# What was the first dish you learned to cook?



## 4meandthem (Sep 24, 2010)

I am pretty sure mine was Fettucini Alfredo.

I did a lot of cooking for my parents and little sister when I was in High School.Step Mom was a crappy cook (still is) and I liked to eat. (still do)

We did fine dining well though! Just not often enough!


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 24, 2010)

"Dish" as in an entree or the first thing I ever cooked?


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## DaveSoMD (Sep 24, 2010)

The first one I remember cooking on my own is an orange chicken and mushroom dish that was in one of those recipe files my Mom used to have back in the 70's.  (Of course she through out the file last year just before I thought to ask her to find the card for me)

I used to help with cookie baking at christmas and I was the grill-person in the summers but that is the first "dish" I can remember making.


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## Andy M. (Sep 24, 2010)

I don't remember.  Not even the littlest clue.  

Unless you count chocolate chip pancakes I used to make for the girls when they were little.


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## Kayelle (Sep 24, 2010)

The first dish I ever made from a recipe was a Cheese Souffle' from my mother's cookbook.  Why I chose something so difficult as a first recipe, I'll never know, but it turned out *fabulous.*  I was only about 10 yrs old, and had no help at all with it.  My parents thought I was a culinary genius or something.  I think that first success was the foundation for my love of cooking. As most of us know, nothing promotes good cooking like the praise of those we love.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 24, 2010)

First thing I ever cooked, oatmeal.

I've been cooking since I could drag a chair to the stove.  I'm sure it was chicken or goulash.  First meal I did on my own was for Thanksgiving, Mom was sick, I took it over so we could have the meal we planned.  I had been watching it all for years...I was 12.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 24, 2010)

Fried bacon with fried eggs cooked in and basted with bacon grease, all with toast, jelly, and a glass of milk.  

First creative dish - Canned sardines, dipped in egg wash and dredged in uncooked farina (cream of wheat), then fried in cooking oil.  I thought it tasted great.  My parents got home and asked what that terrible smell was.  That was at about 12 years of age, and I've been cooking crazy things ever since.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## 4meandthem (Sep 24, 2010)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> "Dish" as in an entree or the first thing I ever cooked?


 

Either way or both!


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## forty_caliber (Sep 24, 2010)

There are some pretty amazing stories here.  Thanksgiving dinner at 12.  A souffle at 10.  Seems like people taking care of their family is the common thread.  Chef's hat off to all of you!

I grew up learning how to grill steaks and smoke briskets and ribs.  Common everyday fare on the Llano Estacado out in west Texas. 

.40


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 24, 2010)

Love is food...or food is love!  Or even, I love food!


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## Selkie (Sep 24, 2010)

Scout badge - (age 7): Fried Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Peas, Blackberries with sauce on Ice Cream.


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## Barbara L (Sep 24, 2010)

The first thing I made was chocolate pudding. It was from a box and was the kind you cook, since they didn't even have instant pudding then. I think I was 13 or 14, and I decided to surprise my family with it.  I wanted to express myself and be creative, so I added walnuts and marshmallows to it. My first meal was hamburger stew. I was around the same age, and my mom told me the steps as I made it. The first time she had made it was in the Girl Scouts.  I still make it a couple times a year.  

Barbara


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## letscook (Sep 25, 2010)

baked chicken I think or cookies- I started cooking when I was about 10 -12 yrs old. Alway was in the kitchen w/ my mom and probably got under foot and she gave me something to do.


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## Zhizara (Sep 25, 2010)

My first dish was an attempt to make a Hamburger Helper type of meal using cream of soup, hamburger, onion and macaroni or egg noodles.  Depending of the type of soup, I seasoned it with sour cream (mushroom soup) for stroganoff, or Italian seasoning (tomato soup).

It was tasty and easy so I tried all different combinations.  We just called it goop!


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## Katie H (Sep 25, 2010)

I started cooking, out of necessity, for my family when I was 8-years-old and can't honestly remember the first thing I cooked.  Been at it ever since.

All along the way, though, I baked many, many cakes, cookies and pies since my siblings and my father all had the biggest sweet tooth/teeth in the universe.

Guess one of the favorites my youngest brother still talks about and requests is my potato soup.


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## Andy M. (Sep 25, 2010)

Andy M. said:


> I don't remember.  Not even the littlest clue.
> 
> Unless you count chocolate chip pancakes I used to make for the girls when they were little.



I guess the memories are buried a little deeper so take longer for me to bring them to the surface.

After thinking about this for a bit, I have to say I still don't remember what was first.  I can tell you that I regularly cooked as a Boy Scout on camping trips.  That was usually basic stuff.  Meat on a skewer, baked potato in the coals, etc.  On special occasions, we'd roast a chicken on a spit over an open fire.  Those are my earliest memories.

We did discover that we couldn't fry an egg on aluminum foil over an open fire.

At home, Mom started me cooking by having me make a cake mix for dessert ("If you want dessert, make it yourself".  I always wanted dessert).


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## 4meandthem (Sep 25, 2010)

Andy M. said:


> I guess the memories are buried a little deeper so take longer for me to bring them to the surface.
> 
> After thinking about this for a bit, I have to say I still don't remember what was first. I can tell you that I regularly cooked as a Boy Scout on camping trips. That was usually basic stuff. Meat on a skewer, baked potato in the coals, etc. On special occasions, we'd roast a chicken on a spit over an open fire. Those are my earliest memories.
> 
> ...


 
I didn't get to be in the scouts! My big brother did! I went to one of his meetings and beat up the scout leaders kid.I don't remember why but that was the the extent of my scouting.I know I missed out!I was probabaly 7 or 8.


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## retiredguy (Sep 27, 2010)

Polish style pigs in the blanket...just last year. Never, ever cooked before except for heating up things. I really think being in the kitchen is fascinating especially cleaning up things in the kitchen when things are cooking.

Growing up we called them gowomkies(sp)<--- and that would be spelling it the way I say it.

Yes they are labor intensive but us retired guys got to find indoor things to do when it raining.


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## LPBeier (Sep 27, 2010)

I don't think this will be of any surprise to anyone - cake 


....no really!  The first thing I learned to make was a lazy daisy (or hot milk) cake.  I guess the rest is history!


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## DMerry (Sep 27, 2010)

Eggs fried overeasy in a CI skillet at 8.


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## Barbara L (Sep 27, 2010)

LPBeier said:


> I don't think this will be of any surprise to anyone - cake
> 
> 
> ....no really!  The first thing I learned to make was a lazy daisy (or hot milk) cake.  I guess the rest is history!


I figured your first cake was a wedding cake for Barbie and Ken. 

I think it is great that you started making cakes so young!  You sure make some nice ones now!

Barbara


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## JGDean (Sep 27, 2010)

Spaghetti sauce and/or cinnamon toast


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## Caslon (Sep 28, 2010)

My avatar!


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## buckytom (Sep 28, 2010)

i'd have to say it was grilling over coals from a campfire as a boy scout. and geez does that bring back a bad memory. 

i remember a particular camping trip on sandy hook island where a cold october rain soaked us for the entire three days. the wind was so bad that it whipped up the wet sand, stinging your face and getting into everything, making it even more uncomfortable.

but the worst part was that, for some ungodly reason,  we brought chicken to grill instead of the usual burgers and hot dogs.

since everything was soaked and the wind fierce, we could barely keep a fire going, even inside one of the old bunkers that used to house huge cannons which protected ny harbor during the second world war.

undaunted, we still tried to cook the chicken. after an hour over what little fire we could produce, the chicken "looked" done, and we were starving so everyone just grabbed a piece and chowed down.

on burnt but mostly raw chicken, covered in sand. 

i'm amazed that no one got sick from it. all of that wet sand must have killed off the salmonella, lol.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 28, 2010)

I forgot my Easy-Bake Oven...must have been cake on a light bulb!


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## Caslon (Sep 28, 2010)

buckytom said:


> i'd have to say it was grilling over coals from a campfire as a boy scout. and geez does that bring back a bad memory.




Not me.
I was 12 years old...cooking a midnight snack of toast from a little foldable sterno stove from a sleeping bag in a clear plastic made tube tent halfway thru a 2 day 30 mile Boy Scout hike.
Toast tastes good in the woods when you cook it yourself.  I learned that.


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## JGDean (Sep 28, 2010)

*Me Too*



PrincessFiona60 said:


> I forgot my Easy-Bake Oven...must have been cake on a light bulb!


 
Oh yeah, me too. Probably chocolate cake for my granpaw. He always carried on so: saying he never tasted anything so good!


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## jabbur (Sep 28, 2010)

I wanted an easy bake oven so bad but Mom just taught me how to use the real thing instead.  The first thing I remember making on my own, I must have been around 9 or 10.  I got a kid's cookbook and made the meatloaf recipe.  Had mashed potatoes and green beans with it.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 28, 2010)

jabbur said:


> I wanted an easy bake oven so bad but Mom just taught me how to use the real thing instead. The first thing I remember making on my own, I must have been around 9 or 10. I got a kid's cookbook and made the meatloaf recipe. Had mashed potatoes and green beans with it.


 
LOL!  When I got the Easy Bake Oven, my mother could only bake.  She knew how to cook goulash and baked chicken.  It wasn't until i got my hands on a cookbook that the fun started and our menu widened.  Mom was glad to give up the reins, she still hates to cook.


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## betterthanabox (Sep 28, 2010)

When I was little like 4 or 5 I made this "tea" by mixing all of my Nana's spices together with 2 tea bags. It made this really pretty ruby color. I don't think it was very good. But my Nana did try it.

Joy


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## Matt Kay (Sep 28, 2010)

JGDean said:


> Spaghetti sauce and/or cinnamon toast



Probably this.  I don't really remember since I started pretty young.  Might have been a boxed cake, tuna salad or jello if you count that as cooking.


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## luvs (Sep 28, 2010)

actual dinner was tuna-noodle casserole; other than that, i was in that kitch most days from my earliest days


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 29, 2010)

Matt Kay said:


> Probably this. I don't really remember since I started pretty young. Might have been a boxed cake, tuna salad or jello if you count that as cooking.


 
Turning on the stove or cutting things up counts as cooking.  Sometimes, even dialing the phone for delivery counts as cooking, if who washes the dishes has a bearing on the matter.


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## Matt Kay (Sep 29, 2010)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Turning on the stove or cutting things up counts as cooking.  Sometimes, even dialing the phone for delivery counts as cooking, if who washes the dishes has a bearing on the matter.



If dialing for delivery counts then I'm practically an executive chef!  I'm really good at it.


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## Barbara (Sep 29, 2010)

I can't remember if I had an easy bake oven or my girlfriend did - we had such fun with it though.

My firsts - cinnamon toast, rice pudding, meatloaf, creamed something on toast - can't be sure but hard boiled eggs & white sauce (Penny's in a can - yuk)


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 29, 2010)

Matt Kay said:


> If dialing for delivery counts then I'm practically an executive chef! I'm really good at it.


 
Only an Executive Chef if you have all the delivery numbers memorized!


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## Warren G Wonka (Sep 30, 2010)

*scrambled eggs*

The first cooking I remember was constantly stirring the pudding or gravy or white sauce for my mom until it thickened.  

I was cooking bacon and scrambling eggs for myself very early, and I remember I'd get up early Sunday morning and bake a coffee cake from scratch while my folks were still in bed.

For an entree, I learned how to cut up and poach a chicken from Julia Child, a recipe I still use.


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## Barbara (Sep 30, 2010)

Impressive start.


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## allmixedup (Sep 30, 2010)

My mother was always a good cook/baker & liked to have the kitchen to herself.  I had a bit of a weight problem as a young teen and the thing that comes to mind is a healthy turkey chili.  It turned out REALLY good & I was finally taking control of what I ate


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## joesfolk (Sep 30, 2010)

The first thing I remember cooking was either boiled eggs or mashed potatoes.  One of my brothers loosened the cap on the salt and as a result the potatoes were wretched.  As for the egg, well it was probably still on the ceiling of the kitchen when they torn the house down.  I forgot it was boiling and it exploded.  Mom never taught me a thing about cooking but she was not a good cook, always hated it.  But in her defense she did bake well.


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## jackjonson (Oct 1, 2010)

*Pasta alla Carbonara*

Well my story about the first dish I cooked makes me laughing still nowadays! I was 18, i was watching with my grandmother a show on tv! She used always cook for us when my mum was out for working. 

But that evening she said" Oh boy you must cook tonight, you can drive, you go to college, you have a girlfriend...you have to learn!"

I started with pasta alla carbonara because my granny was italian...

i did all of my best! Today I'm a chef! Thanks to my unforgetable grandmother!


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## Moon Flower (Oct 1, 2010)

Omellete. Mum showed me and I made a hash of it. She said try again. The second time, one side was a bit cremated. 

Mum then gave me a wonderful book to read called An Omellete and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David. She said in it, was how to make Omellete Moliere which she learnt when she was 12. Standing beside me at the stove, Mum encouraged me. It was perfect. I then made her one and felt really good.


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