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How did you learn to cook?

post #1 of 72
4/12/10 at 1:56pm
Thread Starter 
I have tried a few times to grill chicken and failed. I can make eggs (scrambled, omlette, or sunny side up) but fail at anything else. I want to learn to cook so I can stop making myself lean cuisines or getting boston market, cosi etc for dinner every night. I've been living on my own for 2 years now and cannot cook at all

Can anyone recommend a good book or advice?
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post #2 of 72
4/12/10 at 2:38pm
Start working at McDonalds, and then get a job working in a hotel doing catering and line cooking; that's what I did and now I have two Culinary gold medals under my belt. Now I admit, it might not be a doable option for you; but it's worked for me
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post #3 of 72
4/12/10 at 2:46pm
Culinary school worked, but was expensive.

Practice practice practice. Read, a lot. There are many good technique books out there, look for Jacques Pepin. Start with easy stuff, get comfortable, and you'll learn quickly.
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post #4 of 72
4/12/10 at 3:04pm
University helped me out. I had a small repertoire of reliable favourites before I went, and as I had already been working out 3x a week for a year or two, I was determined not to go the easy route of eating microwave meals and snack foods. Just by being sociable and making an effort to share knowledge with others, I came out knowing 10x as much as when I started.

Even if you're not in that easy situation, surely you have some friends or colleagues who you can ask about such things?

I also hit the internet for little tips and tricks; a few weeks back I decided it would be cool to be able to break an egg one-handed like you see TV chefs do. 5 minutes of googling (and subsequently a dozen or so egg-based meals) and now I've got it down pretty well. I also learned to cook my idea of the perfect steak in this way...a bit of research, followed by practising for real in the kitchen.
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post #5 of 72
4/12/10 at 3:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwilkinson View Post
Practice practice practice. Read, a lot. There are many good technique books out there, look for Jacques Pepin. Start with easy stuff, get comfortable, and you'll learn quickly.

+1 to all of this.

Also, start with the types of food you're familiar with already, this way you'll know how it's supposed to taste. Once you get that stuff down, start making little tweaks to your recipes so you can see how certain changes influence the flavor.

Another thing I recommend is looking around at recipes and adapting those to your taste. There are a lot of things that have a sort of baseline that most dishes using that recipe will share. Once you understand how to make the baseline recipes you can start taking those generic ideas and adding in your own character.
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post #6 of 72
4/12/10 at 3:51pm
If you want to learn about cooking on the fly without a recipe, you HAVE to pickup a book called The Flavor Bible. It lists hundreds of ingredients with a variety of combinations that go well together; which would definietly increase both your knowledge in the kitchen and confidence as well. Heres a review: http://www.savorsa.com/2009/09/the-f...-combinations/
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post #7 of 72
4/12/10 at 4:04pm
1. Get a pan 2. Pick Random veggies 3. Pick random meat 4. Stir fry
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post #8 of 72
4/12/10 at 4:09pm
I ate. I began cooking when I was a teenager because I liked to eat and didn't like to depend on mom to have something that I wanted at a time which wasn't dinnertime. It just kind of came naturally - I ate things, watched shows about different cultures and their foods and read books, and I just reproduced stuff inspired by things I'd seen or eaten, or that just sounded good. I come up with a lot of recipes in the specific sense, like I wanted to make paella one time so I just had a go at it and looked at a recipe later and it turns out I pretty much knew what I was doing. Of course all this happened over the course of many years. I learned principles of italian and french cooking from cookbooks and travel.
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post #9 of 72
4/12/10 at 4:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Klipsch View Post
If you want to learn about cooking on the fly without a recipe, you HAVE to pickup a book called The Flavor Bible. It lists hundreds of ingredients with a variety of combinations that go well together; which would definietly increase both your knowledge in the kitchen and confidence as well.

Heres a review:

http://www.savorsa.com/2009/09/the-f...-combinations/

+1. That's a great book.
BTW, this isn't really for the OP, but as a Chef you might be interested. They have another book called Culinary Artistry, which is really great.
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post #10 of 72
4/12/10 at 4:21pm
I learned how to cook like Barney runs a marathon

I just fucking did it.

Other than that, my mother, books/magazines, boy scouts (simple hearty items only...), youtube, and lots of experimentation/practice.

Youtube actually has some pretty good stuff. From youtube-chefs to old videos of julia child (the omelet video is a classic). You get an idea of what to do but you can also watch someone do the steps if you don't understand them.

Also, it is a good convincer when you see somebody pull out a meal in 5 minutes. Sure, you know it will take you a lot longer (they had all the prep work done and time-lapses for those pesky times when food is actually *cooking*) but you can handle it.

Only cooking class I have taken so far is knife skills (well worth it even though I knew many of the techniques from youtube). I wouldn't say they are necessary--but I would like to take more for further insights and ideas on different cuisines.
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post #11 of 72
4/12/10 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naturally Baked View Post
Can anyone recommend a good book or advice?
I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Officia...110356&sr=1-18

It taught me how to cook quite respectably back in my single days, and it was really enjoyable, too. Each recipe in the book is rendered as a multi-frame comic strip about a single guy's dating exploits in addition to containing the instructions and ingredients for each meal. It's both fun and educational.
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post #12 of 72
4/12/10 at 7:18pm
Common sense, trial & error, PBS, Discovery Channel, Food Network.
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post #13 of 72
4/12/10 at 7:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Klipsch View Post
If you want to learn about cooking on the fly without a recipe, you HAVE to pickup a book called The Flavor Bible. It lists hundreds of ingredients with a variety of combinations that go well together; which would definietly increase both your knowledge in the kitchen and confidence as well.

Heres a review:

http://www.savorsa.com/2009/09/the-f...-combinations/

No, you don't. Could be a good book, I have no idea. But I'm a decent improvisational cook and I've never read it. As others have said, practice. Find a good recipe -- say, for roasted chicken or whatever. (Grilling is kind of a technique unto itself.) Make it a few times until you feel like you have a handle on it. Then branch out to something else. Being a great cook is, I believe, very difficult. But being a decent cook is fairly easy, if approach it as a learning experience.
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post #14 of 72
4/12/10 at 7:34pm
I watch the food network all the time.
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post #15 of 72
4/12/10 at 7:42pm
Learn how to use salt and pepper.
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