Well, by the time i was 10 I could make scones and Sponges, like my nan did, that was, not using scales, I just knew half a pat of butter was 4oz, and a heaped 'serving spoon' was 2oz of dry ingredients, but I did have a baptism of fire really, It was Christmas dinner I was 12, my nan had Asian flu, my mother had fallen in the milking shed a week before and had badly broken her arm. Dad was busy milking and general farm work with the animals, so it was down to my elder brother (he was 15) we made stuffing with breadcrumbs, fresh herbs and onions, roasted a turkey and a leg of pork, did roast potatoes, parsnips, boiled potatoes, carrots, sprouts bread sauce, little sausage and bacon rolls and PROPER gravy, i remember tipping off the fat from the meat tin and just leaving the meat juices, adding flour to make a roux, using the veg water and a stock cube. We didn't have any wrapped presents nobody had had the time with two invalides in the house! But it was a great dinner and we were taken to the pantomime as a special treat because we did a good job!