I love cooking, but because my mom is too much of a bimbo and my dad too much of a “manly man” to ever step into the kitchen, I never had the chance to learn from them. I grew up on delivery, takeout, eating out, and the incredible food made by the amazing woman who cooks for our family. I became deeply interested in cooking at the start of my teenage years and taught myself through the internet, books, that same woman, and other relatives.
looks in fridge
Oh,hello stack of tv dinners.
My dad did most of the cooking, it is serviceable food some great some just okay, but he’d have a thing where he introduced me and my sister to cooking by starting with asking us to taste food during cooking and going “do you think it needs any salt? Any pepper?” type questions
This progressed on to “can you make the mash whilst I make the sausages? Can you slice that vegetable whilst I…?” - easy tasks that are out of the way of the main bulk of the meal
Then on to eventually “wanna try making the Sunday Breakfast today?”
A steady progression of increasing responsibility, in a way that disguises that’s what’s happening
A really great way to teach, tbh
People suggest cook book as a start, however be careful that complicated receipts are tedious and might remove the joy of cooking.
Most actually good receipts are also simple - keep that in mind.
My two cents will be to find simple stuff and start from it. You will discover that most cooking consists of
- “Fry onions / other vegetables” Add meat.
- On the side boil some granes or potate, mix in. 2.5. Or smash everything together into the oven and wait.
It is possible to have a nice home cooked meal without the major struggle if you learn simple receipts. And then you can start buying food based on your knowledge of cooking - keep the stash of universal cooking supplies is as important as the cooking itself.
adam ragusea’s videos have taught me so much about cooking. he’s very much an advocate for cooking by feel, he teaches a lot of the food science behind his recipes, and his recipes are very easy to follow.
I learned to cook the same way I learned to have sex. Trial and error, usually by myself, sometimes with a partner, and I read some publications about it that had plenty of pictures.
Not from your parents then?
My sex talk and cooking talk both came too late and were both variations of “you probably know as much as I do”.
Alton Brown.
Alton threw a drum of gasoline on my interest in cooking as a child. He’s probably the biggest reason I went to culinary school and spent 15 years in kitchens.
Id love to see OOPs “manly man” dad try to survive a week in a kitchen.
Trial and error. Lot’s of meals that I just… forced down. Learned what I did wrong and changed it. But well, I don’t really cook specific recipes, mostly I just boil things and know when to add stuff and what spices might go good with it, if any.
I’m happy other people had their parents to teach them but my parents mostly made stuff from boxes like hamburger helper and kraft dinner. Then they had all that free time to themselves to watch tv and get drunk.
Opened cookie book. Followed directions. Suddenly had delicious cookies. Realized that I could do this with other things.
I also had that “what if I made everything else delicious too?” moment.
Breaking Bad.
Wait, I mean Baking Bread.
I just started trying recipes on the internet. Did Hello
rottenFresh for a bit but quit that because of quality reasons. Now I have a collection of “signature” dishes, a few I’m refining, and a good sense of what to do with ingredients and how seasonings interact to make something without a recipe to guide me.I took adult classes for about 3 years. I could have passed the exams to become a professional cook and pastry chef, but didn’t bother as I didn’t actually want to enter the industry. I just wanted to learn.
I recommend school books for people who actually want to learn. They’re usually a good ressource. Typically better than generic recipe books.
Have kids to feed. Have random things to cook. No time. Get creative. Fail. Try again next time. Succeed. Repeat. Fail. Succeed. Fail. Succeed. Start to plan ahead. Continue to fail or succeed. Try to teach kids so they fail less than me. Hope kids teach their kids. Break cycle of family not knowing how to cook. Family line succeed. Humanity saved.
Following a lot of different recipes for the same dish, also Alton Brown
My mom allowed me to watch, so I understood the basics. But she also was a terrible cook, so I didn’t really git gud until I started watching Good Eats. The inclusion of the science was a huge help, since I am one of those people that benefits a lot from knowing why I am doing something and not just knowing that I need to do X. So I can follow recipes, but also can concoct my own things knowing what will work as a substitute and why, or what flavors go well together and such.
Back in 2009 our youngest was born and I had lost my job due to the economic downturn. My wife was the cook at the time, but was also the sole bread winner as well.
I had some basic skills in the kitchen, but really could not say I could cook. My wife was a great cook. However, it did not make any sense for her to work a 12 hour day and come home to cook. When I had been home with the baby and our older son all day.
So I had her teach me what she knew. Mainly it involved in how to read recipes. Learning the difference between a TSP and Tbsp and those types of things. While I would not say I have a talent for cooking, I did have a penchant for it. That lead me to cooking almost every day and discovering that a lot of getting good at cooking is practicing cooking techniques.
Fast forward to today and I’ve been a hobbyist cook for 17 years. I can confidently open any cookbook to any page and at least competently make that recipe, if not put restaurant quality meal on the table.
Am I as good as professional cook or chef? Oh hell no. I’m a home cook… A great home cook, but still a home cook. I’d probably be lost in a professional kitchen.
