Who taught you to cook?

[noboundaries]

As the holidays hit high season and I spend most of the day preparing food, I think back on the folks who influenced my interest in cooking, roasting, grilling, and smoking food.  Three people stand out in my memory, my Italian grandmother, my Mom, and my Pop.  Nonni and Mom demonstrated what could be done in a kitchen. Pop taught me how to grill.  What amazed me about the women though was the way they'd spend hours and hours putting some amazing scratch meals on the table, especially on the holidays.  They never instructed or involved me, but I watched what they did and ate everything offered.   

Now, I'm about as far from a momma's boy as you'll find but I love to eat.  My growing waistline is a testament to that love.  Once I left home for university it became apparent I was going to have to learn to cook or be stuck eating less than tasty food.  None of the women I dated could cook worth a darn, or even had an interest in cooking.  My second year at school though I moved into an apartment with a kitchen, bought a Fanny Farmer Cookbook, which is still on my shelf, and taught myself to cook.  I started cooking for my roommates too.  Experimenting was more like it.  I also got my mom to write her recipes down on the back of computer punch cards so I could have a taste of home.  Unfortunately those cards are lost to countless moves but her spaghetti, meatballs, and lasagna were some of my favorites I could duplicate. 

It was at school I learned that women love a guy who can cook.  It didn't matter that I had the cookbook open and was just following instructions. I generally knew how the evening was going to end when I cooked a meal for a date.  It was amazing to watch their expectations change from "Oh man this is going to suck" to "Holy cow this is good!"  My wife still says there were two things that made her fall in love with me; I made her laugh and I could cook.

I continue to self-teach myself to cook, including smoking.  There's not a week goes by that I'm not creating a recipe for the kitchen, grill, or smoker. The only recipes I make from scratch are ones where I look at what we have in the cabinets and refrigerator then put something together.  Generally I find recipes in books or online then change them to my tastes and preferences.  I love the creativity of cooking and the instantaneous feedback of the ooohs and ahhhs when folks love what I put on their tastebuds.  Tonight it was Amish bread and a Tomato Basil Soup. The soup was delicious, but needs a little work. 

Maybe I'm just waxing nostalgic about the holidays and the long ago passing of Nonni and Mom, but as I prepare some family holiday favorites the thought crossed my mind of how I learned to cook.  If so inclined, share your learning experience. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Ray      

 

[bluewhisper]

I learned an interest in cooking mainly from my mother. But first to take a step back, she learned to cook in 1920s Lithuania. She showed me how to make stock from bones, cook a roast or a chicken, roll dough, bake bread, etc. She avidly studied "gourmet" cooking in the 60s - 90s and I inherited a nice collection of good cookware like Le Creuset pots and pans. Back in the day they would have dinner parties, and I'd be alone in the kitchen minding the pots and doing prep work, learning the basics.

Armed with that, I went on to explore. I had a few jobs as a prep cook, so I got a glimpse of a professional kitchen.I became a chilehead, and found an online community that shared thousands of recipes, ideas, and stories. I dove into latino and middle eastern cooking, and learned (am learning) smoking.

I have Mom's library of cookbooks but it drove her crazy when I would experiment with something that wasn't written down first. She had her own likes and dislikes, so for example it was impossible to cook any batch of something like cornbread or a pot of pinto beans that she would like.

 

[welshrarebit]

I learned to cook under some amazing chefs!

Mom? Can't cook worth a hoot...

Tutu? She was good!

I guess it skips a generation.

My wife and kids had dinner at my restaurant a couple of months ago and as I'm sending out courses my second daughter says to my wife "I didn't know dad could cook like this!" ;)

 

[roller]

Taught myself by watching TV...

 

[daveomak]

My long time fishing and hunting partner Joe Keller.... First came the Roux.... then the chicken fried salmon smothered in salmon Roux gravy.... then oysters... same thing... then elk and venison... chicken... Now, if I fry something, I make Roux country gravy.... I'll even make gravy from refer fat if the frying pan ain't in use... Then Joe built me a cement block smokehouse... he was a brick layer by trade... 5x5x10'.... we smoked whole venison.... salmon..... turkeys... and drank a few beer... RIP Joe....

 

[seenred]

Much like you, Ray, I pretty much taught myself to cook as a young man in college.  I couldn't afford to eat someone else's cooking, so I was forced to learn to do it myself.  Always loved eating good food, and my mother was always a great cook.  I learned a lot from watching her in the kitchen as a youngster, and after I went off to college, she was always more than willing to help out with one of her recipes or techniques.  What started out for me as a necessity (I had to learn to cook, or starve!) has become a lifelong passion for cooking, grilling and smoking.  The rise of the Cooking Channel and Food Network helped...I've learned a lot from them over the years.

Red

 

[rgautheir20420]

I skipped too many classes in college and watched too much Food Network. Now I can cook just about anything I see and am very creative in the kitchen.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Interesting discussion.....

I was introduced to smoking by my Grandpa, DO cookin by my Dad & other Grandpa, & in the kitchen by my Mom.
These were all 25+ yrs ago.....
I was lucky as they all had a knack for each type of cooking/smoking !

 

[bdskelly]

Mom, Dad, SMF and Foam. 

b

 

[shoebe]

My dad  pass away when I was young kid. My Mom had to  work, and I was the  only one home,  so I had to learn to cook . She got me started and from that it was either cook or not eat. Joined the Fire Department and it was the same there, either cook or not eat. We did help each other, but only after you proved you could cook. One nice thing about the FD was most of  the guys like the food  I liked. Now retired and my wife ( who is a great  cook) is still working, so it is either cook or not eat. I love  to  made sausage and  to smoke meats. 

 

[medic92]

When I was young my mother couldn't walk two steps without me being right there.  I watched her in the kitchen all through childhood and when I got older and moved away I realized I had retained a lot of what I had seen her do. 

I also learned a lot from my grandmother.  I remember on visits it seemed like I never saw her outside of the kitchen.  She was always baking bread, canning vegetables, baking cakes and pies, etc.  My mother learned from her of course and they both passed down their "Yeah, that looks like the right amount" measuring style.  It's served me pretty well over the years, and I'll put my (their) fried chicken up against anyone's.

I don't have a lot of memories of Dad grilling much more than the occasional hamburgers and hot dogs, but he was in the Air Force and was away a lot.

 

[sqwib]

Self Taught, (Mom was a Plain Cook, food was always good but she doesn't experiment or explore other options), this forum as well as other forums, TV Shows, the internet and experimentation have been my teachers. Grilled food was rare in my house but we ate fresh fish several times a week near 6 months of the year. Smoked food was even rarer but I do have fond memories of smoked Mackeral, Dad was into pickling in his younger years, mostly fish. I don't think he can make oatmeal now.

Dad was also a "Game" cook in the early years, we ate whatever he killed, yep Rattlesnake too!, Actually I killed the snake we ate lol.

At a young age living at home before the internet and all the cooking shows (albeit Julia Child and Justin) I would forage through the refrigerator and pantry looking for something to cook, usualy on a stupor, sometimes I impressed myself, other times not so much!

It's nice to be able to WOW! Mom with dinner.

 

[noboundaries]

 
It's nice to be able to WOW! Mom with dinner.

Ain't that the truth!  My mom was never much for compliments, but I remember one.  Once, while my folks were visiting my wife and me after we were married, I served lasagna.  By then I was already putting my own touches on her recipe.  She took one bite then said "Wow, your lasagna is better than mine!"  That got her a big hug. 

 

[sqwib]

 
Ain't that the truth!  My mom was never much for compliments, but I remember one.  Once, while my folks were visiting my wife and me after we were married, I served lasagna.  By then I was already putting my own touches on her recipe.  She took one bite then said "Wow, your lasagna is better than mine!"  That got her a big hug. 

That is awesome...

I think mom is impressed with my cooking because most of it is outside the box cooking or "Traditional", for instance she had two venison roasts, she cooked one and said it was impossible to chew, the other was ready for the dogs. I said, "let me see what I can do with it"...  into the Sous Vide, results were amazing, she raved over it.

My brother is an excellent cook and follows the recipe to the letter, I'm a dabbler and cant help but tweak everything I make.

Brother is doing a Beef Tenderloin and I'm doing a Rib Eye roast for Christmas dinner at moms....

 

[bonzbbq]

Wow, cool responses, pretty diverse, I have no culinary training, mom was also a plain cook, learned some from my grandparents though, as far a Q I was lucky, in the early 70's a neighbor of ours was a very well known and successful hog hunter in central florida, and could he cook a pig, I would hang around and learn, he made and cooked on homemade offsets, probably didn't appreciate it then but I sure do now, he was a character, Bonz

 

[ssorllih]

I started learning to cook as a child and have never stopped learning.

 

[red dog]

Both my grandmothers and my mother were great cooks. I used to hang out in the kitchen and watch while the other kids were out playing or watchin TV. My first real job as a teenager was working in the kitchen at Hump's restaurant in Clatskanie Oregon. After school and weekends. They had a chef that came in on Saturdays to cook steaks and he took me under his wing as his assistant.

 

[boykjo]

Self taught, TV and SMF.... Wish I had SMF back in the day when I started making sausage. It wasn't popular like it is now.....My mom can destroy a piece of beef (IT 180 in water pan), dad thought it was the best. They still offer to grill me steak when I go up..No thanks..lol. I don't think they know what a ribeye is....They rarely cooked expensive cuts of meat so it was chicken and spaghetti most of the time.... Ate a lot of cereal. My aunts and  grandmothers were excellent cooks but they were house wives and didn't work. .... Used to watch the galloping gourmet, Justin Wilson, Alton brown, and Emeril

Here's my first stuffer I built.. built this in the early 90's

joes pics 556.JPG

• boykjo
• Dec 24, 2014

 

[noboundaries]

All great memories.  It is amazing the impact family, friends, and SMF! can have on our daily offerings. 

 

[eman]

My Dad couldn't boil water w/o burning it and mom was a good cook for everyday stuff.

 I learned to cook like most Cajun boys. Watching then helping the old men at the hunting and fishing camps as i got old enough.

 then when i married my wife who is a great country cook i learned to do a lot more.  Once i figured out that i enjoyed cooking i started getting recipes that looked good and made them my own.

 I have found a fun way to cook. figure out your 1 or 2 main ingredients and  go to Google. type in the main ingredient(s) and then recipes.

 You will normally have thousands of recipes come up.

  You can do the same for appetizers. Type in the main thing you want to use and appetizer recipe.

.Anyone that can read and follow simple directions can cook.