A poll for the cooking impaired- did your parents cook often?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Inspired by the thread about how often do you not cook. A poster mentioned that s/he had difficulty cooking because s/he wasn’t sure how the recipe was supposed to turn out, among other reasons.

That got me thinking. My mom cooked probably 6 nights out of seven my entire time living at home, even moreso when I was young. She only worked part time, so she always cooked dinner. And the kitchen was right next to the family room, so I always saw what she was doing in the kitchen even if I wasn’t actively involved.

Plus, from a very early age, she gave me free rein in the kitchen. So I learned by doing. Now, I got a step-by-step fully illustrated cookbook for children when I was young, too, and I still use it because the recipes are good and so well-explained you can’t eff them up. But, there was still a lot of trial and error and often complete ignorance of exact measurements- the first time I ever made real macaroni and cheese, I called my mom, who said, “Melt a little butter in a pan, then add some milk. Stir in a little flour. Add some grated cheese and stir till it’s melted, then mix with the macaroni and bake at, say, 350 till it’s bubbly and golden on top.” How much milk? How much cheese? I guessed. And it rocked, btw. My dad requested I make some more the next night.

But I credit my cooking abilities to the fact that my mom cooked so much. I made chicken pot pie the other night from a leftover roasted chicken. My BF asked me where I learned to make it, and I said, “I dunno, I’ve never made it before. But I’ve seen my mom make it a thousand times.” There’s a lot of stuff like that, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, porcupine meatballs, stuffing*, spaghetti sauce, shepherd’s pie, or what have you, that I know I can make even if I haven’t before, simply because a quick call to verify the ingredients required and approximate cooking time, and I know exactly how the stuff should turn out.

I’m not the best cook in the world, I’ve screwed up stuff plenty of times. There’s only been once or twice I made something so gross that even I wouldn’t eat it, but from the age of about 15 or so I haven’t had too many kitchen disasters. I started off with baking, too, which IMO is much easier than cooking. Once I gained confidence and had a little experience with cookies and cakes and muffins, I moved on to bigger things.

So, if you hate cooking or aren’t good at it, did your parents often eat out or buy lots of pre-packaged meals? Conversely, if you love to cook or are good at it, did your parents cook a lot?

*OK, stuffing’s a gimme. I’ve been the designated stuffing maker (real stuffing, I used to spend hours on Thanksgiving eve breaking up stale bread into little bits) since I was probably 6. I started off with the bread-breaking part, then gradually learned the secrets of sauteeing the onions and learning how to guess the correct number of eggs required as I got older.

2

My mom cooked almost every night when I was growing up, and she’s a good cook.

As an adult, I’m one of those people who doesn’t enjoy cooking and does it as infrequently as possible.

One factor might be that I never needed to cook, because Mom always did.

3

My mom cooked from scratch mostly for company or when she and/or Dad was on another diet. She doesn’t like to cook- we ate out a lot, especially as my sister and I got older.

I learned to cook for real after I started grad school, from cookbooks (I lived in the dorm for most of my time as an undergrad). A good one for someone who hasn’t picked up any cooking skills from their family is How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

4

My mother cooked at least 6 nights a week, usually 7. The golden rule, however, was to stay the hell out of the kitchen when she was cooking lest my father or I get in the way. To this day I have no idea how to cook anything more complicated than “boil pasta, add sauce”.

I can make a badass breakfast though, since she wasn’t home at breakfast time.

5

My mom cooked every night, even when she worked outside the home. Sometimes it was soup and a sandwich, but she always fixed something. There wasn’t a lot of variety or experimentation – mom was good at fried chicken and homemade soups, so we had a lot of that.

The only time I remember eating out with my folks was the occasional Friday when one of the bars had an all-you-can-eat fish fry. That was rare.

I used to fix pizza (from the Chef Boyardee box) because my stepdad liked it, but other than that, it was mom at the stove.

6

My mother always cooked, and like delphica, I don’t enjoy cooking, probably because I never had to. That isn’t to say that I can’t, although my repertoire is limited. I can cook fine with directions, but some of the basic stuff I don’t know, like how long to bake a chicken breast. It’s a bit ridiculous honestly.

I can bake pretty well. My mother (or father, if it was pie) used to do that a lot when I was young, and I would always watch or help out. I don’t particularly care for baking either, but I do enjoy knowing that I can bake a tasty apple pie from scratch if I want to.

7

My mom cooked often growing up and still does, not unoften. I just don’t cook now because I never took an interest in it growing up, being much more interested in the eating aspect than the preparation.

8

That was me, I think. MY mom did most of the cooking but she only made her tried and true recipes, things like pork chops, mac & cheese (Kraft, of course), some sort of heated up frozen veggies. She started law school when my brother and I were in kindergarten so she was pretty busy and dinner prep was fast. We’d eat out at least once a week. When we got older, my brother and I had a cooking night but that meant tacos and browning the ground beef was the extent of the cooking (and that skill is now totally useless as I’m now a veg). Plus, in high school, a lot of the family dinners fell apart as we got really busy with after school activities.

9

I enjoy cooking and know the basics – I can follow a recipe and produce fairly good homemade meals. My parents homemade nearly all of our meals, even the gotta-get-the-kids-to-soccer-and-singing-lessons-and-dad/mom’s-at-a-conference-in-Toronto ones.

My roommate never cooks anything more complex than pasta, and his parents, although they didn’t cook, thought they did and really should have been physically restrained from the attempt. (I’m not being flippant - it was truly Kafkaesque.) Likewise my boyfriend’s parents didn’t do much beyond macaroni, so he’s a little less comfortable in the kitchen than I am, although he made quite a lovely chicken-in-sauce dish the other night.

10

I grew up in the Cleaver Residence. Mom cooked every night and we always had dinner around the table. My mom didn’t teach me how to cook, but I would watch and ask questions.

I taught Kid Kalhoun how to cook at a young age. He happens to enjoy it and is VERY good at it. His girlfriend is lucky to have him rattling around the kitchen.

11

Same. My mother is an excellent cook (I think she may have learned out of necessity - because my grandmother is…not), and growing up, we did have to help in the kitchen from time to time. So I learned how cooking basically works and how to follow a recipe, I just don’t really like doing it on anything approaching a regular basis.

When the mood strikes, I can turn out very good food from scratch, but the mood rarely strikes. I do like reading cookbooks and watching the food network and buying kitchen gadgets, I just don’t get to the actual preparation of food as often as I probably should.

12

My Dad cooked 6 nights a week. On Sundays it was elaborate and multi-coursed. On Monday (his day off) he made all sorts of other things-- soups, stocks, sauces, pasta from scratch, etc, for use later in the week. Cooking is his hobby and creative expression, and he devoted a lot of time & thought to meals and ingredients. Generally, he’d rather be home cooking than eating out. He has no recipes other than vauge ingredient lists in his head, and measures by sight, taste, and instict. Truly delicious food, but I do not have the gift. He has no idea how to teach cooking to one without it, so I never learned.* My sister has it, and they’ve cooked side by side since she was a teenager.

My mom is a basic, competent cook, but with an ametuer chef husband, she doesn’t do it much. On Thursday, my Dad’s late work night, she made simple dishes until my sister was old enough to take over Thursday. I can cook about as well as Mom can. I can follow a recipe, but I don’t enjoy it. All in all, I’d much rather go out, having been raised on restaurant quality food that I can’t make for myself. (When I was a poor student he would freeze me up vats of sauce and soup, and make me little spice packets with instructions to put on chicken, ground beef, ham, etc.)

I can, however, trim meat and chop/peel veggies like a master.

13

This is me, 100%. I never tried a lot of the popular pre-packaged things, like Kraft Mac and Cheese, until college. I can cook, and tried to do it more often for awhile, but don’t enjoy it.

14

Conversely, if you love to cook or are good at it, did your parents cook a lot?

My dad died when I was a pup, my mom hates to cook. When I was in junior high and we were visiting grandma I found her high school report cards. She got a D in home ec. In the 1950’s.

My mom’s cooking consisted of:

one noodle hot dish with canned tomatoes and velveeta on top
tacos
chili (good)
boiled chicken
charred steak
swedish meatballs
overcooked crock pot roast beef.

Everything else came in a can or a box or was a sandwich. For me, wandering through the frozen prepared food aisle makes me homesick for mom’s cooking.

I didn’t cook until my late 30’s when I got tired of eating ramen, sandwiches and takeout. Now I’m a pretty good cook, always with fresh ingredients. I enjoy cooking. I try new recipes every week. When I visit my mom I cook all the meals and leave her with frozen leftovers (after cleaning her fridge of three-year old frozen corn.)

whistlepig

15

My grandma was a great cook, but my mum never really cottoned onto grandma’s skills, and I’ve followed on from there, sadly. With grandma dying before I was 10, and sick a lot before then, I didn’t much chance to learn from her. So while mum and I would cook basic things, enough that we were fed and that’s that – I never really went in for the fancier stuff. Have to ask friends how certain veges are prepared, it’s that bad.

16

I dunno, it might have been me that the OP was referring to…

When I said I get frustrated with new recipes because I don’t know how they’re going to turn out, it’s not because I don’t know how to cook.

My mom cooked every night when I was growing up. Now that he’s retired, my dad cooks.

I know a lot of the basics. Nothing gourmet. We were dirt poor as kids so we ate a lot of casserole, ground meat and chicken. But this suited my dad just fine because he also grew up poor with a pretty absent mom and he preferred bland, boring food. He is a huge fan of “well done.” Huge fan.

So yeah, mom cooked every day. She taught me how to cook. But cooking with mom was fun - we shared the work. And SHE bought all of the ingredients.

Cooking by myself - not so fun. I do all the work and buy all the ingredients. Meh.

17

My mom stopped cooking on a regular basis when I was in late elementary school. We had a lot of boxed rice, baked chicken, takeout and restaurant meals. I occasionally try new recipes and make things at home, but I much prefer eating out.

18

My mom cooked 7 days a week, for decades, and hated it. She was an adequate cook, but had little interest in it. Now that she’s a widow, she never cooks anything beyond a microwave frozen dinner. I kid you not, her oven had cobwebs in it the last time I saw it.

I love cooking, and while I learned the basics from her (how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, how to boil potatoes, etc.), I’m mostly self-taught, with the help of cooking shows and several dozen cookbooks. I bake my own bread, and I make almost everything from scratch. I stop short of making my own pasta, only because I don’t have the time.