When did you start cooking?

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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Maidstone, Kent, UK
How long have you been cooking? I mean seriously cooking. I'm ashamed to say I was in my mid twenties before I learned anything at all. I was pretty hopeless back then and it was a man in my life who taught me to cook. But really, it wasn't until I was mid thirties that I started regularly cooking and getting experience. The big leap was when I took early retirement aged 58. Since then I've become passionate about cooking and recipe development and latterly, food photography.

So - well I could say I've been cooking for 40 years. But in reality, the serious cooking began 8 years ago. What about you?
 
Probably about ten years ago, although there were signs well before that. I remember the very first meal I 'created' when my parents came to visit me in student digs. Sausage meat cups, filled with Branston pickle and served with mashed potato and a cheese sauce. They ate it politely without comment.

Ten years ago I gave up my job and started a new business, initially working from home. This meant that not only was I home to eat three times each day, but I also started getting involved in sourcing ingredients and actually cooking them. It snowballed from there.
 
I actually started when in the Boy Scouts. Seriously when I went to college. At first it wasn't very good. Ok, I admit it was awful, but I made myself eat it. That led to vast improvements rather quickly and I haven't looked back since!:cool:
 
My wife in UK was a reasonable cook but was reluctant to experiment. It was me who started cooking "foreign food". However, the hours that I worked prevented me from getting serious until I retired in 1999. By that time I had spent time in Malaysia, China and Thailand so I had a lot of ideas with which to experiment.
 
CraigC said:
I actually started when in the Boy Scouts. Seriously when I went to college. At first it wasn't very good. Ok, I admit it was awful, but I made myself eat it. That led to vast improvements rather quickly and I haven't looked back since!:cool:
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I had a little snigger to myself reading that and remembering Mike Harding's tale about cooking beans at camp with the boy scouts (I think it was cubs though).
 
CraigC said:
That led to vast improvements rather quickly and I haven't looked back since!:cool:
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Do you still feel you are making improvements? I am sure you are - but I think some people reach a certain level of competency and just get stuck there (either by accident or design). Since I've been on the forum (2015) I think I've improved in leaps and bounds. Not only that but its meant I write things down more and visually record them so I can improve them next time.
 
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morning glory said:
Do you still feel you are making improvements? I am sure you are - but I think some people reach a certain level of competency and just get stuck there (either by accident or design). Since I've been on the forum (2015) I think I've improved in leaps and bounds. Not only that but its meant I write things down more and visually record them so I can improve them next time.
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Absolutely! Every time we try a new dish from some cuisine or I learn and apply a new BBQ or grilling technique. I mentioned in the thread "Rotisserie Fun" that the Hatch chilis we just bought will go faster because of what I learned last year.
 
I don't remember ever not helping at mealtimes, even if it was just getting stuff out of the fridge or pantry, probably 8 or 9 when I started doing simple things myself. Around 17, I got interested in baking, sweets and breads, and cake decorating. Made pate a choux swans at 17-1/2. I learned the "fancy" stuff on my own, except the cake decorating. Did take a class for that. Mom was a good cook, but stayed with pretty basic stuff, other than pie pastry, which she was a master at. She also never contemplated baking bread from scratch once she could buy decent at the grocery, though she also never failed to appreciate and eat my homemade breads. I kind of plateaued out from my early to late 20s with school, work, marriage, child, failure of marriage. I did continue to bake and decorate cakes for family and friends, even got paid for a few, during that time. Then, I met Craig and was forced :D into starting to really cook again. A few years later, Food Network came along and really started to broaden our food horizons.

I think I'm expanding my skills. We are always trying new dishes and even new cuisines, plus I've gotten pretty good at being able to replicate dishes I've tasted without recipes, and even cook dishes I've only seen and heard described on TV. Plus, I'm always trying new techniques or ingredients that pique my interest.

We'll be making tamales today, our third time. The first was years and years ago and they were okay, but not something to do again. We decided to try again within the last year or so after watching somebody make them. Much, much better that time. They are a lot of work, but freeze well and make a lot so are worth it.
 
I got my first taste of cooking in the 7th grade in home economics class. We were divided into groups, and made a new recipe, like tomato sauce, muffins Etc. Wish I still had that tomato sauce recipe. At the end of the school term we all contributed and made a huge dinner. I found that I really enjoyed it. I made the tomato sauce from scratch for my family, and they really liked it. In my late teens and twenties I mostly cranked out dinner, as I was still in the early stages of learning how to cook, and worked many long hours. If I had to prepare a meal for someone else's approval every night, I would have given up cooking long ago. In my 30s I would experiment on the weekends as I was still working full time. In the meantime, since I live in a big city in close proximity to restaurants of different cultures and ethnicities, I tried new foods and dishes. I learned about foods that I liked and would like to duplicate at home, and an idea of what it should taste like. I went on collecting recipes, trying and experimenting with new dishes and recipes to see what I liked. At some point along the way, something clicked in so far as putting flavors together that made sense, and to my liking. It's always a new learning experience.
 
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My story is familiar to Caigsy's. Well, at least to start. I began cooking in the Boy Scouts. I remember that no one wanted to cook, so I used to volunteer because the cook didn't have to clean up the open fire burnt pots and pans.

But I started trying to learn how to really cook (indoors, :)) when I got my first apartment after college. I only went to 2 years of college, and was able to get a job paying as well as if I had a full degree.

Anyway, I basically tried to reproduce many of the basic roasts and sautees that my mother made. She was such a good cook that living on my own for my first time came as a shock. It was either starve, or eat crappy takeout, or just call mom and ask questions.

Once I realized that the skill of cooking impressed girls, I then tried to reproduce many dishes from the various restaurants on which I had gone on dates.

So, lazyness and sex, I guess. That's why I started cooking.

:wave:
 
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Karen W said:
At some point along the way, something clicked in so far as putting flavors together that made sense, and to my liking. It's always a new learning experience.
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I know what you mean. This 'clicking' has not been sudden for me but it has happened in a big way in the last few years. I get so many ideas I don't know what to do with them!

And its great that you see it as a learning experience. I do - very much so.
 
I began cooking when I was about 11 years old. As I grew older, things had improved rather fast. At age 16, I began working in food service. I eventually many had jobs as a cook.

I worked at a United Airlines flight kitchen at Logan Airport. My cooking abilities took off to new heights as I became more experienced with cooking. Since I've gotten a new stand mixer, I've gotten back into baking, which I used to do a lot before. I used to bake & sell cakes.

When a big family event came along, the fam would have me bake the cakes. I was good at it & they came out good & luscious. I used to cook monster meals when it was only me!! I don't cook like that now. Too much work from beginning to end!

I once had lots of cookbooks. Now I mainly look online for recipes. When I see one that I want to try, I heat-seal it in laminating plastic so that it lasts longer & it doesn't get wet, dirty or greasy. :wink:
 
Seriously cooking probably started about five years ago. Intensely and very satisfying cooking started when I joined this site :)
 
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