Hello, ladies. First, I want to say that I cannot cook AT ALL. I've asked my mother, my aunts, and grandmother if they could teach me, but they have full-time jobs so they're usually busy or tired. I was wonder where would be a good place to start. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. 3nodding
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:52 pm
Sure!
The first thing you need to know about cooking: anyone can do it. It takes time, practice, and a few burned dishes along the way, but you can learn to cook.
I'll come back in a while and post some basic stuff for you, I'm making chili for dinner cat_3nodding
The easiest thing I can think of is eggs. Any way will do, really.
All you basically have to do is heat the pan on medium (spray a lil bit of PAM beforehand or melt some butter/heat up oil) and once it's heated, in goes the egg/eggs. It's easy to start off with sunny side up (because you don't have to flip it) or over easy, where you cook on both sides. Scrambled is a tad harder, because if you don't use a non-stick pan/butter or oil, a lot of it will stick to the pan and it's never fun to clean off.
Once you get used to eggs you can try pan-frying different things. You can make fried rice (cooked rice+oil/beaten egg+whatever else you want) fry some fish or tofu, make burger patties, etc.
Try sauteing various veggies, or even mushrooms, for sides to your meals.
You can also steam various things if you have a lid to put over the pan and add a small, small amount of water to it.
After you're comfortable doing little things, try looking up more and more difficult recipes (gradually.)
I hoped this helped~♥ Happy cooking!
EDIT Tips and Safety: If you have to leave the kitchen while cooking to do something or rather, have someone look after what you're making. If you don't, turn the heat off for a moment, or turn the heat all the way down to low.
Make sure there is nothing (flammable objects especially) too close to the stove's flame. This includes egg cartons, dishcloths, paper towels, etc! I've had bad experiences with that ... n - n;
If you ever happen to start a grease fire (I hope you never will) do NOT pour water on it.
Try helping a relative when they're cooking family meals. Just chopping vegetables or stirring sauce will help you get familiarized with the kitchen.
When cooking bacon/anything too greasy, it's best to wear a long sleeved shirt/apron. I hate the feeling of the grease hitting my exposed skin! It just hurts.
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 1:27 pm
Gigi Deveraux
Sure!
The first thing you need to know about cooking: anyone can do it. It takes time, practice, and a few burned dishes along the way, but you can learn to cook.
I'll come back in a while and post some basic stuff for you, I'm making chili for dinner cat_3nodding
Sure! Since Marnomy already covered some basic things - especially safety! - I'll tell you about other stuff.
When you know your ingredients it's easier to cook them, so let's begin there. I'm adding recipes with instructions on utensils for those readers who really know absolutely nothing about cooking. (I'm surprised at how many people I know can't tell the difference between teaspoon and tablespoon!)
Starchy foods, like rice, pasta and potatoes are basic to the way most of us eat so we'll talk about those first. Next time we'll cover veggies.
The potato is the most versatile of the three. It can be baked, boiled or fried, eaten with or without the skin on, can be sliced, diced, julienned, mashed or left whole. There are thousands of potato varieties but the two basic types are starchy (for baking, frying and mashing) and waxy (for boiling in stews, soups and potato salad). They come in all ranges of colors: blue, white, yellow, red, brown-skinned, red-skinned, pale yellow-skinned... you get the idea.
Basic roasted potatoes
Ingredients: 1 Idaho baking potato per person olive oil paprika salt and pepper
utensils: knife, baking tray, aluminum foil, basting brush (if you have it)
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line the baking tray with the foil (less cleanup later!) and smear the foil with some of the olive oil.
Scrub the potatoes really well, then cut them in half the long way. Brush the cut side with olive oil, then sprinkle lightly with paprika, salt and pepper. If you don't have a brush your fingers will do. Place the potatoes on the foil cut side down. Poke the skins a little with the knife, brush them with more oil and sprinkle a little salt on them. Bake the potatoes for 20 to 30 minutes; they'll be done when you poke them with a fork and it goes in easily.
Sweet potatoes are not really potatoes, nor are they yams. Real yams are very white inside. There are purple varieties of sweet potatoes, too.
Steamed sweet potatoes
Ingredients: 1 medium sweet potato per person salt, pepper, butter or margarine (stick type, the spreadables are too watery) 1/4 cup water
utensils: knife, deep microwave-safe glass baking dish, microwaveable plastic wrap if the dish has no lid
Scrub the sweet potatoes well, then cut off the tip at each end. Poke the skins a little with the tip of the knife and put them in the baking dish. Add the water to the bottom, cover with the lid or plastic wrap (make sure it's sealed tight) and cook in the microwave on medium-high power for 20 minutes. Let them sit for 10 more minutes, they'll finish cooking on their own.
Once they're cool enough to handle, gently slit the skin along the length and it will slip right off. Season with salt, pepper and butter/margarine.
Rice is the main starch for at least half the world's population and also has many varieties. The ones we see most are white or brown (white having been polished to remove the oily bran, brown only having the husk removed), and long, medium or short grain. The most commonly seen is white medium grain. Short grain is used for sushi and risotto, and the very long grain type called basmati is used when the rice is part of the presentation of the dish. I've made sushi with medium grain rice, so it's pretty flexible anyway.
Steamed rice (4 to 6 servings)
2 cups uncooked rice 3 cups water (4 cups if you're using brown rice) 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
utensils: measuring cup 2 quart saucepan with lid slotted spoon
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear (this gets rid of excess starch) and drain well. Heat the oil in the saucepan and add the rice, stirring well. Once most of the rice looks chalky, add the water and salt and bring it to a boil. Keep it on high heat until most of the water evaporates and leaves a few pits in the mass of rice. (My late Grandma used to say the rice was looking at you.)
Once the "eyes" appear, stir and fluff it, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover the pan and let it steam for 15 to 20 minutes. The longer you leave it the more it makes a golden crunchy crust in the bottom and sides if you like that sort of thing.
Pasta as we're used to eating is made from a type of wheat flour called semolina, or durum wheat and water. It's mixed into a paste and shaped with machines or by hand. It keeps a long time, is easy to cook, and can be combined with almost any sauce imaginable.
Lemon pepper rotini
Ingredients: 1 package rotini pasta (usually 16 oz but lately they're getting smaller) the juice of one lemon or about 1/4 cup (use two if your lemons are not very juicy) 1/8 tsp freshly-cracked black pepper (if you don't have a pepper mill, just use 1/4 tsp ground black pepper) 1 tablespoon salt splash of vegetable oil 6 to 8 quarts water
utensils: a really big pot, a slotted spoon, a pasta strainer, measuring spoons.
Bring the water to a hard boil, add the salt and oil, then add the pasta and stir well to make sure it doesn't clump. Let it come back to a boil and cook for 12 to 16 minutes, depending on how soft you like your pasta. 12 it's still a bit crunchy, 14 it's chewy, 16 it'll be soft. Start testing it around the 12-minute mark so you can take it off the heat as soon as it's ready.
Once the pasta is done the way you like it, strain it, shake the excess water off and put it back in the pot. Add the lemon juice, stir, then ad the pepper a little at a time, stirring gently all the while. Let it sit five minutes, then stir again and serve. For extra flavor add a little bit of grated cheese.
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:41 pm
I think the most important thing about cooking is to have confidence in yourself. If you don't have that yet, you can start out building it gradually by getting good at easy dishes first.
It is always a good idea to follow a recipe if you're making something for the first time (or for the first few times), until you get familiar with it. Once you're there, try it from memory, or make some small changes to it to see how it turns out.
Experimenting is very important, since it really lets you get a feel for how ingredients will react and combine. There are so many variables (amounts, times, temperatures, etc), and it's fun to try changing one of them slightly to see what happens.
You really only need three knives in the kitchen; a paring knife for small cuts, a chef's knife for slicing and for larger things, and a serrated knife for cutting bread and buns and things. A cleaver is useful when chopping big or hard vegetables or meat. But PLEASE be careful, especially when you're finely dicing ingredients that are slippery. I almost sliced off most of my thumbnail dicing garlic one time, fortunately I was able to stop the knife before it went very far into my thumb. eek
Get familiar with basic utensils. Practice a lot with a spatula for flipping things in a pan (tip: use a fork in your other hand to "grab" stubborn things). Get to know the pouring characteristics of your ladle and/or large spoons. Figure out where the "sweet spot" is on your stove burner dials, that magical place that's not too hot and not too cool, where food tends to cook perfectly each time no matter what it is.
And get to know your spice rack! Spices are one of the most essential tools in your culinary repertoire. Start small when you're experimenting, and work your way up to your preferred level of flavour. Learn how different spices combine to create new flavours, and look at the most commonly used spices for various styles of cooking (Mediterranean, cajun, Szechuan, etc).
Again, start off small and build your confidence with easy things. However, always keep challenging yourself. If you're thinking about making something and you're not really sure if you can do it, try it anyway. You might surprise yourself. And if not, well, then at least you learned one of the ways NOT to do it next time. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't turn out right.
I hope these tips will be useful to you. Good luck, and keep us posted on how things go in the kitchen! heart
Marnomy
Scrambled is a tad harder, because if you don't use a non-stick pan/butter or oil, a lot of it will stick to the pan and it's never fun to clean off.
I've found that the best thing for scrambled eggs is a buttered cast-iron skillet. A properly seasoned skillet will keep the eggs from sticking. I tend to just crack the eggs right into the pan and then keep them moving with a spatula (I LOVE being able to use a metal spatula and not have to worry about it scratching the Teflon coating... natural non-stick for the win).
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