Pretty much my story, too. My mother, having been raised in East Tennessee back in the 40s, did one thing consistently -- she cooked everything TO DEATH. Any amount of "juice" in a meat product was verboten. Pork chops? Flour encrusted shoe leather. Roast beef? Better get your chisel out. Vegetables? A sodden mass of nothing identifiable. Spaghetti bolognese? Forget al dente -- we had paste. And the supposed "sauce" was tomato paste cut with water. No flavor, no texture.
She did cook supper every day, and I'm grateful for that. If nothing else, I learned from her what NOT to do.
I didn't learn just how good a steak could taste until I got to cook school in the Army.
My In-laws are pretty much the same. I love them, but Lordy, they make sure that meat is DONE! Im not exaggerating either. My mother-in-law will thaw out a package of ground beef, in the sink, with NO water. ALL NIGHT LONG! But yet, will cook the burgers until Hockey Puck Status.
But honestly, I feel safer when there cooked that long, when the meat has been out all night.

Somehow have never gotten food poisoning. Its a mystery.
