Got to thinking after a post in the keto thread that cooking is inherited in many fashions. Like I was telling JAB we have an 87 year old lady that took care of my wife when she was a baby. After learning of her living conditions in Jersey we went and got her and she will stay with us until. She’s full Italian and while she can’t cook anymore because of Parkinson’s she instructs me and I do the leg work. She’s the brains behind a lot of meals. I have learned a ton from her in the past year and a half and it’s been nice expanding my knowledge of Italian cooking.

My aunt Margie (who married my uncle Steve Turner) was also full Italian. That side of the family is where the turners landing side of lake Murray came from. My grandmother was Annie Ruth Turner. Margie was a borderline alcoholic but managed to still perform in the kitchen despite more red wine than most could imagine for a frail old lady. I have her recipe for meatballs. Still one of my favorite things to consume on this planet. Many days I spent fishing at the dock and surrounding areas waiting on her to holler at me saying the meatballs were ready. Manicotti with a true vodka sauce she made was at the top too.

My grandmother (Annie Ruth Turner) was well versed in the kitchen as well. As a kid I would spend weekends there. My grandad put me to work running a mower or washing his van or the town car. All the while she was making some of my favorite meals. Top favorite being fried pork chop macaroni and cheese fatback, fresh snaps, cast iron corn bread and banana pudding. Her tea was something sent from the heavens on a hot day. She taught me all sorts of things cooking wise that I still hold on to. While I don’t fry things as much anymore I hold a pork chop in high regards and can’t fry one without thinking of her.

My moms dad: James Hodge. Army vet. He ran Morrison’s restaurant for years and my dad was his number one cook. After a while he left there and bought Lexington’s old mill. In the 80’s he opened it as mill pond seafood where my dad assisted in cooking as well. Many nights we would sit on the dock and fish. Cats (bullhead) were the staple and we fried plenty. His wife (my grandmother Alma) who is from the boot heel of Missouri had several brothers back home. With the general store (gas, liquor, groceries and sandwich meat) having a porch on the side all the brothers and other drunks that seemed to congregate would fry catfish, and frog legs and boil crawdads. My aunt Bert (who was married to my grandmothers brother Lonnie) would send me combing the ditches for crawdads and more frogs to cook all the time. The levy’s held fish frogs and plenty of cotton mouths. As a kid watching all the beer get drank, frogs peeled, fish cooked and yelling at each other I knew I was in heaven when I was there.

My dad can throw down on pretty much anything. I have learned quite a bit from him on cooking and baking. He has been camp chef and duck camp cook for a couple years now. All guests have been appreciative of his skills. (With the exception of one night when it seems he deemed it necessary to burn ribeyes and asparagus because Evan W found it easy to distract him) ha. I still laugh about it.

Anyhow long winded I’m sure and I could add more from other family members but you get the picture. Add in some things you learned along the way from family that supplements your cooking prowess!