Earliest ages of memorable cooks?

Post little league baseball games. Often ended late. Fried bologna sandwiches. Bologna cooked in cast iron. I now have possession of that skillet. It spins. But I have it almost more nonstick than Teflon. It was the hardest save of all my cast iron. It was terrible when I got it. We had grilled hamburgers and real French frys every Saturday watching the Jackie Gleason show. We had a Veg-O-Matic to process frys. My uncle had an Old Hickory and what he could do with that will put a modern day food processor to shame
ATTST- it’s not so much the foods (although great) as the tools

I was 5, at a party. People were around the grill. I was stull learning to ride my bike and was told don't ride by the grill. On one of my passes around the grill, I fell over and caught myself with my hand against the grill.

Food, though, I was 8 or 9 and my dad made burgers and hotdogs on the grey, kettle grill, with sauce. I also remember being 10 or 11 and having smoked chicken at my grandpas.

Not many memorable cooks growing up but every Christmas my Mom would bake a chit-ton of meat pies (tourtiere). Usually Christmas eve day or the day before, last minute anyhow. All pork, probably about 18 pies. That kept our family of 5 going through to the new year. We had them for breakfast, lunch, dinner too. It really cut down on the cooking of meals for the week. I still make the same recipe to this day every year and never get tired of them. Well, it is only once a year I guess, lol.

As for myself, I can only think of when I was striking out on my own after university, left home, had an apartment halfway across the country with a bbq area outside that no one ever used. I used to buy bone in blade steaks on sale and go out and grill them after work with some diced potatoes in foil. I thought they were the best steaks ever. I still can't replicate those things or even find them bone-in anymore. That was some good eats!

My mom and dad divorced when I was maybe 7yrs old. I remember going to Dad's house on the weekends and he bought those cheap tripod grills. It was like a tray table with the flimsy legs but had a grill for a top. I remember one time he grilled some snapping turtle meat and I thought it was the best ever. It was blazing hot and sweet but soo good. I was probably 10yrs old.

My Grandfather was a Jax and Falstaff man...., he also taught all the boys in the family how to hunt, and fish, butcher wild game and hogs, and barbecue as far back as I can remember. We had a big brick pit at the ranch. The front was for grilling or burning down coals, the rear was the smoker.



Another view of the same brick pit in the background. I'm the one in the cowboy hat which explains my lack of recall in the early years. :mrgreen:

For me it would be trips to eastern okla for deer camp. We’d be there a week or so and my grandpa and family friends would cook deer, beef, pork, you name it, over a backhoe dug pit of pecan and post oak with a piece of expanded metal over it. Kept the fire (and bourbon) going pretty much 24/7.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro