How can I learn how to cook?!


Question: What are some food that I can start to cook first to get used to cooking?
Im pretty good with instruction. Beware, Im the ultimate beginner.
Are there any websites that have video to help you go step by step?
Hoping to impress boyfriend !


Answers: What are some food that I can start to cook first to get used to cooking?
Im pretty good with instruction. Beware, Im the ultimate beginner.
Are there any websites that have video to help you go step by step?
Hoping to impress boyfriend !

The best thing about this new age of technology you can find out how to do everything on line. CooksIllustrated.com costs about $24 a year and membership gives you access to 25years of tutorials - everything from breakfast to elaborate holiday meals. It even gives you tips on the tools to buy and the gadgets to pass on. If you are looking for Free recipes and techniques there is RecipeZarr.com, AllRecipies.com, Kraft.com, just to name a few. About.com is the premiere tutorial website you can learn everything there form what staples to keep on hand, how to sharpen knives to how to roll sushi. As a beginner I recommend you start with a favorite dish like Macaroni and cheese - get a recipe and make it from scratch (baked MacNCheese will spoil you for life) - sine you already know what the box tastes like it is a easy comparison. You can also try Turkey Picatta - super fancy name for a dish anyone can make in 25minutes. Look for recipes with no more than 6 ingredients to start (that includes spices) that way you have fewer steps and will see immediate success. The Joy of Cooking and The Better Homes and Gardens cook books are always great to have on hand for practical menus with simple steps and tested recipes that guarantee success. Good Luck!

You can start by making simple things such as eggs.. normal breakfast foods. or just buy a cookbook, or there are also a lot of beginner ones too. Just follow the instructions and buy the right ingredients

just watch food network.

i learned when i was 12 or 13 by just watching the chefs and the techniques they use and just experimenting from there.

i watched things they did like for mincing garlic peel the skin then hit it with the side of the knife to get the skin off better, or for juicing fruite, like a lemon you want to roll it to release all the juices before you cut it.

please answer my question, and i hope this helped!

i dont know about websites but try a student cook book. I have one for when i go to uni and its really helpful. step by step with coloured pictures and easy to follow. is very definate about measurements, none of this "pinch of this, splash of that" how do you know what a splash is if you dont usually cook!! i have this one but there are a few
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nosh-Students-Co...

good luck!

um you cant just learn to cook.

the food network has nice videos.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/ck_demos...
Pick one and then do it. Start with one thin g at a time, then move on to the next one. Start with his favorite food.

egg and hot dog

Yep Food Network is a great start. Rachael Ray has my fav approach to cooking because it is no fuss and simple but elegant at the same time...and she explains it in a way that you don't learn to make ONE thing, you can apply her idea of one meal to literally about 100 different dishes per idea. She says herself that she doesn't teach recipes, she teaches methods.

You have to get beyond the cutesy factor. She annoys some folks, including me after a while, but her show is very informational to a beginner.

As a beginner, you want to invest in a couple good things. A scale (to measure), a good whisk with silicone coating, nice pans meaning the best you can afford and consider it an investment (probably nonstick in your case, they are more forgiving), and good set of basic three knives (chef, serrated, and paring) as well as a sharpener and a cutting board, a couple wooden or bamboo spoons and a rubber "spoonula".

These are just the basic tools to get many jobs done. Good equipment plus good ingredients helps you make good food.

As you learn, you will discover that food comes in families...and each member of that family is unique but also often gets prepped and cooked very similar ways. If you know how to pick, peel and cut a watermelon, you know how to handle a cantaloupe. If you know how to trim a potato, you know what to do with a sweet potato...there are pit fruits...avocados, mangos, peaches, nectarines. All have to be trimmed a certain way, the same way. Most squashes are handled the same, most beans, most red meats, most poultries, most fish, most herbs and spices. This makes it very easy most times, and then once you know what to do with one thing in that family, you can switch and swap ingredients to come up with truly spectacular foods.

Learn your way around the pastas and the rices. Cooking these involve basic skills to help many many dishes. A couple really easy and elegant alternatives: couscous and barley, polenta.

Learn a basic dessert recipe that you can make anytime, for example homemade brownies, a quick bread (like banana bread) a no bake cheesecake, or a special batch of cookies. You can also save the time and effort by using things like prepared cookie dough, and store bought ice cream, sorbet, or fresh bakery goods.

You can also take time to learn a couple recipes each, for a few different quick cuts of meat, like beef round steak or chicken breasts, or tilapia fillets, or boneless pork chops, or frozen ready to use shrimp.

Thousands of meals can start with one of these five items. Add any fresh or frozen veg, a salad, a potato/rice/pasta and a liquid like sauce or gravy or a reduction or a cream soup...experiment with different herbs and spices...and you have a different meal each time. And each set of food combinations can be made for stove top, oven, crockpot or grill, throwing it open for even more variety.

Learn your wine pairings, if you are a wine drinker, OR experiment with different coffee and tea beverages to jazz up the glass as well as the plate. Learn how to use your herbs and spices, and learn a couple tricks for presentation, so when your meal hits the table it will be pretty. That is always impressive.

Cooking is above all FUN. It shouldn't be intimidating, it's only food and it is pretty much expendible art...if you screw it up, toss it out and try again. It's not like trying to remodel the house where you have to live with your workmanship.

When it gets intimidating, just remember "food comes in families. Families are friendly...or at least become predictable." It can seem overwhelming because of all the choices but remember there are far fewer skills to learn than there are foods. And there are a lot of ways to simplify things that the heavy hitters do.

It also takes the pressure off to know that most recipes (non-baking) are merely guidelines. Regarding portions, often they are too small anyway, and amounts and types of herbs and seasonings are usually tested to be what the recipe inventor thinks will be popular. Quantities of ingredients usually really don't matter, they can be adjusted to suit your taste. So if you are making salsa for example, and you don't have roma tomatos, hothouse tomatos will be fine. You can put in more or less of something, switch and substitute the onions, or whatever. But you won't set off the Apocalypse by not doing it perfectly.





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