Tips on becoming a better cook

girlwithabike · 2017-10-16T00:07:55+00:00

Brain dump:

Start with cookbooks and maybe cooking blogs. If you have really limited skills and don't taste stuff as you go, places like allrecipes can be hit or miss (though I am a fan off cookstr which all comes from books). It's not necessary to experiment in the kitchen to be a good cook. Follow what is on the page and you are usually pretty safe. Reading what other cooks write about the process helps you pick up tips that are absent in more amateur channels.

In my 20s I did spend time playing with recipes (usually peasant dishes that had no accepted recipe - there was a goulash month for example and i fed my coworkers lunch a few times that month). Now days I usually follow the recipe - but this helped me learn to take several similar recipes and meld them. If you are experimenting for anyone other than yourself, have a back up plan.

My eternal back up plan: pasta - fry a bunch of garlic in olive oil, add dried basil and red pepper, dump a can of crushed tomatoes over the garlic, preferably before it burns and you have to start over. Heat for 10ish minutes. Dump over whatever shape pasta suits your fancy. There are brands of canned tomatoes that are better than others. Muir Glen is my fave but there are other good ones -trial and error. You can upgrade by adding meat (sausage or lamb are both good for the flavor). Jarred sauce is a waste.

Pick up a classic cookbook that you can use for reference (I can NEVER remember how long to soft boil an egg). This makes sure you can figure out how to roast a chicken without 25 ingredients that some websites will tell you about. Joy of Cooking, or Better Homes and Gardens spring to mind but anything that gives you the real basic dishes.

At its most basic, I was taught that a proper meal is a meat, a veggie and a starch (pasta, rice, eggs). This was from mom in the 80s and 90s so I have no idea how this stacks up nutritionally these days, but it still works for us.

Cheap salad dressing makes an excellent marinade.

Marinate things in ziploc baggies for max coverage and minimum marinade use.

Sometimes you will do everything right and it will just be "meh". Don't beat yourself up over these times, he won't.

Food processors are awesome.

Butter freezes well, buy it on sale and throw it in the freezer so it's always on hand.

You'll end up with a cabinet full of spices, herbs, oils, and vinegars and probably use 20% of them most of the time....or, maybe this one is just me. As soon as you purge, you'll regret tossing the apple cider vinegar and the cabinet will be back up to full of stuff you rarely use....or maybe this is still just me.

Frozen veggies are as nutritionally sound as fresh and they don't go bad. You can zap them in the microwave covered with a little water to steam. Stove top works too if you don't have a microwave (which we dont). I add butter and lemon usually.

Other things that I keep on hand even if they sometimes go to waste: potatoes, onions, celery, sour cream, a block of cheese, parmasean cheese, canned tomatoes (small and large), a can of stock, lots of eggs, garlic

The fancy olive oil that you'd put on salad is too expensive too use to fry chicken in.

Sea salt is great for finishing dishes. Table salt is all you need in a recipe. Caveat: different types of salt can be different strengths, so if the cookbook says kosher salt probably use that and if it doesn't dont!

There is no such thing as too much garlic.

Meat thermometers are your friend.

Don't make yourself crazy trying to be fancy every night. Grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and a salad or veggie is a perfectly lovely meal.

asteadyheart · 2017-10-16T07:17:15+00:00

Have you heard of a show called “good eats”, hosted by Alton brown? It no longer runs, though I believe they are rebooting it due to its popularity, but it doesn’t just teach you recipes. It teaches you how and why food reacts the way it does.

So many shows just tell you “put in this and then put that.” Instead, good eats explains to you why you want to do this. Eventually, you realize that a lot of the skills are translatable.

You learn what flavor elements exist in a wide variety of cuisines, like bitter, sweet, acidic, salt, etc. I watched it a lot as a kid (my mom did and I joined her) and I learned how to taste a meal and understand how to get that flavor profile.

But ultimately, you have to practice. Keep trying and challenge yourself! As you practice, you learn to trust your instincts and you’ll discover all kinds of new things.

EDIT: I believe you can stream this show in Netflix or find it on YouTube.

SewingHappy · 2017-10-15T22:58:22+00:00

I couldn't cook much when I first left home. When my husband and I started living together I would go to allrecipes.com and look up what I wanted to eat, using the recipes with the best reviews. Most of the time it would come out great, just as long as you stick with the recipe. As you get better at cooking you may naturally start to alter the recipes a little to your liking.

Note: A good pot roast recipe will be a life saver! Tastes great and super easy to make.

added: I have a friend that swears by pinterest for her recipes. She wasn't much of a cook either initially, but now she tries so many new/different recipes.

Zersha115 · 2017-10-16T16:51:02+00:00

My husband and I have been using Blue Apron for about a year now. Each week they send us ingredients and a recipe for 3 meals. It has taught me a lot about cooking such as how to do pan sauces and also has us trying things we wouldn't think to make. I save the recipes for the meals we love and make them again but with trying new things.

There are a number of these meal services out there but blue apron seems to be the best quality.

OwnedAndLoveIt · 2017-10-16T00:43:34+00:00

Betty Crocker cook books are good for beginners with staple recipes. Also How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food,10th Anniversary Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764578650/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aca5zbH4442FZ

Cardiscappa · 2017-10-15T23:20:39+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/user/gordonramsay !

MoDuReddit · 2017-10-16T01:30:02+00:00

Find a good set of dishes you can do reliably and easily and that you and your fiancé like (health factor is a bonus). Rotate that and occasionally mix it up with a new dish, even if it goes badly.

ragnarockette · 2017-10-17T00:26:50+00:00

I highly recommend Pioneer Woman for man-pleasing recipes. A lot of (non-RPW) complain about the section dubbed "Cowboy Food" on her website but everything I have cooked from here has made my husband a happy man. And her recipes have step-by-step visual instructions that make it pretty much impossible to screw up!

My favorites:

Cajun chicken pasta (I use spaghetti squash for when we are eating low carb)
Perfect pot roast
Dr. Pepper pulled pork
Smashed potatoes
Restaurant style salsa - very easy and I get asked to make this everywhere I go
Chicken parm
Bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies
The sandwich

Cock_Klepto · 2017-10-16T00:21:22+00:00

Youtube. You can see exactly what the person is doing, and the actual cooking process which is important for some foods. There's such a wealth of knowledge and anything you could dream of cooking will be there.

FRedington · 2017-10-16T03:09:29+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_%26_Julia

There's a lot to be said for Julia Child's, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (2 volumes). I learned the basics under my mother's tutelage when I was in high school. I did "Mastering the Art..." when I was in grad school, as stress relief. -- I used the books on first pass as literature and theory then on the second pass as a tutorial. Yes, I've done every recipe at least once! This is a good foundation.

I have a 1970s something edition of "The Joy of Cooking" that I use for figuring out how to do something not covered in Julia.

I read McGee, "On Food and Cooking" as a "properties of materials" on food as tutorial this helps a lot in figuring out why a given recipe works or does not. -- Many if not most recipes you find in magazines and online simply do.not.work. Once you understand properties of materials on food you can usually make a broken recipe work.

In short, learn the principles of cooking then you can improvise just about anything. It takes time to learn the foundations, but once learned you can make your own cuisine without recipes.

I cook as an amateur for the enjoyment of it. -- Me? M-40s, retired.
Good luck.

bitsylovessilky · 2017-10-17T18:48:30+00:00

I HIGHLY recommend The Flavor Bible -excellent info and reference for even the most seasoned (har har) of cooks :)

loneliness-inc · 2017-10-16T11:17:13+00:00

and I don't usually pay attention to taste if I'm just cooking for myself.

Start paying attention. This is the key to your inner chef. The rest is secondary.

Look up recipes, watch videos, do whatever you need to do to gain knowledge about ingredients, types of food and food safety, but the main thing is to just simply pay attention and you'll do okay.

Eventually, you'll develop your own style and cook from the heart. This is what really counts. Fancy recipes don't matter, cooking with love does.

krasavetsa · 2017-10-16T11:34:18+00:00

When my husband and I just got engaged. I signed up for a cooking subscription box- hellofresh to be exact but there’s several out there. I would choose three meals for the week to try and they would send all of the ingredients and step by step recipes for each meal in an insulated box. Not only did I learn to cook but my husband loved trying all the new things.

gretamine · 2017-10-16T17:23:07+00:00

Thank you all! This was all very good advice and I feel a bit more confident now that I have some ideas 💕

kaylin_xx3 · 2017-10-16T23:58:53+00:00

Ask your fiance what some of his favorite foods are. Look up some recipes and see if it sounds manageable to you. I'd stay away from complicated recipes with 30 ingredients that ask you to do things you haven't done, for a while at least.

When I started cooking I just googled easy recipes - pinterest has some good ones too - including one-pot meals and simple casseroles. Cooking doesn't have to be fancy. Follow the recipes closely when you first start, don't alter it until you've made it at least once or twice. If the recipe specifically states how to do something - whisk, whip, stir constantly/occasionally, etc. Do that. There is a reason for it.

Good luck and have some fun with it! :)

throwawayklutch · 2017-10-17T23:50:39+00:00

I suggest Ayesha Curry's cookbook, it has SO many recipes! I love it because most of them are very simple and easy

TheSelfGoverned · 2017-10-15T22:33:52+00:00

Add cheese. Doesn't matter what dish it is

UnfulfilledBomb · 2017-10-27T15:54:17+00:00

Try and get ahold of the basics and the then if you want refine your skills.

Title	Tips on becoming a better cook
Author	gretamine
Upvotes	13
Comments	22
Date	October 15, 2017 10:25 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RedPillWomen
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RedPillWomen/comments/76m6tm/tips_on_becoming_a_better_cook/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RedPillWomen/tips-on-becoming-a-better-cook.73603 https://theredarchive.com/post/73603

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