Who taught you.........

How to cook?

Sitting around reflecting today, Father's day is always a day of mixed emotions for me since my dad passed away a few years back. But I was thinking back on all the great times we had together and so many came back to times around a grill.

Now my dad was by no means a BBQ star and my mom was not Julia Child but they held their own so I would call both of them a great influence.

For the most part though I am self taught when it comes to cooking, I love to play with my food and once in awhile I learn something in the process. Have picked up a lot of stuff about BBQ and cooking by just hangin out and watching, cookbooks, and of course forums like this where a wealth of knowledge gets shared.

What about you? Where did you learn to cook?

Three very special women were the main influence in my cooking. My mom, my grandmother and aunt (grandmother's sister). They all grew up on farms and my aunt & uncle had a small dairy farm while I was growing up. Nothing fancy or heavily spiced was being cooked but everything from scratch - at times that included bread and even yogurt in my house. We spent every weekend during the summer at the farm and I spent alot of that time in the kitchen. There were lots of gatherings of family & friends (many centered around haying) and at 12 I could make ice cream without a recipe. (The first time I opened the SOW's chicken marinade it brought me back to these days because it smelled just like the chicken we had at those gatherings, thanks Kim & Andy). I spent summers peeling bushels of tomatoes and peaches to can, making pickles etc. While all very basic an incredible base which I took and ran with ..........

My dad's mom was also an influence athough I never met her (she passed away when my dad was in high school) - he would talk about the things she used to make (my grandparents came to the US from Italy) - gnocchi, pasta , biscotti etc...

My Mom is a really good cook...Not fancy but she had a great flair for presentation and a natural sense of flavor profile...

SO My cooking journey started with learning how to cook an omelette.....probably 36 years ago. I had just gotten married and I did breakfast.....A little grilling but really didnt understand it at all...but I was a man so I grilled...hahah I got lucky pretty often on those grills so I became the designated bbq guy at my house and at friends. This planted the seeds that Men are supposed to have this predisposition to grilling and it was a hoax. Thats why this is here...

I bought a supermarket Italian Cookbook by Biba Gaggiano published by HP books....I Cooked one thing and it was pretty good then I cooked the reast of the book....Moved on to Marcella Hazan, Guiliano Bugialli..At the same thime there was a small restaurant in San Luis Obispo called Cafe Roma which is still there. Maria Rizzo was the owner and her sons helped her run it. She was unbelievable and she took me sort of under her wing. I got to sous chef there and I would cook with her on many sundays at either our house or hers. I think that she for some reason found me amusing in the kitchen but I would MAYBE surprise her with some of my ideas.

Others that I learned through books Jacque Pepin, Diana worthen rossington, paul prudhome, emerils first book before he became a cartoon show, The California Culinary Academy cooking z to z (i dont know if its in print.) the SIlver Palate books...still think they are great.

My biggest teach was and is Jimmy Schmidt...a James Beard and every other culinary award winner. He is brilliant....crazy big flavors and he has taught me so much its crazy.

Jeeeze BP, that's a tough act to follow! Let's see...spent years self taught flailing around with charcoal and gas cookers....found pellet smoking and this forum. I've now read about six cookbooks and still get about 80% of my inspiration and info from this forum!

I also need to give my wife Nancy credit for filling in a lot of my cooking knowledge and for graciously (take my kitchen, please!) sharing what was primarily her domain.

Like Rip, I get alot of inspiration from this site. When I first got out of college I was a food service rep for several years. I learned alot about food, but not too much about cooking it. Had to get to the next restaurant. I have grilled for years, but not with very much flair and with mediocre success. I am always trying to learn and pick up ideas and get alot from here. It doesn't hurt to own a MAK either. My success rate has greatly improved, along with my desire to do more of the cooking around here.

My parents and when I was a very young adult I loved watching Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, on PBS. He dealt a lot with tecnique, food history & culture, and broke it down into laymen's terms. I learned a lot from that show.

As a kid my father cooked the meat and my mother organized the sides around him. We always ate meals that seemed to be designed for a diet and I grew up not knowing you could have rice and potatoes any time and they weren't reserved for holiday meals! Both parents were good cooks but my father was the one who was creative. When he retired he completely took over the kitchen. Unfortunately, neither parent gave any cooking instructions and when I left home I had no cooking skills at all. I had an Italian husband for a very short period of time who got me interested in learning how to cook but I didn't stick around long enough to get the secret family recipes. Then I got a Weber for a house warming gift. Although I have gotten a couple cookbooks as gifts, mostly I fly by the seat of my pants and make things up as I go along.

what sue said. me too.

Sparky your italian husband helped you?

Big Poppa said:

Sparky your italian husband helped you?

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LOL, Sparky has hinted at his wild past...........

Little Louie taught me everything I know.

Sis I have taught you so much..remember the steak tartare sliders?

I recall you bastardizing my best Julia Child recipe, yes. Otherwise, Little Louie is my mentor. She rocks! Can we get her posting here?

A little of my Dad...but mostly my Mom.
You know...when asking her how much of this or that she would reply "you know, a little".
Since her death I have learned to try a little of this and a little of that.
My Dad taught me how to work a grill...as far as smoking goes...I guess I just kept trying till I got it right.
Now whenever I try anything, I tell Vicki that if it tastes like s**t, I know where McDonalds is.
So far all I really screwed up that bad was when I tried to marinade Baby Backs in Chiavettas.

Four weeks of formal training by The Research Chefs Association, lots of Food Channel, dozens of cookbooks, and endless experimentation.

Big Poppa said:

Sparky your italian husband helped you?

Click to expand...

no, my sicilian wife.

My dad showed me how to grill. My mom gave me the basics for cooking everything else.

When it comes to BBQ (real BBQ/smokin) I learned it all from trail and error, and the internet

Cool thread. I had a roommate in College who when we went to the reduced price meat section could turn out some amazing stuff with the addition of a few spices. That got me hooked. The Food Network in general and Alton Brown in specific. I love the science behind turning out good food. You guys have been a great resource.

Necessity.

My parents made few meals that I would eat as I grew up, so if I didn't like what they had planned I had to cook my own or go hungry. Not having much in the way of bodily reserves, I chose to learn rather than starve. If I plan something ambitious I usually consult my "On Cooking" text and go from there, otherwise it's all off-the-cuff.

I want to be the guy that my Son answers this question to. I get him involved whenever I can.