Wanting to learn to become a better cook (cooking)

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by the_windwalker

Something a good cook will find helpful, since few kitchens have every ingredient called for in every recipe, is a good RECIPE SUBSTITUTION GUIDE. Sort of like this one...

The Great Substitution Guide – A to Z

Awesome link. Thanks!

[no kudzu]

haven't read the whole thread and maybe somebody has already suggested this. don't be insulted but there are some great kids cook books out there with great pictures, suggestions. A few years ago I bought 2 different cook books for my 2 daughters. I found some great recipes which have turned out to be family recipes.

tivo cooks country on PBS. Great show with good explanations and even experiments. it is a wealth of information.

good luck

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

haven't read the whole thread and maybe somebody has already suggested this. don't be insulted but there are some great kids cook books out there with great pictures, suggestions. A few years ago I bought 2 different cook books for my 2 daughters. I found some great recipes which have turned out to be family recipes.

tivo cooks country on PBS. Great show with good explanations and even experiments. it is a wealth of information.

good luck

Sorry that I never replied to you sooner.

What are the name of those two kid books? Haha. It wouldn't hurt to help out in my current progress.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Joke Insurance

Sorry that I never replied to you sooner.

What are the name of those two kid books? Haha. It wouldn't hurt to help out in my current progress.

Tell us what you've learned to cook!

[fibonacci]

haven't read whole thread yet, but just start off with a good cookbook with home style recipes. HIGHLY recommend this Thomas Keller (probably the greatest American chef of all time) book:



Many of the recipes are easily doable, taste fantastic, and can impress company easily. Julia Child is also a must own for almost anyone.

[no kudzu]

Originally Posted by Joke Insurance

Sorry that I never replied to you sooner.

What are the name of those two kid books? Haha. It wouldn't hurt to help out in my current progress.

Three cookbooks I got off our shelf without much searching (there are others I'll look for later)

William Sonoma The kids' cookbook

Southern Living kids cookbook

The everything Kids's cookbook

Those are a great start and we have many family favorites from them.

[fibonacci]

I highly recommend a cookbook. Many websites have recipes, but don't have very good pictures, sometimes pictures make it much easier to understand how to make plating your meal much better looking. Presentation matters too.

[EugeneOnegin]

I would start with learning basic classical French cooking techniques. The Julia Child books are good for this. Then you can pick up cooking techniques from other cuisines and start incorporating them, but the French techniques are the best place to start.

Watching cooking shows on PBS and The Cooking Channel is a good passive way to pick things up, build your knowledge base, and get ideas. There are a ton of good youtube videos as well. Chowhound discussions are very informative, the users there really know their stuff.

Learn your ingredients. Learn the different cuts of meat and how best to cook them. Learn about all the different fruits and vegetables, how to choose them, when they're in season, how to process and cook them. Smoke points and properties of oils. Which herbs are good fresh, which are good dried, when to add them. Wikipedia is a good resource for these things.

Start acquiring some tools and equipment. A good nonstick pan, a good food processor, a stick blender, a spice grinder, a dutch oven, some pots, citrus zester, mortar and pestle, various knives, a LARGE (can't stress this enough) cutting board, pizza stone, cheese grater, strainer, colander, etc. Stay away from the gimmicky things like slap choppers and egg cookers that you'll never use that will just clutter up your kitchen. Spend more for quality things that work well and will last, you'll be glad you did. You don't have to buy everything at once, just add something every now and then.

Build up a stock of basic shelf-stable ingredients. Herbs, spices, nuts, dried beans and lentils, canned tomatoes, honey, vinegars, oils, dried peppers, rice, bouillon, etc. These are an upfront cost, once you build up your stock it's pretty cheap to maintain it since you don't have to buy these things very often. It's essential to have these things on hand so you don't have to run to the store for 17 things every time you want to cook a meal.

Hit up the Indian and Mexican stores for spices (preferably unground) and dried herbs. They're a lot cheaper and better quality at these places. I usually buy them in ~6+ ounce quantities and store them in jars. It's a whole lot better than buying tiny 3-ounce jars of stale, ground, grossly overpriced McCormick's spices.

The Flavor Bible is good for learning which combinations work well together.

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

Three cookbooks I got off our shelf without much searching (there are others I'll look for later)

William Sonoma The kids' cookbook

Southern Living kids cookbook

The everything Kids's cookbook

Those are a great start and we have many family favorites from them.

Thanks. I'll be adding to my ever growing list of books that I want to read.

[Cliffie]

Some nice basic cookbooks are

The I Hate To Cook Book by Peg Bracken
The Absolute Beginner's Cookbook by Jackie Eddy and Eleanor Clark
Betty Crocker's Cookbook by guess who!
The Favorite Recipes Of Home Economics Teachers series
Jane Brody's Good Food Book