How/When did you learn to cook?

[Night Elf]

As I sit here eating the delicious roast beef dinner prepared by my DH, I cannot remember anyone ever teaching me how to cook. My grandmothers sent the kids outside while the adults cooked. My mom didn't really cook much, it was more preparing boxed/canned foods. (She worked so much that she relied on very simple meals for the two of us, like soup served over white rice.)

 

When and how did you learn to cook?

 

And is my dislike cooking because no one ever showed me how and helped me appreciate the skill?

[Tangerine]

My mom (single mother) has Rheumatoid Arthritis. She started getting sick when I was in 5th grade. I had to start cooking, and I just learned by trial and error.

[LucyStoner]

My father is a great cook. I learned by cooking with him from early childhood. To this day, many of the things I make I would have to make and joy down what I am doing to formulate a recipe to share because he just taught me how to make many things, not from any recipe. So someone may love my biscuits but I have to measure as I go to tell them how to do it unless they want to just do it with me and learn the way that I did.

 

My mother was a horrible cook, but she grew up never eating at home, much less cooking so it is no wonder.

[jenL]

I learned by watching my mom, my grandmothers, and my aunt. Sometimes I would help them, but I didn't like "formal" lessons with them. In my family, you spend a lot of time in the kitchen chatting while cooking, so over time, I absorbed a lot. My mom always thought I was never going to be able to cook since I never liked being "taught". She loves how she can now see that I paid attention the entire time.

 

Watching Food Network has also helped in terms of knife skills, pairing certain foods/flavors, and with baking skills.

[MaryCatherine]

As a parent, when I realized that it wasn't healthy, cost efficient or practical to eat out every night. Once we outgrew jarred baby food, I was up a creek. I asked my older sister for recipes and cookbooks. Tons of recipes and ideas from homeschooling forums. I love to cook now.

[TammyinTN]

My grandmothers taught me. I spent a lot of time at their homes because my parents worked shifts.

[QuirkyKapers]

Myself after I got married. My mom didn't want anybody in her kitchen. I wish someone had taken time to show me. It is certainly a hassle to learn when you are older. I can't say that I really enjoy it and maybe if I been younger and had been more comfortable it would have been more enjoyable.

[veggiegal]

I learned a few things growing up, but my Mom was very much of the "get out of MY kitchen" type. I really learned to cook once I moved out. After eating mac n cheese, sandwiches and canned stuff for months...ewww!....I figured it was time to learn to cook. I learned at first by watching cooking shows; my fave was one very popular in Canada at the time called The Urban Peasant.

[YLVD]

I hate cooking..hate hate hate hate.

 

My mom is the best cook imaginable. Her food is better than high-end restaurant food. She's always made gourmet meals. Yet, she never showed us how to cook.

 

I'm just not domestic in general. I've often felt badly about it but I don't. I always cooked enough for DD and I to eat healthy, simple but healthy.

 

Honestly, I don't cook anymore. Since being involved with my SO, he does virtually all of the cooking. He's a great cook and enjoys it. I've pretty much only been involved with men that cook. It just isn't something I'm going to do unless I have to so they are aware! lol

 

My DD likes to cook and bake though.

[Sandra in FL]

My father is a great cook (worked in a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong), but he never could tolerate anyone in his kitchen so I never learned how to cook from him. Growing up, it was at least 3 dishes a meal - turned out in less than half an hour. His pork and stir fried vegetables are to die for. Good thing I don't live under his roof anymore or I'd be so fat.

 

Most of the cooking I do is not time-dependent. I can't stir-fry (which, for a Chinese, is important) to save my life - always overcooked. I do best with roasts, soups, crockpot, etc.

 

Do you see a trend here? Seems most of the posters with parents who were good cooks don't really like cooking or don't cook as well. I too hate cooking - just never seems right after a whole childhood eating delicious food.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Sandra in FL

[Ria]

My dad is an excellent cook, and he loves to work in the kitchen. My mom can cook, but she hates doing so.

 

I loved to work alongside my dad when I was a teen. And when dh and I married I knew enough that both of us could follow recipes. Now we both love to cook. Our kids have grown up cooking with us, they are all able to cook whatever they put their minds to. :)

[Jenny in Atl]

With both my parents, as a young child. I have one kid that loves to cook, and another who does not. I did the same as my folks... Some are just destined to eat out. :lol:

[PIE!]

As a newlywed our apartment came with free cable tv. I found out there is a food channel and started my cooking journey there. I have already started teaching my kids to cook (even though they're little) because it's something I wish I had learned much sooner.

[Lolly]

You are assuming I can cook.:lol::lol::lol:

[Slartibartfast]

I have a scar on the side of my pinky that I got while I was "helping" to make pancakes while I was five.

 

My sisters and I made quite a few of the meals, and we nearly always made breakfast.

[Carol in Cal.]

My mom hated to cook, but she showed me a few things out of obligation--how to make pan gravy, how to follow a recipe, how to measure exactly, and how to mix cookie dough.

 

We ate overcooked pot roast, overcooked frozen and canned vegetables, occasional roast beef, Mashed Potato Buds, baked potatoes, spaghetti/chili made from those envelope packets, a couple of chicken recipes, and iceberg lettuce salads. We occasionally had liver or stew--those were really, really bad--or hash, which was pretty good. On weekends my Dad would cook barbequed hamburgers one night and waffles or pancakes on the other. I was very thin as I did not really like most of this food, and we were not encouraged to have seconds of the meat because its use for leftovers was planned into the overall 'avoiding cooking whereever possible' rotation. Later she started to use Hamburger Helper and Lipton Dinners, and broadened her envelope packet use to include taco seasoning those stiff taco shells and pizza seasoning for English muffins.

 

Despite this, I always loved to cook, and as soon as I was on my own, learning new recipes became my one creative pursuit (because I had very little money, and I needed to eat anyway, so I could allow myself that luxury although I could not justify buying craft supplies.)

 

When I was about 20 years old, my aunt-who-actually-liked-to-cook gave me a Sunset French cookbook for Christmas. I started cooking food that actually tasted good and never looked back. At 22 or 23 I moved to Vermont for a couple of years, where the available cuisine is good but not very broad, and learned Chinese cooking in self-defense (it just wasn't AROUND, and it had a lot of PINEAPPLE in it.) I subscribed to Cuisine magazine, and although I didn't use very many of the recipes, it exposed me to some picky techniques and a variety of regional foods. And I had more time, in general, to try things once I was out of college. I bought a pasta machine and made lots of kinds of pasta recipes, with and without the homemade noodles. Pasta Cookery from HP books gave me LOTS of great ideas. As did the Betty Crocker International Cookbook, still a fave. So I just kept on experimenting from then on.

 

I had been taught that making bread, pie crust, cakes, jam, and candy are very difficult. However, each time I try one of those it seems easy and fun. So I keep trying more and more--a couple years ago I went on a cheese-making kick for a while.

 

So basically I taught myself out of books, and had a great time doing it!

Edited September 26, 2011 by Carol in Cal.
ETA Vermont necessity

[Tap]

I grew up in the kitchen. I could cook a fair amount by the time I graduated high school. It wasn't until I was an adult and started reading recipes and 'how to cook books' that I learned the actual methods of cooking. Things like when to add the garlic when you are sautéing onions, so you don't scorch the garlic.

 

The cooking shows have improved on a strong foundation laid by my mother.

 

 

 

The difference for my children, will be the addition of the little tidbits I can add to the basics. DD12 helped me today, to make 3 large lasagnas. We chatted about cooking and the whys of did things...not just 'start the onion and add the garlic at the end' but adding the knowledge that it was to protect the garlic from scorching. Little details....but important ones.

[KungFuPanda]

I grew up in the sticks, so most people cooked most of the time. Mom never gave us formal lessons, but she did ask us to help often enough that all 4 of us (2 boys, 2 girls) are the cooks in our respective families. My dad could also cook, and our grandmothers let us cook with them. Mom was also comfortable letting us try out recipes on our own in her kitchen. We believe that if you can read you can cook!

 

^^^That was how I learned to cook country food. My mother-in-law taught me to make Northern Food, and the Cooking Network and Internet took over from there. I enjoy cooking when I FEEL like it, and when I don't I fall back on convenience food, take-out, and quick Rachel Ray type meals.

 

It's not THAT hard. You just have to persevere until you get a collection of recipes/techniques that work for you. Salads and sandwiches are easy, healthy, and a painless way to get decent food on the table. Most people I know didn't do any serious cooking until they got married.

 

A couple of my favorite videos are America's Test Kitchen and Good Eats with Alton Brown because they explain how AMD why. My library carries both.

[chepyl]

By 8 I could prepare a full meal on my own. The only meal I could make was spaghetti with meat sauce, side salad and frozen peas/corn....but I could do it all. By 12 I could create a few recipie of my own. I loved to cook and started experimenting.

 

We have pictures of me sitting on the cabinet helping to shape hamburger parties when I was 4 or 5. I started helping with cookies akd cakes very young too.

 

At 15, my mom's best friend was going through a divorce and needed distractions. She would come over once a month and fix us a gourmet dinner. She taught me to bake and do fancy stuff :).

 

My kids are 3 and 6. They can both crack eggs without getting shell in the bowl. They can roll out cookies or pie crusts, knead bread, and know the ingredients for several basic recipies. Ds can do microwave cooking and make PBJ. They both love to help me cook. DH cooks too. We all enjoy a good meal, it is a big part of our family time...that is also how I spent time with my mom. It is how I spent my time with my grandmas. For DH, he enjoys creating meals he loved as a child (his mom passed away when we were 17). I think for families like ours, cooking happened earlier with kids. I have friends who did not teach their kids to cook until they were 12-13, my college friend never learned. At 19 she was extatic at the invention of easy mac. Her min said she would learn when she got married....:001_huh: My SIL also never learned to cook. She is afraid to fail at cooking....

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My great grandmother and grandmother always cooked and made it look so easy. Somehow my mother missed out on the cooking gene, but that didn't really matter because I was raised by my father. My father was a cook in the army and can turn out great 20 minute meals. Even though he can cook, I was raised on pasta, burgers, pizza, pancakes, and an occassional "real" meal.

 

I learned once it was figured out that my son's GI problems were from food allergies. He was allergic to dairy, and there was no way to get safe food out of the house. I had to learn to cook and bake. I also learned how to read labels and started noticing all the junk we ate even when it was "healthy".

 

ETA- Both of mine love to cook. Dd can make hot dogs, pancakes, eggs, sausage, and a few other things, alone. Ds can almost make pancakes and eggs. Both are decent with knife skills, and seem to have an understanding of kitchen safety.

Edited September 25, 2011 by amo_mea_filiis

[kalanamak]

I learned by watching the old Jeff Smith programs and others on public television. My mother taught me some baking, and I watched her make pan gravy, etc. I love to cook.

 

ETA: I just did the math. My mother cooked over 60,000 meals for our family. She liked the special thing here and there, but the daily grind got her down. She made very simple but very delicious food.

Edited September 26, 2011 by kalanamak

[Spy Car]

Neither of my parents was especially food oriented (beyond prefering healthful meals) and neither particularly cared to cook. I, on the other hand, loved to eat well and was more than happy to cook food if that is what it took to get delicious meals.

 

So from a very early age I started cooking meals. We all liked eating healthfully so as long as I did not stray too far with my experimentations—the exploration of French sauces stage was shut down by the parental authorities—I got to get creative.

 

It helped that my two best friends had mothers who were wonderful cooks. One had beautiful and perfectly seasonsed cast-iron pans and made heavenly Italian food. At her house I would watch Julie Child's The French Chef after school and crib notes from her copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

 

The other friends mother came from a Dutch Indonesian background and make feasts daily. They were some of the most delicious and exotic meals I've ever tasted. The ingredients were so unusual for those times (many still are) and I would learn from her absolutely fascinated. She loved me as a son and was really happy I loved her food (as her own son, much to her dissapointment, asked for hamburgers instead).

 

I have always know what's good.

 

So most of my life I've been cooking. It is someting I'm good at and find relaxing and creative. I still place a very high premium on creating nutritious life sustaining meals.

 

Love to cook!

 

Bill

Edited September 25, 2011 by Spy Car

[Stayseeliz]

I didn't. I'm still winging it! :) I had to learn some things when I got married but I really cook now out of obligation. Making dinner seems like a chore but I try to find fast healthy options! I do struggle though!

[Spy Car]

I learned by watching the old Jeff Smith programs and others on public television.

 

The Frugal Gourmet, I remember him well.

 

"I bid you peace."

 

He ended up in a little trouble if memory serves.

 

Bill

[Dustybug]

As a parent, when I realized that it wasn't healthy, cost efficient or practical to eat out every night. Once we outgrew jarred baby food, I was up a creek. I asked my older sister for recipes and cookbooks. Tons of recipes and ideas from homeschooling forums. I love to cook now.

 

 

This is similar to me.

 

My mom was the "get out of my way and let me do this" type of cook (or with anything domestic-like), and she was a single mom who liked things VERY simple. Most everything that she cooked was very bland with limited spices (mostly salt and pepper or nothing) and she cooked a ton of boxed/processed/quick meals. For awhile, we were so poor, we literally only ate Ramen noodles for every.single.meal for weeks.

 

When I got married, we both worked in a restaurant and we had much more expendable cash, so we either ate at work or out. My DH can cook pretty well, so on the rare occasion that we ate in, either he cooked or I made something like Hamburger Helper. When my first DD was born and she started getting old enough to eat table food, I knew that our habits needed to change, so I gathered cookbooks from everywhere and scoured the internet and started testing things out on my own.

[Guest IdahoMtnMom]

My mom never cooked... but when I was 17 I started dating a 23 year old and he (obviously) was a bachelor and knew how to cook VERY well. He taught me to make enchilada casserole first... and I still make it at least 6 times a year to this day (17 years LATER)... he taught me burgers, baked chicken and rice, salad dressings, steak au poivre, and a lot more... when only dated 2 years, but it got my love of cooking ignited and I started watching Food Network and Emeril and away I went. I LOVE TO COOK :-)

[WiseOwlKnits]

My mom was a good cook, but she never liked to cook. I think mostly because my father never had anything good to say about what she cooked. She'd make an amazing pot roast with sides and dessert for Sunday dinner and he'd complain it was too dry or not seasoned properly or whatever. He did that with every meal she made. :glare:

 

I started making dinner by the time I was in middle school because she often worked late. My mom gave me her recipes and then I experimented a lot with cookbooks. I enjoy cooking a lot now.

[Garga]

My mother was a rotten cook.

 

After 10 years of marriage, where we at tuna helper, spaghetti, and more tuna helper (then went out to eat the remaining 4 nights a week), I had kids. I quit my job and didn't have enough money to go out to eat 4 nights a week.

 

Got some cookbooks and started making easy stuff. I still make easy stuff. And have to follow the recipe every time.

 

I don't love it or hate it. It just has to be done or we go hungry.

[FaithManor]

First let me say, I HATE COOKING!!!!!!!!

 

Second, I am very good at it according to many of my friends.

 

Third, it was not always this way. I refused to cook in high school, lived in the dorms and ate HORRIFIC cafeteria food in college, and then married a man who enjoyed good food growing up all hand crafted in the home kitchen by BOTH of his parents who quite gifted with food.

 

The first six months of marriage, he was virtually poisoned if I attempted anything beyond soups, sandwiches, and salads. You must understand, why bother to check something cooking on the stove when I have a perfectly lovely new Chopin piece sitting at the piano waiting for a good practice session? Thus, many burnt offerings and my first attempt at making gravy yielded a substance similar to masonry grout. I am not making this up - my husband put his serving on a paper plate for the dog, the dog sniffed it, looked up, and bolted.

 

I did eventually catch on and my father-in-law visited frequently during that time and taught me a lot. Well, when I took the time away from my music.

 

So, some 23 years later, I'm not too bad. But, oh boy...getting started nearly killed dh! :D

 

Faith - the former maker of chocolate donuts made with gourmet bitter chocolate and NO SUGAR, biscuits hard enough to be classified as lethal weapons, yeast bread so flat that it looked like a pita, homemade spaghetti sauce that scorched to the bottom of the pan so badly dh threw the pan away, brownies of dubious nature because I was out of butter and thought, "Meh, milk and corn oil...that ought to work", a roast beef cooked beyond recognition - Who knew that pot roast cooked at 450 degrees for four hrs. while writing a musical analysis of Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue would look like it had been at ground zero of a nuclear test site????? I was worried about serving raw meat!

[mommaduck]

I learned to cook after I married. Before that, I could barely fry an egg, boil water for instant oatmeal, make a can of soup, and make mac-n-cheese.

 

I made numerous phone calls to one of my mother-in-laws and grandmother-in-law. I had a Betty Crocker cookbook. And my brother-in-law finally married a half-Filippino AF BRAT; she taught me how to do a million things with pork sausage and chicken and I taught her a bit about baking. The Betty Crocker cookbook taught me how to bake bread and I've loved baking bread ever since. I learned to fry chicken and make biscuits when working at a restaurant. I learned a lot about doing one thing to make several things, to make casseroles, and how to fly off the cuff in a Mennonite community (and how to garden and butcher roosters and turkeys).

 

Yes, I think the amount of time other people put into helping one learn, or how much initiative one has to learn, affects how much we enjoy cooking.

[Year Round Mom]

Faith - the former maker of chocolate donuts made with gourmet bitter chocolate and NO SUGAR, biscuits hard enough to be classified as lethal weapons, yeast bread so flat that it looked like a pita, homemade spaghetti sauce that scorched to the bottom of the pan so badly dh threw the pan away, brownies of dubious nature because I was out of butter and thought, "Meh, milk and corn oil...that ought to work", a roast beef cooked beyond recognition - Who knew that pot roast cooked at 450 degrees for four hrs. while writing a musical analysis of Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue would look like it had been at ground zero of a nuclear test site????? I was worried about serving raw meat!

 

Quoting in order to :lol::lol::lol:

 

I taught myself how to cook after I got married. My mom was a single parent, working night shifts as a nurse and didn't have time or energy to teach me when I was younger, though I would ask from time to time. DH didn't really help me hone my skills; his reaction to every early attempt at a meal was, "It tastes great because it was made with love." I was like, "Whatever, man, this stuff is HORRIBLE!" :D I learned by following recipes to a T...and recognizing certain patterns or rules of cooking in the process. I still follow recipes, in general, only creating my own meals when I have a nearly bare cupboard. For some reason, I always think my own "creations" taste less yummy than those that are created by others. :)

 

ETA: I enjoy cooking, even with that rough start. It's so satisfying to gather ingredients, prepare them, put them together in just the right way to make a yummy meal! Yay for me, I always think! (Even though my kids are thinking, I'm sure, "Couldn't we just go to In'n'Out?")

Edited September 26, 2011 by LivingOutLove

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I learned in Foods & Nutrition class in high school (which is also where I met dh.) My grandmother/legal guardian would NOT let me cook in her kitchen, not even I had taken 2 years of classes. I didn't get to "really" cook until I married dh (at 18.) Sometimes I think about those classes and how they weren't really based in real life, and if I were to teach that class, I would teach it a LOT differently.

[eternalknot]

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen in our family, so like other posters I picked up by simply being around the art of cooking on a regular basis. Food is important to our family, and our entire social lives revolve around it!

 

We also owned, managed, and worked in several family restaurants over the years. That's where I learned technical skills, and not by choice! I'm amused by posters who wish they had learned as children; I'm the opposite, and wish I had LESS learning opportunities as a child :D (but am glad I erred on the side of too much opportunity, than too little LOL)

[Veritaserum]

As a teenager I learned a few things here and there. I baked mostly. When I moved into an apartment in college is when I started cooking regularly. I've gotten better over time. :)

[Slartibartfast]

I learned in Foods & Nutrition class in high school (which is also where I met dh.) My grandmother/legal guardian would NOT let me cook in her kitchen, not even I had taken 2 years of classes. I didn't get to "really" cook until I married dh (at 18.) Sometimes I think about those classes and how they weren't really based in real life, and if I were to teach that class, I would teach it a LOT differently.

 

Yeah...I took a semester of those classes but they were a huge waste of time. We made gravy from shortening :ack2: Who does that!??!

 

There isn't one thing I learned in that class that was useful.

 

I do think Good Eats has a lot of great information, I use a lot of his tips and recipes.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Sis

[The Girls' Mom]

My cooking when I lived at home consisted of warming up canned food or making hamburger helper. The first year of marriage was much of the same. Then two things happened: First, we started making enough money that I could spend more than $10 a week on food. Second, my MIL started showing me how to make a few things. I found out I love to cook and have been learning ever since. I'm not half bad ;)

 

At age 11, my twins are awesome cooks. My 14 year old, she just isn't as interested. She CAN cook a few things, but doesn't have the desire.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Apryl H

[mommaduck]

Yeah...I took a semester of those classes but they were a huge waste of time. We made gravy from shortening :ack2: Who does that!??!

 

There isn't one thing I learned in that class that was useful.

 

I do think Good Eats has a lot of great information, I use a lot of his tips and recipes.

Eww, eww, ewww!!!!:ack2:

[RoughCollie]

My mother hated baking, so my sister and I took over that job when I was about 10.

 

We learned to cook by reading Betty Crocker's cookbook. My mother said that anyone who can read can cook. We believed her.

 

Before kids, I used to watch all the cooking shows on PBS. I used to have a huge cookbook collection, and I still have a bunch of professional books on cooking, baking, and the history of food.

 

I enjoy watching Youtube videos about cooking techniques.

 

Food is a fascinating subject to me. As long as there is someone who loves food to eat what I make, I'm happy. I don't enjoy eating, and I smell instead of taste what I cook, which is a very good thing or I'd weigh 500 lbs.

Edited September 26, 2011 by RoughCollie

[Tutor]

I taught myself to cook by watching PBS cooking shows and reading cookbooks after I was married. I really enjoy cooking (when I have the time and money for more "exotic" meals, especially) and am pretty good at it.

[LaxMom]

I taught myself to cook by watching PBS cooking shows and reading cookbooks after I was married. I really enjoy cooking (when I have the time and money for more "exotic" meals, especially) and am pretty good at it.

 

Me, too. Jeff Smith, Julia Child and Martin Yan taught me to cook. And I still love to cook, though family meals are simpler these days. (we had pancakes for supper tonight, but they were sweet potato, pecan, gluten free pancakes :) )

[BridgeTea]

I learned by helping from the time I was little.

 

My whole extended family thinks they belong on the Food Network (some do, some don't). We all take great joy in cooking and meal prep usually involves way more people than is necessary. We are an enthusiastic bunch when it comes to food.

[Audrey]

Hmm... well... initially my mom showed me a few things, but it was my Gran who taught me to bake bread and opened up a new world of cooking to me. Back then, there were only a few cooking shows on PBS. I remember watching the Frugal Gourmet and scribbling the recipes down as he did them, then trying them out later. My Gran gave me his cookbook as a Xmas present and I cooked my way through it. I didn't know, at the time, that you could buy cookbooks! I started checking them out of the library and trying different things.

 

My mom was not a bad cook at all, but she didn't care for it much either. My dad was an obnoxiously picky eater and I fully understand how Mom lost her zest for cooking. He was impossible to please, but I didn't care. I just cooked whatever looked good. When I lived on my own, I collected cookbooks and would purposefully shop for new foods to try. Not everything was a success, but I didn't care. I just kept trying.

 

Now, I have a good repetoire of recipes. However, I rarely use an actual recipe. I "wing it" for most things because I've kind of learned what flavours work well together, and what proportions to use for most foods. I still like to try new things and I love getting new ideas from others.

[mommaduck]

I remember the first time I wanted to bake potatoes. DH didn't whether to go into shock or laugh when I insisted he needed to go to the store for some extra long nails...my stepfather used to put nails through the potatoes.

[Serenade]

I started learning around 5th or 6th grade. My mom suggested I give her a birthday present, where I would cook once a month. So she taught me how to make baked chicken, with a salad and baked potatoes. That is the first dinner I remember cooking, but I always liked to bake, and I made cookies under supervision prior to that.

 

ETA: I'm trying to work with my oldest son now (6th grade), to teach him a signature meal as well. I think I need to make something easier than we tried tonight, because I was about to pull my hair out. He likes food, and wants to cook, but ohhhh, the mess.

[Rosie_0801]

When and how did you learn to cook?

 

I used to perch on a chair in the kitchen when Mum was cooking, so I learned the basics by osmosis, I guess. When I was about 8, Mum bought me a kiddie cookbook and I made a few things out of that. I cooked on and off, rarely, during my childhood. What made it difficult was I had to clean up afterwards! When Mum cooked, us kids had to wash up, but when I cooked, I had to clean up. It was too much work to do both because, as a learner, it took two hours to cook just about anything, if not longer! And I'd have had to more or less clean the kitchen before I started too. My cooking skills really took off when I left home. Twenty year olds don't take as long to do these things as eight year olds do, for one. For another, cooking and cleaning up after one is less work than cooking and cleaning for five!

 

And is my dislike cooking because no one ever showed me how and helped me appreciate the skill?

 

I doubt it. Either food matters to you, or it doesn't, I think! Mind you, as much as I love food, I hate to cook most of the time.

 

When my kids are learning to cook, I will definitely insist that everyone helps with the clean up. To do otherwise is discouraging.

 

Rosie

[Splinter]

I never really learned to cook. My mother cooked everything while I lived at home, I ate fast food and Kraft Dinner while I was in college and I got married right after that to a wonderful cook who never let me in the kitchen.

 

Over the last 4 years, I've gotten pretty good at "kid-friendly" meals, but I would have no idea how to prepare a real dinner.

[Night Elf]

Yeah...I took a semester of those classes but they were a huge waste of time. We made gravy from shortening :ack2: Who does that!??!

 

There isn't one thing I learned in that class that was useful.

 

My oldest dd took a culinary class in high school. Yes, that was the class name. The kitchen classroom was fantastic and very well equipped. But the teacher wouldn't let the kids do anything. All she did was stand in front of the class and demonstrate things. The only hands-on work they did was math worksheets to practice fractions so they could understand that it took two half cups to equal one cup. She didn't actually prepare any food or even touch food for the whole school year. :001_huh:

[Lily_Grace]

I never really learned to cook. My mother cooked everything while I lived at home, I ate fast food and Kraft Dinner while I was in college and I got married right after that to a wonderful cook who never let me in the kitchen.

 

Over the last 4 years, I've gotten pretty good at "kid-friendly" meals, but I would have no idea how to prepare a real dinner.

 

This is me. Dh is an amazing cook, and really loves doing it. The recipes I can do are ones that have been ingrained in me since childhood, simple comfort foods, mostly. I can bake some, and I recently discovered the love of a dutch oven. I made pot roast last night in it and it was wonderful. All of my roasts before that had been in the crockpot or roaster and I still managed to screw them up somehow.

[Night Elf]

I remember the first time I wanted to bake potatoes. DH didn't whether to go into shock or laugh when I insisted he needed to go to the store for some extra long nails...my stepfather used to put nails through the potatoes.

 

Okay, really? Why on earth did he do that? Is it some kind of old folk tale? :)

[Lily_Grace]

Okay, really? Why on earth did he do that? Is it some kind of old folk tale? :)

 

It's supposed to cook the potatoes faster. The nail heats them from the inside out. My vintage cookbooks used to all have that in there.