Food, Drink & Dining Out Teach me to cook, GD

[BALKAN]

Never cook when you're hungry

 

[Scotland]

Cornflour is better, but flour does the trick... if you coat the meat in plain flour before you brown it then it might not clag up as easily.

If I make a beef & beer pie I'll brown the steak and set to one side, then brown the onions and garlic and mix the flour into that so the flour bonds to the onion pieces. Then I'll transfer everything to a big pot with the water/stock/beer and let it simmer slowly for an hour or two. Have never had any trouble getting a thick, consistent gravy that way.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Somebody mentioned him but Jaime Oliver is very good for learning some basics. Not really any fancy ingredients and his recipes don't take too long to prepare. It's a good starting point.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Cornflour is better, but flour does the trick... if you coat the meat in plain flour before you brown it then it might not clag up as easily.

And the way to do this is cube the meat put it in a placcy bag with a tablespoon of flour and shake.

 

[HTPunter]

I just set up my tablet and get Youtube up on it.

Whenever I'm unsure of something, I youtube it.

Not sure how to prepare a food a certain way? Youtube.

Not sure what the word in the recipe means, or how you go about it (i.e. words to describe textures etc)? Youtube/google

Hell, not sure on how to use equipment? Youtube.

Saves me a lot of problems. When you've worked out the techniques for quick & easy preparation, and the flavours, you're pretty much home.

Don't be afraid to **** up either and have to buy a pizza. If you haven't ****ed up a dish you haven't cooked enough.

 

[MarcusP2]

If you haven't put stock powder by itself because the packet said "1 teaspoon = 2 cups of stock" and stuck your entire 'stew' to the pan, you haven't stuffed up.

Also try this:
http://imgur.com/gallery/N37Lr

 

[Sterge]

Inspired by Gough and his superb looking fare

I'm pretty ****in useless in the kitchen. I can heat something up in a pan or cook pasta from a jar, but I can't cook properly.

How does one go about learning? Where to start?

It just all seems like so much work. After working, studying, spending half my life on BF and rescuing damsels in distress I don't have that much time, and it feels like it just takes forever to cook properly.

What would you start with to learn your way around a kitchen?

There are plenty of online recipes and tutorials on youtube.

My advice would be think about the things you like to eat and to start with look up 3 or 4 easy recipes as others have said Jamie Oliver does a bunch of good stuff. Then perfect those recipes once you learn some basic skills you can roll them into more complicated things and once you figure which flavours go together you can try things on your own without a guide.

Buy a slow cooker (doesn't have to be flash or super expensive just a decent solid brand should get decent change from 100 if you shop around) you can get tons of recipe bases for the slow cooker from the supermarket and it's super easy to do.

Everyone should know how to do a roast it's super easy once you get the hang of it just pick a meat that you like.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I've never been interested in cooking and my fiance does all of it in our house, but you've inspired me Bunk Moreland
I joined taste.com.au today and have set myself some easy goals to tick off the list. Hopefully I don't burn the ****ing house down.

 

[Maxwell110]

Start simple and work from there. The first things I made were simple microwave self-saucing chocolate puddings.

Try not to be a perfectionist when it comes to measurements and times, I had a lot of trouble with that when teaching myself how to cook. I'd always try to follow recipes exactly. If you need a cup of flour, don't be scared if you put in a little more or a little less.

Don't be afraid to experiment. The first time I ever made my own pasta I used it for bacon cheeseburger ravioli. Definitely one of the more out-there things I've made.

If you can, watch video recipes. They're so helpful and show so much more than a written recipe, however it can get annoying if you need to keep rewinding to get one step again. It's nice to get a video recipe accompanied by a written recipe.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

When cooking in a pan or wok, always use extra v olive oil and garlic. Always use herbs when you can.

On eggs, I put Italian herbs, oregano and tobasco.

 

[The Passenger]

Start with Spagehitt Bolognese and work up from there. Easy, tasty, fills you up.

I don't have a huge range of dishes I make but the ones I make are pretty good - Spag Bol, A few different curries (Make a mean Chicken Tikka Masala), Crumbed Chicken (Using dry Sao biscuits and lemon in a food processor believe it or not), Chilli Con Carne, Salmon.

Salad's are pretty easy as side dishes and if you got a decent BBQ a steak is a piece of piss. If you're only cooking for one you can cook a decent enough steak on a griddle. They cost about 25 bucks from Kmart. Won't be the greatest steak ever but much better than on a frying pan.

Another easy beginners dish is grilled chicken burgers - A breast of chicken, cut into thinnish strips (about an inch thick), marinade in sauce for several hours whilst your at work then cook on low heat in garlic and butter. Add some of Nando's spicy sauce (or whatever sauce you might prefer) and any topping you like - tomato (yuck), onions, cheese etc... For minimal effort you'll get probably 3 very tasty chicken burgers for about 10 bucks.

 

[craffles]

Easy one pan meal

Ingredients
Chicken Breast, capsicum, onion, tomato, garlic, cumin, salt/pepper, 1/2 cup water

Method
**** that get a pizza delivered

 

[swiftdog]

Look for basic methods online and don't worry about the massive ingredient lists they probably have going on (I was at first). It's nowhere near as hard to cook basic as you think, not that I'm a great chef by any stretch but I can look after myself in the kitchen and anyone I've cooked for hasn't really had any complaints. My dinner tonight (beef curry):

1. Brown up some stir-fry beef in pan (I bought some prepackaged stir-fry beef from Woolies)
2. Once browned add some veggies (I used broccoli, capsicum, carrot and sweet potato)
3. Mix in curry paste and coconut cream with curry powder and spices to taste (I used cumin and paprika)
4. Bring to the boil
5. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 mins

Done. Far from an authentic curry recipe I'm sure but get's the job done. Easy enough to cook a bit extra and have for the next day's lunch also. I use similar recipes for the likes of stir-fry, chilli's and paella's also.

Pasta's and steak's are easy enough to cook (you can just boil up some veggies to go with the steak) and even home-made pizzas don't require any great skill.

 

[kickazz]

Given it is winter and you are starting out, I can highly recommend getting a Slow Cooker.

Plenty of recipes on the www, you can even buy 'packets' at the supermarket that get you started, if you like.

Find a recipe, add 1 or two ingredients of your own, chuck it all in and then go off to the footy or whatever. Come home to a delicious meal. Pretty easy stuff.

 

[Gough]

I have a couple of steaks with a bigger carbon footprint than some small African countries to cook tonight.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

From what I can see at the Taste website, once you have built up a pantry of common ingredients is going to be much easier to cook. I'm on a mission this weekend to make something edible! Wish me luck.

 

[BALKAN]

I have a couple of steaks with a bigger carbon footprint than some small African countries to cook tonight.

Please post pics of your dinner frequently. I need inspiration.

 

[MarcusP2]

Look for basic methods online and don't worry about the massive ingredient lists they probably have going on (I was at first). It's nowhere near as hard to cook basic as you think, not that I'm a great chef by any stretch but I can look after myself in the kitchen and anyone I've cooked for hasn't really had any complaints. My dinner tonight (beef curry):

1. Brown up some stir-fry beef in pan (I bought some prepackaged stir-fry beef from Woolies)
2. Once browned add some veggies (I used broccoli, capsicum, carrot and sweet potato)
3. Mix in curry paste and coconut cream with curry powder and spices to taste (I used cumin and paprika)
4. Bring to the boil
5. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 mins

Done. Far from an authentic curry recipe I'm sure but get's the job done. Easy enough to cook a bit extra and have for the next day's lunch also. I use similar recipes for the likes of stir-fry, chilli's and paella's also.

Pasta's and steak's are easy enough to cook (you can just boil up some veggies to go with the steak) and even home-made pizzas don't require any great skill.

Yeah stuff like this is easy. Dinner last night:

1. 2 minute noodles in boiling water
2. Onion + garlic in pan
3. When that's cooked, add frozen veggies (your choice), noodles and tom yum paste
4. Instant tasty mee goreng.

 

[Duritz]

Inspired by Gough and his superb looking fare

I'm pretty ****in useless in the kitchen. I can heat something up in a pan or cook pasta from a jar, but I can't cook properly.

How does one go about learning? Where to start?

It just all seems like so much work. After working, studying, spending half my life on BF and rescuing damsels in distress I don't have that much time, and it feels like it just takes forever to cook properly.

What would you start with to learn your way around a kitchen?

You're getting bad tips here ITT thus far. Get some cookbooks, follow recipes, learn that way. Which cookbooks? Look through a few and get the ones which cook the kind of food you like to eat.

 

[Duritz]

Yeah stuff like this is easy. Dinner last night:

1. 2 minute noodles in boiling water
2. Onion + garlic in pan
3. When that's cooked, add frozen veggies (your choice), noodles and tom yum paste
4. Instant tasty mee goreng.

You may as well just re-ingest your own vomit like my labrador does.

 

[Sterge]

You're getting bad tips here ITT thus far. Get some cookbooks, follow recipes, learn that way. Which cookbooks? Look through a few and get the ones which cook the kind of food you like to eat.

Cookbooks are a waste of money when you can get free recipes on the internet for basically anything you would ever want to cook, and you can see feedback others have given to give you a more informed opinion for what works or doesn't work.

Especially when regardless of the book at least 50% of it you will never even consider cooking

 

[kfc1]

Two tablespoons of cinnamon

 

[kfc1]

Two or three egg whites

 

[kfc1]

half a stick of butter...melted

 

[kfc1]

stick it all in a bowl, baby