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Holy shit. This website is great. Thanks.
Does something similar exist in metric? It’s a chore to translate every item.
The search field uses javascript
But not Javashit :p
Can you follow directions? Congratulations, you can cook! It’s really not that difficult, cooking is just simple chemistry.
When I was young my mum bought me a cookbook and once a week, usually Sundays, we would make a recipe or two that were in it. Sometimes full meals, sometimes just desserts, etc. You’ll learn by doing, so get yourself a cookbook or find a cooking show to watch if you’re a more visual learner. Just put yourself out there and try. I believe in you.
When I was young my mum bought me a cookbook and once a week, usually Sundays, we would make a recipe or two
This is why it might seem so easy to you, wouldn’t you think?
Well obviously OP can’t go back in time to when they were a child, but there’s nothing to stop them getting a cook book once a week and trying out a recipe or two.
I mean, yeah, obviously. But claiming it’s really easy because you were lucky to have normal parents and have been doing it since you were kid, especially on a question that implies someone didn’t have the luxury, is not helping.
I think the part about knowing how to follow instructions is pretty much true though, at least for me. I only started cooking by myself in my mid-20s. I started by just searching a recipe and adding “simple” in my search query so I get something I can realistically make with what I have in the kitchen/pantry. Then I just follow it to the letter. Through repeated trial and error I eventually learned what could be done faster or easier, what ingredients can be substituted, etc.
It may sound meaningless, but the best way to learn to cook is to cook. Learning by doing, that is the way.
Agreed. You can’t really mess up that badly when cooking. Burnt bits can be scraped off and there’s always a way to fix food when you season too much.
I would slightly disagree. Real bad things can happen while cooking. Kitchen safety should not be taken easy. One thing that comes directly to my mind is deep frying. Any higher amount of hot oil needs to be treated with respect. AND NEVER EVER PUT WATER INTO BURNING OIL. Suffocate it with a pot lid or a fire blanket.
Good point! Adding on to that, NEVER USE DULL KNIVES or catch a falling knife. Generally just be careful around sharp or hot objects
Always put a damp towel underneath a cutting board so it doesn’t move when you’re using it. I credit this in combination with safe knife holding techniques as the reason why my comically clumsy ass hasn’t had to go to the ER to get stitches/reattach digits in the 15 years I’ve been cooking.
A quote I think about is “a falling knife has no handle.”
I’ve never dropped a knife but I’m hoping if I do I’ll be prepared!
Start small - like a fried egg. All you need is a pan, a spatula, some butter/oil and an egg itself.
Then upgrade to an omlette.
Then omlette du fromage.
Then a pirate’s eye (egg in a slice of bread/bagel). Add some dill.
Boil some potatoes.
Mash some boiled potatoes.
Rice is simple - just boil it for some time.
Essentially - you’ll learn by doing. Just don’t start with making your own bread and you’ll be fine.
That’s all you can say!
Also it’s bad french, it’s ‘omelette au fromage’
When starting to cook on my own, I always found it very stressful, because I felt you had to do so many things in parallel and then you look away for too long at the wrong time and something burns.
What helped me is reading the whole recipe very carefully and then prepare everything before actually starting to cook. Many recipes tell you something like “while x simmers, cut y / prepare z”. That’s fine, when you have developed a feeling for how long things take, but as a beginner, it’s better to do everything sequentially. It takes longer that way, but it makes it much less stressful and overwhelming.
This is great advice!
YouTube
Yeah YouTube is a pretty good place to learn how to cook, I’ve learnt a lot from Bringing with Babish.
Instagram also a great source for good food with simple recipes.
We used Hello Fresh. Both my partner and I had basic cooking skills, but were not very good cooks. He was also a very picky eater. Hello Fresh reduced the overwhelming amount of recipes in the world down to a more reasonable number to choose from. As we kept going, we started to see the same techniques, like reduction sauces, happen in new configurations and we started to understand how they work, not just follow the instructions. It also helped my partner overcome a lot of his pickiness by being in control of what recipes we had each week, allowing him to explore new ingredients when he felt comfortable.
While maybe not super cost friendly, I second the meal box angle. I wasn’t bad at cooking, but was definitely super slow with knife skills, not comfortable with some stovetop methods of cooking, etc. We used Hello fresh and Plated (before they went out of business), and that really springboarded us into feeling like we could cook. Haven’t ordered any meal boxes in like 5 years now, and make homemade dinners 4+ times a week.
Agree that meal boxes are a good training step. We started using blue apron and after we got the hang of things, realized how much cheaper it would be to buy the ingredients on our own. The bottles of sauces can be pricey up front, but once you have a collection of them, cooking is easier and cheaper. Also, people are really impressed if you can impromptu make something without having to go out shopping.
I felt like a true adult when I decided to make hummus one day and just happened to have everything for it.
Didn’t bother learning to cook until my mid 20s. You will be a disaster chef before your a master chef but sick with it and always have cereal on standby!
Start out with the basics: if you like pasta, try a basic tomato sauce recipe. If you like eggs, try an omelette with some veg. Figure out what you like and use that to keep you interested and growing your skills.
You will learn as you go on how to prepare/cut up different vegetables. YouTube is a great resource.
The more you do, the more confident you will become. Watching YouTube videos on cooking is no substitute for time in the kitchen cooking though!
You will cremate food, undercook food, over season, under season, ruin pans, smash dishes, have food weld itself into oven trays, laugh, and cry - and you’ll be all the better cook for it.
Good luck!
No matter how you learn, remember that you will mess up a lot and don’t let that discourage you. Just try to learn from it and remember it for next time.
You start by learning how to pour cereal
keep a fire extinguisher handy though
Everyone has overcooked their fruit loops at least once, it’s a rite of passage
I started with one recipe: split pea soup. I got this recipe from a coworker, followed the instructions exactly and started with a success. This made me want to try other things, and I got turned onto Good Eats with Alton Brown, easily the most entertaining and informative cooking show.
Then I just started collecting and trying recipes. I eventually got enough experience to try modifying recipes and toying around with ideas.
Especially at the start, recipes are your friend. Try a broad array of them, follow them exactly, and get the experience. Also, use tools. Yes, people can punch a steak to see if it’s about done, but that will never beat a thermometer.
If you’re into baking, avoid recipes that don’t use weight as a measure of ingredients. Those recipes get different results every time.
These are the best tips I have for starting out. As you get experience, discard the ones that no longer apply.
I learned from trial and error, asking for help from those who could, and cooking shows. Specifically good eats with Alton brown, he explains the science behind different aspects of cooking and it helps you to understand the *why * of each step instead of just doing what you’re told.
Start simple. Like pasta. You boil water, add pasta, set a timer, stir. Drain the water when the timer goes off, but taste it first to make sure. Boom. You cooked pasta.
Beyond that, I would say that you have to make sure you read the recipe to completion, at least once, before you start cooking. Don’t have the recipe ready, and start cooking without having read the whole thing.
Then break it down. Get all your prep work done before you turn on the heat. Have stations for different processes, and have any utensils & bowls you’re going to need, during cooking, ready to go.
Have all the things you’re adding on the side of your weak arm, while your dominant arm stirs, and have all the things lined up in order, so you don’t have to think beyond “grab closest thing & dump.”
Get as much of the thinking done before you turn on the heat, and have everything ready to go, lined up, and sorted out. Then you’ll be able to fully focus on the cooking, not getting things ready at the last minute.
Buy a cookbook and just start making the things that look good. It comes with practice.
you’ll need a pot, and/or a skillet, and a source of heat. without that you’ll eat a lot of cabbage and apples, but you still need a knife. if you want to lazy up to spices: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. there’s an old hippy song on that. and, it’s really difficult to fuck up a baked potato.
