can you teach me how to cook :(

[forkeeps]

ive been buyin meats/veges and trying to cook something good, but most of the time it turns out to be horrible. i use allrecipes.com for recipes but nothing tastes good. sometimes i google recipes. i used to buy my meats from albertsons but i was told their meat is nasty so i just switched to vons and i noticed a difference when i cooked their meat recently. but i need more than that.

since all of you know how to cook, can you teach me how to cook? is there something i have to do while cooking? steps? anything i need to know about cooking to help me cook better?


i wanna start w/ simple and easy recipes first. mainly on the range. i would use the oven but we never used it once and i have to clean it and we have a roach problem.

if any of you can drop good recipes on beef and macaroni, spagetti, george foreman recipes, and a green bean/carrot recipe id greatly appreciate it.

[bluezebra]

Ok so here's what I would do and what I did, when I first went out on my own in life...

I made a list of my 5 favorite dishes from growing up. I got the recipe for each of them from my family and followed them religiously. I got great at making them. I internalized them. And while I was doing that, I was reading recipe books, magazines (this was bc - before computers *blush*) anything having to do with cooking. And I watched cooking shows on Saturday PBS (before FoodNetwork and Fine Living).

Before long I would try out new recipes featuring a new technique about 1x a month. Before long I had a long repertoire of things I knew how to cook and cook very well! Along with those recipes, I had built skills - the basics that I had used and watched while growing up and helping cook. (It's still not the same as having to depend on yourself to cook on your own though.)

So let's start with your list of top 5 dishes you want to learn to prepare and then maybe we can help you learn to make those great. Then we can move on to other types of lessons.

[kuan]

Your first lesson should be in selecting a cut of meat. This is kinda hard to do without visuals.

Your second lesson is this. Heat skillet on high. Add some oil. Salt and Pepper the steak on both sides. Place in pan. Flip when ready. Allow to rest. Eat.

[bluezebra]

kuan but you missed quite a few steps like

.5 What kind of steak?

.75 How thick of a steak?

.85 How do I pick a good steak? (You already referenced this here)

1. How do you know how long to heat it?

2. What kind of pan am I using?

3. Do I add any oil to the pan?

4. How will I know how long to cook it on the first side?

5. What if it gets too dark and burns on the outside before it's ready to turn?

6. How do I know when it's ready?

7. How long do I rest it?

Not tryin to be a smart *ss, just trying to show that as people with cooking experience of relative amounts there are things we have internalized and know "almost instinctively" about cooking so we don't think to relate that cumulative cooking knowledge when telling someone how to do something. When you're teachin someone to cook it's almost as if you are taking someone in kindergarten and walking them through a recipe.

Also, to agree with you, one of the first lessons outside of knife skills, the basic kitchen, the basic pantry, how to pick raw ingredients would be how to pan saute and make a pan sauce cuz those two fundamentals form the foundations of soooooooooo many different recipes and represent lateral techniques that form the basis for cooking skills.

*stepping off soap box now, sorry .... blush, shrinking away*

[phatch]

How I'd organize lessons.

1 Buy fresh produce. make a simple vinaigrette to dress it. bake a potato.

2 meat grades, buy a whole fryer chicken or two butcher for the next lesson

3 stock. even if you rarely make it, knowing a good stock is important at the very least so you can pick a convenience alternative that isn't execrable.

4 simple soups

5 Roux and white sauce finishing with home made macaroni and cheese: by extension gravy and other homey sauces (biscuits and gravy)

6 required equipment, instant read thermometer. pan searing meat with a pan sauce (chicken thighs as they're forgiving and moist) perhaps a reduction or two.

7 quick breads, pancakes and biscuits (spaetzle is a simple extension here too)

8 eggs

(8a egg desserts, creme brulee, custards and cheesecakes--optional)

9 grill a steak

10 roast a chicken--extension to other large roasts


I've done similar routines with the scouts when I was scoutmaster and have written a couple of letters to mormon missionary relatives on similar skills. (I am in Utah after all).

Yes, I completely skip deep frying.

[forkeeps]

Originally Posted by phatch

How I'd organize lessons.

1 Buy fresh produce. make a simple vinaigrette to dress it. bake a potato.

2 meat grades, buy a whole fryer chicken or two butcher for the next lesson

3 stock. even if you rarely make it, knowing a good stock is important at the very least so you can pick a convenience alternative that isn't execrable.

4 simple soups

5 Roux and white sauce finishing with home made macaroni and cheese: by extension gravy and other homey sauces (biscuits and gravy)

6 required equipment, instant read thermometer. pan searing meat with a pan sauce (chicken thighs as they're forgiving and moist) perhaps a reduction or two.

7 quick breads, pancakes and biscuits (spaetzle is a simple extension here too)

8 eggs

(8a egg desserts, creme brulee, custards and cheesecakes--optional)

9 grill a steak

10 roast a chicken--extension to other large roasts


I've done similar routines with the scouts when I was scoutmaster and have written a couple of letters to mormon missionary relatives on similar skills. (I am in Utah after all).

Yes, I completely skip deep frying.

everythign in bold i have no idea how to do or dont know wat your talkin about. i think i know how to grill a steak, but i use a foreman grill. i dont have an outdoor grill.

[forkeeps]

Originally Posted by bluezebra

Ok so here's what I would do and what I did, when I first went out on my own in life...

I made a list of my 5 favorite dishes from growing up. I got the recipe for each of them from my family and followed them religiously. I got great at making them. I internalized them. And while I was doing that, I was reading recipe books, magazines (this was bc - before computers *blush*) anything having to do with cooking. And I watched cooking shows on Saturday PBS (before FoodNetwork and Fine Living).

Before long I would try out new recipes featuring a new technique about 1x a month. Before long I had a long repertoire of things I knew how to cook and cook very well! Along with those recipes, I had built skills - the basics that I had used and watched while growing up and helping cook. (It's still not the same as having to depend on yourself to cook on your own though.)

So let's start with your list of top 5 dishes you want to learn to prepare and then maybe we can help you learn to make those great. Then we can move on to other types of lessons.

5 dishes id like to make are...

spagetti (ground beef, not chicken)
green bean
burger recipe (Ground beef)
chicken leg recipe (not fried, but i do wanna know a good fried recipe)
carrot recipe
potatos (not sweet)


i picked one extra. always wanted to know how to make potatoes. in those recipes i dont want mushrooms or olives. i want the veges to be healthy, not too much fat in it.

thankyou everyone for your help btw

[Blueicus]

Above all, salt and pepper are your friends. Don't be afraid to be somewhat generous with it (unless you have a really really bad blood pressure problem). Usually food (everything from soup to steaks to potatoes) taste bland because it's not seasoned with enough salt. As an experiment, cut a chicken breast into four pieces. On one don't add any salt and pepper, and the others add 1/8th of a teaspoon, 1/4 and 1/2 of a teaspoon respectively. Also add a pinch of pepper on all the salted pieces of chicken then cook all the pieces of chicken until they're done. Notice how seasoning the chicken makes a substantial difference to the taste of your food and how much is too much salt.

[forkeeps]

i would assume that 1/2 is too much salt and 1/4 or 1/8th is the right amount of salt. but wat yall are sayin is that salt and pepper can make everything taste a lil bit better? i dont use much salt but i use a lotta pepper

[Blueicus]

Salt will certainly "enhance" the flavours of foods and make them taste "better" for lack of a better term (partially because our body craves that stuff). But how much salt a person can taste can vary from person to person. Pepper has been an important part of most old world cuisine as a very basic seasoning (as valuable as salt in the olden days) and in my opinion "brightens" flavours, but is less important than salt.

[bluezebra]

phatch's log of skills is awesome! So ok, learn to make these favorite 6 things that will at least keep you eating at home for a few times a week and go through his step by step process too! Woot! You're a rockstar in no time!

OK, so tell me what kinds of pans do you have and what kind of stove and oven set up do you have? Also are you in the U.S.? and do you have access to stores/markets?

And are you cooking only for yourself? If so, how do you feel about leftovers? How much freezer space/frig space do you have that is yours alone? Do you share a domicile with someone?

[greyeaglem]

Buy a Betty Crocker cook book. I still go back to the Betty Crocker if there's something I haven't made before that I need to do. The book is very clear on recipe precedures. Recipes are easy to follow and leave some margin for error. Once you have the basics down, you can move on to things that are a little more ambitious. I once knew a girl who literally could not boil water. She loved cheese cake and wanted to make one. I gave her a Betty Crocker and told her to have at it. she made a perfect cheese cake. This is always my advice to people who say they can't cook and want to learn. If you can read, you can cook. Good luck!

[bluezebra]

Yep I still have 3 books from when I first had my own place in '81: Betty Crocker Cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and Joy of Cooking

[forkeeps]

Originally Posted by bluezebra

phatch's log of skills is awesome! So ok, learn to make these favorite 6 things that will at least keep you eating at home for a few times a week and go through his step by step process too! Woot! You're a rockstar in no time!

OK, so tell me what kinds of pans do you have and what kind of stove and oven set up do you have? Also are you in the U.S.? and do you have access to stores/markets?

And are you cooking only for yourself? If so, how do you feel about leftovers? How much freezer space/frig space do you have that is yours alone? Do you share a domicile with someone?

i have an electric stove. i guess thatd make my oven eletctric, i never used it. i am in the us, in cali. the stores around me are trader joes, albertsons, vons, ralphs, lazy acres. i stopped buy my meat n veges from albertsons cuz their food doesnt taste good. im cookin for 1 or 2 other pple. i can eat leftovers if theyre only 1 day old, unless theres a way to make them taste good the 2nd/3rd day. lots of frig/frz space (i have 2 the other is a small fridge tho)

[Grumio]

Couple of things so-far unmentioned:

When a recipe involving frying or sauteing most things says to "pat dry," DO IT. Wet food doesn't sear, it steams, and searing (or browning) is a huge flavor factor in many dishes. To that end you pretty much have to have at least one honest to goodness heavy-bottomed skillet, like one with a stainless steel/aluminum/stainless steel disk on the bottom or a cast iron skillet.

The other thing, rather more intangible, is that you have to be willing to fail. You learn more from mistakes you make than from ones you're just warned about.

Do you know any good cooks? Pick their brains! Watch them cook & ask questions, & have them watch you cook & coach you. Probably only cost you a couple bottles of wine...

Does anyone know if the Cook's Illustrated gang has a "beginner's" cookbook? My favorite basic cookbook is "The Best Recipe," but I don't know if that would be the best choice in this case....