Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
how) people learned to cook.

For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working
and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from school, it was my
job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.

Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most. She
died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the family (6
people) by myself.

I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned a
lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.

How about you?

George L

On Sep 8, 1:24*pm, "George Leppla" > wrote:
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
> how) people learned to cook.

Grandpa. My mother and I lived with my grandparents until I was 9.
Grandpa
worked the afternoon shift at GM, so he got up for breakfast about the
time I
came home from school for lunch. We fixed breakfast and watched re-
runs
of the Andy Griffith show.

Cindy Hamilton

In my newlywed kitchen when it dawned that this was it - cook or
starve - wishing all the while, of course, that I had observed Mom
more closely. Oh, some of the flops were memorable.

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:24:27 -0500, "George Leppla" >
wrote:

-->Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
-->how) people learned to cook.
-->
-->For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working
-->and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from school, it was my
-->job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
-->would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
-->fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
-->
-->Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
-->sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most. She
-->died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the family (6
-->people) by myself.
-->
-->I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned a
-->lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
-->
-->How about you?
-->
-->George L


My mother was a home economics teacher for 25 years. She taught all us kids to
cook and to sew. I did take six months of formal training.

On Sep 8, 12:24*pm, "George Leppla" > wrote:
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
> how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. *My parents were working
> and my grandmother was home with us. *When I got home from school, it was my
> job to help Grandma cook supper. *Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
> would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
> fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. *I'm not
> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most. *She
> died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the family (6
> people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned a
> lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
> How about you?
>
> George L

When I was five I demanded (pushy kid) that my mother let ME cook.
She said, "You must learn how to read before you can cook by
yourself." So I taught myself to read. When I proved that I could
"read" the instructions on a box of Jello, she let me make it. I have
been cooking ever since. Made my first entire meal independently
before I was nine. Mostly I learned standing next to Mom.
Fortunately she was less than 5 feet tall herself!
Lynn in Fargo
whose 27 year old daughter can barely boil water

"George Leppla" > wrote in message
...
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working
> and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from school, it was
> my job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
> would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
> fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most.
> She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the
> family (6 people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned
> a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
> How about you?
>
>
I think most people learn to cook at home from observing and helping during
childhood. I began from before I could walk, sitting in a highchair
observing my grandmother. It was war time, my father was off in the South
Pacific killing japs and my mom worked sewing in a factory making military
uniforms and gear. In those days most everything was cooked from scratch.
The first thing I remember was my grandmother giving me pieces of dough to
form into something and she'd bake them (looking back I'm sure she tossed
mine in the trash and made what looked like my over handled dirty dough).
From the time I could walk I was helping her form rolls, roll out dough for
noodles, cookies, pies, and whatever tasks she gave me as I could do them.
When my grandfather came home from work, he was a coppersmith, put the roof
on the Chrysler building, he was starving so the first order of business was
to prepare his sardines and schnapps appetizer, we ate sardines together and
he'd pour me beer in a shot glass, those were my first words, more beer.
After the war my other grandparents owned a kosher deli so from about 3
years old I'd help out there (there was no day care then), I became the
mustard master because having small fingers I could fill toots. Many of my
family members were in the food business, owned restaurants and grocery
stores. I had an aunt and uncle who owned a grocery store in the Catskills
(a half hour from here) and as a side business they catered certain dishes
for the big borscht belt hotels, I spent summers there helping prepare all
sorts of specialty foods. As time passed I cooked more and more, I've been
cooking all my life but I never really worked as a cook (except one summer
preparing food for Chicken Delight), there are much better ways to earn a
living... I would never encourage any young person to have a career cooking,
the work is hard, dirty, long hours, small pay... and you work with some of
the most uneducated and dishonest criminal types on the planet, like
musicians, hair dressers, tailors. only far worse. Think about it, these
highly repetitious occupations that require innate ablity don't require an
academic education (thinking would actually be a liability) and mainly
that's who gravitates to these jobs, losers.... you can't one day at age 30
decide you wanna be a cook and enroll in cooking school thinking you will
earn a living cooking... without the innate ability you won't do any better
than someone with a tin ear taking a thousand piano lessons... I don't think
Liberace ever had a piano lesson.

Learned to cook from Mom. Then I got married and he looked at me and
said, "I hate noodles, rice, and beans." I no longer knew how to cook.


--
Dymphna
Message origin: www.TRAVEL.com

"George Leppla" > wrote in message
...
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working
> and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from school, it was
> my job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
> would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
> fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most.
> She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the
> family (6 people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned
> a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
> How about you?
>
> George L
I don't remember. I suppose from watching my mother. There were lots of
tasks that you did because they were there and they needed to be done. I
don't remember anyone teaching me to iron, clean house, mow the lawn,
plant/tend a garden -- but I know I did them all. I did have Home Ec class
in 7th and 8th grade. That was making coffee, white sauce, a cake,
muffins(the proper 12 stir/fold method), hem a tea towel, make an apron and
make a stuffed animal using the sewing machine. Anything at all beyond that
I wanted to do, I'd find a book and teach myself. . . knitting, canning,
refinishing furniture (well, except for swimming and typing classes I
signed myself up for those free summer classes when I was in 3rd grade.)
Janet

"Dymphna" > wrote in message
news
>
> Learned to cook from Mom. Then I got married and he looked at me and
> said, "I hate noodles, rice, and beans." I no longer knew how to cook.
>

Is he a pork chop/steak/mashed potatoes man?

"Kalmia" > wrote in message
...
> In my newlywed kitchen when it dawned that this was it - cook or
> starve - wishing all the while, of course, that I had observed Mom
> more closely. Oh, some of the flops were memorable.
>
Pffft, you still can't cook.

"George Leppla" > wrote in message
...
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working
> and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from school, it was
> my job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
> would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
> fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most.
> She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the
> family (6 people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned
> a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
Great story. Your family sounds wonderful. My parents were older when I was
born, and only one grandmother was still living and she was a living
nightmare, so I don't have the nice granny memories.

I was not interested in cooking as a child, and I was never in the kitchen
with my mother, though I have a sister who was and she knows most of mama's
recipes. For it to interest me it had to be an adventure, and a wide open
thing--sky is the limit, did not want to just cook everything I had as a
child. So I learned everywhere, but mostly from the Fanny Farmer cookbook
that came out in the mid 1980s. (I think I have mentioned this, but my
mother was a fine baker, truly. Not so hot as a cook. She grew up during the
1930s depression and her mother was mean, for one thing.

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:24:28 -0700 (PDT), Lynn from Fargo Ografmorffig
> wrote:

>Lynn in Fargo
>whose 27 year old daughter can barely boil water

Oh, what a heart breaker!

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

"George Leppla" > wrote in message
...
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working
> and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from school, it was
> my job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
> would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
> fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most.
> She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the
> family (6 people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned
> a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
> How about you?


Julia Child. I used to watch her on Saturday afternoon back when PBS was
new and her shows were all first run.

Paul

On Sep 8, 1:24*pm, "George Leppla" > wrote:
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
> how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. *My parents were working
> and my grandmother was home with us. *When I got home from school, it was my
> job to help Grandma cook supper. *Grandma didn't walk real well, so she
> would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all the running and
> fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. *I'm not
> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most. *She
> died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the family (6
> people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned a
> lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
> How about you?
>
> George L

Like many, I observed mom & grandma. Also learned to be interested in
ethnic cooking from my best friend's mom from middle school on.

But the end of high school, I was cookingfor the holidays. In college,
I had to once not in the dorms anymore, but by then was very
competent.

Started more upscale cooking once engaged/married (could afford it
then )

Kris

Dymphna wrote:
> Learned to cook from Mom. Then I got married and he looked at me and
> said, "I hate noodles, rice, and beans." I no longer knew how to cook.
>
>
And you stayed married?

We asked that question of each other prior to our marriage, works better
that way. She will eat about anything, I don't like mustard greens,
artichokes, avocados, and well-done beef.

George Leppla wrote:
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.
>
> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were
> working and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from
> school, it was my job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk
> real well, so she would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all
> the running and fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>
> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm
> not sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the
> most. She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for
> the family (6 people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really
> learned a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with
> Grandma.
>
> How about you?
>
> George L

I learned from watching my mom. She had a bunch of medical problems and
had to go to the hospital or someplace to recover and Daddy was a
horrible cook. I learned to stay alive.

When I got older I watched my aunts, too. There were 7 sisters. Two
didn't live in the US and one didn't cook, but the other 3 plus Mom were
fantastic.

I learned to cook Italian from our landlady and watching my friend's
mother and grandmother.

Believe it or not I learned a lot from Julia Child, The Galloping
Gourmet, and The Frugal Gourmet, too.

I'm still learning.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

sf wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:24:28 -0700 (PDT), Lynn from Fargo Ografmorffig
> > wrote:
>
>> Lynn in Fargo
>> whose 27 year old daughter can barely boil water
>
> Oh, what a heart breaker!
>

When my daughter was a little younger than that and had just delivered
her first baby, she called my mom and asked "Bubby" how to make
hardboiled eggs. It was humiliating!

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:24:27 -0500, "George Leppla"
> wrote:

>Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
>how) people learned to cook.

<snip>

>How about you?
>
>George L

I had minimal interest in cooking until my early 30's. And even that
was very basic. I lived in a small studio apartment and the stove
took up too much space so I put it in a store room. I had a microwave
and a toaster oven but didn't use them much. Eventually I put the
stove back but I could do very little "from scratch" but I did try and
cooked more than most single guys my age. In the mid 90's I had a
work accident and spent 6 years and 4 surgeries putting my foot back
together. To keep relatively sane I became obsessed with learning to
cook. The library, book stores, the internet all became very
important. I started watching foodtv and stumbled across and lurked
RFC and other foodie sites. Pretty soon I was making some pretty good
meals. When I look back on that kitchen with now stove and compare it
to what I have now I just laugh. Cooking is a great hobby and i'm so
glad to only eat in a restaurant a few times a year.

Lou

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:38:25 -0500, Janet Wilder
> wrote:

>sf wrote:
>> On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:24:28 -0700 (PDT), Lynn from Fargo Ografmorffig
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Lynn in Fargo
>>> whose 27 year old daughter can barely boil water
>>
>> Oh, what a heart breaker!
>>
>
>When my daughter was a little younger than that and had just delivered
>her first baby, she called my mom and asked "Bubby" how to make
>hardboiled eggs. It was humiliating!

Girls. They rip our hearts out and *stomp* on them!

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

George Leppla > wrote:
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where (and
> how) people learned to cook.

> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were working

It may have been about the same age for me. I do remember my
mother saying any kid of hers was going to know how to cook
before they moved out of the house, even if it was just a
scrambled egg.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

"cybercat" > wrote in message
...
>
> "George Leppla" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
>> (and how) people learned to cook.
>>
>> For me, I started cooking when I was 8 years old. My parents were
>> working and my grandmother was home with us. When I got home from
>> school, it was my job to help Grandma cook supper. Grandma didn't walk
>> real well, so she would sit at the table in the kitchen while I did all
>> the running and fetching and eventually, the actual cooking.
>>
>> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm not
>> sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the most.
>> She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner for the
>> family (6 people) by myself.
>>
>> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned
>> a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>>
> Great story. Your family sounds wonderful. My parents were older when I
> was born, and only one grandmother was still living and she was a living
> nightmare, so I don't have the nice granny memories.


Grandma was one of the best parts of my childhood. My family life was not
so great, Grandma kind of held things together and after she passed away, it
got a lot worse and there were serious problems, but that is not a story for
here.

One happy off-topic memory I can share.... besides teaching me to cook,
Grandma taught me all about professional wrestling. She was a devoted fan
and knew many of the wrestlers personally and socially. Some of the best
nights of my young life were spent with her watching the matches at the
Sunnyside Garden Arena in Queens, NY back in the late 50's and early 60's.

George L

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:36:05 -0500, Janet Wilder
> wrote:

>Believe it or not I learned a lot from Julia Child, The Galloping
>Gourmet, and The Frugal Gourmet, too.

Those three were the most influential for me too. Go to books for
recipes were Joy of Cooking and Betty Crocker's Cookbook - they still
are.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

On Sep 8, 10:24 am, "George Leppla" > wrote:
> [snip]
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really learned a
> lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with Grandma.
>
> How about you?
>
What have I learned about cooking and where did I learn it?

Importance of cleanliness: working in the school cafeteria as a high
school junior and senior.
Beginnings of knife skills, related prep: working in college dining
hall kitchens, sandwich shop, then in diner.
Effectiveness of complete prep work: working in a coffee shop/diner.
Essentialness of prep work/mise en place for Chinese stirfry: my good
Chinese cook uncle.
Necessity of tasting as you cook: ditto.
Cooking methods specific to a cuisine: books, tv shows, experience.
Meal planning, including getting parts of a meal to finish at the same
time: experience.
Matching cooking method to ingredient: all the above. -aem

"George Leppla" wrote

> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.

Hi George. Here's a different tale from what the others have. Mom (lovely
woman) did a great job raising 3 kids alone, but she's not much of a cook.
Food was hot, repetitive, and on time and we looked forward to TV dinners
and the rare time we could get school lunches. Hey, no one is perfect!

I think my initial spark came when Dad came to visit when I was about 6. He
made garlic mushrooms with butter and let us have a few. It was my first
taste of the finer things in life. The other was once my brother at age 10
took over making the turkey for Thanksgiving (I was 8). He spent time in
the library to look up how to do it and it came out nice and tender, not the
normal burnt cinder I thought turkey was supposed to be like. To this day,
I follow how my brother taught me at age 8, on what to do with whole poulty.

I moved out from home just before my 18th birthday (mere days) and on the
first night the test was 'my turn to make dinner'. I thought it was edible
but they rendered me 'bottle washer' from then on. I'd made hamburger
helper and boxed mashed potatoes (carefully reading both boxes to get it
right) and a can of green peas. They were less than amused ;-) Probably
because I burned the meat while trying to make the potatoes (which came out
lumpy with raw dry spots).

My next set of roomates did not cook collectively often but would take pity
on me and show me a few things like how to flour a potato slice to make
french fries.

Figuring out rapidly that I not only didnt know how to cook, but had a very
limited base of foods I had ever tasted, I set myself to 'try something new'
each trip to the grocery. It didnt have to be fancy or expensive. It was
as simple at the start as had never had a pear that wasnt canned so tried
one.

Knowing I new little, I didnt let it bother me if the first attempt with a
new food didn't work. Like the first time I saw a bitter melon, I tried to
slice it and boil it. Umm, not the right way to go ;-)

So 'where did I learn to cook'? The where was in every country I have been
in (and it's alot as I'm retired Navy) but the how, was a slow mostly self
teaching over time due to a desire to learn. I'm still learning and having
fun.

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:23:23 -0400, "cshenk" > wrote:


>Figuring out rapidly that I not only didnt know how to cook, but had a very
>limited base of foods I had ever tasted,

Same here. And forget about spices. Salt and pepper was about as far
as things went. Maybe cloves and nutmeg in a few things. I was in my
late teens before I new what an avocado was. Things like smoked
salmon, brie, smoked oysters, sundried tomatoes, pesto, etc. all came
later.

> I'm still learning and having fun.

Ya, me too.

Lou

"George Leppla" > wrote in message
...
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and how) people learned to cook.
>
[...]

> How about you?
>

Neat question. Like others, I learned early from my mom. She had her own
catering business for a while in the 70s, which is also when she had me take
cake decorating so I could help with some of the weddings if I wanted to.
My first wedding cake was my own in 1979.

Since then, it wasn't a necessity to cook well, just to cook cheaply and be
able to stretch a dollar. In the last 10 years or so I've been more
interested in cooking well, and cooking/living cheaply. I've learned a lot
here in this group, and some of the references that get posted.

"Lou Decruss" wrote
> "cshenk" wrote:

>>Figuring out rapidly that I not only didnt know how to cook, but had a
>>very
>>limited base of foods I had ever tasted,
>
> Same here. And forget about spices. Salt and pepper was about as far
> as things went. Maybe cloves and nutmeg in a few things. I was in my

Mom owned black pepper as the other spice besides salt (grin). She'd break
it out once a year.

> late teens before I new what an avocado was. Things like smoked
> salmon, brie, smoked oysters, sundried tomatoes, pesto, etc. all came
> later.

I dont think I got to avocados until I was about 30? Brie though hit when I
was 24. Havent tried sun dried tmatoes yet. I guess it's on my 'to-do'
list?

>> I'm still learning and having fun.
>
> Ya, me too.

Did you know 'fish sticks' in Japan are whole small (about wrist to
fingertips) fish lightly breaded and fried then served on a scewer as faire
food much like we do hotdogs? Neat stuff. I learned to make them.

"cshenk" > wrote in message
...
> "Lou Decruss" wrote
snip
> Did you know 'fish sticks' in Japan are whole small (about wrist to
> fingertips) fish lightly breaded and fried then served on a scewer as
> faire food much like we do hotdogs? Neat stuff. I learned to make them.
>
Sounds like the way we prepared smelt, except we didn't put them on sticks.
Janet

"Cheryl" > wrote in message
...
>
> "George Leppla" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
>> (and how) people learned to cook.
>>
> [...]
>
>> How about you?
>>
>
> Neat question. Like others, I learned early from my mom. She had her own
> catering business for a while in the 70s, which is also when she had me
> take cake decorating so I could help with some of the weddings if I wanted
> to. My first wedding cake was my own in 1979.
>
> Since then, it wasn't a necessity to cook well, just to cook cheaply and
> be able to stretch a dollar. In the last 10 years or so I've been more
> interested in cooking well, and cooking/living cheaply. I've learned a
> lot here in this group, and some of the references that get posted.

I've learned a bit from this group in the relatively short time I've been
actively participating.

My food education took a whole new turn 3 years ago when I moved to TX (and
then LA) from Pennsylvania. The wife and I both love to cook and she has
introduced me to a whole new world of different foods that I had never had
before... everything from chicken fried steak, grits and cornbread to
Mexican, Tex-Mex, to Vietnamese Pho and beyond. Unfortunately, I've gained
30 pounds in the past 3 years and I can't afford that, so we are going to
have to start practicing some moderation before I achieve maximum density.
We'll do that right after we get home from our next cruise. <vbg>

George L

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 19:29:12 -0400, "cshenk" > wrote:

>"Lou Decruss" wrote
>> "cshenk" wrote:
>
>>>Figuring out rapidly that I not only didnt know how to cook, but had a
>>>very
>>>limited base of foods I had ever tasted,
>>
>> Same here. And forget about spices. Salt and pepper was about as far
>> as things went. Maybe cloves and nutmeg in a few things. I was in my
>
>Mom owned black pepper as the other spice besides salt (grin). She'd break
>it out once a year.

Yep bland and over cooked.
>
>> late teens before I new what an avocado was. Things like smoked
>> salmon, brie, smoked oysters, sundried tomatoes, pesto, etc. all came
>> later.
>
>I dont think I got to avocados until I was about 30? Brie though hit when I
>was 24. Havent tried sun dried tmatoes yet. I guess it's on my 'to-do'
>list?

Do try them. I just posted a use for them in bread in the cheese bread
thread.

>>> I'm still learning and having fun.
>>
>> Ya, me too.
>
>Did you know 'fish sticks' in Japan are whole small (about wrist to
>fingertips) fish lightly breaded and fried then served on a scewer as faire
>food much like we do hotdogs? Neat stuff. I learned to make them.

Sounds good to me.

Lou

Dymphna wrote:
> Learned to cook from Mom. Then I got married and he looked at me and
> said, "I hate noodles, rice, and beans." I no longer knew how to cook.

And you somehow didn't know this before the wedding?

<an arranged marriage, perhaps?>

Where did you learn to cook?


In essence, I don't think I really have, yet.

When I was a teenager, mom tried to pull us kids in the kitchen when
she was cooking, so that she could show us things. Neither I (nor my
younger sister) had ANY interest at all in that. Time passed, and I
lived on fast food, boxed dinners and canned stuff. I'm not sure why,
but about 5 years ago or so, I developed an interest in cooking. Part
of it was because I was tired of eating crap, and the other part of it
was because I somehow got fascinated by the idea of building this
huge, delicious meal out of raw ingredients. I meandered around,
guessing at stuff, screwing up a lot, etc. Meanwhile, my younger
sister just has a knack for it. She might read a recipe once, if at
all. She can make anything and it always turns out great, first try.
****es me off.

Finally I bought a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook at the Half Price
Book Store, around a year ago. It's the best $15 I've spent in a long
time. Whenever I just get a craving for any of the traditional meals,
there it is in the book. Meatloaf, Lasagna, Pot Roast, Lemon Chicken,
Chili, Beef Stroganoff.... nothing flashy nor exotic, but it does all
the everyday standards well. No guesswork, all the questions have
been answered. I've learned a lot by doing (and asking questions
here), and I'm getting an idea of how certain tastes are made, how
various ingredients react depending on what you do with them. It's
very fun! Now I'm getting to where I want to make EVERYTHING from
scratch- corn chips from dried corn, tomato sauce from actual
tomatoes, flour from wheat, bread and pasta from that wheat, etc.
Earlier someone mentioned that he learned to do all these things from
his grandmother. I'll bet that his grandmother had an impressive
garden too. I'm so envious.

I'm impressed with myself in how much I've learned in just a year. I
have a long ways to go, but it's a fun journey.

-J

My parents were both competent, if not masterful, in the kitchen. They
ran a small restaurant in the Catskill Mountains. That enterprise ended
when their partner cooked the books and ran off with the money.

When I was in college, I lived in a coed co-op, where everyone had to
sign up for kitchen duties. Those who could not be trusted with food
prep were given mops and dishrags. I was a cook. Later, in grad
school, I lived in another co-op, and volunteered for the role of
kitchen steward. That was quite a learning experience. I had to
research recipes and plan two menus per day for a house with 40+
residents, order supplies from wholesalers, teach and supervise the
cooks (rotating teams of other residents), repair equipment, run a
budget, learn and follow the health department regs, etc. This was
probably close to operating a small restaurant. It took a lot of time,
and certainly slowed my academic progress toward a Ph.D. in physics.
But it was often fun, and (as I justified it to myself at the time) just
another area for physics experiments.

As an academic gypsy, I've lived in quite a few places across the US:
Miami, Atlanta, Ithaca (NY), Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Greensboro (NC),
and Seattle. I've visited many more locales, and my cooking has
influences and riffs from all the regional and international cuisines
that I've encountered.

My sous chef (Cindy Fuller, resident nutritionist of RFC, who thinks I'm
the sous chef) is also a fearless experimenter. Her collection of
cookbooks is now numbering well over 500, so we have a lot of work to
do...

--
Julian Vrieslander

George Leppla wrote:

> Grandma was a simple cook, but she taught me many of the basics. I'm
> not sure whether I enjoyed the cooking or just being with Grandma the
> most. She died when I was 12 and from that day on, I cooked dinner
> for the family (6 people) by myself.
>
> I worked in restaurants during high school and college and really
> learned a lot about cooking there.... but I got my start cooking with
> Grandma.
> How about you?

Very similar to your story: I loved to help mom cook so when I heard the
noises of the kitchen start, I always ran there to help, to observe, to
fetch things, to stir pots, to bread things meant to be fried, and so on. I
started around 7 years of age and, as my age went up, I was doing more risky
or complex things, as removing cooked items from a deep frying pot or plying
cappelletti or mixing and kneading the dough for erbazzone. Then when I was
13 mom started working far from home and for some years she was home only
from friday afternoon to monday morning, so I started cooking with my sister
helping. She is 3 years older than me but she never took care about cooking
until over her 20's, so the cook was me.
After that period I always cooked once in a while, then around 30 years of
age I started to actively get informed on basics, on recipes and advanced
skills, and love to cook on weekends for me, for family or for friends.
But yes, the start was at 7 with mom.
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

"George Leppla" wrote:
> Other posts gave me the idea that it might be interesting to see where
> (and
> how) people learned to cook.

Standing on a wooden kitchen chair next to my mother. She loved to cook and
was very good considering that she never traveled or had access to cuisines
other than what her friends knew and my French grandmother, who was happy to
help her learn. Cooking was the only part of homemaking I liked and the
only part of it I didn't happily give up when I worked and hired household
help.
I was over 50 when I went to culinary school to learn how to be consistent
and safe.

"ffu" ha scritto nel messaggio

We've only got two under our belt,> eastern carib and the southern, next
will be a mediteranian.
> All ours have been on Carnival.

For the Med you might consider MSC, which is Italian and run primarily for
Italians. Instead of Med influenced food, it is likely that for the
enormously picky Italians you'd get real Mediterranean food.

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 21:20:46 -0700 (PDT), "U.N."
> wrote:

>When I was a teenager, mom tried to pull us kids in the kitchen when
>she was cooking, so that she could show us things. Neither I (nor my
>younger sister) had ANY interest at all in that.

Can you pin point why you weren't interested? Did your mom make
anything you wanted?

>Time passed, and I
>lived on fast food, boxed dinners and canned stuff. I'm not sure why,
>but about 5 years ago or so, I developed an interest in cooking. Part
>of it was because I was tired of eating crap, and the other part of it
>was because I somehow got fascinated by the idea of building this
>huge, delicious meal out of raw ingredients. I meandered around,
>guessing at stuff, screwing up a lot, etc. Meanwhile, my younger
>sister just has a knack for it. She might read a recipe once, if at
>all. She can make anything and it always turns out great, first try.
>****es me off.

Some people have a "palate". My son has a good palate, but he really
does experiment. He has stories about how many times it took to
replicate X.

Don't think of yourself as a failure. It takes hard work to achieve!
Maybe what you think of effortlessness on your sister's part as the
culmination of many failed experiments.


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf said...

> On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 21:20:46 -0700 (PDT), "U.N."
> > wrote:
>
>>When I was a teenager, mom tried to pull us kids in the kitchen when
>>she was cooking, so that she could show us things. Neither I (nor my
>>younger sister) had ANY interest at all in that.
>
> Can you pin point why you weren't interested? Did your mom make
> anything you wanted?
>
>>Time passed, and I
>>lived on fast food, boxed dinners and canned stuff. I'm not sure why,
>>but about 5 years ago or so, I developed an interest in cooking. Part
>>of it was because I was tired of eating crap, and the other part of it
>>was because I somehow got fascinated by the idea of building this
>>huge, delicious meal out of raw ingredients. I meandered around,
>>guessing at stuff, screwing up a lot, etc. Meanwhile, my younger
>>sister just has a knack for it. She might read a recipe once, if at
>>all. She can make anything and it always turns out great, first try.
>>****es me off.
>
> Some people have a "palate". My son has a good palate, but he really
> does experiment. He has stories about how many times it took to
> replicate X.
>
> Don't think of yourself as a failure. It takes hard work to achieve!
> Maybe what you think of effortlessness on your sister's part as the
> culmination of many failed experiments.


Mom would warn us that if we touched the pressure cooker on the stove we'd
all be dead before dinner.

Who wants to be dead BEFORE dinner???

Andy

U.N. wrote:
> Where did you learn to cook?
>
>
> In essence, I don't think I really have, yet.
>
> When I was a teenager, mom tried to pull us kids in the kitchen when
> she was cooking, so that she could show us things. Neither I (nor my
> younger sister) had ANY interest at all in that. Time passed, and I
> lived on fast food, boxed dinners and canned stuff. I'm not sure why,
> but about 5 years ago or so, I developed an interest in cooking. Part
> of it was because I was tired of eating crap, and the other part of it
> was because I somehow got fascinated by the idea of building this
> huge, delicious meal out of raw ingredients. I meandered around,
> guessing at stuff, screwing up a lot, etc. Meanwhile, my younger
> sister just has a knack for it. She might read a recipe once, if at
> all. She can make anything and it always turns out great, first try.
> ****es me off.
>
> Finally I bought a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook at the Half Price
> Book Store, around a year ago. It's the best $15 I've spent in a long
> time. Whenever I just get a craving for any of the traditional meals,
> there it is in the book. Meatloaf, Lasagna, Pot Roast, Lemon Chicken,
> Chili, Beef Stroganoff.... nothing flashy nor exotic, but it does all
> the everyday standards well. No guesswork, all the questions have
> been answered. I've learned a lot by doing (and asking questions
> here), and I'm getting an idea of how certain tastes are made, how
> various ingredients react depending on what you do with them. It's
> very fun! Now I'm getting to where I want to make EVERYTHING from
> scratch- corn chips from dried corn, tomato sauce from actual
> tomatoes, flour from wheat, bread and pasta from that wheat, etc.
> Earlier someone mentioned that he learned to do all these things from
> his grandmother. I'll bet that his grandmother had an impressive
> garden too. I'm so envious.
>
> I'm impressed with myself in how much I've learned in just a year. I
> have a long ways to go, but it's a fun journey.
>
> -J

Good for you J.

Nobody arrives at a place where they want to learn something, until they
get there. I'm glad for you that you did arrive, no matter the time
frame. It's the goal that counts. Not necessarily how you got there. As
long as ethics have been in place, all is good. :-)

Bob

Kalmia wrote:

> In my newlywed kitchen when it dawned that this was it - cook or
> starve - wishing all the while, of course, that I had observed Mom
> more closely. Oh, some of the flops were memorable.

Similar thing here. When I first 'left the nest' I was such a hopeless
cook I could burn water. I too, wished I had taken more notice when Mom
(or Dad) cooked.

BTW, did I tell you about the time I 'forgot' to take the plastic baggie
of giblets out of the chicken cavity before roasting it? <veg>
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy