I learned because I thought my mom's cooking was good and I was a picky eater so I figured I better learn to take care of myself. Parents especially dad made sure we could clean house and take care of ourselves. No need to find a woman because she cooks.

In law school I lived alone so for 2.5 yrs I had to take care of myself. Cooked big on many Sundays to have leftovers. Over the last 10+ years developed it more. I love prime rib for holidays and always complained that turkey at holidays was dried out and bland, so I figured out how to cook it myself. Plus with elk hunting we need to have some way to make God's finest meat plaatable to the non believers.

One suggestion is cruise websites, I like tonys market, food network and Epicurus to find recipes. I look at a couple and kind of combine 2 or 3. Also for something special like prime rib, keep a note card or journal each time you make it with comments. Then you know which temperature, spice mix, or other details work for your family, especially because you don't cook it enough to really get experienced. I started for sausage and other things too.