Domestic Arts: How you learned to cook

[SmileBugMK]

Texican, your recipe is on the menu for Friday!  I'm always looking for good meatless main dishes.   

[SmileBugMK]

My mother taught me to cook.  I remember our kitchen as the center of everything as a small child.  We would talk, bake, play, and hang out in there.  I remember making jams, apple butter, bread to bring to a family, whatever.  My mom communicates a lot through food.  She says "I love you" with the little things she throws together every day.  She even used to run a pantry for needy families at our church.

But, the thing I remember the most was when she decided to train to become a professional chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.  She would work these long hours at school and then come home and practice.  She, of course, needed help.  So, my sister and I would learn how to make pretty much everything she studied.  We would help her "practice" and churn out massive amounts of food.  The whole neighborhood put on 10 pounds per person when she practiced for her pastry exam!  Thanks to her, I can throw together almost anything. 

We still cook together when we can.  Christmas, for example, usually involves the three of us (mom, sister, and I) cooking for our family of approx. 30.  At Easter, we each make Greek Easter Bread and call each other throughout the process.  The whole day is filled with "when did you start?"  "how is it rising?"  "how many loaves did you make this year?" and then we reminisce about doing it together - every year for as long as I can remember.  Then, we all get into our cars and take the loaves to friends and family to share the joy of Easter.  Last year I made 14 loaves. 

Wow . . . I'm suddenly home sick.  This sure brings back some wonderful memories!

I've learned to cook a little differently over the years because of my PCOS.  The best way to control it without medication is through diet and because it's based on insulin resistance, I cook low(er) carb.  This usually gets thrown out the window when my mother is around (and at Easter).

My mother has a website for the classes she teaches now that she lives in Grasse, France.  She usually posts some wonderful recipes.  Since I’m fairly certain this is poor advertising for her classes, I feel OK posting this here.  I highly recommend looking at the free recipes she posts from time to time.  There are also a lot of beautiful pictures of her work.  http://the45minutegourmet.wordpress.com/

Thanks for a wonderful topic.  I think I’ll call my mom now . . .

Wow, when I mentioned Le Cordon Bleu, little did I dream someone's mother actually was a graduate!  What wonderful memories for you, and what an amazing mom! Thank you for sharing with us; I really enjoyed reading.  If my husband and I every make it to France we will stop in Grasse and visit your mother for a class!

[Texican]

Texican, your recipe is on the menu for Friday!  I'm always looking for good meatless main dishes.  

It's not really my recipe, as you may have already noticed, but I hope you like it.  It's on my menu, too, if I happen to be home; probably with a vegetable stew, or something.

[Fontevrault]

Wow, when I mentioned Le Cordon Bleu, little did I dream someone's mother actually was a graduate!  What wonderful memories for you, and what an amazing mom! Thank you for sharing with us; I really enjoyed reading.  If my husband and I every make it to France we will stop in Grasse and visit your mother for a class!

She posts recipes like Easter bread and other nice things.  She even emails out handouts and information from time to time.  Le Cordon Bleu was a dream for her.  My dad bought her a week long seminar there for their anniversary or something, and it turned into 2-3 years of study!  She just loved it.  She earned diplomas in cuisine and pastry.  She then went to Le Notre (the best bakery school in Paris) and earned a diploma in that as well.  I'm sure she'd welcome you for a class.  She teaches from her little kitchen in her house and sometimes includes outings to local markets or a park for a picnic. 

I'm so excited!  We're visiting my parents for Christmas!!!  It's been 3-4 years since our last trip (it's so expensive).  I just got off the phone with her and she's planning the menus for Christmas already . . .  For her, love = food. 

[Magnificat]

That's cool, Fontevrault.  Thanks for sharing!

I guess I started learning how to cook when I was in my high chair.  I remember my mother would put me in the doorway of the kitchen and talk to me while she cooked, feeding me bits of carrot and pasta.  Later, at the family gatherings we seemed to have every week, I'd be in the kitchen with the women before dinner and in the back yard with the men after dinner (I learned quite a bit from them as well).  My family was given to feasts - huge clam boils, Italian Sunday dinners, crazy potlucks where every flat surface had a serving dish on it.  Sometimes we'd have everything ready, waiting for the men to come home from fishing (often I was with them).   The focus was never really on the food, though, it was on the family.   Later, I lived overseas for awhile at an international school where my friends and I took turns sharing food from home.  It was sort of an "away from home" version of the family feasts, and I think it kept us all from being too homesick. 

My friends' mothers and grandmothers, and to a lesser extent fathers and brothers, have also taught me to cook.  I also worked in restaurants, and did some short order cooking.  I know a few chefs now, we exchange restaurant recommendations and recipes.   Although I've eaten some fantastic food and am disposed toward spicy ethnic, some of the best meals I've ever had were the omelettes and "chips" cooked by a  homesick, regal Greek woman in a council house in South London.  Everything she did was perfect.

I love feeding people but I don't cook for others as much as I used to.  Folks used to follow me around with empty containers looking to be fed, and some even offered to pay me to cook for them.  I stopped giving out candy and cookies for Christmas because it got totally out of control.  The fun part isn't making the food, it's creating something that people enjoy, and if I don't have the time to give it my best shot then I'd rather not do it at all.

[Jacafamala]

I own about 100 cookbooks. Most were given to me. I love my cookbooks. All of them.

This particular cookbook was given to me by my mother when I was married and I think it's essential for all new cooks. It has absolutely everything that's 1950's classic and then some things you wouldn't have dreamed of, too. It'll teach you how to skin and cook a squirrel even--not that I ever would, but it's in there.

[Joamy]

I own about 100 cookbooks. Most were given to me. I love my cookbooks. All of them.

This particular cookbook was given to me by my mother when I was married and I think it's essential for all new cooks. It has absolutely everything that's 1950's classic and then some things you wouldn't have dreamed of, too. It'll teach you how to skin and cook a squirrel even--not that I ever would, but it's in there.

I have a Joy of Cooking - think mine is from the 60's.  I have maybe 25-30 vintage and just well used cook books.  My favorite one is called "Square Meals" and is by Jane and Michael Stern.  Recipes from that book include Pink Lady Baltimore Cake,  "A Thousand Ways to please a Husband" Molasses Puffs, Roast Pork with Sinner Stuffing (think LOTS of likker), and possibly my favorite "Undescended Twinkies."  Think 1950's Jello meets Twinkies for that one.  I borrowed this cookbook from my mom about 10  years ago - it's on permanent loan. 

[Anastasia]

"A Thousand Ways to please a Husband" -Dare I ask? 
Joy of Cooking is great, though I prefer Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

[Texican]

Thanks for the link to your mom's site, Fontevrault; it's one of my new favorites!

[Joamy]

"A Thousand Ways to please a Husband" -Dare I ask? 

They are like gingerbread muffins - really good, but I don't know if they would please a husband. 

[piabee]

My mother made a home-cooked dinner every night when I was growing up (still does!). I didn't really watch often, but I think I learned a lot just from her confidence, soaking up the idea that cooking isn't and shouldn't be hard. She rarely uses a recipe; she gets too frustrated measuring. I watched cooking shows, too, The Frugal Gourmet and Jacques Pepin.

My college-age friends who are interested in cooking look stuff up on YouTube.

[phnuggle]

I went out of the way to get my paws on a '75 Joy of Cooking, but I've never used it. It intimidates me. 

[Fontevrault]

When I got married, my mother gave me a copy of the Fannie Farmer cookbook (her copy from the 1960s).  I highly recommend the older versions.  I don't like the newer ones though.

[Arun]

i learned to cook first thru neccessity, having left home at 14. since then i've evolved to having learned a lot through experimentation - both good and bad, and now usually gauging everything on smell - if things smell right i'll chuck em in, and if they don't smell like they fit i don't use em. this last method has so far never failed me! although there's always a first time, or i might get a blocked nose lol.

[Arun]

lol here's a funny story... i enetered a competition a while back, where you had to submit a recipe, and they'd cook it and the best one would win. made this recipe up just out of my head, had never actually tried it, and submitted it. didn't win, but they published it on their site.
link: https://www.dewclawarchery.com/MarinatedVenisonSteaks-a/187.htm
rofl.