What was your first dish?

Great first question - for me, probably scrambled eggs or a cheap boxed pizza kit, when I was a teen.
 
I think my first dish was a boiled egg but I'm not sure that counts! I was a dreadful cook when I was in my teens and early twenties. I mean really bad. I had no interest in it. However, that changed in my mid twenties when I met a man who was a good cook (mainly French) . He taught me basics and then I got addicted. I think possibly the first proper dish I cooked was chicken with garlic cloves. It was a 'trending' dish back in those heady days of the '70's: Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. It stands the test of time. Here is an analysis of that recipe:

How to cook the perfect chicken with 40 cloves of garlic – recipe | Felicity Cloake
 
I honestly don't know. I do remember my sister and I making tapioca pudding from scratch, from a recipe, with no parental assistance. I would have been about 8, and my sister 10 at that time. It was actually very good.

CD
 
Morning Glory said:
I think my first dish was a boiled egg but I'm not sure that counts! I was a dreadful cook when I was in my teens and early twenties. I mean really bad. I had no interest in it. However, that changed in my mid twenties when I met a man who was a good cook (mainly French) . He taught me basics and then I got addicted. I think possibly the first proper dish I cooked was chicken with garlic cloves. It was a 'trending' dish back in those heady days of the '70's: Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. It stands the test of time. Here is an analysis of that recipe:

How to cook the perfect chicken with 40 cloves of garlic – recipe | Felicity Cloake
Click to expand...

That reminds me of when I first cooked with garlic. 1971, I think. I thought a clove was the entire head.
 
Yorky said:
That reminds me of when I first cooked with garlic. 1971, I think. I thought a clove was the entire head.
Click to expand...
Growing up, we never grew garlic, and my mom never cooked with it, because both my parents can’t stand the stuff, so I had zero experience with garlic when I started cooking on my own.

This was back before the internet, so I couldn’t just google it, and it seemed like every cookbook or recipe assumed you just knew.

There was an Italian-American woman who lived in the dorm (this was back when I was in the service), and the two of us were really the only ones who used the kitchen with any regularity, so I had to cop from her how garlic worked, but I couldn’t just ask outright, because I didn’t want to appear stupid.

I noted how many “little things” of garlic she had sitting out, and once she’d minced them and tossed them in, I slyly asked her, “How much of that garlic did you use?”

“Four cloves,” or whatever she said, but that’s when I figured out the “little things” were cloves, and the “big thing” it came off of was a head.
 
Cinnamon Toast
IMG_6235.JPG
 
TastyReuben said:
Growing up, we never grew garlic, and my mom never cooked with it, because both my parents can’t stand the stuff, so I had zero experience with garlic when I started cooking on my own.
Click to expand...

I don't believe my Mum ever cooked with garlic. However, she must have eaten plenty because she spent the last few years of her life holidaying in the Mediterranean. Both my sister and I told her "We don't need or want your money; go out and spend it!". And she did!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom