/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I'm a beginner too, and I've largely just been making omelets lately. It's probably one of the easiest things you can possibly make.

Bump for interest

>>14733445
Ayy, I have done that as well. Guess I am not a complete beginner, as I have made omelettes, scrambled eggs, and grilled cheese, but I want to know how to progress from there.

>>14733465
I also made pancakes yesterday which I thought turned out well, although the middle was somewhat undercooked, so I need to give it another try.
I got the recipe from Joshua Weissman on Youtube, who's honestly been what's inspired me to start cooking things for myself. His videos are very self-explanatory and easy to follow along with, and I like that he tends to favor recipes that anyone can make with what they already have at home, for the most part.

>>14733488
Thanks man, I'll check him out

Rice, scrambled eggs, hot cakes (pancakes), French Toast, and cookies.

>>14733431
my dad let me cut vegetables and cook meals when i was a little kid, and i gradually picked it up from there. But since you're posting here i doubt that's an option for you

>>14733431
Too dangerous don't try you're better off just to eat out.
I don't want to be held responsible if you get hurt or something.

>>14733431
eggs
potatoes
casseroles
one-pot stews/curries

>>14733488
Also checking out this channel. Thanks anon

>>14733431
My mom always hated cooking for me and my sister so when I was pretty young, 13 or so, I had to learn how to make omelets and stuff. Then, since I liked seafood and my mom hated it, I had to learn how to make pan fried fish. So by 15 I was making stir fries and pan fish and whatever. Then I went vegan and started to eat soy and shit, got all fucked up. Wen back to pescitarian after five or so years as a vegan and learned Italian and Mexican cooking.

>>14733431
here are five things to master. Try making each a different way until you find the one way that you like.
>scrambled eggs
>scratch biscuits and gravy
>spaghetti and meat sauce
>pork chops and rice (try one without condensed soup too)
>baked chicken pieces

>>14733431
There's no "learning to cook". That's just a meme to sell books, and overpriced ingredients and most importantly an EXCUSE you are using to justify not starting right now.

Buy stuff. Cook it. Experiment. Improve. The end.

just read the instructions and throw a bunch of crap together, it isn't difficult.

>>14733431
Put a potato in the oven and then take it out when it starts burning (around 50mins)

Decide on what you want to eat, then look up videos online. Make sure the channel focuses on the food and not on the cook. Basically, avoid meme personalities like Gordon Ramsey. Chef John and Kenji Lopez are a good way to start.
Just follow the instructions, try to replicate their techniques. At first you'll find yourself over-measuring everything, but bare with it, after a while you'll realize that cooking is not a perfect science and all measurements are pretty much just a suggestion. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of milk but you eyeball it and use 2 cups and a quarter instead, it's unlikely that this will make your dish completely inedible.
Basically, just fucking do it, follow a few recipes you find online, get comfortable with the kitchen, eventually you'll know what you are doing. I believe in you, OP.

>>14733431
don't have nearly enough food pics saved yet I want this one..

Think of food you like, then look up recipes. Get some basic recipes down to familiarise yourself with technique. Something like chilli or vologbese, mac and cheese etc.

>>14733799
>>14733843
>>14734042
>>14734117
>>14734168
Thanks for all of the suggestions

>>14733445
that looks like shit and probably has shit texture

you should keep trying tho

heat a pan and sear each side of a chicken breast for four minutes or so. throw it in the oven and cook until internal temp is 165 (or whatever it’s supposed to be, don’t remember). Get an instant read meat thermometer, they’re easy to use and relatively foolproof.

Start out seasoning the chicken with A1 sauce or whatever you have on hand. Once you’re confident enough in your ability to sear and cook the chicken, learn how to make a pan sauce. As far as real adult food goes, nothing is as easy, tasty, fast, and satisfying.

>>14734117

Chef John of FOOOD WISHES DOT COM is probably my favorite. Kenji is also very good if you can look past his idiosyncrasies. Classic Good Eats episodes are great as well, but I hate how big of an asshole Alton Brown comes off as these days.

Look up a recipe and follow the directions. If you can't do that you're fucking retarded.

>>14733445
Sesame seeds are a nice touch. But its overcooked. You want your egg based dishes to be nice and yellow, that orange and brown is burning.

I've been making alot of poached eggs lately, tomorrow I might try french toast.

>>14733445
>calling that an omelette

>>14733431
My bro came back from uni and made spaghetti with me and that was the starting point really. Then on to chili and then cottage pie. That's basically the basis for most kinds of cooking I've found.

Scrambled egg
omelettes
Baked potatoes
French toast
Fish in a paper wrapping
Learn how to season and what goes with what dill for fish etc.
Make the four kinds of Roux.
Learn how to chop vegetables
finally learn how to balance flavors. If making a sour cake have sweet cream etc.

>>14734167
Save it, it's yours newfag.

>>14733431
Learn how to read packet instructions and then carry them out. Learn how to apply standard instructions to your own oven, your stove, your grill etc. You might learn times and temperatures need to be adjusted.

Then you can apply that knowledge to recipes and instead of blindly following what it says, you might realise you need to cook things less or more, at higher temperatures etc.

Best meals are the ones you enjoy eating. Start with those rather than trying to get experimental.

I will share with you a much better, quicker, cleaner and energy efficient way to make that grilled cheese OP.

Get two slices of white bread and toast it medium dark. Butter the inside and outside of the bread. Put the kraft cheese (has to be kraft b/c real milk) in between the bread and microwave for 25 seconds.

Voila. No mess, crispy delicious sandwich without mess and energy waste.

>>14733799
I keep fucking up my French toast. I don’t know why but I’m doomed forever to eat shitty French toast.

>>14733431
anything egg related

>>14733431
I first started cooking some time in high school when my dad pretty much abandoned us except for the weekends when he would come back and verbally abuse us and tell us how he was going to kick us out of the house and we were all worthless (meanwhile, us two kids were on honor roll and also had part time jobs) and at the same time my mom was dealing with severe bipolar episodes (like, "leaving"/"getting lost" in the woods in below-freezing weather, attempting suicide, otherwise just sleeping all day and ignoring everyone and everything). I was the older sibling, so I had to cook for me and my younger sibling, who was also dealing with depression. I made a lot of easy stuff: pasta, frozen fried chicken, made-from-scratch chicken pot pie. Just stuff to survive, basically. Then a few years after high school, I got married and became a housewife, and I've been learning more and more cooking skills ever since. Now it is intuitive for me: I can just get a bunch of ingredients or whatever is in the pantry and make a meal from it, from scratch, no recipe. I think it's the same as any skill: you copy recipes and meals from people at first, then you start to learn more and can branch out and be inventive and ad lib and make your own recipes. Just cook: that's the only way to learn. Good luck!

>>14733999
This but I could make like anything by 15

>>14733809
I can be his daddy and let him cut veggies

>>14733431
>How did you guys first learn how to cook?
My parents forced me to help them.
>but I am unsure of where to start.
Get a craving. Read some recipes. Watch some videos. Fuckin' wing it and eat your result. Try to understand what went right and what went wrong. Try again in the future to make it better than last time. Continue with multiple dishes until you no longer suck.

Learn to make infused oil and you can make killer pasta sauces. My mom passed this one down to me.

Angelini "fast sauce"

1 can italian stewed tomatoes
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil (I like a lot)
7-8 cloves garlic chopped (a lot of this too)
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp marjoram (not needed)
1 tsp red pepper
dash of salt and pepper

heat oil on medium low, add in red pepper
add in garlic and simmer for 2 mins
add in tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper
stir
bring to a simmer, reduce to a low simmer for 20 minutes
add a pat of butter

wala

>>14733431
I was craving pizza, I didn't want to spend $15+delivery
I looked up a recipe in the morning, had most of the ingredients
made dough in the morning because it needed to rise 12 hours
went to the store later that day to get tomatoes, oregano, and garlic
waited 12 hours and then made the sauce
loved it and it was better than most delivery pizza places and I only spent like 5 dollars on the ingredients I didn't have

if you wanna cook, listen to your cravings and make it

>>14733431
i eat a lot of omelettes and they're easy to make
sweet potatoes, onions, red peppers, turkey meat balls, eggs

>>14733431
Boil pasta
Make bechamel (white sauce, super easy and fast to make, just butter, flour, and milk)
Add spices to flavor (easy mode is just use a preblended "Italian Seasoning" and salt and pepper, bonus points for nutmeg)
Add meat

Boom, creamy white pasta. You have to be a seriously shit cook to fuck this up. You can also cheese your bechamel to turn it into mac n cheese sauce

>>14733488
the middle is undercooked because the batter is too thick
which is not necessarily your fault because different flours hydrate differently, it's a good thing to keep in mind whenever making batters or doughs
i recommend adding more milk next time and researching about different types of flour
Another channels i recommend are Adam Ragusea and Kenji Lopés Alt

>>14735618
>Make bechamel (white sauce, super easy and fast to make, just butter, flour, and milk)
what if my hand hurts a fuckton from whisking

>>14735752
git gud handlet, you don't need to whisk it that much anyways, it's not like you're whipping egg whites or emulsifying something

can you make hamburger helper? probably the easiest thing ever. Cook the hamburger in a pan, add water and or milk, add the noodles and seasoning, cook on med high for 10 minutes and it's ready

>>14735873
Macaroni & Cheese is simple, too. It's literally just boiling water, basically.

>>14733431
>Cooking
Do Non Anglos actually?

>>14733488
Those aren't pancakes, they're fucking biscuits. More milk in your mix, and fry it in some melted butter or crisco for fuck's sakes. You want flapjack thin not a god damn muffin in a pan.

>>14733445
Hijacking this post to ask what temperature /ck/ cooks their omelets at

Chicken, paprika, onion, chipotle, sourcream, and pasta. Season after your taste

>>14733445
That looks overcooked. If you are using a pan with butter, keep your temp low and use a lid to let the steam do most the cooking. Mid to high temps burn butter quickly.

>>14735618
Good suggestion.
Also, an even simpler one for OP >>14733431:
- boil noodles, dispose their water
- add butter (one tbsp for each 1/4 kg, don't add too much or else it gets greasy and disgusting)
- add *sour* tomato paste (about 2 tbsp for each 1/4 kg, plus minus according to taste)
This is the most basic form. Usually you'd add sauteed meat to it (after disposing its water, of course), possibly seasoned with chopped garlic or onions, or however you like it. But when you are super lazy, even the basic form is pretty yummy by itself. (Do note that if you eat only noodles, you'll get hungry pretty quickly after that because they're very fast to digest.)
Last, I recommend eating yogurt with it, they go *exceedingly* well together.

>>14735752
If it helps you, I hate whisking too, but I make bechamel sauce at least twice per month because it's pretty easy. Very little whisking is required.

>>14733431
> What are good meals for beginners?
Grilled cheese with kimchi is what I'd recommend. Get some country loaf bread cut it nice and thick. Add some large slices of peppercorn cheese. Cook over a big open flame on the ground.
Perfect.

>>14733431
Not op but on a related issue.
Ever since I moved out, I never know what the fuck I want to it.
When I was at home, I never really thought much about what the weekly food schedule my mom put out was, but now I have to think and it's making me nervous. Maybe I'm eating too much rice, or too much meat. I feel like that thought has locked me in a couple easy meals like spaghetti with minced meat and tomato sauce that I make over and over again.
Is there a place or something that can spoonfeed me suggestions?

>>14737032
alright, alright, i'll make another lasagna

>>14737232
is this the guy who owns and manages Michlen star restaurants?

>>14737232
The more I watch this man, the more I start to think he has no idea what he is doing.

>>14734279
Let the guy enjoy his egg hot pocket in peace

>>14737793
I think he is developing some sort of dementia

>>14733431
>What are good meals for beginners?
Meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy.

>>14734756
Use your parents as examples of what you don't want to be when you become one, that's what always helped me. Also, correct on the cooking. Cooking is to taste, baking is what requires precise measurements. All you anons out there should taste the food as it's being cooked, meaning dipping a spoon in the sauce and seeing if it's salty enough, etc. Once you understand cooking, it's very simple. I made Chicken Alfredo at work for the kitchen staff last night, I work at an Thai restaurant kek I just cobbled it together. You anons do your best to learn, it's rewarding

>>14737232
>somehow burnt and uncooked at the same time
He tries too fucking hard to make original shit

>Look cooking channels (yes, more e-celeb shit) or specific recipies you may have heard about somewhere
>"Hey, that looks good"
>Buy ingredients
>Follow directions
>Learn from mistakes
>After a while learn general styles and rules
>Start experimenting
I don't care if you watch good channels, found the way of not wanting to punch Weissman's face trough your screen, or watch Raguzea pretend for 10 minutes, but the only way you are going to learn is by doing. Sure, there is some theory, but theory is only useful if you yourself want to create something new and very specific in the least amount of tries. I recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/FrenchCookingAcademy/videos for starters, as you learn more terminology and dishes you will be able to look for things by yourself. And avoid very opinionated and life-hack type channels, they tend to pass their opinions as facts, skip/bend fundamentals and will make you pick up bad habits that will be difficult to get rid-of later on, wait until you have enough knowledge to watch them from equal grounds.

I do not think getting into it is complicated, a few dishes require special equipment and may be out of your reach, but as long as you follow instructions (specially while you are new, later on you will develop intuition) there should not be any problem.

Now, I will also recommend you to try to do the most you can from scratch, no seasoning blends, no stock cubes, nothing like that; shortcuts and rule-breaking are for once you know exactly what you are doing.

I learned the basics of cooking from taking a home economics class in middle school, and it taught me a ton of fundamentals that people on this board seem to think are just naturally built into every human.

There's really a huge barrier to cooking that I think people here have just forgotten exists, or at least maybe had parents and a family to cook for them and teach them the basics, so they think learning to boil water or heat a pan is the same as learning to walk.

That said, here's a good starting resource.

https://www.eatwell101.com/cooking-tips-for-beginner-cooks-start-cooking

>>14733445
It looks fine don't let the autists shit on you.

>>14733431
fried rice was my gateway cooking food

>>14733445
Now that you're doing diner style look into French and never look back
You can also use techniques from French to make smother diner styles

>>14733431
>How did you guys first learn how to cook?
Made Goulash for like 10 people that was so catastrophically bad that when I got mugged later that night I told the robber I was gonna kill myself anyway and he should just do it himself and he let me go. I wish I was joking.

>>14735085
>>14735618
>>14738271
>>14737024
>>14735556
>>14738318
Thanks frens

>>14733431
>how did I learn how to cook
my mom taught me
>good meals for beginners
Omelettes, pasta, steak, and fried eggs
If you can cook those then you are set for life

Literally just find your favorite dishes of all time, find recipes and keep practicing. You don't need to know a hundred meals, just practice your favorites and that's it. Personally I'd rather eat pizza from a guy that's made pizza a million times than what a lot of youtubers do, they make tons of mediocre meals and don't experiment at all

>>14738842
This isn't "learning to cook," it is "learning to cook well." There's a difference. Unless you expect OP to eat nothing but pizzas.

Okay faggots here is an easy way to make delicious pasta all'amatriciana. One of the best pasta recipe I tried and one of the simplest.

Cook an onion in olive oil. Add some bacon or guanciale. When it looks done, add 2 chopped cloves of garlic, stir a bit, and put a can of quality tomato sauce (tomato pulp or peeled tomatoes and the sauce that comes with it, I recommand Mutti), some black pepper and chilli pepper. Let it boil then let it rest a little slower while you do the pasta. When everything is ready, ddd parsley to the sauce, mix with the pasta, serve.
>>14738842
Do as this guy say. I just tried again and again and again and did lame dishes in the past, now I couldn't say I am a great cook but I sure master my favorites.

>>14738271
>do the most you can from scratch, no seasoning blends, no stock cubes, nothing like that
You're right but cooking is a learning process, sometimes easy mode helps that process. Never stop learning and keep trying new things, explore different cuisines and enjoy cooking

Fried eggs are way harder for a beginner to fuck up than scrambled (unless you like overcooked scrambled eggs with the texture of a mattress). Crack the eggs into a bowl first instead of directly into the pan so they cook at the exact same time. Butter/oil in the pan. Butter is ready when it starts foaming/bubbling a bit, oil when it gets shimmery on the sides. Pour in the eggs and wait. I like to put the salt and pepper on right before flipping. When it's all white on the bottom and a coherent mass instead of a liquid, loosen it up by sliding the spatula all around the perimeter and underside (so the yolks wont stick and break when you flip it). Flip with either the spatula, or the pan itself if you're brave enough. How long you leave it on after that depends on how done you want them. Only like 30 seconds if it's over easy, 1 min for medium, beyond that for hard. Slide them out onto a plate, wa la.

And yeah if you'd rather do scrambled eggs just beat them in the bowl before you pour them in the pan, make sure to stir that shit continuously once it's in the pan though or it'll basically become an omelette.

Learning cooking is the same as learning most things. You learn it by doing it. Not trying to boomersplain here, but the more you do it and learn from your mistakes plus adjust your techniques the better you'll get.

I'm at the where I don't need to follow any recipe, except for baking, and my food will always taste good. Once you understand technique and flavor, it's all easy.

>>14739295
did you buy a book about acids in food or sum shit

>>14739295
I'm gonna keep saying this shit, but stop with this "learn by doing it" shit. Does OP go start a fire outside? Does he learn he needs an oven, and what heat to cook at? A pan? A knife? What's a seasoning?

Everyone keeps blasting past the basics. It's like if someone asked how to drive, and we said "just go get in the car and go!"

>>14739336
People who say shit like >>14739295 obviously have not only the skills, but a lot of money to burn. The reason I never try "winging it" and always make sure to watch recipe videos is because I dont want to fuck up the ingredients and either 1. throw it away, wasting money or 2. eat the sloppa shit and probably have to puke or have diarrhea from the abomination I created

>>14733445
A bit overcooked. Keep at it, but as the other anon said, do french style instead, it's way better and easier once you do it right.

>>14739413
Exactly. "Learning to cook" is like "hey, buy a pan from the store, set your stove to low heat, crack an egg in with a slice of butter and stir with a a fork or spatula. Now you have cooked a mediocre scrambled egg, but it will feed you." People can build from that.

>>14733431
My dad would have my brother and me cook with him and that built the foundation. You can probably do the same thing whenever you're around someone who's cooking
It's very not hard to do when you're not trying to impress anyone. If it tastes good and didn't make you sick, you succeeded. Look up a recipe for something simple that you like to eat. When you see words you don't understand, look them up too.
The pasta salad I sometimes make for lunches is retardedly easy. Cook and shred a couple chicken breasts (baking is easiest for me), make too much pasta (I usually use spinnies or bowties), and drop it in a bowl with some chopped carrots, celery, onion, bell pepper, and mix in a salad dressing.

>>14733431
>How did you guys first learn how to cook?
In the university dorm.
>What are good meals for beginners?
Oven baked. Get a large casserole, buy frozen stuff all sorts and a half pint of full cream per two pounds of frozen stuff.
At least one hour in oven at 175*C (350*F).

>Wanna learn how to cook in my free time but I am unsure of where to start.
Add boiling water to cup noodles. However, this time Think what you just did.
That's a start.

>>14733431
Get some Hamburger Helper. Simple to make and you really can't fuck it up and it will taste good.

>>14739730
lel I know a dude who fucked up hamburger helper

>>14739769
Story?

I kind of got started by looking up recipes for things that I was in the mood to eat. Sometimes I'd fuck up but used that as a learning experience. Eventually I was able to tell if a recipe was too my tastes or not and was able to improvise. Really you just need to take time and practice.

>>14733431
Decided to try it. Made some meatloaf and my family loved it. Turns out I had a knack for it.
Now all I watch is cooking videos on youtube. Still learning but trying new things. It's really fun and rewarding especially when you make something and it turns out great. The compliments I get are addicting and I wanna keep making stuff.

>>14739199
Stock is step 0 for most European recipes, so you should learn to always have stock at hand anyways. I think not using shortcuts only gets hard when you try to run before walking.

>>14733431
>How did you guys first learn how to cook?
PBS cooking shows because I'm an old fuck and neither the food network or the internet existed.

>>14733431
find inspiration for dishes you want to make and then look for recipes
as much as everyone on here hates them, bon appetit is a good place to get fairly simple recipes that are good.

>>14739336
>>14739413

Made an amazing chicken marsala tonight, never followed a recipe. Obviously, if you're starting out go find a recipe or a cooking video that looks great to you and follow it. But it's impossible to start cooking and not to fail early on, just a fact of life.

>>14739805
Not him but for my roommate, it was quite simple: NEVER read the instructions on anything you make. Just throw it all in with water (optional). Eventually you learn that cooking is hard and the only option is to get McDonald's.

>>14735556
this is another thing I did. I started cooking what I was ordering from take out. Now I make pretty good Indian food. Thai is still eluding me but I just haven't put in the effort. Even just really working on making a perfect hamburger has been fun. It is a simple recipe but getting buns you really love and then using really good ingredients makes such a huge difference.

Also OP, soups and stews with really great breads. You'll learn to prep and season to taste.

Probably the biggest thing that helped me which I wish I would have known sooner:

Mise en Place <-- learn what this means and practice this before you cook EVERY time, no matter what you make. Mise en Place will make a HUGE difference in cooking for you.

>>14737232
Still don't understand why he used such thick bread and why once he failed he didn't bother with a second take.

>>14733445
fuck these other dumbasses it looks like good food i'd be grateful to eat if made for me

>>14733431
First thing, learn about your kitchen. It'll help learning what is your stoves low-medium-high and in-between settings are.

>>14737232
>Open flame in a fireplace
>Thick toast
He knew exactly what was going to happen.

Chilli con Carne is incredibly easy, you can make a lot and it's increadibly tasty, pic is mine of when I cooked it and is probably my 5th ever dish.

ingredients:
400g of minced beef from the butcher
an entire can of tomatos
an entire drained can of kidney beans
some paprika
lots of paprika powder
spicy powder
one onion

chop onion and fry onion and meat in a pot.
add the rest and let simmer, stir sometimes

eat

>>14734538
Bro its so easy my 8 year old brother used to do it 4 years ago. Just mix cinnamon (I prefer a lot desu) , creme or milk, eggs, one pack vanilla extract or icing sugar (shouldn't matter) in a bowl. Mix it thoroughly and slap that white bread inside and let it soak it on both sides. Prepare and heat the pan with sunflower oil or something, its optional, and then simply cook the battered bread.

>>14738551
How do I make a French omelette without it turning into scrambled eggs

Reading this thread makes me grateful that I have a dad who loves cooking (and is really good at it) and cooked for me and my mom basically every night growing up, and liked teaching me how to cook. Good luck beginner anons.

>>14742074
Firstly beat the eggs for like 20s+ and add a tablespoon of water or milk.
Fairly low temperature and constant movement. Lift the pan off the burner from time to time
Once it no longer flows easily into spots you mix then spread it out and let it set slightly then roll it. Add butter when rolling to stop sticking. It also will drop the temp a bit
The good part is the worst thing that can happen is that you end up with scrambled eggs

Check out the food wishes video if you want a visual guide

The good thing about getting this technique down is that it makes really soft and creamy scrambled eggs too

>>14733999
Checked. Consider crock pot recipes. They're pretty much idiot proof and impossible to fuck up. Some of them are really good too.

>>14734538
The pan needs to be hotter and you're soaking the bread for too long.

i'd love to make my own pasta but i am way too lazy bros

>>14742638
not a fan of making pasta. the reward is to mediocre to justify the effort. Try making chilly, it's even easier and tastes better

>>14733445
The problem with Omlettes is that they literally have a quality gauge on them.
Top end chefs say it's the one thing that tells you how good someone is, like a test for chefs.

What you call "easy" might only be "edible" to someone else.

The best things to start with should be something that isn't up it's own ass, simple ingredients and has a lot of room for mistakes or freestyling.

For me it is 2 things
Carbonara - Literally impossible to fuck up and has a nice process with room to be wild.
Brownies - Fantastic for experimenting and learnings. So simple, but changing minor things makes big differences. Think more egg yolks for richness, more egg whites for fluffiness, more butter for gooey, more of anything and you can just put whatever the fuck you want once you've done the mix.

>>14742634
You can never soak the bread too long

Wet toast gang

>>14734275
That's a country omelette, you dipshit. It looks great for the style. Your poached eggs on the other hand...

>>14742709
That's why it's falling apart in the pan, nigga.

>>14742719
Mine doesnt because I dont use bitch bread. Hardough only

As many other anons have pointed out in this thread, it's something you just have to take a shot at. If you fuck up a recipe, don't sweat it. Just try to figure out what you did wrong and work on adjusting it next time you want to try again. I lucked out by learning some basic from my first roommate who was trying to get into culinary school and well over a decade later I still browse cooking channels on youtube when I want to try something new.

Few bits of specific advice:
>Prep your ingredients before cooking. Saves so much stress of trying to snag something, especially when it comes to pan frying anything.
>Clean dishes as you go whenever possible. Letting dishes pile up is a pain in the ass.
>Buy a pack of index cards to write down recipes and keep them in a container (organize however you prefer). When you're starting off it's tough remembering the details of each dish, so this helps you retain stuff better and not have to look it up online every single time. Started doing this a few months ago and it's beyond useful.

For channels I'd suggest food wishes (as so many here have), Cooking With Dog, Glen & Friends Cooking, Future Neighbors, and one meal a day.

I hate to say it because someone will say its reddit but watch I suck at cooking

>>14733431
what's cooking videos and start copying things.
I fucking love Gennaro.

>>14733431
Do something like Chili over and over and learn from mistakes and see what changes you decide to do and how it affects the final product. Use whole chuck as the meat. It'll teach you properly butchering a whole cut, browning meat, chopping and sauteing veggies, blooming spices and aromatics, deglazing simmering a "soup"/using stock, properly seasoning a liquid (protip: you salt at the beginning, but not enough to oversalt once it cooks down, so that the ingredients have time to absorb the salt, and then you do final seasoning at the end to taste), using a fairly wide array of spices and learning to adjust to taste (after the first time, use whole dried peppers and cumin seed IMO), retards aside, using beans is smart (use dried beans to learn how to properly soak and use them. Another good option is a steak of meat that you like and a pan sauce to go with it. Steak is great if you like it and can afford it on a consistent basis. Bone in porkchop is a lowkey super cheap fucking delicious option that most plebs overlook. Learn to properly sear a steak, and cook to desired doneness (it is best done by feel, and well, you have to do it a bunch to get the "feel"), and then pan sauces are super basic. If you really like eye-talian, doing a red sauce from scratch is also a decent thing to master.

>>14740024
I agree it's a fundamental skill to learn but some take a long time to make and my job takes a lot of time and I'm exhausted at the end of the day, sometimes I just want to eat an easy meal so I get premade stock

>>14733445
Its fine, reminder that most ppl posting here put creme fraiche in their eggs or like watched a few omuri rice video's and think they know it all.

>>14743037
I'm going to sound like I am contradicting myself, but I don't see much problem with pre-made liquid stock. Sure, even if I had access to them I would not use them. But, to me, they are fundamentally different to stock cubes. I guess my problem is the artificiality on top of the laziness of it.

But if you have very little time then get a slow cooker, it has slow in the name, but it will work while you are out of your house, great for stocks, when I get home I turn it off, filter the ingredients, wait for it to cool and refrigerate my stock. Now the main problem that I now have is space, I can only make stock when I really need it.

https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/one-pot-pasta-spinach-tomatoes
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/classic-beef-stroganoff/c17a904f-a8f6-48ae-bedb-5b301a8ea317
these two helped get me started and are now staples in the winter time
you'll find ways to mod them, it's just a starting place

>>14733445
Don't listen to those fags, your shit's overcooked, and your brain's retarded

I was and am still in a similar situation. What I did was decide what my main ingredient would be and trying to find recipes including it on youtube. Avoid any chefs and whatever, I feel like they aren't good for homecooking. Everybody also usually has a link to their website with the recipe and you can check everything there. One of my personal favorites is notanothercookingshow when I was trying to learn italian pastas.

>>14740509
I don't care if you made it off a recipe or not, you literally had the basics already in your knowledge base about how long to cook chicken, and methods to cook chicken. It's the difference between cooking the basics and cooking well.

>>14733431
Soups and stews. Chicken katsu is surprisingly easy. Mushrooms are also super fun to experiment with because even severely overcooked they taste fantastic. Get a rice cooker too and fuck around with it.

Speaking of which, I just made simple jambayala for the first time. What do you think, /ck/? I'm just now getting financial independence and getting to live alone so I really want to learn to cook more elaborate meals too.

>>14733431
You live in the information age. You're literally using the internet RIGHT NOW to post on 4chan.

Remember when we all had to go to the computer lab for highschool, and one of the benchmarks they graded us on was "Ethical and responsible user of technology"? I thought that was fucking stupid at the time, but literally what that means is that you're smart enough, and wise enough, to use the computer for research and education, instead of just using it to play vidya games and watch porn all the time.

Just look up recipes about things you want to eat, or watch a bunch of videos. I'm 24, and I cook like I'm 40. I far surpassed my mom and dad in a matter of a few short years because while they had to rely on hand-me-down knowledge from their mom and dad, I had that, plus the advantage of learning so much more from the computer.

I've slowly been teaching my mom and dad how to use the internet too, and their gardening skills have gone up, their sewing skills have gone up, their cooking has gone up, and they straight up told me they're learning more in a matter of a few months than they used to be able to learn in 4 years of school.

USE. THE INTERNET. FOR INFORMATION.

>>14733445
I don't get why there's so much shitposting. It's not perfect, but it looks great and I'd definitely try it.

>>14739413
>eat the sloppa shit and probably have to puke or have diarrhea from the abomination I created
It's very hard to fuck up most things like that, relatively speaking. With even a little bit of experience you'll be able to recognize what does and doesn't work and even before that you should be able to make basic logical leaps like "if i cook this for too long the water will all steam away and it will be too firm".

>>14734275
who the fuck eats poached eggs on toast with RAW MUSHROOMS

>>14744990
The....Allah forgive me for saying this....Engl*sh

>>14744425
I'd eat it.

>>14733431
>>14733431
I remember the literal first meal I cooked with my cousin when I was like 7. We put tap water and stock with mr. noodles in a bowl and microwaved it.

I learned how to make something properly using that package chicken noodle soup and box mac and cheese.

First thing I actually "cooked" was lemon chicken breast and rice. Beef roast soon after that. I tried cooking salmon w/ garlic butter once but I fucked it up because I didn't skin it right.

Latest thing I made were mushroom caps stuffed with red peppers and cream cheese. Wife tried to teach me sushi, instructions unclear, dick caught in oven door. I feel like I can only cook well food that I like because I can't eat fish (allergy)

kek when I was four I tried to reheat mcdonald's in a pink plastic bowl in the toaster oven. Fucking destroyed it.

>>14733431
>How did you guys first learn how to cook?
As an adult, looking up recipes online and in cookbooks. Grew up poor with lazy parents, so no help there. Was in military, get tired of trash, have to get creative and eat just about anything.
>What are good meals for beginners?
For meat: anything with chicken thighs, you have to try to fuck them up. Onions are the easiest veg, you either didn't cook them enough or they're blackened carbon, anything in between is edible. Carrots close second.
Protips: almost everything you cook needs to be moved/handled way less or way more than you think. Everything needs way more spices/seasoning than you think, like, waaaay more.
Fuck around when you cook and learn by trial and error.

>>14734279
It's yer entry level almost omelet.

>>14733431
first learned by mixing ground beef, seasonings, cheese, and jarred ragu tomato sauce to make meat sauce, and learned how different things affect the flavor. from there its just been a building experience of trying different things and noting how they affect flavor

>>14746004
Thanks! I'm having some myself for lunch today and it's still just as yummy.

>>14733431
Honestly, just pick a dish you think sounds nice.
In general stay away from these things as a beginner:
- Roux (if you must do a roux NEVER leave it unattended)
- Making your own pasta (not hard, just frustrating to most)
- Making any kind of layered dough (hard, imo)

>>14733431
Fried rice. It's cheap, filling, and once you master it, it makes a good base for adding other random meats/veggies to.

>>14733445
Fuck the negative posters. What matters is if the eggs taste good to you or who you are serving, not others. If you prefer the taste of eggs with a bit of browning on them, there's nothing wrong with that.

>>14733431
My dad was never home and my mom was always passed out drunk. I learned to cook by necessity. You can always start cooking with the recipe I did, the Wish Sandwich.

>>14748024
My dad only buys instant rice and lately found that it works out as a pretty good way for rice that isn't leftovers from the day before.

>>14742654
Who cares about how some random autist on /ck/ thinks about their omelette. Also carbonara is a shit dish to start cooking cause you can easily cook the eggs and end up with a goopy mess. Tomato sauce on the other hand is impossible to fuck up as the longer you cook it the better it gets. Op should familiarize himself with the mother sauces and learning what temp to cook steaks.

>>14746155
>Onions are the easiest veg, you either didn't cook them enough or they're blackened carbon, anything in between is edible.
True but onions are even edible undercooked or raw and taste alright depending on the dish. Also mushrooms are similar in that they're super tough to overcook and maintain their flavor and only get worse in regards to texture

>>14734042
>>scratch biscuits
That is a good one to learn took me a while and mine as still shit.

>>14744425
>I just made simple jambayala for the first time.

I wanted to make scrambled eggs with ground beef, onions and garlic all together. What would be the best way to do it? My ground beef also usually leaks lots of liquid so I have to drain it.

>>14744990
Me when I'm in a hurry.

>>14744425
if you want any unasked-for jambalaya tips:
first, saute the sausage. it'll leak out lots of extra flavorful oil, which then you will then use to saute your chicken, if using-- your trinity if not. i also love mushrooms so i brown some sliced mushrooms in the andouille fat, as well.
if you're calorie conscious or wanting to eat more veggies, you can grate a raw zucchini and then stir it up with the finished jambalaya; the carryover heat will cook the zucchini just enough. it's a less traditional rice stretcher that i think works pretty well and lets me eat MOAR JAMBALAYA