/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.12014928]

>no cooking skills of any kind
>decide enough of this shit, time to learn how to feed myself if I'm graduating uni in 7 weeks
>made big pot of vegetable and lentil stew yesterday
>first time mincing garlic and dicing an onion (fucked up the onion a bit but I at least know how to do it next time)
>first time actually cooking anything more complicated than rice or microwave shit
>ate some, tasted good
>dad ate some, said it was delicious
>refrigerated the rest and finished the leftovers today
>went to the store today and bought some stuff to make various meals throughout the week, focus on diversifying the types of things I can do
>gonna try pork chops and asparagus for dinner tomorrow

feels like I'm making it. Any tips for a beginning poor cook, things you wish you knew when you started getting serious about it?

[Anonymous No.12015032]

>>12014928
Hey man, glad to see you making the effort. It's never too late.

I think the most basic thing for beginner cooks is to focus more on technique than beinf bound to recipes. Get comfortable with your knife, learn what combinations of flavors go well. Don't be afraid to try something out of your comfort zone. Seems like you're halfway there.

Also, roast your asparagus.

[Anonymous No.12015053]

Cooking with Jack on youtube has a nice selection of novice level recipes and shows the process from start to finish. Welcome to cooking.

[Anonymous No.12015071]

>>12014928
dont cook everything on high heat.

[Anonymous No.12015182]

>>12015032
this. season and taste as you cook. don't be afraid to tweak recipes, cooking is an art, not a science.

[Anonymous No.12015460]

3 main things

1. Keep your kitchen always clean and clean up after cooking

2. Have the right pots, pans and cooking
utensils and wash them right away after cooking

3. Buy organic foods without gmo shit and store them properly.

[Anonymous No.12015467]

>>12015460
Note: Everything else is trial and error and learning from mistakes.

[Anonymous No.12015504]

>>12014928
that sounds great

for me the best thing was, experimenting with different flavors, so that i know what i really like combined because then it felt like cooking instead of only following instructions

[Anonymous No.12015519]

>>12014928
Sounds like you're on the right track.

When I started, I had a tendency to overseason everything. I also waited too long to clean up and it made it harder and took the fun out of it.

So, season mderately, and clean as you go. The other advice on this thread so far is pretty good.

Good luck.

[Anonymous No.12015525]

>>12014928
If you want to improve your technique, I recommend making a lot of egg dishes. Eggs need fundamentals like timing and temperature control. They'll always let you know if you've messed up too.

[Anonymous No.12015534]

>>12014928
Mostly about preparation I think. As you aren't a professional or anything you don't want to be doing much preparation and cooking at the same time, stuff will burn.

[Anonymous No.12015536]

>>12014928
some essentials people often overlook
cornstarch
flour
sugar
baking powder
baking soda

also don't throw away your bones and meat/vegetable scraps. that shit makes good stock

[Anonymous No.12015540]

>>12015536
also a tip for vegetable, they don't need to be cooked till mush, just till tender yet still a bit firm. that right there is the biggest reason lots of folk think they don't like vegetables

[Anonymous No.12016049]

>>12015460
good but 3 is bullshit.
Organic ≠ good
and
gmo ≠ bad

[Anonymous No.12016063]

>>12016049
Honestly, though, a tomato sangewedge is pretty good if you're using good tomaters.
Some mayo or pesto in there, or some cottage cheese, salt and pepper. It's good.
It's something I only eat in Summer when I can get nice tomates from Mother's garden, though. The ones from the store are shit.

[Anonymous No.12016171]

Download the book "How To Cook Everything" off libgen.io. It assumes no past cooking knowledge or anything, & starts with the bare essentials. I just started learning how to cook this week and it's been really helpful. Recommended ingredients and utenstils to have around the house; basic cutting & cleaning techniques; how to prepare all kinds of meats; what to look for when finding good quality meat & fruit/veggies at the store etc. There's over 2000 recipes.

First thing I made from it is the mac & cheese recipe while staying with my sister's family. Her, my brother-in-law, and I all really enjoyed it.

[Anonymous No.12016174]

>>12016171
>lib
No thanks.

[Anonymous No.12016180]

>>12015460
>any tips for a poor cook?
>buy expensive organic shot because mom science

[Anonymous No.12016194]

>>12014928
Think a little ahead what goes with what in terms of flavour and texture. Buy tons of spices (and use them) always think: taste. Taste food as you go ahead and add appropriately.
And, none of us learned to cook in a week. Practice.

[Anonymous No.12016205]

>>12016063

[Anonymous No.12016221]

>>12016174

Whats wrong with lib?

[Anonymous No.12016347]

>>12014928
I tended to be scared of higher heats which kept me from nailing some dishes. Don't be worried to create a little smoke.

[Anonymous No.12016356]

>>12016171
That book is way too basic. There's no reason to use it. Anything you make from it will be vastly underwhelming and barely any better than pre-prepared shit from supermarket. No knead bread is ok for the effort you put in though if you cba with something more technical.

Go for something a little more complex but still easy. Like the ATK books. Can pirate them easily.

[Anonymous No.12016374]

>>12014928
Start investing in decent cookware. All-Clad D3 stainless steel pots and pans are well worth the money and if you want to spend just a bit more you can opt for the D5's. Start with a frying pan and saute pan, maybe a sauce pot. Also start picking up some decent forged cutlery like a chef's knife and a santoku. These are the items you will use constantly and there's no reason to be cheap since they will last you a decade and more. There is a massive difference between shitty cookware and good cookware.

Oh and a wooden cutting board.

[Anonymous No.12016426]

>>12014928
good job and good luck anon! remember, cooking is easy, we've been cooking as a species many more years than we've been eating out/pre-prepared foods, and a lot of recipes are tailored to that (ie idiot-proof)

I'd like to echo what a few other posters have said: focus on technique and preparation over recipe learning, do a lot of egg dishes, don't beat yourself up if the dish doesn't work out.

Learning how long different vegetables take to cook can make the difference between having mushy flavorless slop or a nice interplay of flavor and textures.

you can do it!

[Anonymous No.12016434]

>>12016426
>don't beat yourself up if the dish doesn't work out.
This. Been learning to cook Asian foods lately since I got a real wok and I made the same meal three times yesterday before it came out properly.

[Anonymous No.12016451]

>>12016434
and with some exception, "failed" dishes are still edible, good even. especially if OP is cooking ezpz shit.

[Anonymous No.12016523]

>>12014928
part of cooking is cleaning. this is my cooking (and cleaning) process:

>prepare ingredients
>start cooking
>at a lull in the cooking process (need to wait for water to boil or for a sauce to reduce, etc) start cleaning what you can.
I'll make it a habit of transferring my unused ingredients to the dish I plan to eat out of so that I can cut the cutting board and knife. I then take the ingredients from the bowl.
Note that you can't really do this with raw meats, whatever raw meats come into contact with will have to be washed, so putting chopped raw meat into a bowl is redundant. If you just have vegetables to cook then you obviously don't need to worry about contamination.
>plate finished food
>put water with some soap in dirty pans to start the cleaning process
hot water, not cold, never cold, it will warp your hot pan
>eat
>enjoy food
>store leftovers and clean the rest of the dishes
usually at this point it's the pan I cooked in, the fork and plate I used to eat with, and the spatula I used to cook with

breaking up the cleaning process like this helps make it seem less daunting, and will help to prevent you from just leaving dishes to pile up. Obviously if you have a dishwasher, a large number of people to feed, or other people to help you clean your experience can and will differ.

I'd like to expand on the raw meat thing, since you're new to cooking I don't know how much you know: whatever raw meat comes into contact with must be cleaned with soap and water. It is unwise to chop your vegetables on the same cutting board you use to chop meat in, though I think if you are cooking everything to 160ºF then you don't have to worry about it. If you are cutting meat, then do so first, wash/dry your cutting board, and then cut your veggies. Or use different cutting boards.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Anonymous No.12016647]

>>12014928
See if you can get yourself a nice, big cutting board. It's so nice having that extra space, especially when you do a lot of chopping.

[Anonymous No.12016665]

>>12016647
oh, speaking of cutting boards. old kitchen trick. put a damp wash rag under the cutting board to keep it from sliding around while you're cutting

[Anonymous No.12016684]

>>12016665
and a single slab of wood is better than a compound board made of strips or pieces of wood. but of course, if you're poor, any wood will do.

[Anonymous No.12017028]

Thanks for all the kind words and advice, anons. The pork chops today were my first experience really handling or working with raw meat. I'm fairly sure I didn't give myself or my dad brain parasites, and the chops came out well, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, if a little plain.
Big ups to >>12015032 for the asparagus recommendation, roasting made it damn good.

I downloaded that cookbook too, seems very in depth and useful for what I'm looking for (simple but tasty and filling).
I was pretty nervous about starting this process but I feel a lot better about it the more practice I get.

Turkey burgers tomorrow