What dish did you first try your hand at when you were learning to cook? Simple enough question- the answers vary widely from foodie to foodie!
When Canadian food expert, author, cook and entrepreneur Dana McCauley asks "What did you first try making when you were learning to cook," she polled pals, foodies and industry insiders to come up with an array of hits and misses.
When she asked me, I turned my thoughts back to when I was a kid where every week, we could take out two new books. One week, the Betty Crocker Boys and Girls' Cookbook caught my eye- shiny, happy kids holding mixing bowls sporting their best smiles. I thought- "If these kids can cook, then why can't I?" And I REALLY needed to learn because with immigrant parents working double shifts and teen-aged siblings who had better things to do than make sure their kid sister was fed, I needed to start fending for myself.
It was a good lesson in survival 101 and I don't resent having had to learn to make the tastiest batch of cookies around, eventually graduating to meatloaf, roasted chicken, Colombian arepas and the like.
Here's what I wrote to Dana's question on her excellent blog:
• My forte at the tender age of seven was cookies from no less than The Betty Crocker’s Girls and Boys Cookbook. I recall oatmeal chocolate chip were a triumph, shortbreads were a flop (given that I subbed out butter for “Betty Lou” Margarine — some neon-yellow nightmare my parents thought was better for us!) I’d sit my Curious George stuffed monkey on the counter and speak to him in my best Julia Child-inflected warble. It was love at first mix!
To read what other pals had to say, click here. And by all means, let me know what you first mastered when you began pulling out the mixing bowls and pans!
