How did you learn to cook, anon?

From watching my mother, improvising and watching a fuckload of cooking television.

>>8426941
I just looked up how to make what I wanted, and then did it. There's no depth to cooking.

>>8426941
From my mother, grandma and YouTube.

>>8426946
Sure thing fag

>>8426955
Spoken like a true pleb

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>>8426958
>>8426961

>>8426961
But it's true. Anyone capable of tying their shoes can cook anything for a single party. Running a commercial kitchen is a different story.

Do you have any examples of difficult to prepare foods? I've not been able to find anything.

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>>8426976
Chicken Kiev.

Wrap a stick of butter in chicken breast.

Coat in egg.

Coat in flour.

Coat in egg.

Coat in breading.

Fry in a pan.

>>8426941
I scabbed recipes of my father and spent a lot of time online. Serious eats is really good.

Parents kicked me out when I got 18 so I had to work some shit jobs while pulling myself through university.

Between my scholarship and part time I wasn't making much so I learned how to cook with cheap cuts and vegetables, then I started looking for ideas to diversify my diet and that's how I started reading books and watching youtube videos.

31 now and I still cook almost everyday except when I get off work too late.

>>8426941

PArets wern't interesting in teaching me. I did the introductory home Economiczs in Grade 8, realized qt grills loved home ec and did it in grades 9 and ten, then a Cafeteria training course under a red seal chef teacher in my hs in grade 11 and 12, then I went into the resturant world for a year and a half, before going to Culunary Arts school for a year.

I learned how to cook, and I learned that I never wanted to be a professional cook fucking ever.

Thinking about starting a bakery, however. You call a day in advance, give the order and come in the morning and pick it up or whatever.

Necessity is the best teacher, most classic recipes come from when food was a rationed commodity so people had to get creative with what little they had.
In general people cook for one of two reasons; To make the food that they actually want to eat or to create technically challenging dishes for the approval of others. I started out doing the latter but hated cooking, so now I do only the former and it's actually enjoyable.

My mom was never home for most of my childhood. She'd always be gone gambling, so it's either I learn how to cook for myself or live off of instant noodles.

Paula dean cookbooks

>>8427136
Bakers are pastry chefs and their job is every bit as difficult and laborious.

I left home at 19. I asked my mum for some simple recipies of meals I liked, as well as some questions like 'how long to cook a potato?'.
I learned the basics, started playing around with ingredients, and after about a month I cooked better than most of my housemates.

I'm still learning. I make mostly meatless dishes. My dad's a good cook but mostly a grillmeister, still I always get compliments, so idk, maybe it's genetic.

>>8427040
Im new, how does one coat in egg?

>>8427407
Crack an egg, beat it, get the item you want to coat and just put it in the egg

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>>8426976
You won't find a food recipe on 4chan.

>>8427410
Coat?

>>8427433
Reply there!

>>8427416
Not asking for procedure, just name of end product.

>>8427434
So I'm talking to my self ?

I did what the recipes told me to do.

That's how cooking works with normal people.

>>8426941
i googled how to do it like how i learn how to do basically everything else in lif

>>8427604
This. Learning things any other way is so 1950.

>>8426955
this, the only difficult part of cooking is getting everything ready to serve at the same time and thats not even that bad

>>8427583
no anon, cooking is magic and the only way to TRULY learn is to fuck it up a million times until you figure out how to do it just like the recipe without actually using the recipe

I learned to cook in a state park when I was like 14 (continued on until I was ~18). I was part of an historical interpretation program, so it was over a wood stove, full-on 1870's style (am from middle-America).

>>8426941
Wait. HOL up. So the gist of the image is that the woman is usually the one responsible for washing dishes?

My parents didn't cook much growing up, and thry kind of gave me the impression that it was difficult and time consuming. So I didn't learn to cook until I was so dirt poor that I had to either starve or make the most out of what I could afford. Turns out its pretty easy once you have the basics down and have had a bit of practice.

>>8427736
Yes

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>>8426941
grandmother pic related its some of my skills at work

>>8427808
dreadful

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>>8427808

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>>8427808
What is that mess

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>>8426941

>>8427822
white beans, cornbread, fried potatoes, creamed corn, fried green tomatoes.....fucking delicious

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>>8427819
>>8427821
You don't like white beans?

>>8426941
At university so I could afford to drink more.

>>8426941
I was molested extensively all throughout my childhood by an uncle and two cousins. Fairly confident another uncle diddled me a number of times, but can't be sure he would always give me something weird to drink and I'd fall asleep shortly afterwards. Be at least would take me to the movies and buy my stuff and was overall nice to me, the other two were pretty mentally and sometimes physically abusive. Anyways, when I was 16, I finally told my folks and they did not handle it well. I was called a liar and when my aunts found out about it they both blamed it in me calling me a little pervert and obviously accessed me of being a fag and seducing them. For the record, I do have some issues regarding sexually intimacy and some trust issues, but I do identify as heterosexual, despite having a number of cocks up my ass.

Long story short I got sent away to a military school and spent a lot of time doing KP so I kind of watched an learned. Television also gives you some ideas to experiment with. Joy of cooking was a phenomenal babbys first cookbook.

>>8427837
Why isn't the cornbread yellow and the potatoes golden?
The tomatoes look good.

I hated spending $5 a meal so I started buying potatoes
and eating nothing but potatoes
Then I got sick of potatoes and started cooking other things to add to my potatoes

>>8427890
...this is the only color corn bread ive ever seen, golden potatoes? I-I don't know they get soft and done I stop cooking them...never had a complaint on taste of either bread or potatoes, this is a first anyone has questioned the color

>>8427934
>seriously listening to neckbeard criticism on a mongolian steelworkers chatroom

>>8427359
Hows your mayo diet going?

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Watched a lot of cooking programs.

>>8426976
Croissants from scratch
Proper massaman curry
Pulled sugar sculptures

Just off the top of my head.

>>8428180
I've made croissants from scratch, with homemade cultured vegan butter. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming.

Curries are easy as shit.

I've made various candies. A good thermometer removes most of the guesswork. Haven't done sugar sculpture, because it's not food. That actually does take skill, though.

>>8426941
1. Look at recipe
2. Cook food according to recipe

WA LA

>>8426955
This and I used to work (mainly cutting veggies and preparing appetizers) in a hotel kitchen when I was a teenager. The chef often showed me how to me make certain eastern dishes before the dinner time rush hours.

Parents' cooking was tolerable at best, did the basics well enough but I never gained proper skills as a child or teenager. Wasn't until I lived on my own and was completely that I learned to make anything more than mac'n'cheese and cereal. A lot of it was out of necessity, a lot of trial and error, and just wanting to be better than my parents.
>>8427867
Jesus Christ anon that wasn't 0 to 100, there was no chill and just went straight to 100

Something something frie thousands of eggs with different seasoning something something

>me at 4 years old
>"mom will you cook me mac n cheese?"
>mommy's watching her soaps go away"

Followed the directions on the box, realized how easy cooking was, and made all my own meals since then.

My family didn't eat together much, but always bought good for the house. I learned to cook what I like, then picked up a lot of good advice over the years.

>>8427040
Why the first egg coating? I normally see that skipped because it doesn't stick to raw chicken breast.

>>8426941
Watching cook shows, having parents that when I was younger cooked about everyday, being fascinated by cooking in general, and process of making a mistake and learning new things. Also don't be afraid of trying new combinations, I've been called really wierd for some of the combos I've made but then people have tried it and been pleasantly surprised

Started out watching my mom and cooking shows.
I'm good at Google so I can find base recipes to change according to what I want.
Learned a bit about flavor science so I can improvise in the kitchen better.

>>8427842
>>8427808
Don't listen anon, your presentation is fine and it looks good. 7.5/10

>>8428455
maybe you shouldn't buy gmo eggs

>>8427842
>>8427808
You a grill?

>>8426941
From/with my dad. I developed the love for cooking on my own, but he mostly got me started.

To me, there's nothing more enjoyable and intimate than cooking a meal you love for people you care about.

>>8426941
>How did you learn to cook, anon?

First, by realizing and accepting the fact that most recipes are simply guides, and not set in stone. When I first started to cook, I tried to follow a recipe EXACTLY how it was written, which resulted in bland food more often than not.

Baking recipes are the only ones I follow exactly now, and I still have to tweek them.

Second, YouTube.

It's the greatest tool ever.

There's pro-chef vids that show how they do shit, and locals that show how they make local comfort foods as well.

Who the fuck better to teach how to cook an Indian meal than by some old Indian chick putting up a recipe on YouTube? This goes for every food imaginable. YouTube is the bomb for cooking, and nobody with an internet connection and a kitchen has an excuse for not being able to cook anymore.

>>8427808
the black twitter memes were right

>>8427842
Country cooking is fine in my book.

>>8428684
That's the same thing southern blacks eat too, anon.

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>>8428721
>That's the same thing southern blacks eat too, anon.

Come down and visit Memphis sometime.

You won't find a nigger under 250lbs, and that's the women.

Black diets are notoriously shit food... basically soul food (stick o butter) or fast food.

>>8428728
I wanna fuck this entire family

>>8426946
This

And >>8426955 that

My mother taught me the basics. If there's something I want to make and the ingredients are available, I can make it.

But I rather improvise, because I like to feel smug.

>>8428728
Got news for you: the white trash in and around Memphis (of which there are many) look just the same.

>>8428728

It's not necessarily the diet as much as it's the failure to understand how to balance that diet, and the lack of a consistent exercise program.

I eat what I want, and drink beer and wine regularly, but what I want to eat is BALANCED between low fat / calorie foods and high fat / calorie foods. Combined with regular cardio and basic body weight exercises, I keep myself in shape.

The biggest problem most country folks, including blacks, have isn't the food they eat, but the way they eat it. Instead of a meal that's balanced with a starch/protein/veg profile, you'll see them eat shit like starch/starch/starch/protein/veg. Combine that with a sedentary lifestyle, and that's why they're fat as fuck.

>>8427842
>>8427808
It looks fine you just have 1/3rd of the portion you should have for each item. A plate of country food should be s t a c k e d, anon.

>>8426941

I would not say that I am an excellent gourmet chef who can cook everything perfectly. At all. But I would say I am an ok home cook that manages to cook for himself well enough and whenever I cook for others they love it and ask for more so take from that what you will. I've been cooking for myself ever since I was maybe 12 or 13. I would sometimes watch my mother when she cooked, grandmother as well. As I got into my later teens my mother cooked less and less and I really just learned from cook books, youtube/cooking shows and redoing the dishes until I perfected them. I can cook steak, chicken, duck, many types of fish various ways, good frittata, decent soups, many other things but if you put my in a professional kitchen I would not manage at all.

Are there any good, concise youtubers that teach the basics? I can fry an egg, but that's about it.

I want to start deep fry cooking but I'm always afraid of fires.

How do i make sure oil doesn't suddenly ignite while I'm cooking a steak and incinerate me?

>>8430993
Do not overfill the pot/pan, always take into account the displacement caused by putting in your ingredients.

Make sure the object containing the oil is always level and steady.

Always have a fire extinguisher on hand.

When putting in your ingredients in, lay away from yourself and do not drop in from a height.

>>8431000
Is there a point where I should know that I have to lower the fire? Because this video I watched told me to put the fire on max if I wanted to make a steak.

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>>8427808
it looks fucking raaawwww

>>8431000
this and if it still manages to catch fire, whatever you do, dont try to put it out with fir
either chuck a damp cloth on it or put the lid on

hell even take it outside, but whatever you do; dont try to cool it off with water

>>8431009
dont try to put it out with water*

i have no idea why i typed "fir"

>>8431004
Get a candy/deep fry thermometer so you know when it gets too hot

>>8426941
I was hungry and wanted to eat.

>>8426941
I was and am a fattie and my parents rarely were at home, didn't buy frozen food, and live in the country with no fast-food restaurants that delivered in those days.
My choices were cooking myself or not eating.

I'm loathe to say this, but originally Food Not Bombs. Then I just kept trying stuff I saw on the Internet.

>>8426941
One day decided I was tired of eating plain chicken breast, w/ plain mixed vegetables and rice for every meal of every day for years

Hopped on over to allrecipes and just found recipes that were highly rated and seemed not too complicated.....that was 5 years ago and now I'm a pretty damn good cook according to many friends and family...

Only downfall is that I have gained about 20lbs over the past 5 years from eating more food and including more fats/calories in my diet than I used to.

>>8426941

I moved out into a rental unit when I was 19, and quickly realized that eating out was expensive. I also wanted to get fit, and realized that it would be better to make my own food.

Naturally, the first time it ended in disaster (trying to cook frozen chicken breasts in soy sauce in a non-stick skillet on high), and I transitioned to eating out of a rice cooker exclusively. I learned to cook steak I guess. Then in my second apartment, I got some cookware as gifts and learned to cook a few more things. I cooked for myself every day and just eventually built enough skills and knowledge of cooking techniques to be able to eyeball most recipes and figure out how to get pretty close. From there, more practice made me better at cooking, and I watched some youtube videos and read articles about cooking to improve my technique,

>>8426955
Agreed, although it does feel good to know how to cook things without looking up a recipe.

>>8426946
>From watching my mother, improvising and watching a fuckload of cooking television.

This, my mom was always a great cook. Also lately youtube vids, Serious Eats, etc.

>>8431004

Let your oil be your guide.

If you're using a high smoke point oil, like peanut oil, and it starts to smoke, then you probably want to crank it down a bit...unless you want to set off smoke alarms.

My ex girlfriend was an amazing cook, who introduced me to foods I never thought I would ever try.

Now I use her recipes to impress girls I've been with after.

Why are girls so easily impressed over a guy who can cook indian food?

there was a rule at my house growing up:

whoever cooks doesn't do the dishes

i fucking hate doing dishes

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>>8428426
>letting a four year old handle heavy metal pots over a fire
>unsupervised

>>8426941
I paid a prostitute

To all the people saying "I just followed the directions it's not that hard blah fucking whatever," cooking is definitely more than that. I'm an avid cookbook collector and not all recipes are written equally. You do need some intuition on what the directions are referring to, how and when to control the heat, etc.

I learned to cook when I first moved in with my now ex. I figured if we were going to spend the rest of our lives together one of us should be able to cook so we don't eat miserable crap forever. After we broke up I continued because I liked my cooking and wanted to get better and eat delicious food all the time.

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>>8426946
literally me

Started watching shows like chopped and hells kitchen, eventually knew enough to bullshit my way into an actual kitchen. My boss found out that I was actually talking out of my ass but he didn't fire me because I worked hard and learned very very quickly.

>>8432185
Well people tend to forget technique.

>>8427967
By using the enough human logic.

>>8432193
Cool

>>8426956
How much time did you spend ?

>>8426941
Lots of people think cooking is all about complicated recipes, big cookbooks and arduous effort. Really it's more of an innate thing.

Learning to cook is much more simple, so pay close attention to what I'm going to say. Are you listening?

Fry an egg and experiment with various seasoning. This will give you an idea of what flavours go well together which is the most important quality in cooking. Fry an egg, cut it in quarter, season each quarter differently. Try one with cayenne and, I dunno, chives? Just experiment with lots of seasoning combinations.

Then fry another egg and repeat the process. Keep frying eggs and experimenting until you get a good idea of what works. You can eat 3-4 eggs in a day, heck you're from /fit/ so probably 6+. If you eat 6 eggs in a day, that's 24 egg quarters, 24 seasoning combinations in a day. You're talkng about 1000 seasoning combinations in just over a month.

At this stage you'll be a spicemaster and what/how you cook wont matter because you'll be better at seasoning than 99% of professional chefs, and this WILL make you a good cook.

>>8432193
is this porn? sauce?