Who are you in the Culinary World?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I'm a self taught cook. I love coming here to DC, because every once in awhile someone will mention an ingredient that just makes something I already make, that makes the dish over the top.

Lots of inspiration here.
 
I always helped mom in the kitchen, I had a little stool, so that I could see over the counter. The first thing that I "cooked" on my own was boiled hotdogs, LOL. I progressed from there.
 
Basic home cook here. Pretty much self-taught, but I learned a lot from my grandma and my great aunt.
 
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I help out Guys do they can help themselves

:chef:
I was curious about how each brilliant member of this forums uses the beautiful world of culinary arts, for example, are you a professional chef or just use cooking as a hobby? Do you work at a restaurant or something similar?



Hi, I'm a celebrity chef. I actually create really fun recipes for men who can't cook. I use power tools to make my point. Basically I teach guys to cook for their girlfriends and wives. My goal in life is to see relationships strengthened through the art of cooking and eating together. When a man makes the effort to create a meal for his loved one, he brings their relationship closer. Men like to have fun and usually like to make an excuse as to why they cannot cook, so I draw them in with my zany style of power tool cooking.

Bon appetit
 
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Well, I am older than 'dirt' itself. When dirt came upon the scene, I tried it and immediately spit it out. Didn't have to use table manners then. Decided right then and there, learn to cook or starve to death. Second choice didn't appeal to me. So I stood at my mother's side while growing up in an Italian neighborhood. When all those Italian grandmothers learned that I was not Italian, they took me under their wing also. Had some great teachers.

Got married at an early age to a professional chef. His specialty was cooking for events. Three hundred or more people. His dowry for our marriage was the original "Joy of Cooking". It was my Bible for the first few years. Then the babies came along and wanted to make my own baby food before it was fashionable to do so. As the kids grew older, their father would take them to work on Saturdays and put them to washing the dishes and scrubbing pots. He started their interest in preparation by letting them tear the lettuce. They in turn did so well, they graduated to a small knife cutting the celery and other raw veggies into bite size. They kept improving over the years, but were never able to surpass Mother. They still call me for advice from the kitchen. Only one has made it into a professional kitchen. But decided he would rather cook for fun then a living. But he is no slacker with cooking when he wants to impress a young lady. All my children can cook circles around their friends. :chef:
 
Addie, I must have come on the scene about the same time as you did, except that I remember when dirt was in style! Only later did we learn that dirt could be considered a seasoning, especially that salty stuff scraped off after the oceans receded... ;)

I'm an "event chef" too. I always cook in the event that dinner might happen.. :)

Funny, in an unrelated topic I too just recommended Joy of Cooking, which was my cooking Bible long before there was any Internet. I'll also recommend padding out any library with a few Julia Child cookbooks. (Get any of them.)

I'm smart enough to know that I'd eventually stick a knife in somebody if I worked in a professional kitchen! All those sharp knives and so many people working under a deadline! ;) ;) ;)

No reason to spoil a good hobby...
 
CWS4322 said:
Thanks, PF. The girls are not liking the freezing rain. I've resisted bringing them in the house in dog crates...poor babies!

You're a great cook! How did the chicken panties work out? Or did DH put the kibosh on them?
 
AMAZING replies from mostly everybody! Took some time to read them all at once but im done now and glad to know more about everyone on this forum! :)

VERY interesting stories and life experiences, thank you a lot for ALL the replies...
 
another engineer (television broadcast), foodie, and home cook here.

as far as food as a profession goes, i've worked in fast food joints, made and delivered pizza, was a bus boy and waiter in a country club, and even worked the grill at the country club's pool cabana. but that was many years ago when i was a kid.

good experience, especially in terms of learning about people. like pets, you don't mess around with a hungry person.
 
The job I use to earn money to buy food and cooking stuff is criminal investigator for a state law enforcement agency. I was given the Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook at a very early age. I got serious about cooking about 18 years ago. It's partly self-defense. My wife can cook two things, salmon croquettes (which are good) and tacos (which aren't). She suffers from a mysterious affliction that affects her sister, too. It renders them incapable of seasoning. So the taco recipe becomes: Brown ground beef. Put some in each taco shell with cheese.
 
I stand firmly in the "nobody" category. I discovered that I enjoy cooking many years ago and, like music, it gives me great personal satisfaction. I love to try new things and put new twists on the tried and true. Sometimes Mrs Hoot looks at me sideways when I tell her I want to try this or that, but bless her, she most times refuses to try some of things I come up with. My favorite form of cooking is over an open fire, but the older I get, the tougher it is to do.
 
You're a great cook! How did the chicken panties work out? Or did DH put the kibosh on them?
DH said no to the diapers...but I was out there cuddling them tonight..and had to stop myself from bringing Harriet and Myrtle into the house....it's COLD!!!! Poor babies.
 
I'm a wife and mom. In my world, that means I feed people. I started cooking like a lot of folks, standing on a chair stirring...whatever was there. I am a decent cook, but I'm a better baker.
 
I am Boring............ADHD and CAD oh the last is what I do ;)
 

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I learned to love and practice cooking from my grandmother when I was a little girl. She cooked for the farmhands on our 500 acre Ohio Dairy farm. I took "Home Ec" in Junior High and got the brainy idea that I could be a better teacher than the one I had. Not a conceeded viewpoint but she was teaching us scrambled eggs and hot chocolate and I was already preparing full meals. I also took all the foods classes that were offered in High School and loved them. Graduated thinking I would be a teacher but life happened and it took me a while to get where I am.

Today I love my HS Family & Consumer Sciences teaching job (formerly Home Ec) and hopefully challenge my students with better assignments than I had.
 
I learned to love and practice cooking from my grandmother when I was a little girl. She cooked for the farmhands on our 500 acre Ohio Dairy farm. I took "Home Ec" in Junior High and got the brainy idea that I could be a better teacher than the one I had. Not a conceeded viewpoint but she was teaching us scrambled eggs and hot chocolate and I was already preparing full meals. I also took all the foods classes that were offered in High School and loved them. Graduated thinking I would be a teacher but life happened and it took me a while to get where I am.
Today I love my HS Family & Consumer Sciences teaching job (formerly Home Ec) and hopefully challenge my students with better assignments than I had.

Like you I was in Home EC. in the seventh grade. The first thing we made was scratch tomato soup. I was helpiing my mother make stews and soups at home. And my mother also taught me the "why" of cooking as I was learning the 'how." Something I didn't learn in HE. :chef:
 
What a fun and interesting thread! A really good read!
I have always known that the kitchen was the place to be. I spent a lot of time in our kitchen, and it seemed like everyone in the family had a kitchen that was exciting and fun. One Grandma made bread every week and always welcomed help from even the very young grandchildren. The other Grandma was in her kitchen always cooking great meals and baking cookies with the help of any child who wanted to wash up and grab a stool! Mom was busy with four children all born within four and a half years, but still found the time to let us help in the kitchen. I was backing cookies alone for 4-H at 8 years old, and I was making complete meals by the time I was 10. Mom would allow us to plan, shop for, and cook an entire meal about once a month. The pride in preparing our own meal will remain with me forever! I love to cook and bake and experiment in the kitchen. My first job was at McDonalds at the grill, and I did work one summer as a grill cook at a local mom and pop place, but other than that the cooking and baking have come from my kitchen. Come on over, there is almost always cookies in the cookie jar. ;)
 
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