Food, Drink & Dining Out Learning to cook

[Jimmy1992]

Holy shit. You're back.

Hello (From the other side)

 

[Silent Alarm]

Jimmy Oliver is a horrible, bland cook.

 

[Demosthenes]

Learn how to cheat. Anyone can cook with a few hours in the kitchen and a fully stocked fridge/pantry. The trick is getting by with stuff that you can pull together when you get home from work late and feel like crap.

Nothing wrong with packet veggies in the freezer. Packet prawns too - they defrost in warm water and take about a minute to cook in a frying pan. Canned fish and freeze-dried pasta in the cupboard. Means you've always got a protein, carbs and veggies on hand (even if you've been away for 3 weeks). Packet sauces are your friend - screw making a curry from scratch at 7pm after 9 hours at work.

Learning to cook's great fun, and stuff made from scratch is the best, but shortcuts are what will stop you reverting to takeaway. Most nights I grab a bit of meat from the butcher on the way home, whack it on the BBQ and nuke some frozen veggies. Not real exciting, but it takes 15 mins and the washing up is minimal.

 

[HBF]

I usually go with anything that's going to take me less than 30-40 minutes to make when I get home from work. Might stretch this out on the weekends though. Can't bare to think about coming home from work and then spending an hour or so in the kitchen. **** that!

 

[Demosthenes]

Jimmy Oliver is a horrible, bland cook.

He's a practical cook. If you want food that's simple to make and relatively healthy, his cookbooks are a good bet.

Donna Hay and Valli Little are the same.

 

[WCErevival]

Same, but then I CBF when I get home from work.

Yeah working and the fact I have to cook everyday because I live alone is a drag. Always ends up being the same stuff which is simple to make.

 

[HBF]

Yeah working and the fact I have to cook everyday because I live alone is a drag. Always ends up being the same stuff which is simple to make.

Sounds very similar to me, other than I don't live by myself.

 

[Demosthenes]

I'm the same. Bachelor cooking is a bit boring. Any time you make anything complicated you have to buy a ton of specific ingredients that take forever to get through when you're only eating for one. It's easier just sticking with the basics.

I often liven it up a bit by doing a proper cook on a Sunday afternoon - slow roasting a joint of meat on the BBQ, making a risotto or a lentil salad, mixing up a pot of soup etc. Have a proper feed that night, then the rest generally gets frozen, taken for lunch or used as a side-dish for weekday dinners.

 

[brahj]

Can people start sharing their simple as **** recipes? (preferably for one)

I can get the ball rolling with a basic as shit bolognese (that everyone should know, but you know... I didn't know this once)

1x 500g tray of mince (beef, veal, pork or mixed. I prefer veal, seems to be the go in Europe too)
1x brown onion, diced. Wear glasses if you're a pussy.
1x can of tomatoes crushed, chopped or diced.
1x horribly inaccurate handful of pasta
2-3x cloves of garlic
1x can of pasta sauce
2x carrots, grated

1. Chuck the meat, garlic and onion in a pan with olive oil. Brown that bad boy.
2. Add sauce, tomatoes, grated carrot (add more veg if you're keen). Bring it to the boil and then turn the temp down and let it simmer for 20 minutes... Stir occasionally.
3. Boil pasta, add a few pinches of salt, this will stop your pasta from being shit.
4. More stirring of the sauce.
5. Forget to cook Garlic Bread. Start pre-heating oven now.
6. Drain pasta. Serve in bowl.
7. Enjoy pasta.
8. Soak pans and dishes.
9. Remember garlic bread.
10. Enjoy garlic bread.

There should also be enough leftover pasta sauce for rad toasted sanga's the next day. Or more pasta.

 

[Jimmy1992]

Stir Fry

500g Diced Beef (Or Chicken)
1 x Bunch of Bok Choy
1 x Carrot
1 x Capsicum
1 x Brick of Noodles
1 x Zucchini
Soy Sauce
Spices (Paprika, Cumin, Coriander work well)
Garlic (and Ginger if you please)
Can also chuck in many different vegetables (Red Onion for example works well)

1. Chop up all your vegetables, seperate the top and bottom of the bok choy.
2. Boil Kettle (500-600ml should be enough water)
3. Brown your meat, chuck in garlic and ginger at the same time.
4. Put brick of noodles into boiled water, just in a bowl is fine.
5. Add 'hard' vegetables (Bottom of bok choy, carrot)
6. Once the 'hard' vegetables are starting to soften, add the 'soft' vegetables (capsicum, leafy bits of bok choy)
7. Once the bok choy leaves start to shrivel right up add the noodles and mix in with the meat and vegetables
8. Add your sauces and spices.
9. Serve.

Will make 3 meals worth, just refrigerate or freeze. Is really good if you add oyster sauce or sweet chilli sauce. Play around with different flavours. Take sall up 20-25 minutes?

 

[Catfish Alley]

Load the bolognese with more veggies I reckon. Zuchhini, mushrooms, eggplant and celery. Also fresh parmesan. That's kind of what I made the other day. Then you don't need a pasta sauce. Just simmer down with crushed tomatoes.

 

[Dagless]

I sorta feel like if you actually want your own flair, you just have to try things out and find out what does and doesn't work. Watching people who know how to cook is probably the best way to go because it gives you an idea of the basics, what does and doesn't work well together and why.

Other than, I like knowing what flavours and ingredients I do like, start messing around with that because you inherently like aspects of it to some degree. Tinker from there.

Think for five seconds regarding portions and volumes of ingredients and what it will taste like based on proportions.

/Euroheritage, just make shit up and it'll eventually taste good.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Why are people putting up stir fry and pasta recipes?! Those things are everywhere and a two minute phone call with your folks is probably way easier.

A really good one are veggie burgers. You can get patties from Woolies, like four for $2 or something. Get some Sriracha and beet-a-roots and then a few other things of salad. It's piss-easy, filling, not full of terrible muck, and you can get about two days worth of dinner and lunches for about twelve bucks.

 

[GWBogan]

 

[Catfish Alley]

Because they are easy and you can cook a batch.

I'd suggest a roast. A good cut of meat, veggies and that's it. Can use leftovers for sandwiches.

 

[PastiesPeake]

The best bit of advice I was ever given was "If you can read, you can cook"

 

[Gough]

I've cooked this for years, and put it on menus I've written. It's originally an Ian Parmenter recipe.
Thai Chicken Salad.
Take two chicken breasts, slice into strips, and marinate with soy, sweet chilli sauce, and some sesame oil for a couple of hours. Then slice a red capsicum into strips, top, and tail a hand full of snow peas, and get a handful of raw cashews, you can also use peanuts. Season the chicken, because of soy, I only use pepper, cook, and set aside. Cook the rest of the stuff, return the chicken to the wok, and heat for a minute or two. Serve on lettuce, and dress with lime juice, and coriander.

 

[Richo is God]

Jimmy Oliver is a horrible, bland cook.

How so? His stuff is mostly simple healthy foods that any scrub can make at home with a few basic ingredients

 

[Catfish Alley]

Something light and easy for summer is a strawberry salad. Bunch of strawberries, baby spinach and slivered almonds. Make a dressing with a bit of white wine/cider vinegar, balsamic, touch of sugar and sesame seeds. It's quick and easy with only a handful of ingredients.

 

[Gough]

Something light and easy for summer is a strawberry salad. Bunch of strawberries, baby spinach and slivered almonds. Make a dressing with a bit of white wine/cider vinegar, balsamic, touch of sugar and sesame seeds. It's quick and easy with only a handful of ingredients.

You can do similar with blue cheese, and pears, just sub walnuts for almonds.

 

[Quivorir]

Do the almonds need to be activated?

 

[Catfish Alley]

Just walk them around the house for 5-10 minutes.

 

[04 Durif]

Herbs. Put herbs in things. Your cooking will improve out of sight

 

[Gough]

Build up a pantry too, oils, pasta, tinned tomatoes, some herbs, and spices, rice, tinned fish, onions, garlic, butter, that sort of thing. It also means if you're skint, you don't have to buy anything, and you've still got the makings of a decent feed.

 

[dumb]

decided not long after i left home, walking through the supermarket and putting a 10-pack of 2 minute noodles into my trolley, that i could try a bit harder.
taught myself how to make risotto. pretty basic, but like a lot of other people are saying here, tweak it once you've got it down pat.

occasionally i take my spare change into thrift shops to buy recipe books. there's all sorts, 30-40 year old books with yellowing pages and recipes that need dripping. microwave cookery books that will one day be landfill. but a lot of good stuff. stick to the basics. you can get ones that have glossaries in the back with all the terms and techniques you might run across in food. ditto a list of spices.
learning to cook is also about understanding the nuances of your own oven/stove. shifting house will take some adjusting.

need to invest in a heap of herbs and spices.

there's a pretty good sense of satisfaction you get when you can put meals together not out of a packet. supermarkets are twice the size they should be just because some people can't be ****ed to grate some cheese. i would love to make my own stock.