@Lookout She would say, "I would have never believed this!"

Used to take summer camp kids camping and cooking was part of the experience. In college I was too poor to eat out so I learned to cook more and expanded my menus.

My Mom is not a good cook, but she loves my cooking. The trick to cooking well is to use quality ingredients...can't go wrong (unless you burn it) I set a timer for most things.

Happy cooking!

@QMS I get lots of tips online.
Learning how to cook pre-internet was such a damn process!
Cajun food is fascinating, isn't it? I used to drive over to Lafayette for weekends just to eat. We shopped at a small butcher shop and would bring home several lbs. of boudin.
I am jealous of your big kitchen.

while working the tugboats out of Louisiana.
Usually had a cajun cook on board and would watch,
listen and learn. Before that it was a mess kit and a back
pack, whatever I could carry.

Before that, while in kindergarten, I would watch a cooking show
while waiting for the bus. Some woman from Lansing whipping up
good eats. The rest is just trial and error. Many cookbooks and recipes online.
Having a big kitchen (20' x 30') helps, along with tons of cooking utensils.

Almost everything is an experiment, most good.

@Jen is from the '50's. I have to handle it with care. I still use it occasionally when I am unsure how long a particular cut of meat might take to roast.
I have to rework recipes around milk and eggs. I avoid them when possible.
Substituting a beloved ingredient for something a recipe calls for is part of the fun, isn't it?

My mother can only cook a few things well. I grew up on hot dogs, mac & cheese, apple butter sandwiches, pizza, and spaghetti. So, when I had kids, I had to learn a few things.

The two things I most proud of learning to make are lasagna and meatloaf. I got the main recipe for meatloaf in an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. But the cookbook said to add onions and bell peppers and I will not touch anything with either of those things in it. Since I refused to add onions and peppers, I had to figure out something else to add to give it flavor. I chose worcestershire sauce without ever having tasted it before. To this day, my meatloaf still has worcestershire sauce instead of onions and peppers. I also learned that if I roll it into balls, it cooks quicker. So, I guess you could call them meatloaf balls.

I made that meatloaf when I stayed with my parents for a little while before my dad passed. When I added the milk and eggs, my mom asked me why I put milk and eggs in it. That was when I realized why her meatloaf sucked. She told me that I should teach her how to cook. Then she wanted to read the ingredients in the worcestershire sauce. She wouldn't even try it after she read that.

I figured out the lasagna on my own. Only thing is, I added cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Happiest accident ever. My kids and I will only eat lasagna if it has cottage cheese now - no ricotta for us.

@Nastarana Also, I live in a remote, rural area, pretty far from quality restaurants. I had that reason to just learn how to cook.

in their own families and neighborhoods as good cooks, as was my MIL. I learned a lot from watching them. My mother was too impatient to be a good cook, but she kept a huge garden and we always had fresh fruit and veges. I really learned to cook when my girls were born and I decided that if we couldn't afford anything else but rent and utilities, they were going to have home cooked meals. I scoured thrift stores for cheap cookbooks and looked for recipes which used a small number of basic ingredients and that kids would eat. Pasta alfredo, renamed 'noodles' was a particular favorite.

@studentofearth getting into competition with the cousins' dishes at the grandparent's Golden Wedding Anniversary! Lol!
True story, my mom did the cooking at that very event, with other family members bringing the desserts. All I did was play the piano. Opened the festivities with the Anniversary Waltz.
My brother was taught how to clean and cook fish. Any animals Dad or my brother killed when hunting were given to poor people around town. That was their purpose for hunting.

My parents bought my younger sister and I some Easy Bake Oven mixes and baking kit to share, my sixth, Christmas. They could not afford the oven so we had to compromise and use Mom's. We had been pestering her in the kitchen to let us cook by ourselves without help. Learned to freelance cut those cakes in exact portions. Mom would always give the larger ones to my little sister or cousin.

Fourth grade 4-H cooking club learning simple recipes and competing at Fairs. Continued though advancing levels through 12th grade and added food preservation along the way. My Dad grew up a woodsman, freely shared adventures with his girls. The rule in our household was you caught it, you clean it, optional who cooked it. My Mom grew, gathered and preserved all types of fruits and vegetables, while we helped.

Eventually I graduated to most competitive and imaginative competition, family gatherings. I am still amazed at the variety and quality of food on the table created by individuals of limited means. The bowl of freshly picked blueberries, accompanied with fresh whip cream by a Great Aunt was hard to beat no matter the skill or unusual dish.

Now most of the time I adjust my cooking style to how large a prep area and number of dishes I want to clean-up.

@mimi African cooking...I bought a roasted ear of corn slathered up with butter while in Nairobi. The guide had the van driver pull over at a fire pit beside the highway. He had said, you don't buy from just any vendor, just the ones he said were ok.
I have tried a dozen times to grill an ear of corn like that, and haven't come close to the texture and taste of that wondrous thing from Nairobi.
Africa! I need to go back one day.

eat, was not what the Mister ate.

My fist visit in his student housing room: He got 'Quark' (a soft fresh cheese, something that is not offered in US stores), I got a tomato. He asked how on earth I could eat a raw (uncooked) tomato and I asked him How on earth he could eat 'Quark' with cherry jam.

So, I started to cook tomatoes and he stopped eating quark with cherry jam. And so it goes on to African style cooking later on.

Basically I learned to cook, because I had to...