Learning to cook

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So ive somehow found myself in the position of being completely useless at cooking.

However, I have to learn, being thrown out into the big bad world.

Any tips/books to recommend to help a complete novice?
 
just do it, and keep doing it until people stop puking after eating it.

read some books or interwebs for ideas and try it.
 
penski said:
Just get some ingredients and stick them together...That's how I taught myself.

*n
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absolutely. If your cooking by instructions then your cooking packet/microwave food and that is not what you want to be doing. The only way to tell if you've cooked right is to taste. Have fun as well.
 
People may think it's a bit OTT but are there any classes near you? Just to get you started I mean. The sort of ones that teach you how cooking works, how to make basic elements of meals and what flavours go together. After that you won't need a cookery book, you can make up your own recipes. Fortunately I was taught all this at home :)
 
rmuir said:
absolutely. If your cooking by instructions then your cooking packet/microwave food and that is not what you want to be doing. The only way to tell if you've cooked right is to taste. Have fun as well.
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Tonight I made risotto:

1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 large flat mushrooms, cut in half then sliced
about 200g of chorizo, diced to ~1cm cubes
a bit of garlic
250g arborio rice
2 pints of stock.

get a hot frying pan, a teaspoon of olive oil and whack the onions in. Once they start to go translucent, add the garlic, mushrooms and chorizo. Keep stirring.

After 2 minutes, put the rice in, stir and coat it in the oil.

After another 2 minutes, add 1/2 pint of stock, keep stirring.

Turn the heat down and let it simmer, add more stock when it absorbs what's in there...it'll be ready in about half an hour and it will taste delicious.

*n

PS: It's ready when the rice goes creamy and it has a slight bite to it.
 
I'm no chef, but it seems silly to learn by making recipies--surely you should learn what goes with what, learn about various seasonings and whatnot, and then just experiment :confused: Be creative and invent your own food, it's pretty hard to make something disgusting if you know vaguely what you're doing.
 
The internet is a limitless recipe resource. There's one in this very thread. As others have said it's almost impossible to go wrong so long as your meat is thoroughly cooked and your smoke alarm isn't bleeping ;).
 
seek said:
By FAR the best book for beginners imo is "the student cookbook". The one with the orange cover.
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Doesnt that just tell you how to cook baked beans on toast and tuna salad? ;)
 
penski said:
Tonight I made risotto:

1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 large flat mushrooms, cut in half then sliced
about 200g of chorizo, diced to ~1cm cubes
a bit of garlic
250g arborio rice
2 pints of stock.

get a hot frying pan, a teaspoon of olive oil and whack the onions in. Once they start to go translucent, add the garlic, mushrooms and chorizo. Keep stirring.

After 2 minutes, put the rice in, stir and coat it in the oil.

After another 2 minutes, add 1/2 pint of stock, keep stirring.

Turn the heat down and let it simmer, add more stock when it absorbs what's in there...it'll be ready in about half an hour and it will taste delicious.

*n

PS: It's ready when the rice goes creamy and it has a slight bite to it.
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'ark at you with your posh rice.... I remember when a packet of Uncle Ben's was nouveu cuisine...... :D
 
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