Interest in cooking?? How did yours start??

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Let's say "advanced student". There is so much I still don't know that I really can't think of myself as expert. I may have produced an incredible pancake recipe, but I started with someone elses and made observations. It was a happy accident, together with my eldest daughter's keen observation that turned a gair recipe into an excellent recipe. Other things I can crow about. But yet, there is still so much to learn.

But thanks. And I'll continue to share what I know, and strive to learn still more.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
basically hunger :LOL: :twisted: and my mother was not the greatest cook, did not know from salt and pepper. I bought her a container of garlic powder once to encourage her to experiment, she never used it. Bless her heart, she finally did get recipes from her friends when she went to their house for dinner. Sorry mom, I love you, but you were instrumental in my becoming such a good cook. Thanks.
 
I learned of necessity.

I was about 10 when Mom got sick. I was the oldest of 5 kids, and Dad couldn't (or wouldn't) fry an egg. I would call Mom in the hospital, and she would talk me through dinner preparations. She died when I was 13, and it became my permanent job after that.

A lot of those early meals were boxed, frozen and packaged. But in spite of it, I was real proud of all those dinners.
 
I learned a lot from my grandmother, from the time I was 5, I always wast helping in the kitchen. When I was 6...I started cooking over easy eggs.

Always suggested recipes and got to help cook. When my parents were divorced, and I was busy taking care of my younger brother...making dinner every night.

When I was 15...got my first job making pizzas...sparked my interest to cook as a career. At 16,I moved on to salads at an upscale restaurant, learned all of the stations, of the kitchen. After I graduated from high school, I was given a banquet chef position, and from there, I have ran quite a few kitchens, in many positions.
 
My mother and grandmothers (both sides) were really good cooks. I have a family 'receipt' book which dates back to the very early 1800s. Interestingly, a lot of the dishes are still family favourites to this day - including oatcakes, porridge, venison stew and many famous Scottish soups like Cock a Leekie and Scotch broth.

My father was in the Army and we travelled and lived in various places around the globe - Hong Kong, Greece, Malta and England (yes, the cuisine is different from Scots!) amongst other places. Then when I grew up I travelled extensively with my job. My husband and I have also had to live abroad because of his work - Middle East and European countries.

The proximity of mainland Europe makes travel easy and cheap - and so we spend two or three holidays abroad each year - anything from a long weekend to a couple of weeks at a time.

I've absorbed and learned from the cooking traditions of many countries. There aren't many things I wouldn't try (after all, we Scots eat haggis... a foodstuff that most other nationalities shudder about!)
 
When I was a kid, I had to suffer my Mum's cooking, which was just about inedible (except for her chicken stew & dumplings). I actually thought I hated steak until I was well into my twenties because I thought all steaks came out like leather, burnt, and you had to chew the meat into a ball for 10 minutes then swallow it whole with a big drink of water!

I did a very little bit of cooking (from what I learned in home-ec classes at school) at home until I got married at 21, then I just started to blossom. I found that I had a knack for throwing stuff in a pan and coming out with something that tasted great. I used recipes as a base, but always altered them and added a bit of this and a bit of that. The past 3 years or so, my interest in gourmet cooking has really taken off - I think with our move to the USA and now being more able to afford great equipment & ingredients. My Nana was a great cook, so maybe that's where I got those cooking genes from.

I'm still trying to educate my Mum (via e-mail) about cooking, with some great & easy recipes that even she couldn't fail with - but sadly, she has no interest. Say's she doesn't has time, although both my parents are retired. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks!

Paint.
 
For me it was a strange start....lived in a from scratch home with massive garden...moved out at 19...live on junk..went to parents for dinner 1 time, 2 times, 7 times a week...my mom got mad, gave me Joy of Cooking, threw me out of her house with the "make me something edible out of here and then you can eat here again". Dug in, got interested, and 32 years later, its still the love of my life....and I love my mother dearly for getting me going...well, I do now....

Mark
 
Markf said:
For me it was a strange start....lived in a from scratch home with massive garden...moved out at 19...live on junk..went to parents for dinner 1 time, 2 times, 7 times a week...my mom got mad, gave me Joy of Cooking, threw me out of her house with the "make me something edible out of here and then you can eat here again". Dug in, got interested, and 32 years later, its still the love of my life....and I love my mother dearly for getting me going...well, I do now....

Mark

Very touching story, Mark. Glad her 'tough love' worked on you. I get you are a wonderful cook.
 
In a nut shell, my mom cooked great homestyle food, but didnt have much variety. When I was young, I started to develope recipes that had variety, used different things that I never tried. I started out using very cheap cuts of meat, fish, then worked my way up to various recipes I found here and there. Later I decided to wing my way through all sorts of recipes, and then eventually create my own versions.
 
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