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Best advice was - learn what can be substituted and complimentary to a main item.
I still have such fond and humorous tales of my early years in learning. One time I was so determined to make my foster Dad his favorite chocolate fudge. I followed the directions and refrigerated. But still it was soupy! So the bright person I was, I thought. Why not freeze it! So that night after dinner ...I surprised him! He went to cut a piece and burst out laughing. I won't mention his adult expletives but it sent us all howling. To this day I still can't make fudge, but I sure can make folks laugh when telling them how NOT to make it. Just enjoy the journey. It really is a learn as you go experience.
Best advice was - learn what can be substituted and complimentary to a main item.
I still have such fond and humorous tales of my early years in learning. One time I was so determined to make my foster Dad his favorite chocolate fudge. I followed the directions and refrigerated. But still it was soupy! So the bright person I was, I thought. Why not freeze it! So that night after dinner ...I surprised him! He went to cut a piece and burst out laughing. I won't mention his adult expletives but it sent us all howling. To this day I still can't make fudge, but I sure can make folks laugh when telling them how NOT to make it. Just enjoy the journey. It really is a learn as you go experience.
Lol! I agree, OP, mistakes are part of the process and not to be feared.
I went away to college without knowing how to boil water. My roommates taught me how to fry pork chops and that's still one of my "standby" meals. The follow who wrote the Zone Diet point out that you only NEED about ten meals to get through a couple of weeks. Don't be overwhelmed thinking you have to learn it all at once. Have a wonderful time discovering.
My college roommate taught me how to make that rice dish I started a thread about.
One can Campbells French Onion Soup
One can Campbells Beef Consumme (Not Beef Broth)
One stick of butter
1 1/4 cup uncooked rice
Turn oven on the 350, place all ingredients in a shallow pyrex baking dish, cover with foil, bake for one hour.
Delish.
That is actually the one dish you cannot tweak. Others tried to make it and add things or skip the butter. Nope, it's crap any other way.
People on here gave good advice when they said to start small
I did it all backwards even though I am one of those older cooks. My mother was a really good cook but she wanted to keep it all to herself and be the only one who could cook. So all I ever learned from her was chocolate chip cookies and pancakes. Later in life I sneaked into the kitchen one Thanksgiving and saw how she made gravy.
So I got married and thought you made spaghetti by throwing it into a pot of cold water. I got mush.
I thought you used Pyrex bowls on the stove, not IN it. Got the old BH&G cookbook and taught myself, starting with the fanciest things. But start with simple stuff like baking potatoes, steaming carrots, making a hamburger, and just take it from there. Everyone needs to know how to cook--those who don't know will be sorry one of these days.
Everyone’s been giving great advice! I’m going to chip in by suggesting you start with one-pot meals: omelettes/egg dishes, salads, soups and stews, casseroles, stir-frys, etc. There’s a knack to cooking multiple dishes (meat, starch, veggie sides) and getting the timing right so that they are all ready at exactly the same time. With one-pot meals, that’s not an issue. The fewer things you are trying to master at the same time, the faster you’ll make progress. Build your way up slowly to cooking a fancy holiday dinner!
I did not help out in the kitchen much as a kid. Besides when it was time to make cake or Mac and cheese. Oddly I always wanted to make stuff I hate, like deviled eggs and potato salad.
When I got older (teens and 20s) I started watching cooking shows. While I rarely ever made anything from the shows, I absorbed all sorts of ideas. And expanded as I went out to eat more finding some dishes I wanted to make on my own. I’d ask mom for advice on some things as well.
I’m terrible at baking and following recipes. But I have good cooking instincts and a solid palette and sense of smell. I’m good at winging it. And that’s what I do now.
Bacon grease is delicious. My mom does this now and I use it when I visit. I don’t make enough bacon to save it, so I engineer bacon grease for recipes. It adds tons of flavor - but is not any worse than any other oil you’d use. If you are curious, places to start: a tablespoon when making beans. Sauté the aromatics in the bacon fat (or just make a slice of bacon in the pot and pull it out when it is done for a snack. ). Leafy greens are great sautés in reserved bacon fat. My mom always added a spoon to green veggies. Green beans, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts in particular. Use it to roast potatoes. Also great for a soup - same as the beans start the aromatics in the bacon fat or bacon, wherever you’d use a hambone. Also to make your eggs. And really all the breakfast meats can be cooked in a little bacon fat. Or a sausage if you make those. You’d be shocked at how much flavor is added by replacing some or all of your oil in a dish with the bacon grease.
No, I wouldn't. I learned from my BH&G cookbook how to cook with bacon grease, and then I learned about soul food from friends and coworkers.
I laughed higher up in your post when you said "Oddly I always wanted to make stuff I hate, like deviled eggs and potato salad." People LOVE my potato salad, but I really don't like potato salad at all. I taste it when I make it to ensure that it's what I want it to be, but I don't want to actually eat any after that.
No, I wouldn't. I learned from my BH&G cookbook how to cook with bacon grease, and then I learned about soul food from friends and coworkers.
I laughed higher up in your post when you said "Oddly I always wanted to make stuff I hate, like deviled eggs and potato salad." People LOVE my potato salad, but I really don't like potato salad at all. I taste it when I make it to ensure that it's what I want it to be, but I don't want to actually eat any after that.
I think somewhere along the lines bacon grease got demonized. But I think the paleo lifestyle helped to bring it back. :P
Another thing I can make really well is is a chicken in a mushroom cream sauce. I hate cream sauce and am not fond of mushrooms. I can also make gravy - and absolutely hate it. I don't mind "gravies" that are really just the cooking vehicle and the collected meat juices. But a stand alone heavy sauce - blechhhhh. I don't even put gravy on mashed potatoes. LOL.
OP - not sure what sort of food you grew up with / you versions of comfort food / or cuisines you are drawn to are. So it might be good to master your childhood or takeout favorites.
I don't cook many of the foods I grew up with. Some just require too much work, and I live alone. And they aren't worth it to me to make a huge batch and have all the leftovers. I just eat those at my parents. Instead I focus on things that come together quickly. Ot incorporate variations on the flavors I enjoyed growing up. For example growing up we used a lot of vinegar - mostly apple cider or spicy apple cider vinegar.
Since I really liked the acid it provides on my palette - I started to explore all the other things that add acid - all the types of vinegar, capers, and citrus juices (as well as salsas and chimichurri. I also grew up eating hot sauce on basically everything. Typically the vinegar based ones. So in adulthood I have been exploring all the other traditional hot sauces / spicy condiments for other cuisines.
Making mistakes is how I learned to cook really well. Practice makes perfect.
I presume you are good at least with cooking breakfast like eggs and bacon?
Simply start out with the basics. I recommend watching YouTube. Or watch mom or other friends and family involve you in preparing meals.
For instance I watched these myself: Chinese fried rice, steak, Italian spaghetti and other noodle/tomato dishes, layered baked casseroles,Mexican, home-made mac and cheese, cowboy cooking, yadayada.
Invest in accurate measuring items such as a set of 1/4c 1/3c 1/2c and 1c measuring cup including a set of measuring spoons. It is important to follow a recipe to the letter for best results.
Maybe start out with one-pot meals cooked in or on the stove or better yet a crock-pot. Hard to f up with those unless you dump a lot of salt in it or mistake sugar for salt etc.
As others have said: start out simple and making some of your favorite dishes. Don't be afraid to use packaged mixes for flavor like Libton's onion soup, etc. It is a good way to add flavor and from that you can learn to depend on your own sauces, mixes, etc. Even depending on canned creamed soups will add flavor to many dishes. All this is only until you have an idea of how foods fit together.. Depend on more than one good cook book and the internet for recipes.
Don't expect to cook like your sister from day one and don't worry if some dishes fail. Heck, I started cooking when I was about 10, learned from my dad. That was over 70 years ago. My hobby is foods and many have said I am a blue ribbon cook. I still try new recipes often and am more comfortable in the kitchen than almost anywhere else. Let me tell you, I still make mistakes. All you can do if something doesn't come out like you hoped is laugh it off.
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