On Jul 12, 2:39*pm, "Kswck" > wrote:
> Parent, other family member, friend? Or did you have to learn on your own?
>
> Mom boiled every veggie to death. Figure ALL pork must be cooked in a fry
> pan covered with mustard and sauerkraut, till it's dead, beef so rare it
> would moo and chicken ONLY in a pressure cooker, or Shake-N-Bake.
> (Don't get me started on her soups-she believed food was to keep you
> alive...taste? 'You want that too? Why?').
>
> Learned on my own.

Mom cared more about taste and texture than that but didn't have much
skill. I learned the basics from the two ladies who ran the school
cafeteria where I had a succession of jobs, and from the short order
cooks at a couple of joints where I worked during college. Then Julia
showed me how to appreciate and try to achieve more than the basics,
Jacques taught me techniques from his shows and his books, Jeff Smith
widened my culinary horizons even further. More than from all of them
I learned techniques and ingredients for Chinese food from my Chinese
uncle whom the rest of the family considered the best cook of them
all. He was actually an organic chemist whose work included crafting
scents and perfumes but cooking was his favorite hobby. The other
night I was lightly browning some dry flour in a skillet in order to
darken it for a sauce I was going to make and had to smile because I
remembered my uncle telling me, "you don't have to do this but the
result will be better even if no one else knows why." -aem