My wife often asks me “where did you learn how to cook so well?” I touched on this very briefly in the post “My inspiration,” but I thought I would revisit the topic for this particular post.
When I was a kid, I was forbidden to touch the stove. I think the logic was that I was too young to learn how to cook, and I would probably just end up hurting myself. That didn’t stop me, because I still tried to cook things, and usually just simple things like mac and cheese or ramen. Sometimes, when I stayed home from school, I would watch TLC (probably the first of the mainstream lifestyle channels) and there would be cooking shows. I remember a cajun cooking show, probably some others, and “Yan Can Cook.”
Yan Can Cook was hosted by Martin Yan, and the premise of the show involved Martin cooking traditional Asian cuisine and goofing off, in an engaging way. I always remember the tag-line of the show: “If Yan can cook, so can you!” I remember being so rapt by this show, and wondering if I could ever cook like that. I never tried Asian cuisine at such a young age, but my passion for it has never waned.
After watching such shows (and there were others, which I’ll discuss later), I would occasionally experiment. Once, I made a tuna salad, and I must have used nearly every spice in the cabinet. From what I remember, it didn’t taste too bad, but it might have been over salted. I’m sure the spice combination was something like basil, oregano, tarragon, rosemary, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. My grandmother said I was turning into quite the little chef when I told her about it later that night.
Knowing that I wasn’t allowed to cook when I was kid (though I still did), I find it really interesting that conventional wisdom says something very different today, nearly 10 to 15 years later. You’ve seen those spots on FoodNetwork about cooking with your kids, right? And there are all kinds of recipe books for children (heck, even a quick Google Search on “cooking with kids” gets nearly 14 million hits, with websites that seem devoted to cooking with your children). Researchers now say that cooking with you children can impart some very beneficial knowledge, such as good food choice and integrating math, science, and language skills. It might even keep your kids from getting fat!
Do you remember when you first learned to cook? What are some of your stories?
Hi! I can’t cook at all, and I have stories related to that. I also recall your wife calling my mom when we were about middle school-aged because she accidentally added a tablespoon of salt to a cake batter instead of a teaspoon. See if she remembers that. . .
Once, a friend and I decided to make cookies at 3am (we were freshman in HS), and we didn’t have any baking soda, so we made the cookies anyway, and they were like tiny rocks.
Also, my bf (who is supposed to comment about PB noodles) swears that I have messed up macaroni & cheese before, but I thought it tasted fine. hehehe
Most of what I know about cooking I learned from being in the kitchen with my mom throughout my childhood. Even today, I always hang with her in the kitchen whenever I’m visiting. We probably spend as much time there as we do anywhere - even if there isn’t any cooking going on.
Of course, on the downside once when I was very young my mom and I were icing a cake and I got blue food coloring all over my hands, and mom, thinking she would funny, told me we were going to turn into smurfs.
I cried forever over that, because I didn’t particularly want to shrink or be blue.
I guess my point is that cooking with your kids has its ups and downs.
@ Zenmasterw, you’re right about it having its ups and downs–you’ve got to have some patience for sure. Of course, not having a strong cooking influence didn’t seem to harm me any, so I’m doing okay.
@ Batgirl, that’s actually one of her favorite stories to tell. Even if she hadn’t made such a horrible error, salting food is a challenge–I think there’s a magic tipping point where the food is perfectly seasoned and the flavors just pop (which is the point of salting cookie dough, not to make your sweets salty) and then just beyond that where it’s full of yuck.