Cooking

river_tam2x2 · 2023-02-25T12:08:30+00:00

Cooking is a skill set that takes time, but the good news is that as long as you can follow directions you’ll be okay! A big part of it is learning all the “whys” of what you’re doing. That doesn’t come overnight, but one thing that helps is to not skip past blog posts straight to the recipe. Instead, read through the info first to learn the “why” of what you’re doing.

I don’t have any YouTube channels I follow, but I’ve heard good things about the Zest cooking app - it’s supposed to be like Duolingo for cooking.

Here’s a few tips I’ve learned along the way - hopefully they help!

When measuring flour, the best thing is to use a food scale to get the exact weight in grams. If you don’t have one, fluff up your flour and gently spoon it into your measuring cup without compacting it, then level it off. If you just dig the measuring cup in the flour you’ll end up with too much!
Eggs and bacon cook best on a low-medium temperature. To help eggs cook evenly, put a lid on your skillet for the last couple of minutes. (Bonus tip - water boils way faster when you put a lid on the pot!)
Wire racks are a must if you’re cooking anything crispy. Think fried chicken, waffles, etc. if you put them right on a plate to cool or stack them on top of each other, it’ll trap steam and make them soggy.
Get an instant read thermometer and always check your meat for doneness. 165 for chicken and ground beef, 145 for pork. It’s one thing to burn the potatoes, it’s another to give yourselves food poisoning.
Once you start building skills, you can only go so far unless you have the right tools. No matter how skilled a baker, your cookies will still be more browned on the bottom with foil and a single walled dark baking sheet vs parchment paper and a double-walled baking sheet. Whisks perform better than forks. A rolling pin performs better than a cup.
Another key to success is planning. Read ahead in your recipe and pull out everything you need. For example - frying chicken? Be sure to start marinating your chicken in buttermilk a few hours before. Start preheating your oil (I like cast iron) before you start prepping. Season your flour for dredging (add a bit of baking soda for extra crispiness) and have that ready. If you’re breading it, have two more bowls ready to go with egg wash and seasoned breadcrumbs (I prefer panko). Have two sets of tongs ready (one for handling raw chicken, the other for removing cooked chicken from the oil). Have your wire cooling rack set up. Do all this before you start prepping and cooking the chicken.
The key to a good flavor profile is balancing fat, salt, acidity, and sweetness (as applicable).
Chicken breast is cheap and healthy, but can be tough and dry. To prevent that, I recommend the following: marinate in buttermilk (this breaks down the fibers and makes it more tender), put it in a ziploc to pound to even thickness (this makes it cook evenly so the thin part doesn’t get overdone while you wait for the thick part to reach 165. It also helps break down and tenderize the chicken further). If you’re cooking cubed chicken on the skillet, you could try “velveting” the chicken with baking soda before cooking.
Know the smoke points and uses of different oils.
Use a small amount of the water after you’ve cooked your pasta to mix into the sauce. Also! Don’t just dump the sauce on top of your noodles. Instead, mix the cooked noodles in with the sauce, then garnish and serve.
Don’t be afraid to do research and read several recipes before trying something new. I recently made pretzels for the first time, and they turned out great because I spent a lot of time researching and preparing for it!

Those are the things that come to mind - hopefully that helps a bit, and good luck on your cooking journey!

pm_me_old_maps · 2023-02-25T12:09:58+00:00

1) No Jamie Oliver.

2) There's no one food channel to help you with everything. Best to pick a recipe, and look for videos that are explicit enough to help you out.

3) Don't overexert yourself. Don't go for anything complicated that needs 2 days of prepping, cooking in several stages then getting an engineering degree to put it all together. You can't go wrong with a good stew.

This channel seems pretty good for easy american-italian cooking https://www.youtube.com/@SipandFeast

Egg fried rice is easy as all hell and you can't go wrong with it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH__o17xHls

And you can't go wrong taking advice from Anthony Bourdain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPNOevHvzc

Cooking is very fun. Don't be afraid to fail and experiment. Write down what works and what doesn't work.

P.S. Get a good kitchen knife and practice how to cut an onion. Once you know how to cut an onion well enough, you'll be able to handle anything :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwRttSfnfcc

Armchair678 · 2023-02-25T14:14:19+00:00

Out of everything in my life cooking took the longest to learn. You have to learn from experience.

Start with breakfast. It’s easier and you can get away with fast/high heat cooking on it.

Everything else you’ll really never use high heat for unless you’re boiling something. Cooking is slow and steady. Order also matters. You can’t throw all ingredients in at once. Browning onions/vegetables/meats matters.

I use Pinterest and YouTube for my recipes. As you follow recipes you’ll learn why to do things in order and how to bring everything together. Eventually the recipes will become a “suggestion” because you’ll already know what to do.

shirtled · 2023-02-25T13:54:23+00:00

Start with some basic recipes. Stocks, broths, crock pot meals, rice, casseroles even. Just simple things. Once you get the basic things down, take it up a notch, get creative, try new things. If you’re into baking and pastry, its a little different than culinary cooking; baking is much more precise and its much easier to screw up if you’re not careful. I would highly recommend for any cook not to skip basic training, understanding the fundamentals is key to understanding how to cook properly. Watch youtube videos, read a few books. Make sure to prep food ahead of time, there could be items you might have to prep the night before or a few days ahead of time like marinating meat, or defrosting meat, etc. Think a week or two in advance for cooking new recipes so you can gather the ingredients you’ll need at the market. Work with seasonal fruits and vegetables to save money.

Knife skills are important, learn how to cut and prepare different vegetables and meats properly. Get to know different basic foods and how to prepare them.

Also I cannot stress this enough, get to know your kitchen tools. What different types of pans and pots are used for different foods, what different types of tools you’ll need. I mainly use my nonstick sauté pans, nothing fancy but it works and its easy clean up, harder to screw up and have anything stick to it. I’d recommend two good sized pots that can hold about a half gallon ideally. You might also want a few storage containers or reusable storage bags (like the silicone ziplock) of various sizes for left overs; for easy clean up I recommend glass or silicone. Get a cookie sheet, a few silicone spatulas (the silicone can take heat and won’t scotch or burn), a cheap hand mixer if you like to bake, a few various size bowls, a 9X11 or a 9X9 baking dish and a few measuring spoons and cups.

Summers coming up so hit a few yard sales with a friend or your bf. I wouldn’t buy too many expensive things until you really know what you want and like. Ross and home goods usually have some good deals.

If you’re a beginner, I would highly recommend not sautéing too high on the heat until you get the hang of what your doing. You’ll burn your pans and/have a burn mess on your hands that will be a pain to clean off.

As for simmering or boiling things like thin liquids like water or broth, feel free to go high heat. For things like milk and sugary, thick sauces, you’re going to want to stir the bottom of the pot with a spatula, usually the higher the heat the more you’ll want to stir the bottom to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom, for example if you’re making a cheese sauce.

If you have a glass stove top, be careful not to drag pots and pans across it, it scratches the surface.

And this likely goes without saying but with cooking comes also knowing how to clean. Without a clean kitchen you cannot serve quality healthy food. I recommend the r/cleaningtips sub. Theres so much that goes into cleaning people don’t even consider. They just think scrubbing and wiping is all you do, no. What type of chemicals, tools and methods you use to clean different surfaces matters. You should aim to take good care of your kitchen and its tools.

It’ll take years to become a good well rounded cook, take your time, have fun. I’m sure your bf will enjoy your recipes. I’d always recommend trying the original recipes first, then tweak from there. Once you get the hang of things you can start changing things up, tweaking recipes and experimenting. Pretty soon you’ll be so good you’ll know right off the top of your head how to substitute ingredients and what flavors or foods will complement each other.

Theres always something new to make or experiment with. I’m currently geeking out on bread making, and from scratch dairy products like yogurts, cream cheese, condensed milk, butter and corn bread. Last year I was into making a lot of sushi, and matcha lattes. Sometimes my passion for cooking kinda comes and goes. I love it but I also have other hobbies and duties to attend to.

Darksnickerss · 2023-02-25T16:22:08+00:00

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KeySail557 · 2023-03-02T09:52:19+00:00

I agree with all these comments yes ...My only advice is to start by just finding one dish that he would like and try it try to cook it and over time perfect it ...Are you friends with his mother ? If so ask her to help you one time show you how to make something ....I learned how to cook from other ladies when i was younger this way ....if you have the time to spend with someone ask if they would help you ..I know hands on learning for me was way better than trying to figure it out reading a recipe or watching a video .....Ask him what his favorite things his mother would cook ....Im just saying you dont have to know how to cook everything start on something easy ....it could be anything ...he likes mac and cheese ok figure out how to cook it ...then take it even farther instead of a box of mac and cheese .once you got that down ..go beyond that as to getting noodles and the best cheeses to make the best damn mac and cheese there is ...cook it over and over until its perfect and then you have a signature gourmet mac and cheese ..like i said it could be anything ..peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ok make it out of the best ingredients and perfect it ..it could be whatever but just find one thing you can cook and keep doing it until its the best it could be ...my thing is if im eating a sandwich im toasting the bread ...i think its prettier that way. I heard once people eat with their eyes so i try to make my sandwiches look like the ones in the commercials ...

AutoModerator · 2023-02-25T11:33:48+00:00

Title: Cooking

Full text: One thing that’s really a big deal for my bf 24m is that I 25F know how to cook and I don’t do well in that department. I always had my mom cook and prepare everything for me or I just ate out. Where can I go to get help. Any YouTube channels ?

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Scared-Tea-8911 · 2023-02-25T14:16:29+00:00

A book that was so inspirational to me…

Foodie Handbook, by Pim Techamuanvivit https://www.amazon.com/Foodie-Handbook-Almost-Definitive-Gastronomy/dp/0811868532

It teaches the basic essence of cooking well - the best ingredients you can afford, simply prepared. 😊

WhatIsThisAccountFor · 2023-02-25T16:09:14+00:00

Most of cooking is patience and attention to detail. It takes time to get good at it. You just have to find recipes and practice.

arthuriduss · 2023-02-25T16:57:09+00:00

TikTok has so many useful and easy recipes. Give that a try first. Learning any new skill can be overwhelming so it’s best to start small.

MrsTurnPage · 2023-02-25T17:38:19+00:00

The tv show Worst cooks in America is a fun way to learn basics.

It is definitely a skill you will have to continually seek out the next thing to learn. I loved watching different cooking shows and listening to learn the lingo. Then I'd go to YouTube for tutorials on things. I've never had 1 cook book that I followed. Also know there is trial and error involved. When you're gonna be adventurous with a meal have the stuff to make some bomb ass sandwiches incase it goes wrong.

First thing is learn how to prep foods. Youtube knife skills. How to chop, slice, dice, and mince. You're basic produce for this are onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic.

Seasoning. Pretty much everything should get salt and pepper before or right after going in the pan. If you follow recipes online they never mention seasoning until the end and that's wrong. Seasoning is something you do throughout the entire process of cooking. Pull out your spices and herbs and smell them or even taste them. If you want to get good at cooking, you've got to improve your pallet and learn flavor profiles.

Then you've got the cooking. This takes time to understand because there's a lot of terminology to learn. Sear, Sautee, sweat, baste, caramelize, on and on.

I good start meal I'd say is a taco night prep. Slice onion and bell peppers for sautéing. Brown some ground beef with seasoning. Mince a garlic gloves. Make some Pico de Gallo with fresh lime juice and cilantro. It's all very different prep work but decently simple.

A lot of the whole process is time management. If you've got a meat that will take 7 minutes to cook but you wanna do rice and roasted vegetables then you've got to time everything correctly so it's all done at the same time. Rice takes 20 minutes, if you're roasting a root vegetable that takes 40 minutes. So you have to think about order to cook. Should you preper everything before you start or does something have a long enough cook time that you could prep the next thing while that cooks?

Jazzlike-Emu-9235 · 2023-02-25T21:01:05+00:00

I never was a big cook and I wouldn't say I'm a good cook. But id recommend finding one dish that you like and is healthy and learning to perfect that one. Because then you can change it up a little to still make it different while you learn more skills! My favorite lazy yet very tasty dinner is to literally sautee any thing you even remotely think would be good! I usually do spinach, squash, zucchini, some sort of seeds, sometimes nuts, mushrooms, chickpeas etc and just put in olive oil and whatever spices I want! Sometimes I'll use it to top a pasta with

Such_Beginning_1629 · 2023-02-27T00:01:14+00:00

Even if it is pricy, good knives, stable and even pots and pans and wooden stir spoons are a must. Spices are something that you need to familiarize slowly with. As for good beginner recipes, try noodle or potato salad, red beets and baked potatoes, cabbage with cheese…

A good starting point are home-economics books. (I loved my big „Dr. Oetkar Kochschule) Those show you not only how to cook but also how to do it efficently.

Title	Cooking
Author	Darksnickerss
Upvotes	16
Comments	18
Date	February 25, 2023 11:33 AM UTC (3 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RedPillWomen
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RedPillWomen/comments/11bixuj/cooking/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RedPillWomen/cooking.1222786 https://theredarchive.com/post/1222786

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