How did you learn to cook?

[Anonymous]

Did you take classes?

Did you learn from videos or books? Did someone teach you?

Was it frustrating at first? What sort of mistakes did you make in the beginning?

[Anonymous]

Trial and error. Mostly error.

[Anonymous]

cook books and the internet (not videos, just websites/blogs). My go-to website when I have an idea of what I want to cook, but just need a recipe, is allrecipes.com
I also find that I have LOVED everything I have ever made from Ina Garten.

[Anonymous]

From my mom and dad. Then from cookbooks. Then from trial and error. I'm a great baker; still don't feel entirely comfortable cooking meat. Can do veggies and egg dishes really well.

[Anonymous]

Just followed recipes. However The Joy of Cooking should bea READ by anyone trying to learn. Im a seasoned coom and use JOC all the time. Just referenced it last weekend for consumme.

[Anonymous]

I had a subscription to Cooking Light and I would pick one recipe a month to try. It is a legit but realistic cooking mag. I learned about different herbs and ingredients in a very comfortable and gradual way.

[Anonymous]

Watching the Food Network endlessly. I also have a collection of cookbooks I bought/read for fun.

My mom never let us near "her" kitchen when we were kids so everything I know I learned on my own in my 20s and 30s. I've always been jealous of those who grew up learning long-held family recipes from their relatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trial and error. Mostly error.

+1. Recipes and experience.

[Anonymous]

When I escaped my freaky parents in my early 20s, and progressed from boiling an egg to Beef Wellington over a period of... 10 years

[Anonymous]

From helping my mom in the kitchen from the age of 6 or 7. In my experience, people whose mothers were good cooks, were good cooks themselves My mom never used recipes, everything she learned, she learned from her mother. I think if you grow up in the kitchen, then you just pick up on what flavors work well together, what order to cook things, how long to cook things, etc. Baking is a whole other story, you definitely need recipes for baking, it's much more exact.

Besides that, I also love allrecipes!

[Anonymous]

I have watched people whose cooking I like cook, and took note of what they did. I also like watching "good eats" which gives a lot of science with cooking, but I am a scientist at heart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From helping my mom in the kitchen from the age of 6 or 7. In my experience, people whose mothers were good cooks, were good cooks themselves My mom never used recipes, everything she learned, she learned from her mother. I think if you grow up in the kitchen, then you just pick up on what flavors work well together, what order to cook things, how long to cook things, etc. Baking is a whole other story, you definitely need recipes for baking, it's much more exact.

Besides that, I also love allrecipes!

Same with me. I learned by spending time in the kitchen with my mother, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and aunts. I don't remember learning to cook. It's just something I've always done.

[Anonymous]

Started by cooking what I liked to eat at restuarants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From helping my mom in the kitchen from the age of 6 or 7. In my experience, people whose mothers were good cooks, were good cooks themselves My mom never used recipes, everything she learned, she learned from her mother. I think if you grow up in the kitchen, then you just pick up on what flavors work well together, what order to cook things, how long to cook things, etc. Baking is a whole other story, you definitely need recipes for baking, it's much more exact.

Besides that, I also love allrecipes!

Recipes are essential for modern cooking. My mother is also an excellent chef and refers to recipes for food trends.

If you are not Japanese try making a Japanese shrimp and cabbage pancake without a recipe. Much of the traditional Asian food I cook requires a translator to grocery shop for the ingredients.

[Anonymous]

Recipes are essential for modern cooking. My mother is also an excellent chef and refers to recipes for food trends.

I don't cook trendy food.