Happy Mother's Day to My Favorite (And Best) Cooking Teacher

Happy Mother's Day to My Favorite (And Best) Cooking Teacher! I don't know how many of you out there realize who trains most of the world's chefs. That's right - it's Mom. I am constantly amazed at the number of celebrity chefs who cite their most important culinary influence as being their mom. I'm sure many of them have dads who cook as well, but Mom reigns supreme in this category. Why is that?

Let's start from the top. It's Mom who offers you a chance to help stir the cake batter, and Mom who gives you a taste of the frosting before it goes on the cake. When she sees your eyes light up as she cooks, it's Mom who buys you your first cookbook and then helps you through the simplest of recipes. It's Mom who watches anxiously as you begin your first solo effort, and then mops up the tears if the venture goes awry. Or heaps on lavish praise if the venture is a success - much more praise than you know you deserve, but which you relish nonetheless.

My Mom even introduced me to the most challenging aspect of haute cuisine - that of tracking down one's ingredients. During weekly grocery shopping, each of us little monsters (there were five of us) would receive a portion of her shopping list. We were unleashed upon that hapless supermarket en masse, food buyers on a mission. We learned subtle differences between similar food products, like, what's the difference between evaporated and condensed milk? (Short answer: A heck of a lot of sugar!)

She even launched me on my search for the perfect salad dressing recipe. I remember poring over her big McCall's cook book, trying to figure out the difference between French and Italian dressing. And then finally discovering that you have to experiment, till you find the right combination to unlock your taste buds.

My mom bought me my first cookbook - a Betty Crocker cookbook for kids - which I enjoyed so much that I brought it to school with me. I read it at recess. I read it in the halls. I even read it during class - and this was in first grade, too - my teacher was not amused at all with my new obsession, I should mention.

I have a vivid memory of several group cooking classes where my mom taught us to bake with yeast. Yes - the woman actually taught this to a group of five young children. It was huge for me - we learned to bake cinnamon rolls, which were delicious. I didn't realize how big a deal this was until much later in life, when I noticed that every time I brought up the topic of baking with yeast, all of my friends would turn pale or clutch their heads and scream. Baking with yeast is a project that inspires terror in many people, no matter how gung-ho they are about cooking. Baking is basically chemistry with food involved, but when you add microorganisms, you're venturing into microbiology ... aaagghhh ... although I do not bake all that much with yeast right now, I know that if I want to, I can. And I can make a decent go of it. Thank you, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day to My Favorite (And Best) Cooking Teacher! My husband, who has golden taste buds, likes to describe me as a "good cook," which amazes me. I can assure you that any skill I have in this area at all, I owe to my Mom. Thanks so much, Mom, and I hope you enjoy your special day. I hope I didn't leave too many piles of flour in the kitchen...