
When I moved in with my first serious girlfriend during Reagan's first term, I bought a copy of the Fannie Farmer cookbook, which is a treasure trove of information.
Since the start up of Food Network and America's Test Kitchen, plus about 20 years in restaurants, I can probably cook almost anything.
When I went to Washington DC in 2002, there was a memorium in the Smithsonian to Julia Child. They rebuilt her actual set from the TV show as a display, with a 1/2 dozen monitors showing her at various stages of her career, and all of her dishes, knives, and kitchen gadgets, hung up exactly as they were back during the early shows in the 60's.
Magical, just magical. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/2/2008 6:09:24 PM | I grew up with home cooked meals. We ate out perhaps once a year. My mom sure can cook.
What I didn't learn from her, I learned in Boy Scouts. 13 year old kids cooking good hearty meals for 6 other boys, and usually over an open wood fire. At least one guy was in charge of keeping the fire going so others could concentrate on the food.
I still love the art of back-country cuisine. I'll look at a meal at a restaurant, and think "how can I make a meal like this on a campout?" and then "how can I make this meal out in the middle of nowhere on day six of a wilderness expedition on a single burner backpacking stove and no table? And its gotta be very lightweight and non-perishable." Now there's a challenge. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/4/2008 12:48:18 PM | | Well when I got done with HS i told myself i need to find something to do with my life so it was. A. Be a auto tech or B. become a chef I worked on cars since I was 13 and I was cooking when i was 14. so lol it came down to a coin toss. now after 5 years out of culinary school I'm have been in food and wine mag. 2 times. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/4/2008 1:52:30 PM | When starting to learn how to cook, I was a little girl. When I came home after school, I was very hungry and my parents weren't home with busy working. The best thing I could do was cooking for myself. Various fresh vegetables were in my family garden, and the hens laid some fresh eggs in the yard. The first dish I cooked for myself was stir-frying eggs with green peppers, fantastic tasting and recalling!!!  | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/5/2008 9:02:01 AM | | I don't like to learn from cooking shows. I believe different people have different tastes. I cook for myself with my taste preferences. If I have guests, I will ask them what they like first. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/11/2008 3:15:41 AM | | I began learning how to cook at 4 years of age. I stood on a chair, supervised by my stepfather(who was a chef). I was also taught by a host of family members, including my Mother and grandmother. They also collected cookbooks and watched early cooking shows on television. Every job I've held leads me back to cooking.I love it. Now I am a professional chef. | |
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eseven
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Joined: 9/14/2008
Msg: 175 | |
| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 10/12/2008 6:18:28 PM | | I figured out at an early age, that if I wasn't married I would have to learn that there was life beyond the can opener and take out..lol .started with simple things and built up from there.: | |
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