How did you learn to cook?

Trial & error. Cooking was never an interest of mine. I cook because I need to eat.

My mom was an excellent cook but never taught any of us or even wanted us under foot in the kitchen. I learned by trial and error, but still don’t really cook much. I like single ingredient eats... fruit, salad, rice, cheese and crackers, etc. I have a few go-to recipes but I don’t make them often. I live alone and don’t like eating the same thing over several meals. If I freeze portions I just end up tossing it out a year later.

I don’t have a sense of smell but my sense of taste is fine. (Did you know there is one cranial nerve behind the ability to smell, but three cranial nerves behind taste!)

I started out with basic one pot stuff, often featuring pasta and cream of mushroom soup, because the apartment was tiny and the kitchen had no counter space.

Four years ago, when my husband passed (he cooked very well) I decided I need to eat better and I also needed to learn how to prepare food with more flavor. I experimented with spices and learned they do nothing for me, except for hot ones I have no tolerance for. But there was still a lot I could do, and meals I cook for people with regular noses say they’re flavorful.

I was impressed by the TV show, The Taste, so for a while I tried for different textures and flavors in the same dish. Too much trouble to keep up when I’m scrambling in the evening, but I do like where I settled. Generally one large low heat saute with a lot worked into it, so healthy foods I might not have enjoyed or eaten by themselves are part of an overall mix.

I'm the same way with a new recipe, Jamie! You kind of have to try it as written the first time so you know what changes to make the next time, unless there's an obvious change to make right off the bat. If you don't like mushrooms and a recipe calls for mushrooms, you can omit them before even trying the recipe.

I tend to omit the salt from recipes because I'm used to not adding salt to my food so it doesn't take much for it to be too much.

I didn't....

I can follow a recipe ok but really have no common sense in the kitchen and I forget and burn things a lot.

I helped cook for longer than I can remember. I recall even before starting school my mom would let me roll dough and cut out biscuits using a plastic cup. Baked stuff was the limits of it until I got older beyond doing prep work stuff like snapping green beans, opening cans, etc. I was such a pesty child, resistance was futile, so she redirected my energy.