Very excited to see a sub-forum for cooking enthusiasts here! Always eager to share ideas with the like-minded.
Anyhow, my wife and I are fans of Top Chef (except for 'Just Desserts'...too much drama
). One of its spin-offs, Top Chef Masters, has had a recurring challenge for the finale, asking the chefs to cook three dishes representing:
What got you all started on the culinary road? I suspect few of us are professional chefs, but I think we can all relate to at least the first two points.
To help things along, I suppose I'll get the ball rolling.
First Food Memory
When I spent the night with my late grandparents as a kid, my grandma would wake me up early in the morning, tell me to get dressed, and we'd go in with my grandpa to work--he was general manager for a local grocery. We'd go back to the bakery, and he'd buy me a couple of donuts (and a few for himself
). I'd sit chomping away while he and my grandma talked with his colleagues over coffee (often bragging about me, from what I was told later on). Afterward, I'd go back to their house and back to sleep.
Sometime later that morning, I'd be woken up by the smell of freshly prepared french toast. Moments later in came my grandma with a tray holding some drink (often chocolate milk
) and a plate full of the bready, eggy goodness. We'd then sit and eat and watch cartoons.
Instigating Dish(es)
I've got a few dishes that sit in this category. After having some mulligatawny at my then future in-laws in early college, I decided to search out something different to break out of a food rut (due to "boxed cooking"--paint by numbers recipes and boxed dishes like mac & cheese). I came upon curried coconut chicken, tried it out and was immediately impressed. Something clicked and, being a tinkerer by nature, I continued working on the dish (among others) while my future wife headed off to study abroad. However, coming home to an empty apartment after a long day of classes and work kinda takes the wind out of ones sails. I improved some recipes and techniques I knew, but didn't get too adventurous during that time.
When my semester break came, I visited my wife in Japan (her study location). During my visit I came across the donburi and loved it. Upon returning home, my options were a 1+ hour drive (at $15/bowl), or learning it myself. Several dozen eggs and a kitchen fire later (the true mark of cooking, no?
), and I can cook up a donburi with the best in the Midwest. The fire has been burning hot ever since.
Where are you now?
Not being a bona fide chef, I don't have any dishes that represent my "vision" for cooking. However, my current endeavors lay in perfecting my pancake recipe. I'm also considering taking up the battle against waffles yet again. My basic approach is just learning to prepare all of my favorite dishes well. Why pay (or beg, in family case) someone else to make it?
Anyhow, my wife and I are fans of Top Chef (except for 'Just Desserts'...too much drama
). One of its spin-offs, Top Chef Masters, has had a recurring challenge for the finale, asking the chefs to cook three dishes representing:- Their first food memory
- The dish that inspired them to become a chef
- A dish representing them as a chef today/in the future
What got you all started on the culinary road? I suspect few of us are professional chefs, but I think we can all relate to at least the first two points.
To help things along, I suppose I'll get the ball rolling.
First Food Memory
When I spent the night with my late grandparents as a kid, my grandma would wake me up early in the morning, tell me to get dressed, and we'd go in with my grandpa to work--he was general manager for a local grocery. We'd go back to the bakery, and he'd buy me a couple of donuts (and a few for himself
). I'd sit chomping away while he and my grandma talked with his colleagues over coffee (often bragging about me, from what I was told later on). Afterward, I'd go back to their house and back to sleep. Sometime later that morning, I'd be woken up by the smell of freshly prepared french toast. Moments later in came my grandma with a tray holding some drink (often chocolate milk
) and a plate full of the bready, eggy goodness. We'd then sit and eat and watch cartoons.Instigating Dish(es)
I've got a few dishes that sit in this category. After having some mulligatawny at my then future in-laws in early college, I decided to search out something different to break out of a food rut (due to "boxed cooking"--paint by numbers recipes and boxed dishes like mac & cheese). I came upon curried coconut chicken, tried it out and was immediately impressed. Something clicked and, being a tinkerer by nature, I continued working on the dish (among others) while my future wife headed off to study abroad. However, coming home to an empty apartment after a long day of classes and work kinda takes the wind out of ones sails. I improved some recipes and techniques I knew, but didn't get too adventurous during that time.
When my semester break came, I visited my wife in Japan (her study location). During my visit I came across the donburi and loved it. Upon returning home, my options were a 1+ hour drive (at $15/bowl), or learning it myself. Several dozen eggs and a kitchen fire later (the true mark of cooking, no?
), and I can cook up a donburi with the best in the Midwest. The fire has been burning hot ever since.Where are you now?
Not being a bona fide chef, I don't have any dishes that represent my "vision" for cooking. However, my current endeavors lay in perfecting my pancake recipe. I'm also considering taking up the battle against waffles yet again. My basic approach is just learning to prepare all of my favorite dishes well. Why pay (or beg, in family case) someone else to make it?
, in a cast iron skillet with Cream Gravy (add flour to some of the reserved oil to make a roux, cook [stirring well whip a whip], until the roux looks like peanut butter, add Chicken Stock to make your gravy and lastly add milk to finish). I remember being 8 or 9yrs old helping Mom while I stood on my little hocker / step-stool (Mother Dear won’t let me have it…as she put it…"Until the groundhogs start bringing me my mail"), in front of the stove making Southern Fried Chicken with Cream Gravy. 
