Help - Total Newbie

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

What we need is more info from you. Are you cooking because you just need to eat; or is this something that will be a labor of love, a hobby if you will, We can help with easy, like a basic sandwich, or more challenging, like a sandwich masterpiece, simple oven-baked chicken thighs, or a 22 lb. smoked turkey, Do you want to make your own sauces? Do you want to use sauces sold at the grocers? Do you know the ways an egg can be used to make a great breakfast, from butter fried, to basted to boiled, to poached, and then their are omelets and...

Are you interested in making breads, pies, or pastries? Do you want to learn how to make silky smooth gravies or cheese sauces. We have those who have mastered even different kinds of pancakes and waffles.

We can help you learn to make,cook, create just about any kind of food you want, Just let us know what you want to learn how to make. Cooking is such a vast topic. It can be super simple, or ridiculously complex. Let us know what you want to make.

Also, meals, such as a roasted turkey, or a crown pork roast, or even a New York Cheesecake, looks challenging, intimidating, even scarry. In reality, they are pretty easy to make. You just have to follow the recipe directions.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[archie richard]

Hi jack welcome to DC I have been cooking for 5years I'm also scared when I started cooking but I googled some recipes and tried it gone wrong for first time next time it gone well.

 

[larry_stewart]

I started by first, just heating up already prepared soups and sauces ( Prego, Campbells...). The only skill here was not over cooking the pasta, and not forgetting to stir the sauces for soup so they wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Gradually I started adding to " Tweaking" the already prepared sauces ( maybe by adding a little extra garlic, throwing in a few mushrooms or a splash of wine). The soups I'd toss in noodles, mushrooms , a little butter, wine ... whatever I liked andethought it was missing.

After I finally got the sauces and soups to my liking, I built up some confidence and proceeded to try and make them from scratch.

I think the most important thing is to take baby steps and not just jump right into a complicated recipe. This will build confidence and make you more adventurous to try something new and more complicated.

Equally important, if possible, is to find someone who likes to cook that you can watch and learn from ( family, friend ,relative ..). My dad used to let us cut up the veggies when we were kids for he soups, or help us measure things out. Little by little he gave us more complicated roles in helping out.

Cooking shows are good too, but in most of them, everything always comes out perfect on the first try. Its usually the " Ideal world" and not realistic for the new cook.

 

[dragnlaw]

Hi jack welcome to DC I have been cooking for 5years I'm also scared when I started cooking but I googled some recipes and tried it gone wrong for first time next time it gone well.

Hey there archie! Welcome to DC! you got the right of it - try it, if it doesn't work, try, try again. (and hopefully the ones that don't work are still edible)

 

[CharlieD]

Hello everyone, my name is Jack.



I am totally new to cooking. My one skill is boiling water on the stove to make pasta. I am looking forward to learning how to cook, but it scares me. It seems like a lot of steps. For someone who is just starting to cook what is the best dish to start on, or how did you start cooking? Thank you!

When I teach my kids, I tell them, as a joke, you are not building a nuclear bomb, try, if it doesn’t work, try again.
Fix what was wrong first time.
First time I made soup, I fell asleep, by the time I woke up, there was maybe a cup of liquid left. I did not make that mistake again. But it was the best soup I ever made. Chicken soup.