When did you learn to cook?

[Night Elf]

Did you cook as a child/teen? Or did you learn as an adult?

 

I learned as an adult and found it hard to learn. I messed up even the simplest of things. I'm wondering if that is why I hate it so much.

[Spy Car]

I started as a child. I found it interesting and (mostly) I like to eat well :D

 

Bill

[Mom-ninja.]

As an adult.

 

My ds is learning now. He loves it.

[Garga]

When I quit work and had kids. I don't like it or love it. I follow recipes and don't make up recipes as I go.

 

I get bored with cooking and so I have a TV in the kitchen and watch TV while I cook. If I didn't have the TV, I probably wouldn't cook much at all.

[Rebecca VA]

I learned as an adult, at a cooking school. The most important thing I learned was knife skills. If you have knife skills and a good set of knives, everything comes easy. You can learn basic cooking from reading cookbooks (which usually have LOADS of wonderful information in them).

 

Also, an excellent set of cookware is almost essential. I was a good cook all along, but my cooking abilities totally took off when I traded in my Revere Ware for All-Clad.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Rebecca VA

[LaxMom]

I learned as a tween/teen, by watching Julia Child and the Frugal Gourmet (Jeff Smith) on PBS. Suffice it to say, my repertoire was quite weird by the time I was in my 20s; coq au vin, but no competent grilled cheese in my kitchen! :lol:

[bookfiend]

As an adult, in my late 20's, after I got married. My Mom wasn't much of a cook, so she never passed along culinary skills or love. There wasn't much reason to cook for just one, so my early 20's food consisted of cold cereal and take-out. Really, it was the desire to entertain that drew me into the need and desire to cook.

 

I recommend any of the America's Test Kitchen compendium cookbooks. They explain the whys and wherefores of cooking so well that you will soon be adapting and creating your own dishes. This is what I enjoy, the creative side of cooking. Sure everyday isn't a joy, so I make two-three mundane (but big) meals a week, and everybody gets to eat. Then once or twice a week, I make something that is fun for me. That's our compromise.

[newhsmom]

I learned to cook as an adult from watching Food Network. I just watched for a long time and then I decided to actually start trying to cook. I now cook every day and I really enjoy it. I think when I was younger that I didn't have any reason to cook so it wasn't important to me. After I was married, I decided learning to cook was a very important skill and now with a house full of children I can't imagine not cooking. It is interesing because my mother is a good cook, but because she worked full-time she wasn't home a lot to teach me how to cook. I spend a lot of time with my kids in the kitchen because I want them to leave my house with strong understanding of basic cooking techniques.

[SKL]

Theoretically, I learned as a kid. The simple stuff like out-of-a-box was normal elementary school stuff, but when I was 12 I had to cook the main meal 3 days per week, and my brother (2 years older) was my teacher. One or both of us screwed up. I don't think I cooked any serious meal correctly, and I grew to hate cooking. I had 4 siblings who enjoyed cooking, so I didn't have to do it after that short stint. Then I was on my own for about 20 years and never had to cook. I figured I'd learn when I had to. Now I'm a mom and still have no deep desire to dust off the cookbooks.

 

My sister, who is an awesome cook, comes on Sundays and cooks with the kids. So they are not as deprived as it may seem. Hopefully they will eventually start doing the cooking around here! I feel like a schoolkid who has weasled out of a big assignment, LOL.

 

ETA: LOL, last night I had to put dinner on the table and this is what it was: biscuits (from a tube) with butter and jelly, pear slices, and milk. Would have given them pbj but they had that for lunch Monday. I also gave them the choice of mac & cheese (from a box) if they preferred. Hee! They are actually very healthy.

Edited May 2, 2012 by SKL

[SeekingSimplicity]

After I got married. I'm teaching my kids now so they won't have to learn the way I did.

[Night Elf]

As I said, I learned as an adult. I got my own apartment just before turning 19 and had to use a cookbook to figure out how to boil an egg. I knew how to use a microwave to scramble an egg. So, all of my cooking was learned from The Fannie Farmer cookbook. My mom didn't teach me much beyond the egg in the microwave and white rice which we mixed with a can of Campbell's soup. She was a single mom who worked long hours. I don't recall her ever making a big meal. We had very simple stuff such as lots of breakfast meals for dinner.

[lllll]

...

[Jenny in Florida]

I "cooked" as a kid, because my mother was busy and not terribly interested. I was an only child, and my father wasn't always home for dinner. So, I was frequently on my own to feed myself. I relied entirely on boxes of mac and cheese and cans of ravioli and similar stuff, though.

 

I began cooking for real only as an adult. I both moved out on my own (meaning I was broke most of the time) and went vegetarian within a couple of years. So, cooking from scratch was the only way to eat most of the time.

 

I go through phases when I really enjoy cooking, but at the moment I'm feeling like I'd be content never to cook again. Part of it has to do with the fact that there are four people in this house with individual, strong likes and dislikes. There are approximately two actual meals I can make that everyone will eat and enjoy. So, cooking for this crew isn't very rewarding.

[KAR120C]

I learned a lot about cooking from my mother and grandmother, but I wasn't really good at it until I was cooking almost daily, as an adult.

[VeganCupcake]

I did a bit of cooking and baking as a child/teen, but mostly my mom didn't want me messing up her kitchen, so I really learned when I left home to go to college and then lived on my own.

 

I'm not a great cook, but I think it has more to do with my personality than anything else. I don't especially like to cook, and I don't always pay a lot of attention, so I forget ingredients and steps, and figure it will still be ok. I also try to improvise and make a lot of substitutions (because of my dietary choices), and there is a limit on how many different substitutions you can make in one recipe without ending up with something terrible. Overall, I am Jill of all trades, master of none.

[Parrothead]

I was 9 years old the first time I cooked anything. I made scrambled eggs.

 

I enjoy cooking when it isn't a chore.

[Donna]

I learned to bake as a kid. My mom taught me to bake a cake and ice it, then cookies, and brownies, etc... I graduated to cooking when I was around 12yo. My mom went back to work and I often cooked dinner at night or made breakfast or lunch for my younger siblings when I watched them.

 

I have included my kids in everything I do in the kitchen since they were big enough to stand on a chair next to me. My middle ds loves to cook and often asks to be in charge of a meal. He makes a great omelet. Even my youngest has made her own cakes and brownies this year without any help. She often helps me in the kitchen by chopping things or stirring. My oldest could care less about cooking or learning.

[Unicorn.]

As a child. My aunt was visiting when I was about 3, and got up and caught me standing on a chair at the stove, cooking bacon and eggs. So she supervised and left me to it. By the time I was 5, I was coming up w/ my own recipes. I'm not saying they were all edible (bologna soup), but most were. I was cooking meals for the whole family by 12. Dad used to love it when he would ask "What's for dinner?" and I would reply "It's a surprise." Meaning I was inventing a new recipe. Cooking was a lot more fun though, when I didn't have to do it!

[GoVanGogh]

As a child.

 

I remember being 9/10-years of age when my sister and I were left alone on Saturdays and we would cook our own lunch.

 

My mom had my baby brother when I was 12 and she wanted to make sure my sister and I could cook entire meals before his birth. Sometime around age 11, I learned how plan and cook an entire meal - from appetizer and salad to dessert.

 

I do come from a long-line of cooks, though.

 

My grandma's obituary mentioned her coconut cookie recipe.

I had an aunt that was well known for baking 30 dozen cookies from scratch every year for a music competition. Her son won a blue ribbon at the state fair for his chocolate chip cookies.

[CanaryMelody]

As an adult when I first moved out. I didn't even know how to boil water. :glare:

 

My mom was a SAHM yet I remember mostly eating sandwiches, the occasional Shake-n-Bake, and other "easy" meals. My kids won't leave home without learning to cook. ;)

[ocelotmom]

Did you cook as a child/teen? Or did you learn as an adult?

 

I learned as an adult and found it hard to learn. I messed up even the simplest of things. I'm wondering if that is why I hate it so much.

 

Define "learn to cook" :)

 

My mom involved me in cooking from a young age, and I took cooking classes in elementary summer school. I could read and follow recipes, and I know I was baking yeast breads on my own by about 10.

 

Somehow, none of this translated well into practical, everyday cooking skills. In my early adulthood, I either ate out or cooked by combining various packaged foods. I remember being totally thrilled with myself for figuring out various ways to cook eggs, which is kind of embarrassing now :) After I started having kids, we didn't have the money for that and I started learning more about cooking from scratch. I was in my late 20s before I really learned how to prepare meat as a stand-alone thing, rather than an ingredient in something else.

 

Now, I have my kids participate heavily in dinner prep - I'm bound and determined they will leave home knowing that they are capable of cooking a full meal from scratch.

[Mrs Mungo]

I learned the basics as a child/teen. I could cook basic breakfast food, chicken noodle soup (with homemade noodles), spaghetti, tacos, stuff like that by the time I left home. I progressed to stuff like bechamel and steak au poivre as an adult.

[Ellesmere]

Did you cook as a child/teen? Or did you learn as an adult?

 

I learned as an adult and found it hard to learn. I messed up even the simplest of things. I'm wondering if that is why I hate it so much.

As an adult.

 

Not for a lack of trying on my parents' part, though. I was difficult when she tried to teach me. I also had health problems that affected my eating habits and general problems with food. When they were finally diagnosed in my late teens/20s, things changed a bit.

 

I learn to make things from either videos, TV, or with my husband or mom. (I also like Cook's Country/America's Test Kitchen. You can find so much online, now, too.) I learned a lot of baking from the King Arthur Flour site and blog. I am not a natural and often make a mess or a fire. The big disasters from when I tried to cook just from reading a recipe hurt my confidence and enjoyment. Then, cooking with someone or watching a show helped tremendously.

 

I still don't really enjoy it, though, and can almost always find something else I would rather do and that I do better than cooking. You aren't alone.

[BridgeTea]

I think I learned early through osmosis, as did my brothers. We all cooked alongside our mom and could make several family staples (goulash, tuna casserole, fried meat, fried everything) by the time we were 10 or so. We weren't called on to cook out of necessity very often - just if Mom was working late - but I know we all enjoyed being in the kitchen enough to volunteer cook.

 

I still don't mind cooking, and my brothers forward enough of their recipes to me that they apparently are still at it, as well.

 

I think it was handy to know how to cook early on (and I helped my kids learn some basics), but I realize not every person gives a rip about learning to cook. Nothing wrong with that. Most people have other options to keep from starving. ;)

[Little Nyssa]

Ummm.... I'm still working on it.

 

My mom was ill for many years and unable to teach me how to cook, among other things, but I did learn two dishes as a child from my grandmothers.

Here they are:

 

1. Egg in a nest. Melt some butter in a pan. Make a circular hole in a slice of bread. Eat the small circle of bread. Put the slice of bread in the pan. Crack an egg so that it lands on the bread with the yolk in the hole you made. Cook it. Turn it over and cook some more. It's best if the yolk is still a bit runny. Viola! Egg in a nest. Yum. :001_smile:

 

2. Texas Tommies Cook hotdogs in a pan. While they are cooking, cut a lengthwise slit in each and fill it with American Cheese. Meanwhile cook some bacon in a separate pan. When the cheese has melted and the bacon is done, wrap a bacon slice around each hotdog and put the whole thing in a bun. You won't need ketchup or mustard for these. :001_smile:

[Zoo Keeper]

I learned as a tween/teen, by watching Julia Child and the Frugal Gourmet (Jeff Smith) on PBS. Suffice it to say, my repertoire was quite weird by the time I was in my 20s; coq au vin, but no competent grilled cheese in my kitchen! :lol:

 

Oh my! Someone else attended the same cooking school I did! Glad to know I'm not alone...:001_smile:

 

When we were first married, my husband was dumbfounded that I didn't know how to make tuna noddle casserole--I'd never cooked with anything like cream of ___ soup before. I made my own white sauce, thank you. I honestly had no idea that people used soup for cooking....

[myfunnybunch]

I started as a young teen, though I'd spent time helping in the kitchen from a fairly young age.

 

My husband grew up eating tv dinners and boxed food. When he graduated college, he decided to learn to cook, so he taught himself to cook with Julia Child's cookbook. He is an excellent cook!

 

Cat

[Spy Car]

I found the corn meal for the tortillas. I plan to try it out this weekend. ;)

 

How you planning on rolling/patting/pressing them?

 

Tip: let your cast-iron pan (or comal if you have one) pre-heat for some time so the heat becomes nice, even, and stable. Not too hot. Otherwise you are liable to burn the first few before the pan stabilizes.

 

Also, life will be easier if you embrace "irregularity" of shape as a sign of hand crafted tortillas :D

 

Bill

[Stacia]

As an adult.

 

I won't mention how many times I had to use my cookbook to remind myself how to boil eggs when I learning. :blushing: I've finally mastered that, though, so maybe I can move on to other things.... ;)

 

(I can cook basic meals & things, but cooking is definitely not my passion. My dh & ds love to cook way more than I do & I'm happy that they handle the cooking much of the time.)

[Farrar]

Mmm... homemade tortillas... one of the parents in our co-op taught the kids how to make them and had special tortilla rolling machines. Very exciting.

 

I learned as a child. My mother was a single mom, about to go back to grad school and had to keep working. I was about 11, IIRC. She took me to the kitchen and said, you must cook for us henceforth. Then she taught me to make about five meals in as many days.

 

I don't know that I was a *good* cook mind you, but I got us through and fed us and did the shopping. And I've slowly learned to be a better cook as an adult. It's a constant learning process.

[Farrar]

make the double posting stop!!!

Edited May 2, 2012 by farrarwilliams

[Spy Car]

LOL

 

I'm thinking of getting a press because I don't think they are that expensive. I made them in culinary school, but that was awhile ago.

 

I rather like burnt carbs but...:lol:

 

Either way it will be fun.

 

I have a big cast iron griddle (my stove has a large 5th middle burner that it fits over). I think that will work. Or maybe I'll try the grill.

 

The griddle sounds perfect. With the press, as you may be aware, most people use two sheets (one above the masa ball, one below) so the tortilla is sandwiched between plastic, wax-paper, or (my favorite) parchment paper. Otherwise the masa can stick to the press. Some people get away just dusting the press parts with a little masa harina. You'll find your own technique.

 

Bill

[J-rap]

After I got married. (Although for our first few years, my husband still did most of the cooking.)

 

Most of our children have learned already. Our son is the cook in his marriage. Only one of our children doesn't cook much.

[Wabi Sabi]

I began cooking as a child. I was standing on a stepstool at the stove next to my granny from as early as I can remember. That being said, Granny was a simple cook. I certainly didn't learn anything fancy from her, but I've always known how to make basic, homestyle meals. As I got older I watched lots of cooking shows on TV, subscribed to food magazines, read cookbooks and food blogs, etc. to learn how to make other things, but it still all started with Granny.

 

Also, I had a very Irish grandmother who lived across the country so I didn't see her nearly as often, but when I was maybe 12ish years old she started teaching me how to make her signature dishes (leg of lamb, shepherd's pie, her salad dressing and infamous brownies) when we'd visit her each summer.

[Ellesmere]

How you planning on rolling/patting/pressing them?

 

Tip: let your cast-iron pan (or comal if you have one) pre-heat for some time so the heat becomes nice, even, and stable. Not too hot. Otherwise you are liable to burn the first few before the pan stabilizes.

 

Also, life will be easier if you embrace "irregularity" of shape as a sign of hand crafted tortillas :D

 

Bill

Did I miss a tortilla recipe?

[applethyme]

I learned as a child. My grandma was a cook and I spent a lot of time with her. I loved Christmas when she would make 15 different kinds of cookies.

[Spy Car]

Did I miss a tortilla recipe?

 

Nah, just a side-discussion of a side-discussion :D

 

Bill

[Slartibartfast]

I learned the basics when I was still a child or teenager. I could make various breakfast foods and basic meals like tacos, meatloaf, fried chicken and gravy how to make soup from scratch, spaghetti, various simple things like that. My mom went back to work once all the kids were in school and we were responsible for meals quite a bit.

 

Things I make now tend to be much more complicated and there are some things my parents use that I do not. I have some mad soup skills. :lol: Alton Brown and Ina Garten are the two cooks I tend to watch the most.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Sis

[TravelingChris]

I learned as a small child. I can still remember asking how to make certain dishes before I was five. My mom learned only after she was married. One of her sisters tried to learn to cook but didn't get to since the chef chased her out of the kitchen with a knife. That stopped all her siblings from wanting to cook.:lol: Anyway, my father was a better cook than my mom so he taught her.

 

So I started young but have kept on learning. My dh loves to cook too so I think that after the kids are gone and he is retired from the military and actually has a bit of time, we will be having great cooking adventures. Out of my kids- numbers one and three love to cook. Number two knows how to cook but isn't really that interested so does mostly basics. Anyway, this year it really turned out to be a great blessing that I know how to cook and bake since a few months ago my youngest developed a very bad allergy to citrus (easy to avoid) and citric acid, potassim citrate, and sodium citrate (hard to avoid). The latter three are preservatives and in lots of foods and even fairly basic things like many oils. Since she is so hightly allergic that she develops anaphalactic reactions, it falls to me to cook and bake a lot of things that many people buy and that I would buy at times to save time.

[Harriet Vane]

I learned out of desperation when I was 15yo. The packaged food kept in the house tasted nasty and my stomach hurt all the time. I decided to try cooking something and chose to start with lasagna. It was really good! It gave me courage to keep trying other things. The rest of my family ALL cook from boxes and cans, but I cook almost entirely from scratch.

[JFSinIL]

Started as a child - y om had back surgery when I was six, and had to learn to make my own sandwiches, etc. A tad older and Dad started teaching me to bake (he loved desserts and mom was a crappy cook). As a teen I learned to make dinner (roasts, chops, etc.) and bake bread.

 

I am still learning new stuff in the kitchen - most recently am into Indian cooking.

[ErinE]

I learned to bake when I was old enough to work the mixer and the oven so 10 or 11. I'm a good baker and could spend hours reading pastry or baking books.

 

Cooking, meh. I didn't learn to cook anything worthwhile until after I got married. My idea of a meal is a salad with sparse dressing sprinkled on top. After I became a WAHM, I got hooked on Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen. The blend of science and cooking really interested me. So, I'm a better cook now just not very interested in the process.

 

I think people are born cooks or bakers. I've yet to meet anyone who loves doing both.

[Elinor Everywhere]

Did you cook as a child/teen? Or did you learn as an adult?

 

I learned as an adult and found it hard to learn. I messed up even the simplest of things. I'm wondering if that is why I hate it so much.

 

Last year. And I'm 48. :lol:

 

My dh has done almost all of our cooking for 21 years, but he does travel a lot. In the past, I've "cooked" by buying a whole roasted chicken from Whole Foods, getting take-out, or driving the kids to my mom's to feed us (sad, I know).

 

Last year I switched to eating Primal, LOVED it, and began cooking up a storm. Very weird.

[mommaduck]

After I got married. Before that, I knew only how to fix a can of soup, ramen, fry an egg and hamburger, and boil water, veggies, and hot dogs. That was my limit. The first thing I learned to cook as a wife was shake'n'bake chicken breast, fried chicken liver, and boxed cornbread. I started really learning how to cook when we were in a Mennonite community.

[Desert Rat]

I don't remember a time I didn't help in the kitchen. By the time I was 12, both parents had to work swing and I was in charge of making dinner for myself and my brother. I started out with easy stuff like boxed dinners, but moved on to more complicated dinners from scratch by 14 or so. I prefer baking to actual cooking, but I've never had complaints on my cooking abilities.

[AHASRADA]

I mainly learned to cook when dh and I were engaged and early married. I followed cook books and figured it out. I had learned a few basics from watching my mom, but I don't think she ever formally "taught" me how to cook.

[happyhomemaker25]

I learned after we got married. As a newlywed I would buy those frozen salisbury steaks, a box of instant potatoes, and a can of veggies. I thought I was this great cook. LOL

One day I opened a cook book, tried a recipe and that was all she wrote! I found cooking very easy and enjoyable. It's been hard to hand it over to my daughters, but I do that so they'll have that skill when they leave.

Right now my 15yo is preparing something we call Mess, just using my recipe card. It's her first time making the recipe by herself and I'm just trying not to go in there. :tongue_smilie:

I never, and I mean never, cooked as a teenager or child.