How does one learn how to cook by themselves?

[Anonymous No.15450087]

I wasn't raised very well my parents barely taught me anything important and I don't even know how to fry an egg (I heard that's easy), how do I start with cooking? is there like a book that teaches you how to cook, telling you how ovens and pans and fridges work and stuff? I'm going to be living alone soon and I don't want to eat instant ramen all day

[Anonymous No.15450090]

[Anonymous No.15450094]

>>15450090
I don't want to eat fast food all day either

[Anonymous No.15450096]

>>15450087
Frying an egg is a bit more difficult than it seems, but it teaches something important - heat control. There aren't any books off the top of my head but I think you might be able to find a few books on cooking technique.

[Anonymous No.15450099]

[Anonymous No.15450103]

>>15450096
I see
>>15450099
I'm not a dummy I don't want to read a book that says "for dummies" in the title

[Anonymous No.15450108]

>>15450087
Fridges are cold, you put food in them

[Anonymous No.15450109]

>>15450103
>I don't even know how to fry an egg
just buy the book bro, trust me

[Anonymous No.15450115]

>>15450109
you put the egg in the furnace yeah? i think i figured it out
>>15450108
I know that but I want to know what other uses the fridge has, I also know that the oven is used to heat food but I want to know what other uses it has and stuff and how to make full use of those aspects

[Anonymous No.15450120]

>>15450115
>I want to know what other uses the fridge has
Did you not have a refridgerator growing up? Sometimes, a recipe may ask you to put food back in to the refridgerator.
I was a NEET shut in and I figured out how to cook by using youtube and having a need to cook food to survive.

[Anonymous No.15450126]

>>15450120
>Did you not have a refridgerator growing up? Sometimes, a recipe may ask you to put food back in to the refridgerator.
that's all it does? alright thanks
>I was a NEET shut in and I figured out how to cook by using youtube and having a need to cook food to survive.
that's what I'm planning on doing but I figured there were books or websites that could teach me easily which is what im asking for

[Anonymous No.15450159]

>>15450126
I will give you honest advice since I didn't know how to do any cooking a handful of years ago and now I'm an "okay" cook. Buy a big deep skillet and make a lot of one pot meals. It is extremely hard to fuck up one pot meals. Buy a sheet pan and make sheet pan meals. Again, very hard to fuck up. When you are more comfortable, make different food. Recipes will tell you literally every step you need to do. Shitty meme sites like Tasty cater to the most braindead retard so you can find easy recipes there too.

[Anonymous No.15450169]

>>15450159
thank you

[Anonymous No.15450182]

>>15450087
Start by pre-heating your pan on low heat (like 2.5 out of ten)
Once your pan is hot, add enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
Crack your egg(s) into the pan (or if you suck at egg cracking have them pre-cracked in a bowl so you can remove the shell you broke into the egg easier)
Add seasoning, my go to is a pinch of chili powder or crushed chilies, and a shake of Montreal steak spice.
Add about a tablespoon (15ML) of water to the pan and put a cover on it. (This is the most important fucking part, it will give you evenly cooked and never burnt eggs)
For sunny side up leave the egg in the pan for about six minutes (check them though, if still runny on top leave them longer. For over easy, flip them at the two or three minute mark.

[Anonymous No.15450185]

>>15450087
Go back to your containment board, tranime poster
>>>/a/
4chan is a cooking website

[Anonymous No.15450262]

if you cant grind hours professionally like 5% of us id suggest making simple recipes (pastas, steak, throw-this-shit-on-some-rice stuff). if you like italian its a pretty good place to start since the traditional recipes are very very simple and ingredients ought to be easy to find in western countries.
some random tips off the top of my head:
>constantly taste what youre making. if you add a pinch of salt, incorporate thoroughly and give it a taste. you can always add seasoning but you can never take it away. this will help develop your palate and help you adjust recipes into a 'personalized' dish
>>keep in mind raw ingredients like cheese can also season your meal so i'd suggest seasonings like salt to be left at the end (exception being proteins) unless a particular recipe requires that you season beforehand. soups and pastas ought to be fine
>be conscious of how long it takes to do certain things during your prep and processing. you will be very surprised with what you'll be able to accomplish with just 20 seconds. don't push yourself if you aren't confident in your multitasking though. there isnt any rush.
>>you can wrap/put away whatever ingredients you aren't using back in the fridge.
>>you can clean off a pan or wipe your counter
>think of your knife as an extension of your arm (sounds like a fucking weeb meme but its true. imagine cutting stuff with the side of your hand like a karate chop. you use your wrist to articulate the movement of cutting and chopping) don't be afraid to grip the knife past the handle if it makes it more comfortable
>don't be afraid to handle ingredients with your bare hands. youre gonna be putting that shit in your mouth after all
>different ingredients cook at different rates so dont throw a bunch of random veg in with beef at the same time and expect it all to come out properly cooked

[Anonymous No.15450265]

>>15450087
Alright OP. I should have read the thread before posting >>15450182
The internet makes cooking easy. My wife grew up with two maids in the house who did ALL of the cooking. She couldn't make kraft dinner. I showed her some things, but she usually just yells at me for micromanaging her when she tries to cook so she just uses the internet for recipes she wants to try.
A simple Google search turned up a book called "the science of cooking" I don't need it so I haven't bought it, but it sounds like it will give a pretty good breakdown to your "how and why does this shit work" type of questions.
The best starting point is to know that a thick bottom pan will last longer and cook your food more evenly. Cooking at low heat will 9 times out of 10 be better, and more heat doesn't mean your food will cook faster, it means it will burn faster. Don't eat undercooked chicken, pork or anything ground (ground pork/beef/bird). Read about the dangers of cross contamination in the kitchen (it's the first thing in kitchen safety that you should learn so you won't die of food poisoning). Making bread is really fucking easy and cheaper than buying it in the store, just buy bulk flower. Wash your rice before you cook it. When you cook rice, as soon as the water level reaches the top of the rice you can throw veggies (fresh or frozen) on top and they will steam with your rice so you don't get scurvy.
Buy a meat thermometer, they are cheap as fuck and will help make sure you don't get the aforementioned food poisoning.
Get a big ass thick bottom pot that you can make stew/ chilli/ spaghetti sauce etc. In these are the types of meals you can make enough to last two weeks worth of meals then freeze portions of them to re-heat later. Make sure to read about how long your food can be in the fridge before it goes bad. You should be able to smell if it's bad, but you might have the dumb or just not be able to smell so read that shit because food poisoning is bad.
Fuck microwaves.

[Anonymous No.15450267]

>>15450262
last one cuz of character limit
>make it a habit to clean up asap. youre young so if you can grind out simple chores like washing your dishes and pans and cutlery it will make cooking much more attractive an option. if youre lazy dont plate, just eat it out of your pan unless its a nonstick.
cooking can be very simple. if you arent a professional or enthusiast dont complicate it thinking about stuff like learning the mother sauces and making clean cuts.

[Anonymous No.15450274]

>>15450087
The original is still the best imo. This will give you the basics from how to hold a knife and yes eggs too. Its all very approachably written.

[Anonymous No.15450282]

>>15450267
>>15450262
all these tips are really useful, thanks man
>>15450265
that's all really useful thanks I'll check that book out
>fuck microwaves
does the radiation fuck your food up? I never figured that out
>>15450274
I'll check this book out as well, thanks

[Anonymous No.15450284]

Search youtube and there is a video called Jacques pepin essential techniques. It's over 3hrs long and he teaches you all the techniques you need. You will need to apply those techniques so find a good cookbook. I recommend either joy of cooking or Americas test kitchen recipes. Of course you could go with Pepin's essential cookbook and get that youtube video on dvd as it comes with it.

[Anonymous No.15450287]

>>15450267
That's actually fucking great advice man. The cleanup time is what makes cooking fell less worth it. Prep is therapeutic, cooking is a dance, cleanup is a chore but if you hit the dishes right away (some during your cook time) then they are way less of a pain in the dick than after you're full and want to be a lazy sack of shit. Also, doing them when full and lazy is more ch better than doing a whole days worth of dishes at night.

[Anonymous No.15450294]

>>15450282
microwaves are just lazy cooking and can fuck up the texture of your food and cook it weird. nothing inherently wrong with using them but the outcome will be much lesser than what youd get if you were to use more traditional venues

[Anonymous No.15450296]

>>15450282
I say fuck microwaves because they make everything soggy and shitty. I'm sure some tinfoil hat fucker will have more to say than that but they just make everything taste like shit.

[Anonymous No.15450330]

>>15450087
start with the basics
Boiling eggs is easy
Frying them is easy
Pan steak is easy
You can throw chicken/pork/beef cuts or sausages and potatoes in the oven. A bit of oil and herbs and you get a super easy low effort meal thats doesnt make a mess.
Roast pan, frying pan, sauce pot and a large pot is your basic set.
Google is your friend ex."how long to cook chicken drumsticks oven" and you get your time and temp.

[Anonymous No.15450621]

thanks for all the advice

[Anonymous No.15451103]

>>15450330
THE best crowd moment in /sp/ history

[Anonymous No.15451132]

>>15450087
Just do it
Follow the recipes online, start with the easy ones
You're just heating up food, not that complicated as you think
I managed to do it so can you

[Anonymous No.15451134]

>>15450087
You + recipe + ingredients.

It' s not rocket science, faggot.

[Anonymous No.15451147]

Honestly dont be sacred of recipes, cooking is easy AF. For egg, just put a little bit of oil in the pan, high heat, wait like 2 mins for oil to heat up and crack an egg on it. Turn heat to medium, wait a bit, bottom of egg should be solid enough to flip the egg with a spatula, then flip the egg. If you want a sunny side up egg, put slightly more oil down, high heat, crack egg, medium heat, then cover the pan with a cover until the egg white is solid and not goopy anymore.

[Anonymous No.15451152]

>>15450115
Bro even people who use ovens frequently don't even know what all the fan options are LOL, just follow recipe instructions

[Anonymous No.15451159]

Also as long as you follow the recipe, cooking is fucking EZ PZ