People ever give you a hard time about...

[PlymouthRocker]

Quote:
Well, if you want to get together to compare notes, I would be happy to do so. I suspect you would be the teacher in most things, though, as I'm new to chickens. When I was a kid we butchered chickens, but that was a long time ago. My 7 year old could cook her own dinner tonight if she had to, and when she doesn't like what I've made, that's exactly what she does.

 

[the simple life]

We should get together sometime, as soon as this flu and virus season is finally over.
I have had 3 of the kids sick in the past two weeks and now I have strep throat, not a fun month.
I always tell my kids the same thing, if you don't like what I make then make your own because I cook one dinner, I don't run a diner.
I taught my oldest son how to cook a big holiday dinner and he is the one that gets up and puts the turkey in the oven early in the morning on the holidays too.
I told him I don't want him to be one of these guys that can't cook anything and its all on his wife's shoulders some day. He needs to share that responsibility.

 

[fitzy]

Quote:
Like your husband, my sister used to take leftovers to work and people would drool over my mom's pork chops and scalloped potatoes. Who makes homemade scalloped potatoes anymore?

When I was in college 20 years ago, everyone in the dorm called me "Grandma" because I cooked meals from scratch and they cooked from a box. At Thanksgiving 1988 I made a turkey and all of the fixings for our floor, and most of the girls gagged when I told them how I cleaned out the inside of the bird before roasting, telling me they would NEVER do that. They had no idea how to make dressing or pie or potatoes from a real potato. But after Thanksgiving they all wanted to pool grocery money with me and teach them how to cook. I thought, "Your mom should have taught you that." It was strange being "Grandma" when this was normal.

My 7-year old has learned to cook and bake, and unfortunately has learned how to defend her food to the kids who "yuck her yum." I told her, "Do you like our homemade soup?" (She chops the carrots, garlic and hamsteak for our potato soup.) She says YES. "Then who cares if (NAME) doesn't? They are eating it. You are." It's early to teach her this, but she'll be ahead of the curve when bullied later.

Okay, don't laugh, but i'd never (to my knowledge) eaten a hamsteak until 2 nights ago. We bought our first pig this year and when the guy asked how i wanted it processed, i had no idea......i just said gimme all the bacon possible and do what you do with the rest. well, besides the expected bacon, sausage and porkchops we got a lot of hamsteaks. When my wife asked me how to cook them, i just said season it and chuck it on the grill......i was amazed how much it tasted like a normal steak. anyway, you mentioned using them in your soup and that sounded like a good idea for leftovers. can you send me your recipe?

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Me! I make homemade just about everything.

Quote:
I don't think it's early at all. Good for you. I remember standing on a kitchen chair to reach the stove to cook pancakes when I was little. I feel like I was born knowing how to make cornbread from scratch.

I taught my son to cook, he started young, too. When he left home and had a houseful of room-mates, he was the only person in the house who knew how to cook. Therefor, he usually ate for free. They all chipped in and paid for the food, he cooked it. He had to do the shopping though, they had no idea how to select a roast, or what to buy to make mashed potatoes, etc. Once in a while he'd call home and say, "Hey Ma, refresh my memory, what all do you put in your beans?" or whatever he wanted to cook. I'd tell him, he'd say, "Ok, cool, got it!" and then go cook a kick-ass dinner.

 

[HLAC]

Back when I was in my early 20's, I worked at a bank with several other women in their 20's. We often talked food and I was amazed that some of them had no idea how to take a raw vegetable or whole chicken and turn it into a dinner. Most wouldn't even buy a whole chicken because they had no idea how to cut it up.

Most amusing discussion: I mentioned to one of the girls that I worked part time at a gamebird farm, processing pheasants, chukar and turkeys. I mentioned the scalder, the plucker and the basic set up. When she asked what the plucker did... I said it plucked off the feathers. When she asked what we did with the skin.. I said we just left it on the birds. She looked absolutely horrified. I was confused. I said it wasn't any different than a store bought chicken. She said "but with the skin still on!" I said store bought chickens still have the skin on... unless you bought skinless cuts... which is why they're called 'skinless'. She was in disbelief. I explained that those little holes in the skin of a chicken are where the feathers go. She changed shades of green. She weakly swore she'd never eat the skin of a chicken again. She was just mortified that she had actually eaten bird skin.

She was a product of our hands-off food chain. Sweet girl, but clueless.

-Christine

 

[3KillerBs]

Quote:
I created this tutorial when I discovered that quite a few experienced cooks -- people who tackled beef wellington and knew about all sorts of exotic ingredients from around the world that I'd never heard of -- didn't know how to cut up a chicken.

http://www.recipezaar.com/How-to-Cut-up-a-Chicken-232601

I taught my 15yo DD that this week. I'm doing an 8-week unit for her homeschooling on cooking.

 

[PlymouthRocker]

Quote:
I will not laugh. Ham in any form is my kid's favorite protein, followed closely by pork chops, chicken, bacon, steak, shrimp, salmon and scallops.

She's gonna be 8 at the end of the month and just hit 50 pounds after 3 years of weighing 49 pounds. But she eats mostly homemade food with less fat than processed food.

I PMd you the recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

 

[PlymouthRocker]

Quote:
Me! I make homemade just about everything.

Quote:
I don't think it's early at all. Good for you. I remember standing on a kitchen chair to reach the stove to cook pancakes when I was little. I feel like I was born knowing how to make cornbread from scratch.

I taught my son to cook, he started young, too. When he left home and had a houseful of room-mates, he was the only person in the house who knew how to cook. Therefor, he usually ate for free. They all chipped in and paid for the food, he cooked it. He had to do the shopping though, they had no idea how to select a roast, or what to buy to make mashed potatoes, etc. Once in a while he'd call home and say, "Hey Ma, refresh my memory, what all do you put in your beans?" or whatever he wanted to cook. I'd tell him, he'd say, "Ok, cool, got it!" and then go cook a kick-ass dinner.

Oh, I hope my daughter finds a situation like this! HOW COOL!!

 

[M To The Maxx]

Quote:
I am one of those people sometimes.

But now I look at it this way too. A bird is born and raised and has to kick the bucket sometime. Why not on a dinner plate to support your family? That is how I think of it now.

 

[PlymouthRocker]

Quote:
Whoa. This is quite a story. Beats my story of when I worked with a woman in her mid-30s in the early 1990s. I thought she was clueless. They place where we worked had sent out all of the curtains for dry cleaning and they laid in a pile on a desk for a couple of days. I said, "Let's put these back up!" She totally thought I was brilliant for knowing how to put the wire curtain hook in a pinch pleat and then putting the hook in the rod.