Anybody who cooked something really good - I pay close attention to how they do it and then replicate.

I did learn a handful of recipes from my mother and grandmother, but the great majority are from other women (and men). Don't be afraid to ask people what they put in their food and how to do it.

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!

Nope. I grew up having to set the table, make the veggies, make the rice, stir this pot, drain that pasta, etc. and I can't cook for shit. My idea of cooking is making scrambled eggs and a toasted bagel, or boiling frozen ravioli.

^^also agree with PP re Joy of Cooking. It will tell you how to do something really simple, like hard-boil an egg or cook a squash in the oven.

I'm learning to cook right now. I should have really learned a long time ago, but LSS someone was helping me with dinner while I was helping the kids with homework. When we moved here 6 months ago, I had to learn.

It is like language immersion! I've tried lots of things and someone in my family doesn't like them. I wanted to do healthy things, not just glob on fat and salt and pastas to get my family to eat. But every now and then I hit on something everybody likes and then I file that away.

I think a big help to me was not trying to come up with things, but to have an easy system to jog my memory of dinner options; I'll explain.

I've got a three-ring binder and here is my trick: In the old days, every time I saw something I wanted to make, I'd put it in that binder. But it doesn't work for me because it gets too junky and jammed.

What I do now is, while I still have that binder, I have my "working binder"--with recipes/articles/photos of things I've actually made and will make again. Much thinner binder! On the first page, I have a summary, so I don't have to use my *brain* to think about what to make for dinner. I just go down the list. It might say "Pork Piccata" but it will also say "Scrambled Eggs"--I don't forget the easy fast simple meals--they count too.

I also have another page with headers: Protein Vegetable Starch Fruit, and under there I just list stuff--like under vegetables I put broccoli, asparagus, carrots, brussel sprouts….then I can look and mix and match before going to the store.

I've got a few things now that I make--I've got some easy things I make all the time. We eat yams (not sweet potatoes, yams) about every other day. We never get sick of them.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [/quote]

Wow, this is exactly me, too.

Never quite sure when the meat is ready.[/quote]

Invest in a Thermapen thermometer. Accurate to 2 decimal places in 3 seconds. Good for liquids and meat. We have a magnet on our fridge with safe cooking temps for common meats and seafood. I know the numbers, but always check just to be sure.

Joy of Cooking is an amazing resource.

America's Test Kitchen / Cook illustrated has a ton of info about WHY a recipe works and what types of short cuts and substitutions are ok and what are not.

Food Channel and cooking shows can help with basic techniques. Mark Bittman's how to cook everything cookbook is also full of well tested recipes.

Something to remember with your trial and error is that a lot of cookbooks are poorly written and recipes are poorly tested. Stick with Cooks Illustrated and Bittman (also writes weekly for the New York Times magazine) until you develop some common sense about cooking. Then you'll know in the future when it seems like the amount of oil or spices might be too much or too little in a recipe or the cooking time too short.

Always read a recipe end to end and think through what step you'll do when. Get out all your bowls, pans, and ingredients before you start. Measure everything until you get good enough to estimate. Prep all your ingredients before you start until you get good enough to judge whether you will be able to finish chopping an ingredient before it is needed.

I was in the kitchen with my mom from the time I could stand on the stool and see over the counter top. I would mix, measure, add ingredients, etc... As I got older she added more tasks that I could do.

practice.

Anonymous wrote:As a child, one of my first chores was making rice immediately after I got home from school. By the time I was in middle school, I would make one dinner a week. It would usually be simple stuff like steak, spaghetti & meat sauce, chicken stew. And the same thing. My older sister would also cook a dinner a week. By the time we were on our own, we had about 10 recipes that we could do without any recipes. I go to recipes for idea and look at them to see what ingredients to use and how much. But I don't really go to look at the recipe for exact measurements once I have an idea what to do.

If I were you, I would start simple. Like with a scrambled egg. Then next time, add some mushrooms, then spinach, tomatoes, peppers, etc. And think of the food you like to eat. What is in it? Try to make it yourself. We all have made bad meals. Just start off simple.

Wow...I love the idea of having a kid making dinner once a week! Such a great way to teach self-sufficient cooking.

As a child, one of my first chores was making rice immediately after I got home from school. By the time I was in middle school, I would make one dinner a week. It would usually be simple stuff like steak, spaghetti & meat sauce, chicken stew. And the same thing. My older sister would also cook a dinner a week. By the time we were on our own, we had about 10 recipes that we could do without any recipes. I go to recipes for idea and look at them to see what ingredients to use and how much. But I don't really go to look at the recipe for exact measurements once I have an idea what to do.

If I were you, I would start simple. Like with a scrambled egg. Then next time, add some mushrooms, then spinach, tomatoes, peppers, etc. And think of the food you like to eat. What is in it? Try to make it yourself. We all have made bad meals. Just start off simple.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Wow, this is exactly me, too.

Never quite sure when the meat is ready.

The OP asked "How did you learn to cook?" Not, "what exotic, trendy food are you cooking and how do you do it?"

If I were to cook Japanese shrimp and cabbage pancake, I would absolutely follow a recipe because I'm not Japanese and wouldn't know the first thing about trying to make that.

BUT I do know how to cook all the traditional Asian foods from my mother's side of the family without cookbooks or recipes because they are dishes that have been passed down in our family just by being in the kitchen and helping with meal prep.

I learned a lot from my mom. Only a few specific recipes, but a lot of technique. How to cut butter into flour for a pie crust, how to tell when the salmon is cooked, etc.

In my 20's, I did a lot of simple recipes and trial & error, building on what I learned from my mom. Late 20's and 30's, started branching out to more complex recipes. Now, I use a recipe if I'm trying a completely new recipe or technique, or baking. Otherwise, I tinker a lot, swapping flavorings based on what I know I like. I read a lot of cooking magazines for inspirations, but rarely follow them exactly.

One thing I learned from my mom: the importance of high-quality ingredients!

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1 for the entire post.