Recomendations for those learning how to cook.

[masteraznchefjr]

never be afraid to cut yourself. well i mean get over the fear of cutting yourself.

 

[luvs]

Buy some basic cookbooks Fannie Farmer and Better Homes and Gardens are good ones for a new cook. Hang out in Borders and browse their selection too. quote]

free online fannie farmer cookbook. it's the complete book, all 42 chapters. just scroll down a little after clicking on the link to find them. i reference it all of the time. it's awesome:
http://www.bartleby.com/87/

 

[luvs]

my advice is to love your kitchen. become friends with it. get to know your fridge and find a good, repuatable grocer and butcher, and also a fish market if you live near enough the water to have one nearby.
try out new things, both in things that you eat and recipes/techniques that you try. enjoy yourself and remember that you are in charge, not the food. most of all, be open to new ideas!!!!

 

[Catseye]

Two things I can think of to add to this wonderful list.

On the matter of beating egg whites, I was for years puzzled by the instruction, 'Beat until stiff but not dry', until darling Julia cleared it up for me. When your egg whites have been beaten to the perfect stage, they should move as a single mass and slowly, when you lift and turn the bowl on its side. (I think of it as an iceberg, slowly sliding ...) If you up-end the bowl and they don't budge, you've beaten them too long.

Another thing Mario Batali taught me: Learn to listen to your cooking. The sound water makes when it sizzles on a pan heated to its correct temperature, the sounds of different degrees of boiling, things like that. When you have developed your ear, your sense of hearing can act like an extra set of hands when you're doing many steps at once.


Cats

 

[buckytom]

wow, great one about the "listening" catseye! i've noticed that when browning things. sometimes, it sounds just right, and you get a good browning on the meat or veggies or whatever without them sticking, burning, or being undercooked (not brown enough).

 

[mudbug]

Only two tips to add to all this great advice:

don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry

don't fry bacon (or anything, for that matter) while wearing your bathing suit (remember, crewsk?)

 

[crewsk]

I love all these suggestions! About the only thing I can think of to add is invest in an aloe plant! Keep it somewhere in your kitchen for those unexpected burns. You'll be amazed at how often you will use it. Since I got mine, I use it on my hands before I go to bed at night just to keep them soft.

Mudbug, how can I ever forget that?!

 

[PA Baker]

I don't think I was around for the bathing suit frying fiasco. What happened?

 

[crewsk]

It happened several years ago PA. I was outside laying out in a bikini & came inside to fry some bacon. Well, I decided not to change clothes because I was going back outside. Well, all I can say is OUCH!!!! Popping grease & tender stomach skin don't mix at all!

 

[PA Baker]

I can't imagine how much that must have hurt! I'm sure it was a lesson well learned!

Another tip that I'd add is read your recipe through at least once or twice before you start cooking. This will help you to make sure you have all of the ingredients and equipment you need before it's too late and that you have enough time to complete all of the steps. This was another one learned the hard way--there were several times I'd get half way through a recipe and realize I didn't have a key ingredient!

 

[GB]

Right on PA Baker! That is a lesson I had to learn the hard way quite a few times as well

 

[Claire]

What great stuff!! Since you particularly mention batchelors, and I'm an expert (i've spent most of my life as a woman around the military with many batchelors, geographic or real!), the one thing I feel men consistently do 'wrong' when they cook is they fall in love with one spice or combination of spices, then put them in .... everything. My husband did this, many other men we've known over the years have. If their spice shelf has 3 spices, they'll put all three in every dish. If they fall in love with Cajun spice blend, they'll sprinkle it on everything. It makes it so that after spending the time and effort to make a beautiful meal, everything tastes the same. The only seasoning that can go in everything is salt and pepper. After that, experiment with one or two at a time so you can learn what each taste like.

Best investment in the seasoning department, to me, is a good pepper mill (for my money, a Peugot). I haven't bought ground pepper in years!

 

[tweedee]

Like Emeril would say "Use your knob, there is low, medium and high".

 

[auntdot]

I think the hardest thing about cooking for me was to learn to read a recipe.

When I started cooking, and all I am is a home cook, the ingredients were on a list that made no particular sense.

Now, sometimes, I can understand the recipe, and know why the ingredients are there and what role they play in the dish.

If a dish calls for onions, celery, and carrots, well heck, I now know that is a mirepoix and I believe I can handle that.

If one must start with butter or oil, and then add flour, by golly, I know that is a roux. And I think I can handle that.

I try to read a recipe and understand what place each ingredient has in that dish.

I cannot do it all the time, particularly with foreign dishes; I just do not have enough experience with many cuisines.

But it is, at least for me, a lot easier to follow a recipe that I interpret as 'make a roux and toss in the mirepoix' than to just put together a list of ingredients.

I am not sure this is of any help to a person trying her/his first recipe.

But I guess my advice is to try to understand the recipe, in doing so you will grow as a cook.

And cooking is a whole lot of fun.

Edited for grammar, I hate when I have to do that.

 

[soultaco]

One of my tips would have to be: Always use homemade stocks. Canned broth is not an acceptable substitute. Make a big pot of stock some weekend when you have the time and some leftover meat and veggies, pour it into the ice cube tray, freeze it, and keep a pile of the stock cubes in the freezer. Voila - tasty homemade stock whenever you need it, without the sodium and additives.

 

[amber]

Have all of the ingredients for the recipe on the counter and ready to go before you start constructing the dish (mis en place).

Make sure your sink is empty before you start prepping/cooking. Empty the dishwasher, then wash off the dishes and utensils as you go and put them in the dishwasher. If you can clean off a bowl, pot, pan, utensil and use it again in another step, do so.

Keep a plastic bag nearby (the type you carry your groceries home in) and toss out the peelings, shells, bones, fat, anything that will wind up in the garbage as you go. All this will help enormously when the meal is over and you need to clean up.

You are so right about this! I do all of this when I cook, sure saves alot of clean up at the end, and having the ingredients ready saves time.