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Food/recipes

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Original poster

So if you are a good cook, how did you learn?

73 replies

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 16/12/2009 11:29

Am just curious nosy really.
Did you teach yourself or couldn't you have learnt without lessons?
Did you absorb it all through watching parents cook or did it take a conscious effort?

OP posts:

TulipsAndTinsel · 16/12/2009 17:28

my dad is a superb cook and my mother is pretty decent too so i think i just absorbed it naturally.

although the majority of my knowledge is self taught, neither of my parents is a good teacher

hetherine · 16/12/2009 18:26

Mistletoesnowoman, The secret to vicky sponge is to weigh the eggs (in thier shells )and then use flour, sugar and butter at exactly the same weight as the eggs.
hope this helps.

TheShowMustGoOn · 16/12/2009 18:28

my gran, my mum, trial and error

LizzyLordsALeaping · 16/12/2009 19:04

I am always amazed by people who can't cook, not that I am an excellent chef, far from it, but it is such a joy and we all need food.
I once lived with a girl who I had to talk through "cooking" cheese on toast, she kept running out saying "is it done, yet?". It is something so basic but ready meals, busy lives and sometimes laziness I guess mean that cooking is a skill some children don't learn at home.
I think being taught well at school about nutrition and basic cooking is vital now.

oxocube · 16/12/2009 19:08

Most of it is enjoying nice tasty food and being prepared to have a go. Oh, and patience and trial and error

LizzyLordsALeaping · 16/12/2009 19:11

hetherine, that is my Nan's method and is the one I use. Nan's sponges are legendary, haven't mastered her wonderful pastry yet, nor her amazing cups of tea

WillieWalsh · 16/12/2009 19:13

well youll all PISS yourselves but i did a MONTH long cookery course wheni was in my early 20s

all the other girls were doing the season

i was the ruffian with a house with a number

oxocube · 16/12/2009 19:14

Actually, my granny was a big influence as she baked bread most days (I love to bake bread too though not every day). My daughter loves to cook - she is 12 and likes the fact that I am often at work when she comes home so she makes soups, pasta dishes etc. for heself and her friends. Confidence is also a really key issue. I remember a time when I made a fried rice dish for some friends (I was about 17 and would never have considered myself a decent cook) and a friend said "wow! Did you really make this yourself?" It was nothing special but it made me believe in myself

notcitrus · 16/12/2009 19:14

Mainly from my mum, some from grandma/aunt. I was always expected to help out with cooking as were my cousins, but my mum was poorly when I was about 3 to 10, so preparing dinner meant my mum sitting on the kitchen floor (no room for a chair) telling me what to do, and then she'd get up to do the tricky bits. So she got used to providing a running commentary whenever she cooked and I got to know what food looked like en route between ingredients and dinner.

More exotic stuff I learnt from Malay student friends who cooked a lot, trial and error, and the odd cookery programme. Sod all from school - we made 4 types of shortbread, 3 digestive biscuits, scone-based foul pizza and that was it.

MrNC's mum is a terrible cook with no sense of smell which doesn't help - he taught himself how to do a small range of nutritious meals but doesn't really understand how food works.

moondog · 16/12/2009 19:16

Parents who like food and liked cooking and living in a tropical country in a place with lots of foreigners making their own entertainment (no tv) sparked it for me.
My sisters nad I used to fight from the age of about 12 over who was cooking that night and we were allowed completely free rein.

My best times are cooking, playing music and having a glass of wine while dh acts as kitchen porter and we chat about our day as the kids run in and out.
Lovely.

oxocube · 16/12/2009 19:20

I also have friends who are not British and have given me a very different perspective on food. Their 'basic recipes' are different to mine and they have shared them with me. So I have some insight into Spanish, Indian, Filipino cooking - never as good as the real deal but at least I have an idea about the flavourings, spices etc

extremelychocolateymilkroll · 17/12/2009 14:45

Great thread - some lovely answers on here. Not sure I'm a great cook but I learnt from getting recipes from my mum - mainly pastry as we had apple pie after dinner practically every day. She also used to make braising steak with pearl barley. We could only make new recipes as kids with ingredients we already had in the house - which was a bit limiting.

suiledonne - can I ask what was the secret to making soda bread and do you have a recipe you could share?

Original poster

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 17/12/2009 16:40

So WillieWalsh, does that mean you are particularly good at cooking posh food?

OP posts:

suiledonne · 17/12/2009 18:22

extremelychocolatey Here is a link to the one I use. It is important to use a big wide bowl to get the claw hand movement she mentions in the method right.

It gives a lovely light loaf.

Hope this helps

www.rachelallen.co.uk/recipes_april09.html

Bonsoir · 17/12/2009 18:24

I learnt the basics from my mother and grandmothers, and was given various cookbooks to help me (Step by Step Cookery by Marguerite Patten etc).

Did a short cooking course in Florence when I was 18.

Have eaten in lots of restaurants.

Like trying new things in shops and reading cookbooks.

Practise.

suiledonne · 17/12/2009 18:27

lol at the Traffic Light sandwiches.

We had a crazy nun teaching us cooking. Once she asked us to do 'Oranges in Cointreau'. It was the '80s in recession hit Ireland. I wonder how many of us had a bottle of Cointreau in the house.

She was alcohol mad. I once saw her pour an entire large bottle of whiskey over a Christmas cake to 'preserve it'.

ABetaDad · 17/12/2009 18:46

I learned out of sheer necessity as a student and followed Delia recipes for quite a while and then branched out from there.

DW has never ever cooked (except to warm up a frozen meal in the microwave) and the necessity to cook for survival has therefore continued.

Oblomov · 17/12/2009 19:32

i want what oxoxcube has, experience of other cooking and flavourings. I am a good basic cook. I can cook anything, follow any recipe.
But now i want to know what to put with what. like when you watch masterchef and they have a wierd salad of ...... rabbitt, chorizo and nectarines or somethging, and I want to know what sits with what and what to mix things with. I don't know where i get that from.

nickytwotimes · 17/12/2009 19:38

I'm an okay cook, but brought up veggie, so no use with meat!

Mum and Dad were both good cooks and I was encouraged to make family meals from my teens. There were no convenience foods in our house, so everything was from scratch, including bread, mayonnaise, etc.

I use recipes and then adapt them to taste.

I don't particulrly love cooking, but I enjoy eating the way I was brought up so am willing to spend an hour a day doing it. Except on Saturdays - that's a pizza! To me, it's just another thing you need to be able to do, like keeping yourself and your house clean. Ds and the one currently on board will be taught to cook. He loves 'helping' already.

Original poster

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 18/12/2009 11:55

"But now i want to know what to put with what. like when you watch masterchef and they have a wierd salad of ...... rabbitt, chorizo and nectarines or somethging, and I want to know what sits with what and what to mix things with. I don't know where i get that from."

That's a really interesting question. I'm sure other people will have ideas, but I think it's:

being familiar with a lot of dishes/recipes and knowing what you have seen things with in the past and which work and which don't
logic - eg two strong flavours might fight with each other (though obv there are exceptions....), three bland ingredients might make for a boring dish, something bitter might be improved by something sweet to balance it
if you are really really into the science of it all there is sometimes an underlying reason for things to go - the current wave of very (some would say too ) creative cooks of whom Heston Blumenthal is the most successful in this country read up on the molecular composition of things to get ideas!

OP posts:

Hulababy · 18/12/2009 12:00

I love cooking. I am no expert, but I can get by. I love cook books and will give anything a try, and lucky have some willing tasters. This is especially required as I mostly cook meat dishes but I don't eat meat!

I am willing to cheat at times, and am no food snob. But if I want to cook a fab mel then I will make the effort.

theminniebauble · 18/12/2009 12:16

I'm not the world's best cook but I know how to put together a menu and get things right through not being too ambitious yet managing to turnout things that are a little bit more special than the everyday iyswim.

My granny was a very good cook and I learnt quite a bit from her- particularly traditional dishes eg: stews, roasts, desserts. Her methods were pretty fail safe and built my confidence.

I am also an avid reader. Sunday supplements and food writing more generally has given me a good grasp of what goes together without needing to over-complicate things. It also encourages me to try out ingredients that might be a bit more adventurous without b*ggering things up. Same with travelling. Food is a BIG part of our holidays.

The idea of going on a cooking course doesn't really appeal. I have too short an attention span....

extremelychocolateymilkroll · 20/12/2009 23:58

Thanks very much suiledonne. Will definitely give this soda bread recipe a go.

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