I've never really known how to cook, and would like to start.

TMRevenant

Reading through the FAQ as I write this post - I'm sure this topic has been posted sometime in the past, but the bloody search function of the forum's not working right for me.

I'd like to learn to cook as it naturally seems like a ridiculously useful skill, and although I can survive for the time by being a jobless financial burden (19 year old student) on my parents, I would like to become good at cooking becomes a matter of life or death (Joking!.. maybe). People have repeatedly told me it's easier than most would assume, or that if you can read, you can cook, so I've decided to throw myself in the deep end here.

Where on earth do I start? I've never had a preference when it comes to tastes, though I do want to learn to cook things on the healthier side of the spectrum, as I'd like to create an efficient diet for myself - though that's mostly a question for the fitness board. Just thought I'd give it as some context for the kinds of things I'd like to learn. I'm pretty much willing to try absolutely anything, though - So I'll probably be looking at a lot of topics in this section.

Thanks in advance for any responses, and my apologies for my roundabout way of asking for help. I didn't want to leave a two sentence call for advice that people might feel less than enthused to respond to, haha!

Thoie

I suspect the first thing to do would be to think of a dish that you'd like to cook, and find a recipe for it.

Is there a particular dish that friends/family cook that you've always liked? Ask them if they'll come to your house and watch/direct you while you make it.

Or if you're somewhere where someone else is cooking (and they don't mind) ask questions like "why did you cut the carrots that size?", "does it matter if I put the other thing in first?".

_blank_

Check out The Cooking Club

Tried ands tested recipes posted by real people where if you find a recipe you think you'd like you can ask questions about it - see pictures of it being prepared at different stages, see what other people have to say about them.

Jump in at any recipe and try it out, you don't even have to post that you are doing it.

I've personally found about ten or twelve lovely dishes over the two years of the Cooking Club that I'd cook now on a regular basis.

The Black Oil

Take a look at the 'easy peasy recipe' thread.

I'd agree with Thoie's advice about asking friends/family over to show you a recipe or two. That's a good way to learn - if you can get some hands on experience. If I'm teaching someone computer stuff I get them to sit at the keyboard rather than having me rattle off instructions as I click this and that. Same idea with cooking.

Try to get familiar with an oven...I know the temperature on ours can be a bit funny. Don't go mad with heat on the rings, at least if something is only half done you can say it needs another few minutes, rather than have to dump it because it's burnt. Other small things like having all your bits and pieces ready for each stage. I usually take everything I need from the cupboard and put it on the counter. Chop, slice, peel, etc and then add bits as you go...trying to do everything at once can be a nuisance.

Good luck!

Animord

You could do a lot worse than having a look at or buying a children's cookery book - I am not being patronising honest! I bought one for my niece this Christmas and was really really impressed with how they listed at the back, with pictures, EXACTLY what each term meant - it is hard to follow a recipe if, for instance they say "dice the potatoes" - and you don't know what dice means, or if you do, whether the dice should be 1 cm square or 4 cm square.

I am a trained chef myself and I started with a book called 'Look I can Cook! and between you and me I still refer to it at times!

I think this is the one I got

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Childrens-Step--Cookbook-Angela-Wilkes/dp/0751351210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327088482&sr=8-1

SBWife

Animord wrote: »

I am a trained chef myself and I started with a book called 'Look I can Cook! and between you and me I still refer to it at times!

I started with a 1972 edition of "Look I Can Cook!" and reclaimed it from my parents home a few years ago. Great book and remarkably sophisticated for it's time, I loved all the international dishes. And the cheese straws they're still very popular around here.

Animord

SBWife wrote: »

I started with a 1972 edition of "Look I Can Cook!" and reclaimed it from my parents home a few years ago. Great book and remarkably sophisticated for it's time, I loved all the international dishes. And the cheese straws they're still very popular around here.

YAY! What a great book it was. I never tried the cheese straws, but I still use it for the basic pancake/scones recipes. I liked the pictures of the cut fingers and stuff - advice "Tell your mummy"

reallyrose

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Student-Grub-Jan-Arkless/dp/1899606149

This book taught me how to cook. The one I had was a little old fashioned but I'd say the newer editions have been updated.

It starts with a sandwich and builds its way up to full dinners!

It just takes practice. You'll totally mess up some meals (and probably have to eat them anyway!)

Something like spag bol is a nice thing to start off with. It's quite simple but really tasty and confidence boosting.

mathepac

Another book suggestion is "101+ Square Meals" by MABS and the HSE in Limerick , available from MABS (& no doubt HSE) offices nation-wide and covers all the basics.

A random selection of headings:

• Shopping Guide
• Food safety Guide
• Cooking for One
• Breakfasts (cooking eggs)
• Young People
• Cakes
• Fish
• Mince
• Measurements / Weights
• Packed Lunches
• Oven Temperatures etc, etc

and the good news, this 150-page colour book is FREE with spaces at the back for notes.

Deise Musashi

The big things for me were first finding a good cook book on sale and buying it on impulse.

If you can find a Prue Leith Cookery Bible your in business She gives solid recipes for all sorts, down to boiling an egg. They may not be the fanciest, but they give you the basic recipes and techniques. It also covers stuff like how to portion up a whole chicken, how much food to serve guests, how to lay a table and what wines are good with each recipe! Brilliant book.

You will find recipes you like and then tweak them with bits from Jamie, Nigella, Paul Flynn, lads from work etc. until you have "your" ultimate version.

The other big thing I learnt was as said above, organisation. Get your ingredients out and even measured first, like a Cookery Show. It makes it all run so smooth when you don't have to ransack the house looking for smoked paprika or cous-cous you could swear was there last time!

I did a course with Paul Flynn and he called it mise en place, chef talk for organise yourself lad

Set small and achievable goals, like deadly breakfast eggs or a roast chicken dinner. Don't take on a huge high pressure dinner for loads (Christmas) but get some mates over and feed them.

Have a go, read some, do some more, and enjoy your cooking. Making a great dinner for very little money makes me very happy when I see the kids scoffing down shin beef or pork belly

Gloomtastic!

The other big thing I learnt was as said above, organisation. Get your ingredients out and even measured first, like a Cookery Show. It makes it all run so smooth when you don't have to ransack the house looking for smoked paprika or cous-cous you could swear was there last time!

+1
Plus before you start cooking, prepare all your ingredients, chop, grate, measure etc

If you have everything ready beforehand, following any recipe is easy.

Good luck with our new adventure, enjoy what you cook!

Minder

If the choice of cookbook is bewildering, have a look at the weekend newspapers. A lot of the broadsheets have a weekly food columnist who will offer a page or two of recipes and stories around an ever changing topic. I read Nigel Slaters witterings in the Observer for years - I was sharing a flat with a regular buyer of the paper and I used to rescue the recipe pages before the newspaper went in the bin or the cat litter.

angeldaisy

have a look at http://www.bbcgoodfood.com, has lots of basic recipes along with guides showing you how to do stuff:D

kylith

Animord wrote: »

You could do a lot worse than having a look at or buying a children's cookery book - I am not being patronising honest! I bought one for my niece this Christmas and was really really impressed with how they listed at the back, with pictures, EXACTLY what each term meant - it is hard to follow a recipe if, for instance they say "dice the potatoes" - and you don't know what dice means, or if you do, whether the dice should be 1 cm square or 4 cm square.

I am a trained chef myself and I started with a book called 'Look I can Cook! and between you and me I still refer to it at times!

I think this is the one I got

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Childrens-Step--Cookbook-Angela-Wilkes/dp/0751351210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327088482&sr=8-1

+1 on getting a kid's cooking book. They usually have recipes for just the kind of thing you want to cook; spag bol and the like. They're unsurrpassable for teaching the basics in an easy-to-understand way.

Does anyone remember a thin, blue, Student's Cook Book that was around about 20 years ago? We had one and it was great; it taught everything from boiling an egg up to 'things to cook to impress your girlfriend'.

agrif06

I had "All about Home Economics" at school and still use it from time to time. It was reprinted last year. http://www.deirdremadden.ie/ Some nice basic recipes and explanations.

Thoie

Animord wrote: »

how they listed at the back, with pictures, EXACTLY what each term meant - it is hard to follow a recipe if, for instance they say "dice the potatoes" - and you don't know what dice means, or if you do, whether the dice should be 1 cm square or 4 cm square.

I think this is an important bit - many cookery books look straight forward to people who've always cooked (hence the "if you can read you can cook"), but a friend of mine had never cooked, and had never watched anyone cook (or at least not paid attention), so wasn't sure what many of the basic terms in recipes meant. For people who've never cooked, instructions such as "chop", "slice", "dice", "brown" and "simmer" can raise more questions - how thick or thin, what size, how finely, what's the difference between a simmer and boiling.

OP, some combination of a book with these kind of details, along with having a friend instruct you (you do the work, they're just there to direct you!) should get you well on your way. Once you understand the basics, you can then look around for other recipes/cook books you might like.

TMRevenant

Oh man. I hadn't had access to a computer until now - I wasn't expecting this many responses. Wall of text replies to quotes incoming!

Thoie wrote: »

[1] I suspect the first thing to do would be to think of a dish that you'd like to cook, and find a recipe for it.

[2] Is there a particular dish that friends/family cook that you've always liked? Ask them if they'll come to your house and watch/direct you while you make it.

[3] Or if you're somewhere where someone else is cooking (and they don't mind) ask questions like "why did you cut the carrots that size?", "does it matter if I put the other thing in first?".

[1] Makes perfect sense! [2,3] Nothing really comes to mind to be perfectly honest. Not a fussy eater (Though I once was a child), but observing and asking others for help with would probably be best. At the least, they could probably ensure I don't give myself food poisoning!

Des wrote: »

Check out The Cooking Club

I'd planned to once I got a bit of experience with cooking. It seems great - I'm just a bit unsure about how to prepare certain things, which is part of why I hadn't strived to try learn to cook until now. I didn't want to risk spending money on materials only to go to waste due to being improperly cooked.

Black Oil wrote: »

Take a look at the 'easy peasy recipe' thread.

Try to get familiar with an oven...I know the temperature on ours can be a bit funny. Don't go mad with heat on the rings, at least if something is only half done you can say it needs another few minutes, rather than have to dump it because it's burnt. Other small things like having all your bits and pieces ready for each stage. I usually take everything I need from the cupboard and put it on the counter. Chop, slice, peel, etc and then add bits as you go...trying to do everything at once can be a nuisance.

Good luck!

That particular topic was something along the lines of what I was looking for! I think the oven in my kitchen is a bit wonky, too - Not as far as the actual temperature itself, but more that the actual indicators for the settings have been worn down over time. Winging it seems a bit ridiculous, but I'll find some way to manage.

Thank you! I'll take all the luck I can get.

Animord wrote: »

You could do a lot worse than having a look at or buying a children's cookery book - I am not being patronising honest! I bought one for my niece this Christmas and was really really impressed with how they listed at the back, with pictures, EXACTLY what each term meant - it is hard to follow a recipe if, for instance they say "dice the potatoes" - and you don't know what dice means, or if you do, whether the dice should be 1 cm square or 4 cm square.

I am a trained chef myself and I started with a book called 'Look I can Cook! and between you and me I still refer to it at times!

I think this is the one I got

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Childrens-Step--Cookbook-Angela-Wilkes/dp/0751351210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327088482&sr=8-1

I'm not going to argue with a professional, nor do I find the idea of learning from a children's cook book embarrassing. I'll see if I can find it in the shops - I rarely order stuff off the internet. That said, I've always had the option of buying cook books from the store, but... I can't really tell which are worth taking for lack of experience.

reallyrose wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Student-Grub-Jan-Arkless/dp/1899606149

This book taught me how to cook. The one I had was a little old fashioned but I'd say the newer editions have been updated.

It starts with a sandwich and builds its way up to full dinners!

It just takes practice. You'll totally mess up some meals (and probably have to eat them anyway!)

Something like spag bol is a nice thing to start off with. It's quite simple but really tasty and confidence boosting.

This sounds particularly awesome from the way you've described it, and I am expecting this all to be more error than trial. Still, I need to get started somewhere, and I suppose it's just like science - If you screw up an experiment, the results can still be valid if you know and explain why it went the deep end ("I needed water for that? No wonder the microwave's on fire!").

mathepac wrote: »

Another book suggestion is "101+ Square Meals" by MABS and the HSE in Limerick , available from MABS (& no doubt HSE) offices nation-wide and covers all the basics.

I haven't a clue what MABS is but I'm sure a quick Google search shall leave me a more informed man by the end of the day. Sounds great! I'm skipping a few posts here for the fact there's so many and this post is already god-awful huge. Rest assured I've read all of them, however, and infact plan to pick up every piece of literature noted in the topic. I'm stubborn/ambitious like that.

Thoie wrote: »

I think this is an important bit - many cookery books look straight forward to people who've always cooked (hence the "if you can read you can cook"), but a friend of mine had never cooked, and had never watched anyone cook (or at least not paid attention), so wasn't sure what many of the basic terms in recipes meant. For people who've never cooked, instructions such as "chop", "slice", "dice", "brown" and "simmer" can raise more questions - how thick or thin, what size, how finely, what's the difference between a simmer and boiling.

That's what really left me quite unsure about where to start with cooking. I mentioned earlier in this post that I wasn't sure what to look for in a cook book, and this is exactly why - I'd go for a brief peruse and become perplexed by some of the terms used. Some are quite self-explanatory, but others left me wary, such as specifics to do with size. Naturally I assume the portions for different ingredients depend on the meal you're trying to fashion, but knowing that left me even more unsure about what I portions I'd actually need!

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I'm going to see if I can pick up some of the books as soon as possible... I may end up keeping a log of my attempts to cook so that others can laugh and cry alongside me as I tread into this strange and terrifying new territory.

okiss

Marks and Spencer do a very good cookery book called the cooks bible.
It has a lot of information in it along with good recipes. It will tell you how to roast a chicken or how to roast beef.
It will tell you what type of equipment you will need in the kitchen also.
I would get a set of plastic bowels, some sharp knives - kitchen devil or stellar are good brands, a good weighing scales, a plastic jug with measure on the side, and a set of measuring spoons.
Marks and Spencer also do a range of easy books for cooking under different topics ie baking, one pot meals. The recipes are easy to follow and taste nice.

reallyrose

Well, when you say that you've never really known how to cook, what do you mean?

Have you boiled pasta or fried a rasher? If I know your baseline, I can compare it to what I was like when I was learning to cook.

TMRevenant

reallyrose wrote: »

Well, when you say that you've never really known how to cook, what do you mean?

Have you boiled pasta or fried a rasher? If I know your baseline, I can compare it to what I was like when I was learning to cook.

My prior experience with cooking pretty much goes as far as frying rashers and sausages. I think my attempts with eggs err more on the side of burning than frying, but there's that too. I've never tried to boil pasta before, but I've been told it makes for good meals when traveling.

babaduck

If I was to assume you're at the same level as The Hubs (can't cook, won't cook), I'd recommend All About Home Economics which is the book that most of us used in in school. It is so straightforward and doesn't patronise. It also covers every basic that you need and I honestly think it would be your training wheels. Master this and you can easily progress to the next step which I would think is Delia Smith, Prue Leith or Darina Allen. If you get the foundations right, then you can achieve anything.

Good luck

The Hill Billy

I've farmed off the 'pasta' posts to this thread. Let's keep this one on topic.

Thanks,

tHB

TMRevenant

I'm always bloody late responding to this topic.. anyhow!

Around the end of the week I'm going to trawl all the bigger bookstores nearby to see if I can find some of the literature mentioned in this topic. For the time being I'm going to see what I could try here on the forum and on the BBC website people have vouched for (Which I've bookmarked!).

Chances are that pasta will be the first thing I'll attempt to cook. I've also set a deadline of 5 weeks to master the basics of feeding myself as that is the amount of time before my parents go on a month long holiday. It'll be a disaster if I'm forced to subsist off of takeaway and biscuits for that duration.

As I spend a lot of time writing in my spare time, I'm going to be keeping a blog on my progress from day one so acquaintances can laugh along/at me. I'm not sure what the guidelines are for linking that sort of thing, but I'll probably post my experiences here and there in this forum to get feedback on what I've done wrong/could do better.

The Hill Billy

You can add a link to your blog in this thread.

tHB

Faith

I'd be interested in reading about you learning to cook. It's something I take so much for granted; I can't imagine what it would be like not knowing how to cook pasta! I've cooked since I could reach the stove, I think.