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To all the COOKS here where or who taught you the magic of the man stoves

powerboatr

powerboatr

Professional
Its pretty apparent we have many folks here that like to cook with the grill, smoker, crockpots, or any other device
my question is who or how did you learn the magic of the grill, smoke etc?

As a kid i never cooked
once i joined the Navy as an airdale, i was deployed on small ships and we had steel beach picnics just about every Sunday while at sea to break up the whole being at sea thing
after my first deployment, part of my pack was deep sea fishing gear.

Since the picnic took place on our flight deck, most of us in the air det became defacto grill setup and cook folks
i learned many good recipes for chickens, beef and yes the lonely hotdog. and occasional fresh fish we landed
grill swordfish and grouper are out of this world.

anywho
as i progressed in rank and kept deploying, i was afforded on weekends via the CPO mess that we would take over the mess decks on sat or sun when weather precluded the flight deck.
so all us chiefs would cook for the crew a lunch or supper to build the camaraderie and small ships are more like family anyway.
got great a grilling steaks on a flat iron under a pan lid with garlic and butter
omelettes etc


so now i cook almost 80% of the time. try out new recipes all the time
i find it relaxing and rewarding when my family is silent because they cant eat it fast enough or put down the burgers

good bbq is no sauce required .
 

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I've never minded cooking, know my way about the kitchen enough to eat reasonably well, with most skills gleaned from my Mother. My wonderful wife is a chef, and a Certified Executive Pastry Chef to boot. I've learned so much from her, some I'm certain by pure osmosis, it's frightening! She's a fantastic provider and instructor.
 
Learned some cooking from my Dad, who learned from his mother. Mainly stovetop and oven cooking/baking. My main dish is sausage gravy and biscuits. Still have to learn how to make biscuits, hate cheating with store bought. My wife and I moved from around Tampa up here to Jacksonville. She bought me an Oklahoma Joe 3n1 smoker/grill. That was Christmas of 2018. I have been learning smoking ever since. To be honest, I prefer cooking over coals and wood versus propane. Been trying to hone my smoking skills ever since.
 
While I got a degree in restaurant mgt (BS), most real-world cooking I learned trial and error. Just like anything, research what you want to cook, go buy your stuff, follow the recipe, then modify as you go to suit your taste. Having recently divorced, I do 100% of my cooking, although I did 95% prior to the divorce anyway...

Smoking is a whole different animal. One "choice" brisket can be WAY different than the next "choice" brisket from the same market. Now that briskets are pushing $15/lb (standard non-sale price) near me, I'm finding other meats these days...I'm searching for other reasonably-priced things to cook these days. Scallops were always a fav, but I saw a 2-lb frozen bag at my grocer for $60 2 weeks ago. Those prices cut into my ammo budget.
 
Mr.W. said:
I've never minded cooking, know my way about the kitchen enough to eat reasonably well, with most skills gleaned from my Mother. My wonderful wife is a chef, and a Certified Executive Pastry Chef to boot. I've learned so much from her, some I'm certain by pure osmosis, it's frightening! She's a fantastic provider and instructor.
Click to expand...
My wife would burn water if she tried to cook.
 
I like to cook never did start until late probably I was 50 years old I really enjoyed cooking. I have a propane grill , charcoal grill and a great pit boss smoker. I do 90%of the cooking . I learn by trial and error I pretty good at it now .
 

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I am more or less self-taught over more than 60 years. I grew up on a cattle ranch/feed lot. My Dad raised USDA prime beef. My Mom would take a prime steak and transform it into shoe leather so I had to learn to cook my own. I grilled things all my life but after my kida gave me a Big Green Egg as a retirement gift 12 years ago, it changed my life. I now have two BGE's and grill or smoke something 3-4 times a week. A have worked my way through the BGE cookbook and Adam Perry Lang's SERIOUS BARBECUE book. Mrs Greener baits our grandkids and kids out by telling them Papa is smoking something. Life is good.
 
I generally do about half the cooking. Pretty much am self taught I did no cooking before I got married. After we were married we worked different shifts, I worked day shift and went to college days and my wife went to college days and worked afternoon for close to 40 years.

So I usually cooked dinner and made enough for her to take the next day for her dinner. It was pretty interesting with my learning and experimentation. There were some glorious successes and magnificent failures. And a ton of, well at least it's edible. I got pretty good over time.

Now in our state of quiet retirement it's pretty much 50/50 who cooks. This weekend I cooked the steaks and she made the macaroni and potato salads.
 
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