How to actually learn cooking
- Thread starter Walkerie
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1. Make something up
2. Cook it
3. See if it's good or not
4. Repeat
Idea: Pineapple sausages.
2. Cook it
3. See if it's good or not
4. Repeat
Idea: Pineapple sausages.
I like the idea of those, I was hoping to skip step 2 though
Soldato
There is the book and Series on Netflix 'Salt Fat Acid Heat' which goes into the ingredients and the science behind cooking. The book is incredibly detailed in parts and explains how to replicate textures and flavours in the cooking procedure itself, when to introduce salt, what to use to balance the flavours, how much of something is required, etc.
Caporegime
Is that like trying to learn driving without actually having to drive?
Yeah but when your banging out meals without trying its such a good feeling. Everyone should learn how to cook IMO, good food is worth the hassle.
You don't *need to spend that long for food that far surpasses frozen/microwave food. Most of my mid week meals are less than 20-30 mins mostly with very little prep time. Or freezing sauces/blends etc. Making a salsa on a Monday and using it the rest of the week for example.
Learn how to make sauces then you can pretty much cook anything. The rest of it is putting stuff in ovens and frying pans to go with your sauces unless you want to get proper up yourself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sauces
You're pretty good to go if you get good at tomato/onion based sauces and butter sauces. That's good inroads into italian, french and asian cooking. The key to sauces is acidity (especially with tomato sauces, balancing the fruit acidity with salts) and knowing what flavours you get from herbs and how they change with heat and length of cooking.
A simple onion/tomato/basil sauce is a good place to start. Get that right and then see how that changes when you add other herbs, like tarragon, oregano and thyme. Spices like paprika and turmeric. You could start by making a few simple sauces over a few hours and just eat with some nice bread. Don't forget the garlic and the olive oil.
That sauce can be made into bolognese, lasagne, chilli, curries and makes a great base for a fish soup.
It's all easy to learn through experimenting. You won't learn as well from a book and you'll know what to do if things don't taste as you'd expect or want.
Learn to make a butter roux and that's your white / cheeses sorted too really.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sauces
You're pretty good to go if you get good at tomato/onion based sauces and butter sauces. That's good inroads into italian, french and asian cooking. The key to sauces is acidity (especially with tomato sauces, balancing the fruit acidity with salts) and knowing what flavours you get from herbs and how they change with heat and length of cooking.
A simple onion/tomato/basil sauce is a good place to start. Get that right and then see how that changes when you add other herbs, like tarragon, oregano and thyme. Spices like paprika and turmeric. You could start by making a few simple sauces over a few hours and just eat with some nice bread. Don't forget the garlic and the olive oil.
That sauce can be made into bolognese, lasagne, chilli, curries and makes a great base for a fish soup.
It's all easy to learn through experimenting. You won't learn as well from a book and you'll know what to do if things don't taste as you'd expect or want.
Learn to make a butter roux and that's your white / cheeses sorted too really.
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Caporegime
With all due respect, I have to disagree, I would not start at sauces or think knowing how to make a sauce means you can cook anything. Knowing how to make a hollandaise sauce does not help me trying to Roast Chicken. Knowing how to cook is knowing more than just mask things with flavour. Sauces are a compliment, they add to the dish, they are not the main dish. A red wine sauce on a steak adds to the steak, you can eat a perfectly good steak without sauce. A nice piece of wagyu is best eaten with no sauce.
Cook some steamed dumplings, you don’t need any sauce. Or an Apple Pie or Miso Soup, no sauce. What sauce do you make to help you make dumplings if you don’t know how to make dumplings?
I would say knowing how to make a sauce will be like 5% of learning how to cook, you are going to live a very narrow set of dishes if everything depends on the sauce.
Learn how to cook first, then learn how to take it to the next level with good sauces. I can’t remember the last time I actually made a sauce, may be 5 months ago when I made it for Korean fried chicken. Or may be the tonkatsu one for my home made chicken nuggets. But the key to both really is know how to make the fried chicken first, know how hot the oil needs to be, know double fry technique, know what to season the flour with. The chicken was perfectly fine without any sauce, just like KFC does but dunking it with some nice spicy sauce takes it up a notch.
Cook some steamed dumplings, you don’t need any sauce. Or an Apple Pie or Miso Soup, no sauce. What sauce do you make to help you make dumplings if you don’t know how to make dumplings?
I would say knowing how to make a sauce will be like 5% of learning how to cook, you are going to live a very narrow set of dishes if everything depends on the sauce.
Learn how to cook first, then learn how to take it to the next level with good sauces. I can’t remember the last time I actually made a sauce, may be 5 months ago when I made it for Korean fried chicken. Or may be the tonkatsu one for my home made chicken nuggets. But the key to both really is know how to make the fried chicken first, know how hot the oil needs to be, know double fry technique, know what to season the flour with. The chicken was perfectly fine without any sauce, just like KFC does but dunking it with some nice spicy sauce takes it up a notch.
Classical training used to always start with sauces as it shows different techniques and how using the same ingredients, but with different temperatures, whipping v stirring etc. can have vastly different outcomes.
For home cooks this might be overkill, though learning to make a good white sauce is a good start as it can be used in many dishes.
I would find a dish/main ingredient you like and try that, then look for variations on that to see how changes can be made. Make a Bolognese using a jar and quick fry mince, then make it with homemade sauce and cooking for an hour + highlights difference in approaches.
For home cooks this might be overkill, though learning to make a good white sauce is a good start as it can be used in many dishes.
I would find a dish/main ingredient you like and try that, then look for variations on that to see how changes can be made. Make a Bolognese using a jar and quick fry mince, then make it with homemade sauce and cooking for an hour + highlights difference in approaches.
I agree with a lot of the advice given here but no has mentioned learning the proper techniques of cooking various things. It's critically important imo. The best book I've ever seen and owned is "100 Techniques: Master a Lifetime of Cooking Skills, from Basic to Bucket List" by America's Test Kitchen. It's available on Amazon for $20.
At the end of the day there's only one way to learn to cook and that's to get in your kitchen and cook.
At the end of the day there's only one way to learn to cook and that's to get in your kitchen and cook.
Soldato
Like yourself I would like to know how to cook properly, cos at the moment I just follow recipes (I get grief from the missus cos i stick with the times listed in the recipes!) however, the food i cook is decent. My main staple is to follow recipes from the Joe Wicks cookbooks. A relatively low amount of ingredients but depending on the recipe a wide range of flavours which work together. How you expect to cook without actually cooking is beyond me though and part of that process is tasting as you cook. I learned that one from watching 'Simply Raymond Blanc' the past few months and I've got his book on order which should arrive next week. As mentioned above take a recipe you're familiar with e.g. spag bol and see if you can add an extra herb or spice to it to give it an extra flavour. I'm sure everyone who's trained to be a chef or the humble cook in the house has made something which was terrible but they've also made good dishes which have only come about through experimentation.
Completely agree!
I used to make a simple salad of diced avocado, tomato, red onion and jicama lightly salted and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Wife and I really liked it.
One evening I went to make it and we didn't have jicama. I wanted something crunchy like it to substitute so I used an apple.
Blew our heads off! We both loved it. Never made it with jicama again.
Soldato
I went to some evening classes in 2012. I still cook some of the recipes today.
It was good fun.
It was good fun.