| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/16/2005 10:18:51 AM | Maybe even what motivated you to learn?
My story is simple. I come from a family that cooked alot of Mexican and Indian dishes. In grew up in California. When we moved to Garden Grove we had a neighbor who name was Mack (short for macaroni we teased-hey I was a kid) who had been, before moving to America (from Italy), a Ronzoni family cook. As was her mother and her mother before that. And she taught my mom everything. I learned pastas early. Closing the ravs with a fork was the kids job, same as spreading the masa for large batches of tamales. She learned all my mom knew and my mom became quite adept at Italian. So we has Osso Buco and Saltimboca as well as Chili Rellenos and Green Chili. We did both red and green I know some families did one or the other depending on where there were from.
I still own the cookbook she gave my mom, a Ronzoni Cookbook from 1956! I love it. That is classic italian cooking.
Caio Bella,
And Hasta La Bye Bye
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/16/2005 12:12:35 PM | | Great story! I do not have too much time to put mine pout there yet, but wanted to comment on yours. I had a nanny for my kids for their early years, and she was an excellent cook. We spent many hours sharing kitchen secrets together (and thats all). I had the hardest time, and still do, spreading masa on the husks. When I did it there would be crumbles everywhere. She would grab them and spread it smooth as butter. Weird. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/16/2005 2:25:46 PM | | Hmm..good question. I don't really remember. It really just kinda came naturally to me. I was handed a knife..and I already knew how to use it....i flipped eggs the first time I cooked it..and I was never afraid of heat. I learned techniques and culinary terms by watching cooking shows since I was 5. And yeah..just hanging out in the kitchen with my parents all the time..even though now I think everything they do is "wrong" hah. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/16/2005 5:48:48 PM | | I learned to cook from many different sources. My dad mostly and then my grandfather, who owned a bakery. My mom cooks ok but not that good. So I found that I liked what I made better than what she made. I rarely follow recepies but cook by the way I want it to taste, what ever it may be at the time. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/16/2005 7:09:14 PM | My grandparents owned a downtown diner when I was very young. The national food suppliers like Sysco and US Foods were not cranking out all the prepared items like today where you need only to heat and assemble. They made dozens of pies and cakes, salads, sliced meats, breads and a hot special each day. They also had an orange juicer and a donut machine. I spent many hours there scrubbing or bussing as a kid.
I also had the incredible cooking shows. PBS has been a wonderful source of education in my childhood with the many chefs that we have been discussing over the past few weeks.
Then there is my love for food. This obsession has caused me to seek out great supplies for the various ethnicities, recipes, techniques and an overall joy of cooking.
Steven | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/17/2005 2:44:33 PM | I was always my mom's kitchen helper when she would bake cookies, muffins, cakes, whatever. I was always at my dad's side when he would BBQ. We would BBQ every day in the summer. My nono and nona are wonderful cooks. I was making gnocchi and ravioli from scratch with them since as far back as I can remember.
I was such a picky eater, but my nona never made me anything that wasn't amazing.
I would say that my mother was the largest influence on me. She had me participating in the kitchen at a young age. I wasn't afraid of the stove like many young children. After she died, I took in posession a book of her handwritten recipies. In the following years, I worked, partied, did what young people do. And I would cook her recipes from time to time because it made me feel like I was doing something to make her memory live on. As I practiced, I got better and I figured out that I could actually make a living doing this! I had a real knack for it which I owe largely to her.
And here I am in culinary school, learning how to cook all over again. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/17/2005 6:21:32 PM | i love cooking...probably because i love to eat good food.
my granny taught me how to bake...hot kitchen...wooden board...old family classics written on little cards...carefully stowed away in a tin box.
my mom taught me the basics...and never to skimp on ingredients...i learned how to cook live lobster at 4...no money...always in second hand clothes...but lobster dinner when we were feeling low.
i love cooking for my family and passing on our family recipes...
i am completely a closet cookbook hoarder... | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/18/2005 5:33:23 AM | | Trail and error and learning some old respiies thats been in the family for generations. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/19/2005 1:53:49 PM | | I learned how to cook because I needed to eat when I was a kid. My Mom stopped cooking for us when I was younger, because my dad complained about her food too much. I learned out of nesessity(sp?) and I picked up some things from my grandfather and grandmothers friends mothers etc... | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/19/2005 3:17:33 PM | | I don't remember learning how to cook, but I do remember making my first apple pie with my grandmother when I was 5. I know when I was 7-8, I was given a cookbook for Christmas. It was a children's cookbook from Colonial Williamsburg. | |
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ccv
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Joined: 8/18/2005
Msg: 12 | |
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Gremmy
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Joined: 5/28/2005
Msg: 14 | |
| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/20/2005 7:21:57 PM | | I learned to cook when I was 7. Mom had to go back to work and being the oldest I had to look after my brother and sister. I would fix breakfast while mom was getting ready for work and I would fix a small snack for them when we got home from school until mom got home to fix dinner. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/22/2005 12:33:12 PM | My Gramma made everything from scratch. She and Granpa had a huge orchard out back and two big gardens. She was always cooking! I learned to can fruits and vegetables, and we always had homemade jams and jellies on homemade bread. Jams and jellies made with plums, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, and she made the best applebutter EVER. Loved it.
When I was little, my sister and I would beg her to let us help bake bread. She never once complained, and would always give us a little dough to roll out and little tart tins to make our own little "loaves" in. We hummed as we worked because she did and it was always so cozy and fun. It wasn't until YEARS later that she admitted she never much enjoyed our "help" since we always made such a mess, but she could never hold us back from wanting to share in it, and learn (she was a schoolteacher before she got married, so was always open to us learning pretty much everything).
Food was such a big part of our world there. Right after breakfast, we'd start the baking, get lunch started, and mid-afternoon, start preparing dinner.
It wasn't so intense at home, but I was always poring over cookbooks, asking if I could make this or that--and Sunday dinners were a family affair. Everybody had a job to do in the kitchen. People tell me I make the best beef gravy--but I'll never tell the secret ingredient--unless we are (or become!) really good friends, then I might . . .
My world now is so different (love my microwave), but I still love to bake when I get the chance, and when I do big meals, I go all out with sauces, and side dishes and homemade yorkshires or biscuits and buns. It would be nice to indulge in cooking more than I do, but I just never have time. My son's missing out, but I try to teach him what I can when I can. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/28/2005 8:03:10 AM | School of hard knocks!!
I'm a thirty something bachelor. Eating take out all the time can bankrupt you.
So, a lot of trial and error. The key is: Fear nothing. Dive in and try, and if at first you don't succeed, get up, dust yourself off, laugh, and try making it again. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 8/31/2005 5:59:40 PM | | i come from a long line of cooks. so i ahve been in and around kitchens since i was born. i was 4 years old when i first cooked a meal by myself. i have been unstoppable ever since. i am always eager to learn something new. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/2/2005 10:29:20 AM | hmm when i was younger i sucked at cooking, but over the years i developed into a better cook - just by being more cautious and being able to experiment a little bit
i really love to cook - and i find it relaxing sometimes | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/2/2005 3:35:04 PM | Younger? Younger than 23? LOL
Oh, and there is no way a 4 year old can cook a whole meal. How can you reach the stove. Are there any parents out there who would let a child of 4 near a stove on her own? Maybe, I just have a real hard time picturing. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/2/2005 5:10:21 PM | | I started with my mom who only cooked Spanish food, then I cooked that for a long time, then started watching shows with good cooks like Weir, Pepin, Childs, etc. and got one or two of their books. I really like Jacques Pepin Celebrates. Once you start cooking french food, it really broadens your abilities, then I went on to subscribe to Cooking Light and that has a lot of great recipes, now I am taking recipes from that and Gourmet. I am also sharing my favorites with my mom, so the student is now the teacher. She is starting to add my recipes to her menu and making them her own. I am not really a great cook, but love to experiment. I made this fantastic mango-lime ice box pie topped with Italian meringue. It is fantastic! | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/2/2005 9:31:58 PM | | my teachers were mom of course and Graham Kerr from TV. Now I teach my kids to cook so they will always know how to care for themselves. Cooking kind of brings the family together. | |
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| How did you learn to cook?
Posted: 9/5/2005 10:08:33 AM | "i was 4 years old when i first cooked a meal by myself"
Sounds unsupervised to me. A 4 year old can time a meal? Can reach the stove? Can use a knife? Just sounds out there to me. Yeah, I learned alot when I was young but... | |
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