We loved reading the comments in last week’s post about favorite cookbooks. There were so many stories, not just about the cookbooks but where you got them, why they were your favorites and how you so lovingly shared the recipes with others.
Let’s continue the trip down memory lane and, this time, let’s get even more specific. For this week’s Kitchen Talk, we want to know:
What was the first recipe you ever mastered?
Every cooking enthusiast starts somewhere. My start came late, when I was in my twenties, so for me, the first recipe I truly mastered was kalbi, or Korean short ribs. (Apparently, I started late but I didn’t mess around.) It got to the point where my cousins would drop by the house 2 or 3 times a week for a midnight snack dinner of ribs, rice, and Caesar salad. My dad would get out of bed because of the commotion, find us all seated at the dinner table for a full meal at 12:30am, shake his head and go back to bed. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite things to make.
How about you? What was the first recipe you mastered, or the one that truly became your signature dish? Was it your mom’s recipe for pancakes? Cookies that everyone started asking you to make for them? Those ever-so-light biscuits you learned from your grandmother? Come tell us your story! And if you’ve posted the recipe here or elsewhere online, feel free to share the link, too!
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Bethany on 4.2.2014
From the time I was in my early teens, I was always in charge of making the pie crust recipe from the back of the Crisco tub. It was my mom’s standby, but I think she hated cutting in the shortening so she would assign it to me. As an adult, I’ve swapped shortening for butter, but I love that I got started making pies early enough that I’ve never been intimidated by the process.
Betsy on 4.2.2014
Chicken fajitas! I loved them, so my mom taught me how to chop and season the chicken and cook it in the skillet with the peppers and onions. I made them for a party in my Spanish class and was so proud. I need to go make those again!
Nancy B on 4.2.2014
My first recipe was Chili-Mac that we learned in Home EC. Over the years I adapted the spices, learned what cheeses melted best into it and then had to stop making it when I became vegan. There are many possibilities for replacement ingredients, like Dai-ya cheese shreds, quinoa for ground beef and quinoa pasta to replace the wheat I can’t eat. I just haven’t put it together yet.
Anne Weber-Falk on 4.2.2014
I was very much an adult and there were two that I mastered. Pizza and spaghetti sauce from scratch. They are both so good and people always ask when I’m serving them up.
Beckie on 4.2.2014
Probably as a teen, I made my mother’s sugar recipe. The original recipe came from a 1954 Children’s Highlights magazine. We loved the magazines and the cookies are still my favorite and my children’s favorites, also.
Lisa B on 4.2.2014
Chocolate Chip Cookies from my Betty Crocker cookbook. The pages are yellowed & tearing out & you can tell where the Chocolate Chip Cookie & Peanut Butter cookie recipes are located. Now sharing with my daughter (but won’t give up the book).
Arlyne Michelle on 4.2.2014
I can’t remember how old I was (pretty young), but the first recipe I mastered was Black Midnight Cake out of a 1950’s Betty Crocker cookbook. That page was permanently marked by cake batter splatters.
When I was 11, my mother had to travel to help her sister with her 4th baby and I was in charge of cooking family meals, which was something I had been helping with for 2/3 years. The real challenge for me was learning how to mix and bake bread since my father refused to eat “boughten” bread. My mom was gone for 2 weeks and I cooked for my dad and brother, but most important, I baked the bread.
Jean M on 4.2.2014
Chicken and dumplings! Chicken was the cheapest meat you could buy back then. That dish carried me through a lot of hard times. I was a teenager living on my own with very, very little money.
Gidget on 4.2.2014
Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies! with pecans and coconut
When I was a teen I made these all the time!
Shari on 4.2.2014
No bake cookies, I think I was in 3rd grade. The neighbor who watched me showed me how to make them and gave me the recipe.
Ellen@BakeItWithBooze on 4.2.2014
Chicken broccoli casserole. A friend favorite!
Beth Midula on 4.2.2014
I learned how to make Monkey Bread at age 12 at a 4-H Mini College. I never made dough before and for the first time, it turned out pretty good. I would say that I mastered the Monkey Bread Recipe by age 14 when I made it for a 4-H Baking Competition. The judges could not believe that I made it on my own even after I explained the process step-by-step. They thought it was delicious but did not believe that I made it. Needless to say, I didn’t place; but the 10 year old boy who made a cherry pie with a flawless crust won 1st place.
Sher on 4.2.2014
Cherry Cheese Pie! I mastered and memorized the recipe at age 10
Aparna B> on 4.2.2014
Aside from some of my mom’s Indian recipes, I really mastered baked mac and cheese!
Bette I on 4.2.2014
A simple butter cake, it was my first 4-H project.. All 4-H members submitted the same type of cake for judging at the Lake County Indiana Fair. I was disappointed when I received a red ribbon–too many air holes and overdone. Over sixty years later I can say my cake baking skills have definitely improved and my family would agree. My Kitchenaid mixer is my best friend!
Nancy Peterman on 4.2.2014
That would have to be No-Bake Cookies. Still the best cookie ever.
lena on 4.2.2014
I would have to say spaghetti pie. Or as my nephew says Splaggy Pie. Yummy deliciousness. I’m the only one in my family who makes it.
Rhonda from Wyoming on 4.2.2014
The first one was an Almond Tort with fudge frosting. (Yes, I was trying to impress a boyfriend) And what made it so wonderful was that I didn’t know what a square of baker’s chocolate was. I just thought it was the whole bar that you unwrapped. Consequently, my 7 layer tort had the thickest layers of chocolate fudge frosting anyone has ever seen! Because when I tasted the frosting, I realized something was wrong and adjusted the sugar and vanilla and butter—and adjusted—-and adjusted. Ended up with a chocolate fudge tort interrupted by layers of almond cake. It was delicious!! LOL
Bonnie on 4.2.2014
Muffins from my 4-H days and the Betty Crocker cookbook for beginners!
Patty Grooms on 4.2.2014
The first recipe I mastered is potato soup. A former co-worker gave me the recipe when I first moved away from home about 20 years ago. I have changed it up a bit over the years, but it is just as delicious as my first attempt.
Elizabeth Bearry on 4.2.2014
The first recipe I mastered was Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies. I would make them for the basketball teams in high school for road trips. They were preferred over the store bought cookies that the cheerleaders would bring. I often get them requested at work today.