How did you learn to cook?

Islandmaid

From the school of 'hit and hope' - I left home at 18 not knowing a thing, and learnt fast, soon was cooking for and with mates and we taught each other. If it,s raw -bung it back in, if it,s burnt - don,t cook it for so long next time

My OH (a fab cook) was self taught too. Both Mum,s were good cooks but very 'safe' - we love to experiment with allsorts of food.

Trying to impart knowledge to my 3 teens, but only the youngest son (16) has shown any interest so far.

SpikyHedgehog

Mum taught me without me realising as I helped stir sauce, grind nut for nut roast, flip pancakes...

Cooking at school was rubbish, I didn't learn anything & I was really disappointed as mum still has her cooking book from school.

I love recipe books & read them for pleasure, so learned a lot from them, & now I'll look on the internet.

I'm fine at cooking the vegetarian food I've eaten all my life, but struggled to cook meat for ex partners - I've no idea how to tell if it's done! I did learn how to do apparently excellent roast dinners :-)

tanith

I am mostly self taught with the odd question and answer session with my Mum after I was married... I could just about boil an egg when I married... but I soon learnt as I didn't want to have to ask my new mil who lived downstairs...

bossymoo

Mostly mum and granny, with bits learnt through books, trial and error, and latterly some bit from my MIL who does the most amazing mashed sprouts.

I once called her and said "my sprouts are all wrong, what did I do?". She replied "well it's been too mild, good sprouts need to have had a frost on them". I said "but they were from the freezer" :rotfl:

Dizzy_Ditzy

I got the basics from my parents but mostly self taught now via trial and error :cool:

The only thing I worry about burning is Yorkshire pudding so I sit on the floor in front of my oven, shining a torch through the door the whole time :rotfl:

shammyjack

Maternal Grandmother and her 2 sisters my Great Aunts . I can still taste my Aunt Elsie's baking !

MrsSave

I got the basics for cooking and baking from my mum. Since then have pretty much managed to follow a recipe from cookbooks/online, and have found more recently I adapt recipes and have started to experiment a little. I love cooking now, but as we're on a pretty tight budget I use a lot of herbs/spices etc.

nearlyrich

I used to help my Mum and my Grandma bake and cook basic meals but I progressed using various cookery books including Delia Smith Cookery Course which I have also given to both of my children. I still do Delia's Perfect Rice and Yorkshire Puddings and various other dishes.
I never did any cookery at school we did have a "Domestic Science" room which always smelled delicious however one of my good friends used to share her goodies with me on the bus home. My sister did domestic science and she is a hopeless cook by her own admission. I enjoy food and love cooking for friends, big gatherings etc mostly self taught and experiments..

Brambleberry

I learned by baking and cooking alongside my mum and gran, so I cook a lot of meals the way my gran did, although she used to spend a lot more on a lot of good meat than I can justify these days. We had home economics at middle school for one term in three where we learned how to make various things properly, cocoa and sardines on toast was our first meal, and the lesson on fudge making in the depths of winter was fantastic!
Tv cookery also played its part, the urban peasant was an American tv cook who was very easy to follow, some time in the 90s I think - also I have learned a lot from the gospels according to Saint Delia, Saint Marguerite, the holy book of good housekeeping recipes circa 1980, and my be-ro book is the only recipe book that actually lives in the kitchen!

Horace

I did one hour of cookery lessons per term between the ages of 9 and 12 when I moved to High School, after that I didn't do any. Mum didn't teach me (I was always in the garage with dad) and when I got married I didn't cook either.

I taught myself to cook by watching tv and by using cookery books. I got bored with eating beans on toast day in, day out. I wouldn't say that I was a brilliant cook now but I have a bash and my godsend is my slow cooker as I bung everything in there, switch it on and leave it all day.