Getting basics right....

nesbitt

My cooking skills evolved over the years through necessity sometimes but above all else overall love of good food cooked at home.

I came to realise that while I have a certain level of skill sometimes I was not getting basics right. I would try to replicate an item I saw on Saturday kitchen or one of the Jamie shows. All grand in when they are expertly putting it all together.

So I recently attended a basic cookery course in a local school. I learned some good techniques and in short space of time my overall results in the kitchen are improving. The course did not cover everything I would like to know but it was a start.

I have a collection of cookery books, some very good and accessible for example Gary Rhodes 'Keeping it simple' and 3 Mary Berry books 'Kitchen favourites', 'Real food fast' & last but by no means least her 'How to cook' foolproof recipt collection and easy techniques. I have focussed on this particular book lately, it has everything in there from how to chop an onion properly to fancy cakes .... I made my first loaf of bread following her 'Rustic loaf' recipe, I was very happy indeed with the step by step instructions and lovely bread I felt really proud of. I have no bread making machine just did this the old fashioned way and fitted it into my busy day.

I love to try the complicated dishes when I have time but find I dislike really 'cheffy' approach to food with over complicated techniques that are not needed to get good food on the table in a realistic time frame.

So to sum up it is in my view worth paying a few euros for a 'how to cook' type of book, working your way through it and enjoying the results.:) It may take a few gos to get something right but thats the fun of cooking/baking:)

Dinkie

I think Delia Smith does some good introductory step - by - step recipes although the books are a few years old. I think in one it even tells you how to boil an egg. I find Delia fairly good anyway for the basics. If you were looking at spending a few Euro on books, you could do far worse.

However, what I would do is go on a basic cookery course. You can get a weekend course that would teach you the basics. The reason I say this is that there is someone watching you to correct you, and you get to ask specific questions. No book will tell you that.

A friend of mine was NOT able to cook. She burnt everything. Once she realised that you didn't need to cook everything on maximum heat - she improved immensley. A cookery teacher would teach you that!

the beer revolu

Most people aren't interested in learning the basics - they just want to be able to produce a fantastic 4 course meal without having to learn stuff or practise!

The Sweeper

I had a friend over recently and we were trying to throw together some food from my fridge. I had a breast of roast chicken in there, a packet of gorgonzola, various other bits and pieces...

I decided to do a really simple pasta with a gorgonzola cheese sauce with the chicken. I started by simply making a roux, cooking that out so the flour wasn't raw, adding milk to make a white sauce, then stirring through the crumbled blue cheese so it melted, adding a splash of white wine and the chopped roasted chicken, then stirring it through cooked pasta.

When I plated it up I realised my friend was looking at me in bafflement. She'd never seen anyone throw together a sauce from scratch - and the way I did it was far from perfect, but it never occurred to me that it would look interesting to someone used to unscrewing the lid from a jar for all their saucing needs.

Dinkie

Most people don't want to learn the basics... but some people really do need to be told step by step what to do until they get the confidence to cook a dinner them selves.

reallyrose

Dinkie wrote: »

Most people don't want to learn the basics... but some people really do need to be told step by step what to do until they get the confidence to cook a dinner them selves.

I second this, this is what I need.

grandslamsmith

You can't learn from a book.

You can't learn from a book something that is intrinsically tactile.

Spend time cooking with a cook or a chef.

Cooks books are guide lines, ideas, suggestions, ego trips and money spinners. I have hundreds I have never teken a singel reciep from any of them..I have however lifted ingredient ideas.

Get a Saturday job in a kitchen.....seriously, I'm not pulling your leg.

Slam

TrueDub

grandslamsmith wrote: »

You can't learn from a book.

Yes you can. I did - I started with a book, then improved by experimentation, but without the book I'd never have started.

grandslamsmith wrote: »

Cooks books are guide lines, ideas, suggestions, ego trips and money spinners.

They are all of those things - but they're also the thing that facilitates people starting to cook.

grandslamsmith

You will never ever learn the idosyncrasities of cooking from a book. Cooking is about touch and feel and smell and succes and failure. Unless you're up to you elbows in your chosen element then you will only 'learn' 1 dimension.


Like I say, I reccomend spending time with a cook or a chef to supplement what little you will 'absorb' from pictures and words written down without tactile demonstration.

Slam

the beer revolu

grandslamsmith wrote: »

You will never ever learn the idosyncrasities of cooking from a book. Cooking is about touch and feel and smell and succes and failure. Unless you're up to you elbows in your chosen element then you will only 'learn' 1 dimension.


Like I say, I reccomend spending time with a cook or a chef to supplement what little you will 'absorb' from pictures and words written down without tactile demonstration.

Slam

I don't think anyone is suggesting that people should learn to cook just by reading a book but rather by reading and then putting into practice what they've read and experimenting (ie getting in up to your elbows!)

Of course it is preferable to have an experienced person to learn from but that's not feasible for everyone.
Of course a 'learning the basics' book neeeds to be read through if you're to learn from it - no good just dipping into it for particular recipes.

nesbitt

I learned how to cook at home with my Gran as a child, lucky me not everyone has that in life. My skills were dormant for many years due to lifestyle. I was rusty and lacking in confidence in the kitchen. I had a set of meals I could produce very well but...

My skills have improved from taking a basic cookery course so the spend time with a chef/cook box got ticked. I learned loads more and all my dormant skills came back.

I watch videos and tv programmes and find these great. I can look past a lot of the cheffy pomp and focus on the tips and skills being shared. I can replicate these in a practical way in my kitchen.

BUT what I missed or was unsure of I can check in a good 'how to cook' style book. This has a place in my learning curve for sure.... It is a very enjoyable learning curve and feels less steep with all the media available to help me eat better and enjoy good food.:)

TrueDub

grandslamsmith wrote: »

You will never ever learn the idosyncrasities of cooking from a book.

You're right. But you might never get to that point without starting somewhere, and for the majority of people that will be a book.

grandslamsmith wrote: »

Cooking is about touch and feel and smell and succes and failure. Unless you're up to you elbows in your chosen element then you will only 'learn' 1 dimension.

Like I say, I reccomend spending time with a cook or a chef to supplement what little you will 'absorb' from pictures and words written down without tactile demonstration.

Slam

I've done this, in several restaurants and schools, and it's a good idea. But I'd have been lost without first studying certain techniques & ideas, from a book, then practising them in my own kitchen.

There's room for both approaches, but neither is a be-all and end-all of itself.

BaZmO*

grandslamsmith wrote: »

You will never ever learn the idosyncrasities of cooking from a book.

That's not true, I learned how to chop an onion properly (among other things) from a book.
But of course, there would be no point in learning the theory without putting it into practice. But to say that you need to have a qualified chef looking over your shoulder to teach you how to cook is just not true.

grandslamsmith

I never said this:

"But to say that you need to have a qualified chef looking over your shoulder to teach you how to cook is just not true".

I did say this:

I reccomend spending time with a cook or a chef to supplement what little you will 'absorb' from pictures and words


Slam

BaZmO*

I apologise, I was paraphrasing. But I certainly got the impression that it was implied.

You said, "You will never ever learn the idosyncrasities of cooking from a book" and I gave you an example of where I had.

grandslamsmith

Not a problem Bazmo discussions forums are one dimensional...it's what I hate about them, they can't convey sentiment or feeling. They are toooo easily misinterpreted.

So no, deffinately not reccomending having a chef stand over you're shoulder in an official capacity.

I don't know if you read it, but I have a post called 'Enough' which might go a bit closer to what I mean about 'learning' how to cook. I do agree that some practical techniques can be learned such as chopping an onion or shredding a duck. But what I'm getting at is the alchemy of cooking not being learned from a text book.

Anyway, it's all good. The more that we are cooking are own stuff and bickering about it the better as far as I am concerned!!

Slam

nesbitt

BaZmO* wrote: »

That's not true, I learned how to chop an onion properly (among other things) from a book.
But of course, there would be no point in learning the theory without putting it into practice. But to say that you need to have a qualified chef looking over your shoulder to teach you how to cook is just not true.

I recently learned how to chop an onion properly from a magazine, 'Easy Food' Irish edition. They have a skills section each month with a step by step with photos. I was like Jeez how to chop an onion! Untill I tried it....:D:) This simple skill learned from a book/mag makes such a difference to my overall cooking.

The Sweeper

If someone shows you the basics, books are useful for the next step - inspiration, and also recipes, because some food DOES need to be cooked to the specific alchemy of ratios and balance, especially dessert, cakes, baking.

I realised recently that I'd find it difficult to write down the recipes I use for some of my favourite meals, because they're done so much by touch, eye, smell and taste that I'd find it hard to reduce them to the sum of their parts and write it down in the hope someone else would succeed at the same recipe.

Even old style home cooks, before cookbooks, had their own kitchen tools to help them with consistency - a certain spoon or a battered mug, and they just knew that THIS many of THESE filled with THAT would feed THOSE people. Measurement is implied in some dishes and crucial in others, but it's finding a balance between the two methods that I believe is essential.

I have met some junior chefs in my time who went into a kitchen for an apprenticeship without having cooked more than two slices of toast at home. I had a falling out with most of them, because they would declare that their learnings were sacrosanct and that my methods were wrong, because they'd been shown how to do something THIS way in THEIR restaurant. Interestingly it was never a disagreement over basic skills, and I learned many tips and tricks from them (nicking the side of a half a citrus to make squeezing the juice by hand easier, smashing the garlic with the flat of the knife before peeling it, so on).

One argument was over roasting peppers. I was halving peppers and letting them blacken under the grill so I could peel them, then slice and toss with oil, garlic and basil. I was told I'd be sacked in their restaurant for doing it that way because I should be doing them whole over a flame. I pointed out that I lost none of the oil because I had the peppers in a non-stick roasting tin and would pour the oils into the bowl where the finished seasoning was taking place. (And I didn't have time to do them whole over a flame, and I was cooking for seven people, and all five rings on the cooktop were going and had pots on them.)

But oh no, no I'd be sacked, my way was sacrilege and all wrong.

There are always better ways and things to learn, but I've been cooking for 19 years and experimenting and learning and trying to broaden my horizons. You've made two slices of toast at home and done 9 months in a professional kitchen,but I know full well that the chef won't let you near anything but prep. Sod off.

nesbitt

The Sweeper wrote: »

........experimenting and learning and trying to broaden my horizons.

+1 thats where I'm at too....:)

reallyrose

I'm learning some basic skills from youtube including how to chop an onion!

I used to think that I could cook meals from recipes and just reading them. But just simple things that I didn't think mattered are really important.

The difference between dicing an onion, slicing it and cutting it into chunks for example. I used to just hack things into lumps and feck them into what I am cooking willy nilly, but I learned that the way ingredients are cut up makes a difference.

Maybe one of the many lovely experience cooks could make a list of 'the basics'? I would work my way through the list and get them right, and I'm sure others would too.

The Sweeper

nesbitt wrote: »

+1 thats where I'm at too....:)

You know, years ago I thought I was a reasonably good cook that knew something about food, and then I discovered things like real chinese ingredients (not takeaway food), fresh spices (and oh my the difference), fish out of the ocean, gutted on the boat, rinsed in seawater and pan fried on the beach, figs off the tree still warm from the sun, eaten with hard cheese and crisp, cold white wine with condensation on the glass, and then I found Larousse Gastronomique, and what is it they say?

"I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me."

Now I think of myself as someone with a good feel for what will match, a limited imagination, a reasonable ability not to burn water, and an awful lot to learn.

Darkginger

I think the point of doing things a certain way in a restaurant kitchen is to maintain consistency - ie, the food should be the same no matter who is on duty. Most of us, however, don't learn to cook in a restaurant kitchen!

My mother hated cooking, which is why I learned to cook, because I love food, and was convinced that she was doing our steaks a disservice by cooking them in the oven (really!). I learned mainly by experimentation, and then honed my skills by reading and - more recently - watching TV chefs.

Core skills like chopping an onion - in my experience, anyway - come later for the amateur cook. First, we want to learn to make such-and-such a dish, so we read a few recipes, and have a go at it. No one gets enthused, at the beginning, by learning the 'correct' way to chop anything! No, we want to learn to make Spaghetti Bolognese without a store-bought sauce - and so we do. Later, we look for ways to improve our cooking, and it's then that the so-called 'basics' become interesting.

Ideally, we'd all learn at the knee of a parent who knows all their stuff - or the basic techniques would be part of the school curriculum. In the absence of this, once we've found a passion for food and cooking - then there are so many resources available - I've been watching knife technique videos on YouTube, and have learned a lot - and this after 30+ years of home cooking!

My list of basics (not just techniques, but also understanding of ingredients) would include:

Knife skills
How to make a roux
How to cream butter and sugar (I did actually learn that at school!)
The Maillard reaction and why it's important
Cuts of meat and their characteristics
Raising agents and their uses
Beating, folding, whisking, mixing - how to, and when to use each

Am sure there's more!