How Old Were You When You Started Cooking?

[Anonymous No.4611033]

Was reading about this 9 year old who won a national cooking competition with vegan pesto pasta, and is going to the White House to meet Mrs. Obama...and it got me thinking: How good would I be at cooking if I had started at 9?

I think most of us are late bloomers here, we only start cooking because we're bachelors, want to save money, or whatever. Did /ck/ have interest in cooking as a kid?

Link related: http://www.mfablog.org/2013/06/adorable-nine-year-olds-vegan-recipe-wins-him-a-trip-to-the-white-house.html

[Anonymous No.4611039]

>gluten-free pasta

That contest is bullshit and everyone involved is bullshit.

[MOMO !!A8BrPmZzO+j No.4611046]

mfw i was already capable of making instant noodles when i was 3

[Anonymous No.4611048]

>>4611039
If a gluten-free recipe doesn't taste just as good as the wheat version, then it's because the person has no idea how to cook gluten-free food. I gorge myself on wheat, because fuck it I'm not allergic, but some of the best baking and pasta recipes I've tried were gluten-free.

[Anonymous No.4611057]

>>4611046
I am 27 and still fuck up instant soup :(

[Anonymous No.4611089]

I was about 6 or 7. Started off the same way most bachelors do. Scrambled eggs, toast, ramen. Best thing I ever made on a regular basis back then? Maruchan instant cup o' noodles w/ hot sauce, vinegar and lime. Hey I was in third grade, give me a break.

[Anonymous No.4611108]

My parents would leave me ingredients to cook with and leave me alone in the house all day before I was old enough to reach the stove so I learned how to cook from baking where I pretty much just threw the ingredients on a baking sheet. When I was older, there would be the occasional cooking class at school, where I would learn how to make desserts, so I learned how to bake both out of necessity and for pleasure. When I grew older, the oven broke and we never got it replaced so I started using the stove at about fourteen. I also started grocery shopping at this age and I would just buy ingredients that I'd figure would go well together. I've pretty much been cooking all my life, minus five or so years, though I have to say, I only started getting good at making meals at about nineteen.

[Anonymous No.4611116]

Preparing food with help: 3 years old.
Either mum, my nanny or my sister measured out all the ingredients for salad dressing and my job was to put them into the jar, screw on the lid and shake it together. We eat salad daily in our culture and with freshly made dressing.

Preparing food with supervision: 5 years old.
I began doing the measurements on my own, but with mum, nanny or sis watching.

Cooking simple food with supervision: 7 years old.
Mum showed me how to fry a bull's eye egg. I fried one, too, but broke the yolk. No big deal, though, I got it right on the next try. We eat fried eggs with eggs for dipping straight out of tiny, individual frying pans.

Cooking somewhat complex food with supervision: 7 or 8 years old.
Corn chowder. Butter. Flour. Onions. Frozen corn. Milk. Salt. Pepper. Onion grass (that's what it would translate to in English).

Cooking complex meals with supervision: 8 or 9 years old.
The first complete meal I cooked was a roasted a leg of lamb dinner with potatoes, a side of Neapolitan-style mushy peas (with onions, eggs and bacon) and a side of crisp-fried mushrooms. I needed help getting the roast into and out of the oven, as I was a weak child.

Cooking complex meals alone: 9 years old, dead on.
I already got most of the basics necessary to prepare our native cuisine as well as to prepare Filipino cuisine (my nanny was Pinoy). Surprisingly enough, I never cut myself before reaching adulthood, though I did spill blisteringly hot (literally) cabbage risotto all over my arm while moving a serving plate from the counter to the table. There were other burns, too.

[Anonymous No.4611134]

12, I taught myself to cook so that I wouldn't have to eat my parents cooking

[Anonymous No.4611143]

>>4611134
Maximum lel.

[Anonymous No.4611192]

I didn't cook anything completely by myself as a kid, no one would trust me with knives or the stove I bet, but I helped out. Even in kindergarten we all made soup and rice together, learning how to cut the vegetables, steam the rice, etc. Was a lot of fun.

[Anonymous No.4611255]

That kid's dish looks pretty good, but since the competition was for healthy foods I imagine it being vegan gave him the upperhand.

[Anonymous No.4611301]

I started cooking when I wasn't supervised anymore, around 10y. Mostly melting cheese and adding sausage or bacon. Gruesome stuff.

[Anonymous No.4611302]

I learned to poach an egg at 17 by reading instructions online. I could also make jell-o.

>get on my level

[Anonymous No.4611306]

Her mother sure is milking her well.

[Anonymous No.4611332]

My father imigrated when I was 15~16 to Switzerland, and because my mom work on shifts (6h00 to 14h00 or 14h00 to 22h00) She wasn't home to prepare on of the meals.

At the time I was able to do rice and other basic shit, but eventuallly I got tired or eating pasta and fishsticks everyday so I started cooking

[Anonymous No.4611358]

So apparently the #1 motivation for learning how to cook is having parents who suck at cooking.

[Anonymous No.4611404]

>>4611358
Eh, my parents taught me everything I know about cooking. I'm not a good cook either, though.

[Anonymous No.4611440]

Are the kids of chefs usually good at cooking, or do they suck since their parents make them everything?

[Anonymous No.4611549]

I was around 12 when I started cooking on my own. And you know why I wanted to do it? Because of THIS FUCKING BOOK RIGHT HERE.

[Anonymous No.4611666]

>>4611549
Haha, nice book.

[Anonymous No.4611693]

I wanted to be a chef since elementary school, and even at that age I cooked ambitious things like baguettes all by myself. I would always tell people I wanted to be a "famous chef" when I grew up. In middle school, we had to draw a picture detailing a person we would want to spend the day with; I picked Emeril Lagasse, and I wanted to go to the store and pick out herbs with him. Only until recently was when I discovered how unglamorous and plebe the job of a chef really was.

Someone at a wedding recently told me that I should go through with it anyway, because a job you love isn't really a job at all. At a janitor's salary, though, I don't think it's worth it.

[Anonymous No.4611707]

>>4611440
my father was a chef.

when I was really young, he would make dinner all the time in order to introduce me to new flavours, so I would have a good idea of what food should taste like.

when I was like 6, they were divorced and I lived with my mom, but visited my dad on weekends. he weekends were my favourite because I got to have great food, visit my father and he taught me a few things about food.

I turned 15, I got a job and would buy fresh meats at the butcher, vegetables from a farmers market etc.

at 19 I started working at my father's restaurant. now I have my own restaurant.


so yeah. having a chef for a dad was a good influence.

[Anonymous No.4611727]

My mother was a chef and my grandmother owned a restaurant, so I was cooking most of my life.

[Anonymous No.4611805]

>>4611727
Did they make you do prep work for free, child labor style?