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[Kristin Meredith]

A recent post by BigDave83 got me thinking to about when I first started to learn to cook and what I remember cooking.

As silly as it sounds, I think I learned about cooking because my sister and I were responsible for setting the dinner table every night and helping to the dishes and put things away.  So we started early just being in the kitchen and learning and observing early.  I don't mean for this to sound harsh, but do kids even do this anymore?  Do families sit down to dinner and have tableware and dishes and then clean up?  It seems I read so much about fast food and people just taking their food to different rooms, so I am truly curious.

But some of my earliest recall was helping my grandma making jello salads -- she would add stuff to the jello like grated carrots and crushed pineapple.  I got to help add things and stir to get the jello dissolved, you know, real Bobby Flay stuff   I also helped a lot with baking and loved that -- cookies, cakes, puddings.  That was all the fun stuff. As a teens, I would help mash potatoes and maybe cook a simple side.  And I was also making sandwiches and helping with things like potato salad and cole slaw.  I have to admit that I was probably in college before I graduated to make full dinners.  I did not start any real bbq stuff until I was well into adulthood.

What about you folks?

[yorkdude]

Great topic.
Growing up my Mom was a very simple cook, was always good but my memories of my Mother were not of her cooks. We spent almost every weekend at the beach cabin, camping, both in the summer and in the winter up in the Sierras. My dad always made breakfast, sausage, bacon & fried potatoes and eggs. Depending on where we were, he would use a Coleman white gas stove or a fire pit. They were good, very good, in fact I often can smell the potatoes and meat still, yum. My Grandpa could barbecue a Florsheim wing tip shoe and make it fantastic. That starts my foray into bbq. I am pretty limited in what I am capable of cooking, Gwen excels at fish, vegetable dishes, soups etc. Neither of us can bake unless we have a box of.....look at ways to “hack” it and go. We ALWAYS had to do the dishes, we never used paper anything. My Grandpa (Opa) to me one time said ( when someone brought us something to try on a paper plate) I ain’t eating anything off a paper plate. If I wanted to taste paper I would rather try a newspaper or Sears catalog. That has always stuck with me. In fact, at our house we don’t even have a dishwasher, not in this house and the 2 prior houses.
The process is, plan the mess, make the mess, eat the mess & clean the mess.
Thanks for reminding us about Memory Lane.

[Brushpopper]

I started with helping my dad barbeque and then do the whole cook when I was probably eight or nine.  I had more interest in playing in the fire than cooking good food, so my dad kept a close eye on me.  I watched my mom and sister in the kitchen when they would cook something, so I think that helped later on.  Although I'm pretty limited on what I can cook too, because the girls don't like anything spicy and I do.

[elenis]

When I was younger we always ate at the table together, but as I got older my family was one of those that went to their rooms. Because of that I try my hardest to make sure my family eats together as a family as much as possible. My mom is an okay cook, but time was always at a premium after my folks divorced when I was 7ish. Because of that I liked/like my vegetables on the southern side because my mom typically pressure cooked them. I always thought cooking was neat and so some of the earliest things I remember making, once I could read, is tuna noodle casserole, on the stove top. My mom helped me because I would have been 7 or 8 , but I loved being able to be a big helper. My twins will be turning 7 soon and I have been letting them help as they want to with various cooking. My dad is a far superior cook to my mom, but I would never tell her that.

[Trooper]

PreSchool - I was always in the kitchen helping my mom cook things. She often told me that I had the recipe for pumpkin pie memorized long before ever going to kindergarten.
 
Young boys, preschool, had a toy called Tinker-Toys. Tinker Toys consisted of a variety of different shaped wooden pieces that could be assembled into a variety of things. So one day my mom began preheating the gas stove. After awhile, she noticed a strange smell - like something burning. She opened the oven door to find that I had placed a cupcake pan in the oven with a round TinkerToy piece in each of the six cupcake sections.

As I young boy, I then went on to grilling my own specialty which sill is one of my favorites -
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

[hughver]

When I was young, (11-12), both my mom and dad worked and I, being the second oldest of six kids, got stuck with preparing the weekday meals for the next several years. My mom was a very good cook and, after many family complaints, gradually taught me how to cook.

[yorkdude]

PreSchool - I was always in the kitchen helping my mom cook things. She often told me that I had the recipe for pumpkin pie memorized long before ever going to kindergarten.
 
Young boys, preschool, had a toy called Tinker-Toys. Tinker Toys consisted of a variety of different shaped wooden pieces that could be assembled into a variety of things. So one day my mom began preheating the gas stove. After awhile, she noticed a strange smell - like something burning. She opened the oven door to find that I had placed a cupcake pan in the oven with a round TinkerToy piece in each of the six cupcake sections.

As I young boy, I then went on to grilling my own specialty which sill is one of my favorites -
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Classic.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I couldn't make much more than a sandwich with lunch meat or just lettuce and tomato, a grilled cheese, or something in the microwave until about college age.  Then, I broadened my horizons and learned how to sautee pierogies and cheesesteak meat with onions in a frying pan with butter.  It wasn't until I moved 1000 miles away that I started to learn how to make more things and use a gas grill.  Things expanded from there.

My Dad worked a second job and post retirement job in diners prepping food and as a short order cook.  He to this day cooks by look, feel, or taste.  He doesn't have recipes he looks at.  Apparently, his mother was a great baker and cooked the same way without recipes.  Maybe it is in the gene pool because I rarely document anything other than for this site.  I cook the same way - look, feel, and/or taste.  I am pretty good about tasting something and figuring out what to pull out of the cabinet shake in the pan, pot, etc. and make the dish taste better.  My wife is always asking me to finish something off after she cooked it. My younger brother cooks the same way for his BBQ business and my older brother does the same thing for his pizza shop business.

I bet if you asked my parents if they ever thought I could cook anything they would tell you that 30 years ago the answer would have been no.  I guess anyone can be taught if they are hungry enough that they want to eat something other than takeout or microwave meals which either aren't sustainable from an income standpoint or not good for you long term from a frozen meal standpoint.

[glitchy]

I can say since we’ve had kids, we’ve never had a TV in the kitchen and if we are all at home we sit down at the table together for dinner 90 percent of the time. My son didn’t seem to be as fond of this over the past summer after spending a year at college, but he still complied when he didn’t ditch us to go out with friends (usually at the last minute - which was OK when I wasn’t cooking something especially for him). My daughter has yet to really complain about it.

[Herb]

I learned to make Kraft Dinner when I was 10 and that was it until my daughter left for university and then I could get my wife to cook for me all the food (Chinese, Indian) that my daughter didn't care for. I then had some stir fry lessons from a couple of single guys, read some recipe books and watched cooking shows on TV that were common back then and started sharing the cooking with my wife.
These days the TV cooking shows are all competitions, no info there, but the internet is full of cooking demonstrations as well as forums such as this and recipes for any type of cuisine you are interested in . Happy days!!

[jdmessner]

PreSchool - I was always in the kitchen helping my mom cook things. She often told me that I had the recipe for pumpkin pie memorized long before ever going to kindergarten.
 
Young boys, preschool, had a toy called Tinker-Toys. Tinker Toys consisted of a variety of different shaped wooden pieces that could be assembled into a variety of things. So one day my mom began preheating the gas stove. After awhile, she noticed a strange smell - like something burning. She opened the oven door to find that I had placed a cupcake pan in the oven with a round TinkerToy piece in each of the six cupcake sections.

As I young boy, I then went on to grilling my own specialty which sill is one of my favorites -
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Memorizing the pie recipe is a note worthy accomplishment and a sign of having your priorities straight at an early age!

I have made muffins that have resembled the round TinkerToy pieces!

I understand the grilled cheese, that is always a favorite. But if you don't mind my asking, where did the peanut butter and bacon come from and at what age?

[glitchy]

I learned to cook after getting married. My wife is not much of a cook and never took interest in it. When we married in college we were financially strapped like most newlyweds and I liked to eat, so i learned to cook pretty quick since she hated doing it (even though my MIL stills says she'll learn to be a good cook someday). I knew enough basics from watching my mom over the years, but made a lot of phone calls to my mom and grandma asking silly questions like how long do you bake or boil a potato, etc. My mom was a pretty good cook and I remember making Prime Rib on Christmas Eve for my parents and the smile on her face while eating made my day, like I'd finally started to learn how to cook pretty well. After that, she was first in line to try anything new I was doing for the first time.

As far as BBQ, shortly after we married, I bought a cheap portable charcoal grill (probably at Walmart end of season clearance) with poor airflow and gave up on that quick and picked up a cheap gasser when we had a little money a couple years later and started grilling the basics - couldn't have anything but gas at that apartment. Eventually we got a Weber gasser after we got our first house and I learned to grill quite a bit. I never really ate any bbq growing up other than my uncle grilling chicken smothered in BBQ sauce while he was cooking (it was actually pretty good). When I was exposed to BBQ restaurants 15-20 years ago, I wanted to learn how so started with a gas smoker, then an electric cookshack style and finally found pellet grills. Until a few years ago, I had sworn off charcoal because every charcoal grill I'd ever cooked on was a turd with very poor airflow control or no charcoal grate to keep the coals from snuffing out in their own ashes. I wondered why anyone would cook that way. I finally figured out that there are actually charcoal grills that are great cookers and now use both pellets and charcoal. I still use pellets most of the time for convenience, but fire up the charcoal for special cooks and most chicken.

My side game is still pretty weak and I really don't bake. The majority of our sides are still frozen veggies, boxed mixes, and canned stuff that my wife can manage while I'm grilling. That's where I really need to up my game.

[KeithG]

I never cooked anything until I graduated from college and was out on my own this was the 1960’s). I had one cookbook plus the ones that came with tabletop appliances like my electric skillet. I had nothing in the way of cookware, knives storage containers etc.

I learned by doing and making mistakes. Had I had the opportunity to learn to cook when growing up I might have ended up at culinary school instead of engineering school. My fathers definition of cooking was boiling water for instant coffee or assembling a cold cut sandwich. My mom did all the cooking at home and holiday meals were on my grandparents farm.

[Bentley]

I do not know about peanut butter and bacon.  But Grilled peanut butter, bacon and bananas.  It is Great, and was a favorite of Elvis!  I highly recommend it!

[dk117]

Evidently I was about 5 when I opened a can of tuna, didn't drain it, and put it between two pieces of bread.   First thing I ever made myself.  Ate the whole thing.

"Do families sit down to dinner and have tableware and dishes and then clean up?"
Yes we do!

For my girls, 14 and 17, you covered it in the other thread.  They started baking early on.  Now they like K-Pop (Korean music) so they make fried rice and Bibimbap and a passible Pho.   All things I never made as a kid or even an adult.  So my thought is it's just a confidence thing to get your start in the kitchen.  Same thing with my mom allowing me to self serve in the kitchen growing up. 

edit:  how could I forget, hobo dinner!  My mom was a scouts mom and we went camping and ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onion, a ton of BBQ sauce in tin foil over an open fire.  I still remember that being a fantastic meal.  Couldn't have been more than 8 and figured I was an amazing chef