How and When Did You Start Cooking?

[Natasha]

I'd like to know about your introduction to cooking and/or baking. Has cooking been a lifetime passion, or a fairly recent interest? Did you start off cooking more, baking more, or a combination of both?

I have been cooking and baking as long as I can remember. My sister and I both loved it from the get go. As a child and teenager, my real love was baking, but as time went on, I devoted more and more time to cooking. Now I cook more often than I bake, but still truly enjoy baking (particularly in the fall and winter, and around the holidays).

Our earliest recipes were from a kids' cookbook, and included an apple betty, sugar cookies, and good ol' scrambled eggs ;) . I think that cookbook is still around somewhere. My sister and I sometimes talk about going back and making some of them for old times' sake. :)

Natasha

[daner94]

Mom taught me to cook at the age of 10. That way, she could come home from work and dinner would be on the table. Nothing fancy, of course, but mostly baked chicken or pasta dishes. My fondest memories of childhood were when I was baking and cooking with her. Then I went to college for restaurant management and took many cooking courses so I wound up teaching my mom a lot!

My younger sister, on the other hand, never had the responsilbilities in the kitchen so she never got the cooking bug. She isn't a great cook now and she feels like she will never learn. She also has a tiny kitchen and it is very difficult to execute meals with no space at all.

Dana

[beejayw1]

When I was growing up, I loved to bake things for my family, and I learned a lot from that. Cooking supper, now, was another matter, and it wasn't till I was on my own that I started learning to cook main dishes, deal with meats, fiddle with spices.

(I remember learning the hard way that frying chicken in a pan takes longer than the five minutes each side it takes to brown the piece.:rolleyes:

I think you have to be more precise with baking, to a degree. You can be more creative with other types of cooking.

Discovering CL was a revelation in itself, and this board has been a delight from day 1.

[Terrytx]

As a teenager it was my responsibility to cook 3 meals a week, and one of those meals had to be dinner. My Father was afraid I would grow up not knowing how to cook. I don't remember doing any baking though.

As a young bride, I started with the baking. To this day I cook much much more than I bake.

[Jodi]

I did a lot of baking as a child with my grandmother, but I didn't start cooking until after college, when I moved away from home. I learned very quickly that takeout is much more expensive than cooking at home, so I got myself a couple of beginner cookbooks, and I haven't looked back. I don't bake as often as I'd like, mostly because of time restraints. I do a lot of cookies and breads for the holidays, and I was pretty good about it when my brother was in the Marines (care packages and such), but these days I cook WAY more than I bake. Great thread!

[SandyM]

I love my mother dearly, bless her heart, but I was pretty much chased out of the kitchen. Maybe that's where I get the "I don't need your help but thanks for offering" thing from. I don't have kids, but that's how I am with my husband. He doesn't seem to mind tho.

Needless to say, I didn't start cooking until I moved away when I was 21. And at that, the cooking was unhealthy, unimaginative, and unsatisfying.

When I started getting Cooking Light, I realized you could make great tasting things that are good for you. That was only just 7-8 years ago though! :o

Believe, me, I'm still learning.......

[Little Bit]

I've been cooking since I was tiny. Don't remember the exact time frame, but when my kindergarten class put together a little 'I can cook it myself' sort of cookbook, I distinctly remember thinking how babyish it was that someone had submitted their 'Cinnamon Toast' recipe.
I don't remember any specifics of my kitchen skills at the time, but I gather this was old hat to me, LOL!

My mom was deathly afraid that we'd get hurt in the kitchen, by things like hot grease or boiling water, so there were certain things we weren't allowed to do, or be near the stove for. Otherwise, she did keep us busy 'helping out' with all sorts of stuff. She died when I was about 11, and though I don't really remember actively having 'learned' to cook, I remember being able to cook things enough to help out with dinner preparations (baked chicken, bbq chicken in the oven, etc.).

I guess at our house, cooking is so much a part of life that actively learning the hows and whys were just matter of fact, no big deal. (As was washing dishes, LOL!)

[Laura]

My mom is a very good cook but not too adventurous. When I was 15 my parents and I moved to Southern California and my dad took a consulting job. For the next few years my dad was literally gone Monday to Friday and my mom got tired of cooking so I started to take over. When I was in college I worked part-time in a gourmet cooking store and my interest grew (the 25% discount didn't hurt either.) I consider myself to be very nurturing and baking things for people, or making them a meal has always been my way of helping out. To top it off, I love to eat. I love to try new things and expand my palate (but hopefully not my waist!)

[Ralph]

I started cooking while I was in med school. I had done undergrad at a commuter college, living at my parents' home & ate out (usually fast food) most every night!:o I was always working part-time, so paying for the food was never an issue. You'd never consider my mother a cook - she can screw up boiling water!

Once in med school, though, the income dissappeared! I knew it would be too expensive to eat out every night, so I bought a few cookbooks (The Starving Student's Cookbook and The I Never Cooked Before Cookbook among others) and winged it! I got to the point where prepping, cooking, eating, & cleaning up took only an hour; sad to say, I did a lot of pan-frying!

Well, I actually enjoyed cooking, & just over the years since, I've become more adept at cooking, more adventurous, and certainly more skilled. I'm never afraid to try any particular recipes because now I have the confidence to make most anything. My one fault: I have no creativity! Don't ask me to create dishes on my own - I have to have a recipe to follow, but I do very slight improvisation as I go.

[emilycat]

I've loved being in the kitchen since I was little. When I was about 8, I had the Easy-Bake oven and the Holly Hobby cookbook. Like Natasha, I was way into baking, much more so than cooking (now it's the opposite) When I was in the sixth grade, I woke up every morning at 6:00 to make pancakes, and I made my grandmother's blueberry cobbler so often for dessert that I had the recipe memorized. Over the holidays, I made loads of cookies -- way more than our family could eat, but I loved making them so much!

In highschool, I got really into the Moosewood books and started acquiring my cookbook collection. After the first one of those, I was completely hooked on exploring different cuisines and cooking methods, and now I'm a complete cooking addict because of the creativity involved.
Sorry, you didn't ask for a saga, did you? :o

[lorilei]

I can't remember a time when I wasn't helping out in the kitchen -- baking cookies with mom around the holidays. Kneading schtullen and stirring muffins. I always had a little "part" in whatever cooking adventures were going on.

Little by little, as I learned to read, I started checking out kids cookbooks from the library. One of my first vivid memories of a recipe I made for my family was a Cold Kidney Bean Salad. I got to the point where I could make the recipe by heart, and I often added different herbs and seasonings to it to make it a little bit "different".

One fond memory: I made the kidney bean salad for a luncheon my mother was having with her girlfriends. I recall that her friends were STUNNED that I'd made a recipe featuring BEANS! (most of their kids wouldn't eat kidney beans)

I actually became "famous" in my teens for my special chocolate fudge sauce. Company requested it :) And, of course, at sixteen I thought I was a complete cooking diva. 'Twas divine over vanilla icecream and the perfect accompaniment to brownies.

Funny how far I've come since then. :)

[Jewel]

I helped Mom and Grandma cook when I was growing up, but it was mainly mashing the potatoes, making the salad, shucking the corn...just your basic Slave Labor stuff. I was a chubby kid mostly into convenience foods, and never really cared much about cooking. Why cook when you can open a box of Mac & Cheese? When I first moved out on my own I gained 140 lbs in less than two years....that was mainly because I WASN'T cooking!! No one was around to monitor my food intake, so if I wanted ice cream for dinner then dang-it I was gonna have it! Lots of Take-n-Bake Pizzas, Mac & Cheese, Frozen Egg Rolls by the box. When my first husband and I married, I tried to learn to cook healthier, but he didn't like my cooking. Told me I wasn't exactly 'good' at it, and I should stick to other talents (the turd...) so I never really got into it then either.

When I started losing the weight, I realized that I had to learn to cook. I realized that fat was flavor, and if I took away the fat, I had to replace the flavor with something NON fattening. I studied up on spices, herbs, marinades, all kinds of things that would help that smaller portion pack more punch. I was probably 31 or 32 when I decided that it was fun, and I was 35 before I actually felt like I was getting good at it. However, it took my wonderful DH to make me feel like I am the BEST cook he's ever encountered. His praise motivates me to get more creative, have more fun with it, and try even more new things. My interest in cooking has helped both of us get healthier and enjoy our lives more! :D

[pmmahan]

My senior year in college, someone gave me an Italian cookbook for Christmas, and I have been cooking ever since.

I do remember liking to bake brownies and cookies as a child and in high school, i enjoyed following recipes to make dinner, but I don't think my passion really started until about 2.5 years ago.

[Shirley Panek]

I started cooking when I was pretty young - probably 10 or so. I still have all my cookbooks (I think I had 5 by the time I was 12), including BH&G Complete Step-By-Step Cook Book that I got on my 12th birthday.

Like Emilycat I also had an Easybake Oven and remember making lots of tiny round cakes! :D

In high school I got a wok for Christmas, and my best friend teased me about it for weeks! ("You got a WOK for CHRISTMAS?!?)

I've always loved cooking, but am so glad when my MIL gave me my CL subscription for Christmas 3 years ago! It's the most used Christmas present ever. :)

Shirley

[Meg O'C]

I too was the proud owner and operator of an Easy Bake Oven so baking is my first love! When I was around ten my dad decided my sister and I should learn to cook (Dad grew up in his family's small butcher shops, gocery stores and eventually restaurants so he was and is the cook in the family (my mom cooks about 3 times a year but she did always do cookies with us for almost every holiday when we were very young!). Anyway Dad started us on preparing breakfast foods on the weekends- pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast, etc. That year we also got the Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook which was a lot of fun to explore.

As I was growing up my dad continued to do most of the cooking on a daily basis - he was just so fast and creative! He is a pilot and has always had a problem with cholesterol (never really overweight just very high cholesterol). When he was faced with possibly being grounded from flying because his cholesterol was so high, he majorly transformed the way he cooked and consequently the way the whole family ate. He introduced us all to cooking light as well as Cooking Light (he also got very into exercise - marathons, swimming, etc.). I continued to be the baker. In college I cooked very simple things - pasta, chicken, rice, steamed veggies, etc.

It was not until I got out of college that I really started experimenting with producing major meals on my own. I still have a lot to learn! I cook more now than I bake - just out of necessity (can't eat baked goods for every meal!) but I still look forward to baking because it feels like such a treat - not a necessity but an indulgence! Given the choice, I'm always the one to volunteer to bring the dessert for family get togethers!

[Leslie w]

Great thread!

I didn't get into cooking until I got married and bought a house. I was fortunate to get everything I asked for - from formal china to a KitchenAid mixer so setting up my kitchen was a pleasure. Before I got married I couldn't reheat a takeout pizza without burning it. Lets just say my dh did not marry me for my talents in the kitchen....Anyway, through lots of trial and error, voracious reading of cookbooks and magazines, and tips from my dad - who's a gourmet cook- I learned the tricks of the trade and now can pull off a 5 course meal without breaking a sweat... although sometimes I go into panic mode.

I do prefer cooking to baking. I'm not a dessert person and usually ignore the desserts suggested in CL magazine. However I like to make breads and that's what I use my KitchenAid for.

[Jennett]

Like many others, my kitchen adventures started with baking. As a kid, I had a natural talent for pie crusts and brownies (as opposed to solid math skills, straight hair, or something else useful). I didn't take much interest in cooking meals though. Possibly because my parents are both great cooks, who enjoyed the process of cooking, so I wasn't given many cooking chores to do.

Cooking for me has actually been a therapeutic activity. When I was younger, I had some serious food issues/eating disorders, so for me to accept that food is something good, that should be savored and enjoyed was really important, and somewhat miraculous. Appreciating the art and science of combining or enhancing flavors, and experimenting with different cuisines, was a way for me work through the highly regimented (and ridiculous) routines I'd developed. Sorry, this is probably way more than you asked for. :o But it was a pretty hard-won lesson and value for me.

Now I'm the anomaly among my friends, who are mostly unmarried twenty-somethings, with no concept of cooking. They appreciate good food--but it means eating OUT.

[Jessica]

My mom does not really like to cook and so she never minded when we experimented in the kitchen. I remember one of my specialties was hamburgers with cheese and barbecue sauce inside--I've come a long way since then. My father also enjoyed cooking and he taught me how to measure and how to chop vegetables.

In college, one of my friends was an excellent cook and he showed me to make chili and how to use fresh garlic. I began experimenting on the BF--now the DH--and he ate everything, from the flat creampuffs to this awful chicken and wine dish. But, most of the stuff I made was pretty good.

One time, we were petsitting and I made a homemade apple pie. We each ate a slice for dessert and then put the pie way back on top of the fridge so the animals could not reach it. We woke up the next morning to a puking dog and an empty pie plate--it appeared the cat knocked the plate off the refrigerator and then the dog scarfed down the pie.

Anyway, once I got my own place I started reading cooking light and some cookbooks and slowly developed my skills. Now, my mother thinks I am Martha Stewart because I can turn out a three-course brunch LOL!!

[rinsav]

I started cooking less than a year ago! (that's why I'm always asking dumb questions:)) I got laid off from my job and thought to myself, "maybe now I'll finally take the time to learn how to cook." A friend of mine recommended this bulletin board and I've been addicted ever since. I'm sure my cooking skills are no where close to most of yours, but I'm not bad and I'm getting better. I truly owe it all to you guys. You are constantly helping and inspiring me!!!

[Angela]

I think almost any little girl of the 70's can say Easy Bake oven started them with baking! :) It did for me. I loved being able to bake birthday cakes for my parents. I don't remember how they tasted, but for my parents sake I hope they were good!

I used to hang out in the kitchen with my mom and grandmas who all like(d) to bake. I guess there was a fasination for me in watching them bake and cook from stratch.

[Wendy w]

When I was about 5, my dad used to buy me these little cake baking kits with miniature cake mixes (just add water), pans, measuring spoons, etc. I really wanted an Easy bake oven:( but never got one.

My grandma lived with us and did most of the cooking. I learned a few things from watching her and from age 9, I would make the salad for dinner. After school, I would occasionally have friends over to bake cookies. Like Natasha and Emilycat, I had an early interest in baking but now cook more than bake.

When I was 16, I moved in with my dad who encouraged me to cook. I had been given the classic Betty Crocker's Cooking for Two and the crockpot had just come out and was the rage-it shows how old I am.;)

When I moved out on my own, I started having little dinner parties for my friends and I find that I get more fanatical about cooking as the years go by - classes and way too many cookbooks later. Although I have been cooking for years, I still find that I am constantly learning new things. Especially from this bb!

[gertdog]

My mom is really quite a good cook, but she doesn't liketo cook much. My own cooking experiments growing up were limited to instant mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

When I was in college, I didn't cook much either. I ate lots and lots of frozen dinners and yogurt. (Healthy, huh?). Then I made a friend whose mom was a caterer. My friend loved cooking too, and sometimes would recruit us to help out in her mom's business before a big event. I remember she made awesome chocolate chip cookies and a great spinach lasagna. Those were the first recipes I ever asked someone to share with me.

In graduate school, I had a vegetarian roommate. We shared cooking, so I ate mostly vegetarian. She gave me a cookbook as a gift... the original Moosewood. That was the first cookbook I owned. Something just clicked, and I started cooking, and learning about cooking, and learning about my own tastes.

Now I just love cooking and trying new things. Funny thing is that I'm known for my cookies and baked things, but that's where I feel I have the least skill! I like doing lots of appetizers and elaborate main courses. Not that I mind baking (and eating!) cookies, of course! :)

[Jewel]

Originally posted by Angela
I think almost any little girl of the 70's can say Easy Bake oven started them with baking! :) It did for me. I loved being able to bake birthday cakes for my parents. I don't remember how they tasted, but for my parents sake I hope they were good!


You know...I remember those cakes being pretty darned good. I'm not sure if Martha Stewart even KNOWS that the secret to tasty, moist cakes is the correct wattage of lightbulb... :D

[Wendy w]

Originally posted by Jewel


You know...I remember those cakes being pretty darned good. I'm not sure if Martha Stewart even KNOWS that the secret to tasty, moist cakes is the correct wattage of lightbulb... :D

I feel so deprived. :( :( . I guess that it's never too late to have a happy childhood;) .

[Julia1Pin]

I grew up with my grandmother living with us. She had the run of the kitchen!!! My sister, who's 7.5 years older than me, always watched cooking shows, and liked to cook, so as the younger siblings, I wanted to do it too!

When I was in college, and still living at home, I would throw dinner parties for 10-15 friends, and cook the whole meal. It was the only way I could cook (like I said, it was my grandmothers kitchen).

When I moved in with my BF (now DH) I had to cook. In fact, a month after we moved in together, I made his birthday dinner. My MIL told me that she was shocked that I could cook. she said she couldn't cook a thing when she left home.

In the past year, since frequenting this BB, I have really gotten into cooking from recipes, and trying new things.

[Shirley Panek]

Originally posted by Jewel

I'm not sure if Martha Stewart even KNOWS that the secret to tasty, moist cakes is the correct wattage of lightbulb... :D

LOL! :D Too funny, Jewel!

[Natasha]

Enjoying reading these responses. Most excellent! Thanks.

Ah, yes, that Easy Bake oven...*nostalgic sigh*.

But Wendy, please don't feel deprived. The cakes were yummy, sure, but if I recall correctly, it was kind of like a regular-sized moist cake mix cake - only smaller. :)

[Gail]

Reading these responses and reminiscing, I came to the realization that my slash-and-season tendencies apparently developed way back during the last Ice Age when I was a little girl in animal skins. I had a momentary flashback of myself huddled over a New York steak (ours was a luxurious cave existence), stabbing and seasoning away, because my mom had told me her father used to prepare steaks in a similar manner. (Brontosaurus, no doubt.)

Like many of those posting ahead of me, I began my illustrious if untidy career in the kitchen with baking-- first with the help of my mom, flying solo somewhere around the age of eleven. For years, I was known as a baker-- and had garnered quite the reputation among my friends, all of whom wrongfully concluded I could cook as well. (Foolish souls.) It wasn't really until I began dating my now-husband, that I made the official leap into becoming a full-fledged cook. Now no one seems to remember I can bake!

[Wendy w]

True Natasha, you are right. Thanks for the "there there". It wasn't the size that mattered (don't start, Jewel!) , it was just that the toy was a lot of fun. I used to have to go to the neighbor's and play with hers.

[lorilei]

Leave it to our beloved, cautiosly stalked, Gail to beat out all of our stories hands down...

Brontasaurus steaks... I'm SOOOO SHER. :D

[Beth H]

Interesting question. My mom is a wonderful cook -- almost too good in that I didn't do a ton of cooking growing up. She prepared all of our meals. I did help bake Christmas cookies and I (for some reason) learned to make pancakes when I was young, so I would make those for our family. But -- I never had really "cooked" until I went to college. My senior year, I lived off campus with three friends and we actually took turns Monday - Thursday preparing meals. Pretty basic stuff but it was more than Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, too.

When I lived by myself for a few years after college, I didn't cook much at all -- ate a lot of cereal and take-out, as well as eating/going out a lot. When I got married, I started doing more cooking -- and it was a real learning experience. After charring chicken, melting the top of a Pyrex portable dish, and bursting out into tears a few times, I probably should have quit. :) But, I stuck with it and now cook 4 -6 nights a week. While I still don't think I'm as good a cook as my mom, I do feel as though I am OK.

[Mousie29]

Leslie W and Gertdog, I'm with you!!!

I started (for the MOST) part around 2.5 years ago at the age of 28 when I was engaged.

Before then, just no experience and was sooo busy with work, running around, etc.

I love it now, but am still pretty slow (BUT getting tons better). Leslie W and Gertdog, maybe we should start a new cookers thread?

I have come sooo far:
Now, I just "know" how to buy lots of fresh ingredients to make something good, mince garlic all the time, and can even visualize how ingredients will come together when I read a recipe now that I'm used to it!

Sorry to ramble, this board has been *awesome* in so many ways....I have learned sooo much.