Cooking background/training

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I grew up on a ranch, when my brother and I got off the school bus, mom was on her horse checkin cows, dad was either in his logging truck or oil tanker, Ted is 2 years younger than me, I was cook, so everyone had supper when they got home. I have cold smoked since I was a kid, fish, jerky, duck, grouse and geese, but never in my life did I know what "real" BBQ was, once I found it, I ran with it. Now it is my joy.
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yes sir, cold smoked, had a cure on it,(or at least a seasoning, my God Dude, that was a hundred years ago)
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the meat was thin strips. Didn't the tribal people, and mountain men, just salt the meat and dry it over a fire? I just cold smoked some jerky with Hi Mountain a few weeks ago. I'm pretty much, kinda, sorta, still alive and kickin.
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i see that...........from what i have read.........not over a fire..........dried in the hot sun........

and raw beef is no concern.........ever heard of steak tartar?
heheheh......eating raw hamburger........what some of them fancy folks come up with......let alone eating sushi......raw fish.........let alone raw fish eggs.......my lord

more concern would be, i would think, poultry and pork

d88de
 
What a great, fun thread this has turned out to be. I posted my story a couple of days ago. But tonight, I sat down and read through the entire thread. Not just whizzing through but read each post and took a minute to think about how life was and how the situation was, for each individual, at the time each story unfolded. (I know, "This guy should get a life", huh!), Yeah, maybe. . . . But I think there are some really good stories here.

Many of us have encountered each other, through posting and/or PM's. But, most of have never met. We wouldn't know each other, if we showed up on each others porch. Most of us know each others screen names, but don't even know our actual names. Funny how you get a certain impression of someone from their postings and then it gets altered when they speak from the heart, to a subject like this.

Several common themes have showed up; Learned from mother or grandmother, to help the family, self-defense etc.

OK, OK, too nostalgic and Fil-a-Sof-Tickle, but I really like the thread and have enjoyed it. I feel like I know some of you better than I did before the thread.

Skip
 
introspection and empathy are both seemingly dying disciplines. Good example of both here. Thank goodness. The world needs more. OK so now I'm soliphistical...sillisophical...oh heck with it!
 
Cooking - well I guess that is why I am here!

Mom was a poor cook and cooked for 4 when there were 6 of us. Dad sent her to cooking classes and it helped some but the best thing that ever happened to her was the microwave. LOL Mom and dad are in there mid 80's now and still kicking so they must have gotten enough nurishment.

Got a job freshman year as a cooks helper in a small short order resturant. Learned a lot.

After finishing my education I got smat and married a farm girl. Now this womman can cook. She won a bunch of blue and grand prizes at two different county fairs. No biggy like the Betty Crocker cook off but you get the point.

Well when you have someone who cooks sooooooo good and you never see the same dish twice in two months, why learn.

Well for the past four years I have been going to fishermen gatherings and some of these guys can cook, smoke and bake. On site! Well I have been helping out and learning and told the wife I wanted to learn to cook and especialy smoke. She said I was to slow, to used to someone else doing it and didn't know what to do if I opened the pantry or frig but if I was serious she would be glad to help.

So I'm learning and the big challenge is this smoking but with the help of SMF and the wife, I think this is doable?
 
i worked in several restaurants in high school. that, and what my mother taught me when i could reach the stove, is all the training i have had. i do alot of experimenting in the kitchen too. i like to take some, say, ground beef, and mix different stuff with it- just to see what i will get. usually it is something decent. i have concocted some stuff that i threw out though.
 
No formal training

My mother, grandmothers, stepmother, sister, girlfriends and wife have all contirbuted to my ability to boil water. Seriously though, they have all helped learn to cook, but they are much better cooks than me. I'm learning to smoke meat from you guys and books. Thank you very much for your patience and understanding.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the Food Network and people I meet everywhere. Heck, I get information from everyone I can. From customers to butchers to guys at work to chefs I meet at the grocery store. Everyone. It takes a community to raise a child.
 
I better add a little to my prior post.

Mom has become a pretty good cook but not untill after I moved out in 69'. Still remember that thanksgiving turkey that wasn't quite done and she nuked it to finish it off. LOL Dad (a doctor) married her for her look not her cook.

Dad taught me how to smoke a turkey and ham in a Weber kettle. So now that I think back I have smoked something but it's been awhile. Wish the wife hadn't made me put the Weber on a rumage sale. No matter how bad it looked!

So if I try real hard, maybe someday I could cook as good as Mom does now (she had a stroke three years ago and can't use her left arm). And she cooks pretty good. I will never catch up to my wife. Some day they will wish they could smoke as good as me?

My avatar is laughing at ME!
 
Nothing formal here. Friends and family have been good ginnea pigs(spelling?). Watched Gram an awful lot when she was alive. Mom never did and still doesnt cook. She attends a lot of resturants.

I like to cook with wine and beer. Sometimes I even put it in the food!
 
HAHAH.......good one DINGLE........yeah......i don't drink the last of my beer........i just pour it in the food.......or over the meat in the smoker
no need to waste good alcohol.......its called alcohol abuse......
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d88de
 
no formal training here

i have learned a lot about smoking here and i have learned a lot about making sausage by reading books and the internet i love this place SMF is a great place to learn

huey
 
I also have no formal training in cooking. When I was growing up mom was in school for her college degree. I was the oldest so I had to cook. Most was stuff I picked up from her after watching for years. I started to become big into grilling during my years working for the propane company since the gas was free and the grills were cheap. I still go through an average of 12 grill tanks(20# cyls.) a year. I started smoking after seeing a friend somke some food indirect on a charcoal grill. Picked up an ECB and began to expierment. That is what everything is to me, just one big expierment.
 
my dad was a meat and potatoes man.7 days awk.he did all the bbq mom all the house cookin.i took the best of all thiere cookin and found my own twists of improvement,sometimes anyway
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