How did you learn to cook? (soups, clams, syrup, grocery store)

[jasper12]

I just practiced, read cookbooks, followed instructions. My mom never cooked, nor my Grandmother, they were just not into food or eating. My Mom drank Tab, and smoked, she eats tuna or eggs every so often. She is Anorexic. My Grandmother too. They literally don't think about food. I love food, and eating, so I cooked.

I will admit, now that I am older, I don't cook much.

[Newdaawn]

I learned by watching and helping sometimes my mother and grandmother. I now have many cookbooks. I don't know how my mother got by with just one. I have that now that she has been gone for many years. Her cookbook even has recipes for things like squirrel stew and other wild game. Ugg! I never would make those and don't think she did either. My grandmother raised a family of 8 kids so she was always making things in volume and trying to economize as well. She used lots of veggies from the farm that my grandfather worked on as well as many kinds of fish as they lived only a mile from the ocean. I grew to love seafood.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jim9251

Anything and everything!

that is the only way: a little of this one time and a little of some other kind the next. That is how I cook. Tonight will be braised pork (almost like a stew) tomorrow a steak with a yummy sause of some kind...

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Newdaawn

I learned by watching and helping sometimes my mother and grandmother. I now have many cookbooks. I don't know how my mother got by with just one. I have that now that she has been gone for many years. Her cookbook even has recipes for things like squirrel stew and other wild game. Ugg! I never would make those and don't think she did either. My grandmother raised a family of 8 kids so she was always making things in volume and trying to economize as well. She used lots of veggies from the farm that my grandfather worked on as well as many kinds of fish as they lived only a mile from the ocean. I grew to love seafood.

They got by with fewer cook books because they didn't eat the variety of foods we eat today. Actually my family did when it came to not wasting anything: we had neck bones, tongue, even the chicken back was cooked with the rest of the chicken, but we didn't use a lot of sauses, we didn't cook a lot of foreign foods and we didn't have weber cookers, crock pots, electric indoor grills like George Foreman, etc. They depended on plain, old fashion farm cooking.

I did learn from my dad who was the real cook in the family. He never opened a cookbook cause he had a knack for making it work: sometimes it didn't

Nita

[glastron_79]

I learned to cook from cookbooks and my husband who is 100% Italian and very much a chef in the kitchen. I never learned in my parents' home because my mom was obsessive compulsive about her kitchen and she didn't want anyone else messing around in there.

[Pivot Point]

I learned to cook by watching my mother, who is an excellent cook. It looked like such fun that I always volunteered to help. By the time I was 11, I was actually a decent cook and could make a good dinner when my mother was away, sick, or busy--things like beef stew, pork chops, baked chicken, rice pilaf, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, etc.

As I got older (12-14 yo), I broadened my range by watching cooking shows like "The French Chef" and "The Galloping Gourmet." In my teen years I used to scour the library for interesting cookbooks, and then prepare some of the recipes at home.

Eventually I started experimenting and creating my own dishes. My interest led me to take cooking classes so that I could master advanced techniques. I'll never stop learning--especially now with the Food Network and Cooking Channel.

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by sirron

I'd like to add my opinion on those commercials for kitchen gadgets that "You Can't Live Without". The microwave spaghetti cooker, the egg device that gives you perfect hard cooked eggs, etc. You don't need those. They always show some bumbling housewife spilling the pasta into the sink, or trying to peel an egg and making a colossal mess. I know of ten-year-olds who aren't that inept in the kitchen.

Those seem to be geared towards the people who refuse to cook. They'll try hundreds of angles in order to make some cash, right? Haha.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by Gandalara

Gas = Carbon Dioxide.

As the egg ages, moisture and carbon dioxide leave through the pores of the shell, air enters to replace them and the air cell becomes larger.

Smell is the best way to determine an bad egg

Thank you.
There is no way to detect salmonella, is there?
I was told never to have a runny yolk because of that.

[Gandalara]

No, there is no way to detect the salmonella without lab testing.

If you can get an egg up to 160F, the SE will be killed. I've never figured out how to easily put a kitchen thermometer in a yolk, LOL. You can always get pasteurized eggs - liquid form is easy to find, in the shell harder to find. Pasteurizing kills any bacteria.

And remember it's not just eggs. Salmonellosis outbreaks are most often associated with animal foods, including chicken, eggs, pork and cheese, but have also been reported related to cantaloupe, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, and orange juice!

I'll never forget an old newspaper cartoon I saw ... elderly couple had a road-side produce and egg stand. Their neighbors up the road had lots of traffic and business at "John and Mary's Corn". Their neighbors down the road had lots of traffic and business at "Bob and Kathy's Apples". But poor "Sam and Ella's Eggs" had no customers ....

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by goldengrain

Thank you.
There is no way to detect salmonella, is there?
I was told never to have a runny yolk because of that.

I don't think the runny yoke thing is anymore accurate than the never eat meat that hasn't been cremated...I wouldn't eat raw eggs, though many of us love real ceasar salad and it is made with raw eggs, if made correctly, and meat, especially hamburger needs to be cooked, you still can enjoy dipping your toast into that egg yoke and feel safe. We all let too many things scare us..We listen to the negatives and probably the things we don't hear about are the ones that are really dangerous. No, there is no way to detect salmonella.