A lot of people have a hard time learning to cook. If you're one of them, I want you to know that you aren't alone, not by a long sight.
Just for a sample, I ran a poll on my Twitter account, with about 1600 followers. 182 people answered, and out of those, 78 said they felt trying to learn to cook was frustrating. Personally speaking, I've known plenty of friends who wish they could cook but can't even do a grilled cheese sandwich or pasta. And I know why, because I went through this too.
Where do you start? You can't just google "recipes." There's thousands of different sites full of videos and ads and everything looks complex. Maybe you give it a shot, and you end up burning the food, or you tried cooking meat and it came out raw inside. And every time you do something like that, you waste a bunch of ingredients and end up with nothing. If you aren't rich, it feels like a punch in the gut to throw that food away. And even if you get it right, you find yourself throwing away a bunch of veggies every week as they go bad. What are you doing wrong?
It's frustrating to say the least, but I think this can be improved if I share some secrets with you, things nobody tells you. Pragmatic advice on how to cook - which isn't about recipes per se, but about understanding how food works and how the process of cooking works.
I'm also writing recipes based on the stuff I've learned to make as I ramp up my own skills. I'm trying to leave out elitist instructions and unnecessary tools and supplies, and trying to tell you how to make the most of what you buy.
This page has a ton of text on it, but it's optional, so if it's too much for you, skip it - go read a recipe, they should have all you need.
No don't go away please read this it's important. It's just a few things I want you to know.
Cooking is a skill. It's like house painting or carving or music. That means it isn't effortless, it isn't so easy that you'll get it right the first time, it isn't straightforward. People may mock you for not being able to cook, but that's as asinine as mocking someone for not being able to speak French because they didn't go to school and learn French. There is nothing shameful about not being able to cook, trust me, tons of people older than you can't. There's also nothing shameful about going out for fast food or throwing a freezer pizza in the oven because you don't have the energy to cook. The myth of a world where everyone cooked at home for every meal is not valid in this day and age, and if it was in the past, that was only because of massive differences in social structure that no longer exist.
You're going to waste some ingredients at first. I know that sucks, especially if you're poor, but you'll get better rapidly. It feels awful but after one or two tries you will improve drastically, and after a couple victories you will feel much more confident. I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but it's just like any skill, it's hard to believe you can do it at first.
You can recover from a lot of mistakes. If you underseason something, you can add seasoning after it's done in most cases. If you undercook meat, you'll find out when you cut it open; throw it back in the pan, heat on 4, and let it sit for a while, it'll get there. I've done this dozens of times. If you burn it that's a different matter, but honestly after a few tries you just get a lot better about avoiding burning.
Food isn't terribly precise. When you look at recipes they're full of measurements for everything. Hogwash. I don't even use measuring cups or spoons except for baking. You can eyeball everything and once you have a couple meals under your belt you'll have a feel for how seasoning works and know how to adjust it.
You don't need a recipe for everything. Food is lego, it's blocks of basic things that you assemble into something interesting. Once you've cooked a few meals, start listening to your skills and they'll tell you how to make new things. You got pasta and onions and a little bit of chicken and breadcrumbs? You can make a casserole. Sniff your seasonings until you find one that smells like something you want to eat and go for it. You got veggies? Put 'em in. Proportions don't matter that much, lots of things taste great together.
I can tell you that this is just like art. You're going to feel like an absolute doofus when you get it wrong. You're going to feel like you wasted your time and energy and money, and you're always going to make mistakes, but eventually - and sooner than you think - they'll be rare enough that it'll all be worth it. And when you get it right, you will sit down to food that's better than anything you can buy, and you will feel like a million dollars.
You need a couple pots, a couple pans, a steamer basket, at least one sharp knife, a cutting board, tongs, and a flipper. That's really it as far as specific tools, for the stuff I'm going to talk about making.
Specifics aren't important. You can pick up whatever Target sells, or you can go to a thrift store and spend $2 on each of these things. Stainless / nonstick / cast iron pans are all fine.
Your knife does need to be sharp, and that's not just messing around - if it's not sharp, it just won't cut. Straight up, you'll be sawing back and forth and getting frustrated wondering why nothing's happening. Cheap knives don't hold an edge for more than one use, and need to be sharpened every time you cook. You do not need special skills for this. Pick up a diamond sharpener - if you have an IKEA, they're five bucks and if you don't they'll be at your grocery store for a little more. All you do is pull the knife through the sharpener five times, turn it around, pull it through five more times, and you're done.
You should be able to get a "sharpening steel" (they're common finds at thrift stores too), and that makes a big difference. They look esoteric but it's not as hard as people make it look. Check out this Youtube video at 1:05 and you'll see the basic motion. Ignore all the mumbly jumbly he says - you don't need to worry about getting a precise angle or anything, just make it look about like he does and you'll be fine. Once you sharpen a knife this way it'll be wicked sharp, you just have to do it every time you cook.
Get Ziplocs and "gladware" (plastic containers with lids, often sold by Glad.) These are cheap and provide ways to store unused meats and stuff like chopped veggies you're waiting to use. Get aluminum foil to seal meat for fridge or freezer.
You can't buy absolutely everything for every recipe in advance, but man, if there's one thing you should make a point to have on hand, it's seasoning mixes. Spices are incredibly expensive. A jar of paprika at any grocery store in Seattle is $8.99. That's OBSCENE. Don't buy that to start with, buy mixes.
Lawry's, Pappy's and Johnny's are all "seasoning salts" that work great on all kinds of meats and faux-meats, so if you're doing pork or chicken in particular they're fantastic, and it's like $3 for a jar - if you buy the individual spices it'd be like $48.
I've never had better seasoning on fish than Old Bay, though you might need to try a couple stores to find it.
Montreal steak seasoning is very common and inexpensive. It works great on steak, burgers, and whatever else you like it on.
Buy kosher salt. It's the same as normal powdered salt, costs the same, but somehow just... tastes better? I guess it's the shape?
Buy black peppercorns, not preground black pepper. I know, I know, this sounds like elitism, but trust me, there's a world of difference. Preground pepper is stale by the time you get it, and it will make you think you don't like pepper. You can buy grinders that are preloaded with peppercorns but if you can afford it up front, get a grinder by itself because a huge refill jar of 'corns is ultra cheap when you can find them.
If you want to get into other cuisines than the basic American stuff that I mostly do, look for mixes. Cajun spice mixes are great, I'm told. Your grocery store probably has an entire section of little paper packets of spice blends, all perfectly good.
Alright, here's a lot of tips I have. This is just an unsorted brain-dump but these are all things I think you should know:
Electric stoves are incredibly touchy. The difference between heat level 1 and 4 is tiny, but the difference between 4 and 5 or 5 and 6 is huge. Most of the time, you just want to put the burner on 5. It's a safe bet. "High" heat is not used for ANYTHING except boiling.
You don't really want to put anything in a dry pan, even "nonstick" or cast iron. Put a little oil in there. Butter also works and enhances flavor but it can burn, so oil is much less of a risk if you're inexperienced.
It can seem really frustrating to have to clean pans because it seems like food always cooks onto them no matter how careful you are. Try this: put a dirty pan on the stove with some water in it and turn it on high. It'll boil stuff loose. Then you can scrub it easy. Adding some vinegar can help. Also get a stiff scrub brush (plastic, NOT metal bristles), they beat the hell out of sponges.
"Low and slow" is a mantra to remember when cooking meat. Ever tried cooking meat and burned the outside only to find out the inside was raw? Solve that by resisting the urge to brown the meat right away. Keep the stove at 5 maybe and just let it go until you're CONVINCED it's done. At that point, if it's not browned, you can turn the heat up - like, to 7 or 8 if need be - to brown the outside.
Get a food thermometer to start out with. It's impossible to use for things like pork chops and thin chicken filets but those also cook through pretty quick, so you only really need it for thick cuts of meat. Realistically you probably aren't gonna use it once you learn how long things take.
Don't feel bad cutting meat open to see if it's still pink. I've been cooking for years and I still get nervous and do this. It still tastes good even with a cut in the middle and nobody is going to be upset that their meat Has A Cut.
Seasoning with mixed spices (Lawry's, etc.) is not a super precise process. If you're seasoning meat just gently shake the jar over the meat until there's sprinkles of seasoning kinda everywhere. You don't want it "piled up" - like if you can see little mounds of powder you probably went a little hard. You know what you can do? Rinse the meat off and try again. Seriously.
If you do need to use individual spices, go light at first. The worst case that way is that you put too little on, and in many cases you can just add seasoning after it's done, and you'll know better for next time. This is something people learn by feel, and it's best to just be careful until you pick it up rather than trying to force yourself to Get It Perfect The First Time.
If you accidentally overseason something like mashed potatoes, like you dump a ton of salt in it, use a spoon to pick it up and throw it in the trash. You'll lose a little bit of the meal but it's better than ruining the whole batch.
Do you not like vegetables? Big factor: Did you grow up on canned veggies? That's why. Canned veggies are perfectly good nutritionally but taste vile. They taste bad. They're awful. Never buy them again and you'll be happier. I personally had green beans, corn and mushrooms ruined for me this way, but I have fully recovered and love those things now.
Do not boil veggies. Don't boil anything except pasta and potatoes for mashing. Boiling is for feeding armies.
Cooking veggies at home doesn't need to be complex when you're starting out. There's stuff you need specifics for but just to start out, to have side dishes for meat and stuff, try this: steaming.
Steaming veggies changed my entire worldview. It's the easiest process, all you need is a steamer basket and a pot. You put like 1" of water in the pot, put the basket on top, turn it on high heat until it's steaming, put the veggies in the basket, and just let it sit until they're tender when you poke them with a fork.
Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and corn all come out great this way. I mean, when I first had steamed asparagus I was speechless at how good it tasted. Try it, you might be very surprised.
Do you like corn, peas or "mixed veggies" but don't want to cook it yourself? No problem. Don't buy frozen, buy "steamfresh" brand. It's cheap, most supermarkets have it or a store brand, and you just throw the sealed baggie in the microwave for three minutes and you have really tasty veggies. They really do taste like you just cut them up and steamed them.
If you buy veggies as ingredients, use them all. I mean like if you get a chunk of celery, just chop it up and put it all in. If you bought mushrooms, put them all in. If you're making a casserole or something and you chop up an onion, just put the whole onion in. It'll be fine. You won't have too much onion. I promise. And you'll end up with more food.
Some people really hate margarine but I have no reason to think it's inferior except flavorwise. If your butter prices are absurd, go ahead and use margarine.
Crack eggs on flat surfaces, not edges of pans. Yeah, I know, nobody told me this either until I was like 24. You don't want to cave in the shell, you just want a little fracture line, then you pull the halves apart.
Contact me at articles@gekk.info - I would love to hear if this helped you.