How well do you know yourself as far as cooking is concerned?

ReadmeByAmy

ReadmeByAmy

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When I was in my high school days I am already interested how to learn to cook that is why I am always in the kitchen whenever my grandmother and mother is preparing and cooking our meals and I am always observing and watching what they are doing. I had this curiosity until I was in my College days and the more I want to learn more about cooking. And from that time on and until now that I am married already I may say that I had learned a few simple and easy recipes and had tried to improvised some of my grandmother and mother old recipes. It is a good feeling if you are learning from one of your passion in life and its is very fulfilling too. And I am being thankful that I had learned of this site and I am still getting additional learning of wisdom when it comes to cooking.

But even though I knew that I still lack the skills and knowledge and that I should continue in learning more about cooking.

How about you? How well do you know yourself as far as cooking is concerned?
 
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I never really paid much attention when my mom cooked. We were never in the kitchen with her. She preferred to cook alone and liked things done her way. She never really taught us to cook. If we asked she told us but that was it. Now that she is gone I wished I had taken more interest in some of her classic recipes. I do miss that! When I got married and was on my own I pretty much had to figure things out for myself. If I needed help I called mom and she explained it to me over the phone. I am a decent cook but I know I could be better. My partner does most of the cooking in our house. He loves to cook. He grew up with this grandparents and his grandma taught him everything he knows. His cooking is awesome!
 
I was a case of needs must. My parents died when I was in my teens, so I had to do a lot of growing up in a short space of time. That included cooking, which I think I managed more on a trial-and-error basis than anything else. You soon learn what works and what doesn't. In some ways, that is still my approach. I never use recipes or cookery books and never have done.
 
I learnt a lot of my Grannie through being around her and watching her. I was always allowed to lick out the pans after she had finished with them (the custard pan being the favourite and one my brother and I would literally fight over). However, I also learnt a lot about cooking from being a latch key kid for many, many years and have an (ex) step-father whose cooking skills were best described as limited and not interested in cooking for a child who didn't eat meat, and a mother who couldn't have cooked an egg if her life depended on it. I also have a very inquisitive nature and went to a school that taught cookery to all of the girls for the first 3 years (which was mandatory - I will point out that they also taught us how to use a sewing machine, make clothes from a pattern, use a hammer, drill, saw, wood plane and make various useless objects from wood and/or metal, as well as wiring a plug and a few other things) and if I don't know the answer to a question I am the sort of person who will go off and look it up.

But there is a major gap in my cooking repertoire, and that is anything relating to meat/fish! Having been vegetarian since I was 11 years old, I have never really cooked meat/fish or wanted to, so my abilities there are severely limited.
 
I was taught to cook by my mom, I was about 10-12 when I started cooking. I learned to cook for the family, some things I have taught myself from the many cooking books I get, I like looking at the pictures.
 
Duck59 said:
It's fair to say that I would struggle if someone wanted me to cook meat for them!
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Please accept my sympathy. Now to me. Before I joined the forum, I thought I was a stellar cook. These days after I leave the forum I feel only like a half decent cook. Half decent is not where I want to be, so I will keep reaching for the stars. Where is Classic 33 on this? I'd be interested in hearing how he and Morning Glory feel about this.
 
Learning to cook for me was a gradual thing. No-one actually sat me down and taught me. Many times when my mother was engaged in cooking, I was not around. I was either at work or busy doing something else. I was not too interested in cooking in those days. However, I eventually started milling around in the kitchen when she was cooking. She figured it was time for me to learn. I started out by cutting up vegetables and cooking them. So, that is the first thing I learned how to do. Then I learned how to cook rice. From there on, I then came to learn how to cook different kinds of meat and fish. Those were the hardest, in my opinion, to do. Nowadays, however, cooking meat and fish has become as easy as doing the other parts of the meal.
 
Similar with me Caribbean girl. I never had a teacher so to speak. I was around when my mom cooked and I caught on. I always wanted to try something and from early I wanted to be good at this thing called cooking. My mom had a reputation for being a good cook and I could tell she loved to get the great reviews. Like mother, like daughter.
 
I learned how to cook seriously in college because I was becoming independent, on a tight budget and had to learn how to feed myself. Everyday was a process, a trial by fire. It started with learning how to cook an egg and make rice from scratch. These days I'm loving cooking more and more because I have the time, money and experience.
 
I honestly admit that I am not good in cooking that's why I had delegated the kitchen work to my husband who seems to have a flair for cooking. But I can cook, of course, although not as good as my husband's cooking. When he would go abroad on a work assignment, I would be the one doing the cooking and so far, people in the house are still alive, hehehe. In our office, my colleagues are requesting for me to bring menudo, our specialty dish... they thought I was the one who cooked that when I brought menudo in the office some months back.
 
MyExWasAChef said:
I learned how to cook seriously in college because I was becoming independent, on a tight budget and had to learn how to feed myself. Everyday was a process, a trial by fire. It started with learning how to cook an egg and make rice from scratch. These days I'm loving cooking more and more because I have the time, money and experience.
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Trial by fire - I love that. The fact that you are still here to share your story says those fires were kept under control.
 
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