/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.5583537]

So /ck/ What inspired you to cook? When was it?
My inspiration came from my mother. I used to love watching her cook, but I could never tell why her food tasted the way it did. Then I turned 12 and figured out my mom was a terrible cook.
So my parents invite me over for dinner today. I was thinking "Cool its summer. My dad must be grilling burgers or steak" Well nah I got to their house and.
>Hey mom and dad how are you doing?
>Great anon thanks for asking
>So whats for dinner?
>Oh I made chicken
FUCK!!!!!!
>House smells funny
>Go to the kitchen pot filled with water whole chicken it in boiling away
>Hey mom how long have you been boiling that chicken?
>Oh anon a few hours I would say
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
Now I am thinking I wish I would have asked before I came.
So about an hour later my mom asks.
>Anon I took the chicken off of the stove shred it for me
>Sigh so I shred the chicken for her
I get to thinking we at the least they have some alright chicken broth, or a base of it anyway.
>Say mom where is the chicken broth?
>Anon the what?
>You know the water you cooked the chicken in
>I poured it out anon....
GOD DAMN IT
>I finish shredding the bird, and she opens a can of Pace Salsa and pours it over the chicken
>Opens a can of refried beans mixes that in
>Serves on cold tostada shells with sour cream and ice burg.
That is why I started to cook 15 years ago /ck/ I have yet to regret it.

[Anonymous No.5583560]

>420blzedit all day erry day in college
>while watching based alton
>inspired me to make more than I thought I could
>go from there

lost the weed, gained booze, and still improving.

[Anonymous No.5583604]

I like to eat

[Anonymous No.5583607]

>>5583537
Hunger

[Anonymous No.5583660]

>>5583537
Sorry to hear about that Anon. My mom didn't suck at cooking at all; she could make many delicious things. But by the time I was 8 or so I realized many of our Italian American and Jewish neighbors ate better than we did. I blamed it on my brother and sister being fussy eaters, but soon realized my mom was one as well. She had all the basic techniques down, but was scared of simple things like garlic, peppers, cilantro (fresh herbs in general), mushrooms, peas, lentils, eggplant, any cooked greens beyond spinach and cabbage, shellfish, and any spices beyond black pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg.

So I took her as my inspiration in learning to cook, just adding the ingredients and flavor she preferred to leave out. Wasn't a terrible start, because at her best her cooking was good. Just boring enough that I noticed it by age 8.

[Anonymous No.5583669]

Watching Ethiopian kids starve, I don't help them, but it made me worry about myself

[Anonymous No.5583684]

>4 years old
>me and twin sister want mac & cheese
>mom doesn't feel like cooking
>sarcastically tells us to "make it yourself"
>we follow the directions, boil water, strain, powder/milk/butter
>15 mins later mom sees us munching giant bowls of macaroni
>tells us she's proud, and can cook for ourselves anytime we want

From then on I cooked pretty much all my meals, plus family meals and cooking for friends all the time. I'm pretty damn good for self taught, and it's hilarious being in my late 20s but still have friends asking "how are you so good? I can't cook anything..."

[Anonymous No.5583717]

>eating bad food
>trusting someone else to make something your about to put into your body

Mabye I'll let someone else make water for me, or pump air into my lungs

[Anonymous No.5583726]

>>5583537
My mother inspired me. She was a master, her and my father were pros and owned a really nice restaurant in Florida. They got out of it when the mob wanted to buy into it. True story and before my time so I can't relate much more.

[Anonymous No.5583749]

My mom was a post-WWII Polish immigrant and while she made the BEST Polish food
(also attested to by all my friends) such as pierogi, golabki, placki, zurek soup, paczki, etc.
she couldn't cook "American" food with a damm; meatloaf was a soggy mess and she once
made spaghetti with ketchup ("is tomatoes!").

[Anonymous No.5583754]

>>5583537
>So /ck/ What inspired you to cook? When was it?
around 2010 when i moved out. i got bored of eating the same shit over and over.

my parents have always cooked, and i knew basic shit, but once i had to start seriously cooking for myself, i decided to get good at it.

[Anonymous No.5583756]

>>5583726
... as I got older and had less reason to be at home and for her to cook, she started forgetting and I blame myself for that in some way. I was just a kid then, and wanted to go out and see the world especially in NYC, so I did.

I wish it could be otherwise but it's not, I loved my mother and my father, but there not here anymore. Now I have to deal with this world on my own with my brother.

My sister I miss more than all, I miss her beating me up since she was older than me. All in love!

Disturbed - Rock Am Ring 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VGR-Smwh6s

[Anonymous No.5583760]

>>5583749
Seems weird that she couldn't make meatloaf. Stuffed cabbage is basically tiny meatloaf wrapped in cabbage leaf.

[Anonymous No.5583772]

>>5583756
Disturbed sucks 5 unopened Fucks. Eat shit daily you after work moonlight sperm sniffer

[Anonymous No.5583873]

>>5583760

She only knew how to make the stuff she knew how to make and
when it came to something "American", she just winged it and made
it how she thought it was made, as she refused to use a cookbook.

[Anonymous No.5583895]

>>5583537
>Senior in high school
>Working on getting /fit/
>Start helping mom in the kitchen so I can get a general idea of what I was actually eating, and maybe learn a thing or two about cooking in the process
>Realize my mom's "home cooked" meals were basically on the same tier as mcdonalds
>Start trying to make good tasting food that's filling and isn't just "add a half cup of butter/ranch/bbq sauce"

That, and the fact that if I didn't make something myself, we'd just fall into a rut of getting taco bell for dinner 3 nights in a row.

[Sooge No.5583908]

> make pierogi one day when 13
> makes more shit
> master chef

[Anonymous No.5583917]

>>5583537
Boredom, talking with friends who were sick of the dorms, and /ck/

Mom taught me the ropes though. Might have been a little flawed, but more than enough knowledge to sear a good steak and steam some veggies

Thanks mom

[Anonymous No.5584354]

>>5583537
When I was younger my aunt watched me. I could barely see over the stove but she taught me a lot of basic recipes (french toast, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, etc) and helped me kind of get a start into it at a young age. However I moved away after that and stopped cooking for a few years after I was living with my mom. I made a few things for family gatherings, and I later moved to my dad's, which cut my cooking time down from "rarely" to "never" since he complained about everything I made.

It wasn't until I decided I needed to lose weight that I started regaining and interest, coming to /ck/, and watching videos online. Then about a year ago I decided to switch over to a completely vegan diet, which really fueled my interest, since I didn't' just want to live on salads.

[Anonymous No.5584357]

>>5583717
>make water for you
Wh... What are you trying to say?

[Anonymous No.5584794]

>>5583537
>Be 15
>Be told, get a fucking job
>Get job washing dishes (pic related)
>Learn to roast chicken

Dem chickens, man.

[Anonymous No.5584809]

>>5584794
tell me the secrets to delicious roasted chicken, roaster man

[Anonymous No.5584816]

>>5584809
Dry rub + rotisserie= the gambler's goodness.

[Anonymous No.5584818]

>>5583537
Guess it's because I'm a bit older but I find it incomprehensible that someone's parents cooked out of packages and cans. I don't think i knew any kids growing up who's parents did that. granted, some were pretty shitty cooks, but I never knew anyone who was subjected to that.

[Anonymous No.5584820]

>>5584818
>because I'm a bit older
you must be pretty damn old because (in america, at least), prepackaged shit was all the rage in the 60s/70s when that was the "new thing"

[Anonymous No.5584836]

>>5584820
Not that old. I grew up in the 70s/80s. Maybe because our area was heavily 1st and 2nd generation Italian and Polish. I just never knew any family who ate out of boxes and cans. Hell, nobody in my extended family even got a microwave until the mid to late 80's.

[Anonymous No.5584845]

>>5584836
ah, yeah, that fad probably died down a bit during that era before picking back up again in the 90s (?). you're a bit younger than my mother, and she says the same things. she actually learned how to cook because her mother was (is) an awful cook.

i also think social class has a good amount to do with it in any era.

these days it seems like
extremely poor- cooks from scratch
lower middle class- more boxed bullshit
middle class- highest concentration of fast food and processed food
upper middle class- more scratch cooking and/or fresh ingredients
affluent- whatever the fuck they want cause they rich

in my experience, anyway. your mileage, obviously, may vary.

[Anonymous No.5584850]

The biological drive to eat, mostly.

[Anonymous No.5584856]

>>5584845
Economically we were in steady decline throughout the 80's. I come from a Steelmaking area (Pittsburgh). As the mills continued to scale back and close we went from solidly middle class to virtual poverty. We have to make do with less and less, but ingredients were still cheaper than boxed food.

Think: 101 things to do with ground beef and government cheese.

[Anonymous No.5584857]

>>5584836
you're not the majority in the slightest

[Anonymous No.5584869]

>>5584857
>you're not the majority in the slightest
never meant to imply I was, though I believe I was far closer then than today.

[Anonymous No.5586958]

I thought more people would cook here. What was I thinking...

[Anonymous No.5586971]

>>5583684
>4 years old
>From then on I cooked pretty much all my meals, plus family meals and cooking for friends all the time

kek

[Anonymous No.5587075]

I was about 20 years old living with my mom and she went to help my grandpa for a week and never came home.

So it was learn how to cook or starve.

[Anonymous No.5587076]

>>5583537
I watched ratatouille

[Anonymous No.5589025]

>>5583537

>visit grandma every other month when I was a kid
>every time I visit we make cookies or some sort of sweets.
>didn't bother trying to cook or bake without her after my family moved far away

Years later...
>be a teenager
>stuck watching my little brothers every damn day because both my parents were too busy with work
>have to make lunches and shit for them
>parents always bought heat and eat things like corndogs and instant rice
>eventually learn how to make simple shitty meals (ex. Campbell's soups as a sauce, some sort of meat, put everything on top of noodles)
>not very good at cooking yet so everything was simple as fuck
>finally move out of parents home and move in with ex's family
>holy fuck his mother was a shitty cook
>burns the food, adds no seasoning to anything, canned veggies all day everyday
>decide to take over and cook for his family
>start experimenting with seasonings, using basic fresh veggies, etc.
>his family is ecstatic and loves me for cooking

Fast forward a few years later
>move out, go to college, finally get rid of my ex
>start dating new guy
>he buys almost anything I want to cook.
>fresh fish, seasonal produce, Asian market stuff
>start going balls deep into learning how to seriously cook
>three years later and I can now make a huge variety of good food from sushi to ribs.
>all my friends love it when I make food and share it
>feels damn good

[Anonymous No.5589367]

Picked it up for my mother and grandmother. It was one of the few things I could do well as a child that also brought the extended family together through the years.

[Anonymous No.5589421]

My parents were high-functioning heroin addicts who forgot to make meals a lot but somehow remembered to keep the pantry and refrigerator stocked. I pieced together how to cook for myself from the rare times I ever saw my mother or father cook and from reading the New York Time Cookbook. Of course, my go-to recipes are mostly soups, stews, and casseroles.

[Anonymous No.5592105]

>>5589025
>he buys almost anything I want to cook
squeeze that fag dry

[Anonymous No.5592122]

Started helping ym grand-ma when she would make family dinner. At first being the gopher (bring me flour! Now Salt! Now put the flour back!) hen up to measuring things for her, then making things with her watching.

I could make full meals by the time I was 12. My parents would leave a jar of money in the cupboard so me and my brother could go rent movies/buy snacks. Once emptied it and made boeuf bourguignon for my parents while they were at work.. Lucky I lived in a small town and they let the 12 year old kid buy the bottle of wine..

[Anonymous No.5592124]

>>5583537
>I used to love watching her cook, but I could never tell why her food tasted the way it did. Then I turned 12 and figured out my mom was a terrible cook.
I attribute my interest in cooking to my mother's inability to change her cooking habits or try a little harder, no matter how simple and straight-forward it might have been.

[Anonymous No.5592125]

>>5583537

Both my parents cook very well, so I grew up with awesome home cooked food, but never learned much outside of BBQ with my dad.

When I moved out to go to uni I ate out a lot. I was shocked at how much money I was spending on food that was much worse than what I was used to eating previously. So I started learning to cook for myself. Originally the motivation was purely financial, but I found that I really enjoy it.

[Anonymous No.5592129]

>>5592105
One time he actually bought a 23 dollar lobster tail so I could make a nice seafood chowder.
To top it off he bought clams, shrimp, and scallops for that soup too.

That was the best damn soup I ever made.

[Anonymous No.5592137]

I'm an extremely picky eater in the sense that I will only eat food that is cooked well and tastes delicious, I can't stomach flavourless crap like what my mother makes, or should I say unwraps and reheats in the microwave.

I learnt to cook not from inspiration but because my single moms cooking was fucking shit.

[Anonymous No.5592164]

I really started to enjoy cooking after starting to lose weight. Years of eating frozen meals and fast food living with my mom made me feel like crap and i just declared one day to cook my own food. Now that i cook my own meals i feel full longer while eating way less calories than i use to.

[Anonymous No.5592184]

>>5584794
I love dem roast chickenz. I do mines in pic related. I like to do a olive oil/lemon juice vinaigrette rub with basil. Good chicken and really cheap eats.

[Anonymous No.5592193]

>>5592184
forgot the pic

[Anonymous No.5592244]

>>5592193
i wish i had one of these, or even a roasting pan. i don't even bother trying to roast things right now because i have no rack to keep meat out of the puddle of juice

[Anonymous No.5592245]

>>5592244

you don't need one. Just put a bunch of chopped up veggies on the bottom of the pan, then put the roast on top. Instant rack. Plus, when you're done with the roast you can make gravy from the roasted veggies.

[Anonymous No.5592249]

>>5592244
You can put the meat onaa pile of coarsely chopped onion, celery, carrot.

[Anonymous No.5592716]

>>5583537
>So /ck/ What inspired you to cook? When was it?
When I realized my mother's cooking was shit. I was 19, just moved to NYC with plenty of money to spend on nice dinners out with friends. I went home for the first time in almost a year and my mom cooked dinner for my family. I don't even remember what it was, but it was really mediocre.

After that I wanted to learn how to cook the kinds of food that I was eating at nice restaurants. I was pretty much self-taught. Now I live with my dad, and I cook for the two of us every night we're both home together. I also work as a sous chef in a little from-scratch kitchen