As the title suggests, I have decided to learn how to cook. I still live with my parents, and my dad, who does most if not ALL the cooking in the house, will be gone for a few weeks. I thought this would be a perfect time to learn how to cook.
I will be [trying to] cook for me and my mom, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas of what dishes to make that. Hopefully the ingredients for the dishes aren't expensive.
Also what type of ingredients can I buy that I can use for multiple dishes? Off the top of my head the only spices (are these considered spices?) we have in the house are salt, black pepper, oregano, and basil.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I become a practice-league cook to a 2000-elo-in-diamond chef in 3 weeks!
p.s. Any pictures of the suggested dish would be awesome as I like seeing pictures of food that look appetizing.
Its my first year living in an apartment in college and my roommates and I have been experimenting with cooking things. We've cooked spam and eggs, fried rice, steamed eggs, steamed cabbage, beef. Those things can be cooked fairly easily. Just need some oil, soy sauce, and salt.
Things that are easy to make and usually taste good are things like baked chicken (You can use a variety of pre made sauces or make your own if you're feeling a bit adventurous) with rice or noodles.
My friend makes baked chicken with pesto sauce on noodles.
You can use alfredo sauce, normal tomato sauce, or anything you find at the store.
You can pan fry the chicken as well. Tastes just as good. I pan fry it with italian salad dressing, and cut it up and put it on salad. Chicken cesar salad, or more italian.
You can bake chicken and microwave(or bake) potatoes and maybe something like boiled carrots on the side. Or corn, peas.
You could basically have the same thing for a week with different sauces and sides and it'll still be good. (: Chicken is super versatile and usually easy to cook.
Yeah i'm leaning toward chicken dishes currently because like you said, if I bought a pack of frozen chicken breasts I could make a multitude of dishes! I am going to try and cook chicken curry tonight hopefully it turns out really really good. because I love spicy dishes; sadly I might have to tone down on the spices because my mom doesn't like spicy food.
As long as you cook with passion and don't skimp on the spices you'll be fine. That is the best tip I can give you. Also, learn how everything feels when it is raw and when it is done. But really, passion is EVERYTHING in the kitchen.
On October 22 2010 05:27 StukA wrote: As the title suggests, I have decided to learn how to cook. I still live with my parents, and my dad, who does most if not ALL the cooking in the house, will be gone for a few weeks. I thought this would be a perfect time to learn how to cook.
I will be [trying to] cook for me and my mom, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas of what dishes to make that. Hopefully the ingredients for the dishes aren't expensive.
Also what type of ingredients can I buy that I can use for multiple dishes? Off the top of my head the only spices (are these considered spices?) we have in the house are salt, black pepper, oregano, and basil.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I become a practice-league cook to a 2000-elo-in-diamond chef in 3 weeks!
p.s. Any pictures of the suggested dish would be awesome as I like seeing pictures of food that look appetizing.
Most important thing in good cookery is the seasoning of the dish.
Learn that and you are halfway there. My big brother, who is seriously the best cook I´ve ever known, used to make incredibly tasty stuff to us smaller kids even if there wasn´t that much ingredients around.
On October 22 2010 05:40 Ghostcom wrote: As long as you cook with passion and don't skimp on the spices you'll be fine. That is the best tip I can give you. Also, learn how everything feels when it is raw and when it is done. But really, passion is EVERYTHING in the kitchen.
Yeah, always taste what you make first so you can maybe fix it if something is wrong. If you can´t compeletely fix it then you know what to do in other way next time. In the end it´s always trial and error.
Meatballs with lingonberry jam and cream potatoes (Swedish recipe):
What do you need:
- 400 g of minced beef - 3 slices of white bread - 2 eggs - Flour - Olive oil or frying butter
- 500 g of potatoes - 500 ml of cream (preferably low-fat)
- 1 jar of lingonberry jam
Procedure:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them to quarter pieces. Then, cut these pieces in half again.
2. Put the potatoes into a pot, add the cream (potatoes should be entirely covered) and cook it very carefully during 40 minutes. Note that the cream must not entirely boil.
3. Get a bowl with warm water and put the slices of bread in it, until they're completely soaked.
4. Put the minced meat into another bowl and add the eggs. After that, "wring out" the slices of bread, pick them apart and throw the parts into the bowl with the minced meat and eggs.
5. Proceed to mix the meat, eggs and soaked parts of bread and try to "pack" it all together.
6. Form small meat balls out of the mass. "Bread" them with a thin layer of flour and put them into a frying pan (along with some olive oil or frying butter). Proceed to fry them on medium heat level during 15 minutes. Remember to flip them every 3 minutes.
7. Put the potatoes, meat and lingonberry jam on a plate and enjoy!
Meatballs with lingonberry jam and cream potatoes (Swedish recipe):
What do you need:
- 400 g of minced beef - 3 slices of white bread - 2 eggs - Flour - Olive oil or frying butter
- 500 g of potatoes - 500 ml of cream (preferably low-fat)
- 1 jar of lingonberry jam
Procedure:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them to quarter pieces. Then, cut these pieces in half again.
2. Put the potatoes into a pot, add the cream (potatoes should be entirely covered) and cook it very carefully during 40 minutes. Note that the cream must not entirely boil.
3. Get a bowl with warm water and put the slices of bread in it, until they're completely soaked.
4. Put the minced meat into another bowl and add the eggs. After that, "wring out" the slices of bread, pick them apart and throw the parts into the bowl with the minced meat and eggs.
5. Proceed to mix the meat, eggs and soaked parts of bread and try to "pack" it all together.
6. Form small meat balls out of the mass. "Bread" them with a thin layer of flour and put them into a frying pan (along with some olive oil or frying butter). Proceed to fry them on medium heat level during 15 minutes. Remember to flip them every 3 minutes.
7. Put the potatoes, meat and lingonberry jam on a plate and enjoy!
Meatballs with lingonberry jam and cream potatoes (Swedish recipe):
What do you need:
- 400 g of minced beef - 3 slices of white bread - 2 eggs - Flour - Olive oil or frying butter
- 500 g of potatoes - 500 ml of cream (preferably low-fat)
- 1 jar of lingonberry jam
Procedure:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them to quarter pieces. Then, cut these pieces in half again.
2. Put the potatoes into a pot, add the cream (potatoes should be entirely covered) and cook it very carefully during 40 minutes. Note that the cream must not entirely boil.
3. Get a bowl with warm water and put the slices of bread in it, until they're completely soaked.
4. Put the minced meat into another bowl and add the eggs. After that, "wring out" the slices of bread, pick them apart and throw the parts into the bowl with the minced meat and eggs.
5. Proceed to mix the meat, eggs and soaked parts of bread and try to "pack" it all together.
6. Form small meat balls out of the mass. "Bread" them with a thin layer of flour and put them into a frying pan (along with some olive oil or frying butter). Proceed to fry them on medium heat level during 15 minutes. Remember to flip them every 3 minutes.
7. Put the potatoes, meat and lingonberry jam on a plate and enjoy!
On October 22 2010 05:42 d1v wrote: Meatballs with lingonberry jam and cream potatoes (Swedish recipe):
What do you need:
- 400 g of minced beef - 3 slices of white bread - 2 eggs - Flour - Olive oil or frying butter
- 500 g of potatoes - 500 ml of cream (preferably low-fat)
- 1 jar of lingonberry jam
Procedure:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them to quarter pieces. Then, cut these pieces in half again.
2. Put the potatoes into a pot, add the cream (potatoes should be entirely covered) and cook it very carefully during 40 minutes. Note that the cream must not entirely boil.
3. Get a bowl with warm water and put the slices of bread in it, until they're completely soaked.
4. Put the minced meat into another bowl and add the eggs. After that, "wring out" the slices of bread, pick them apart and throw the parts into the bowl with the minced meat and eggs.
5. Proceed to mix the meat, eggs and soaked parts of bread and try to "pack" it all together.
6. Form small meat balls out of the mass. "Bread" them with a thin layer of flour and put them into a frying pan (along with some olive oil or frying butter). Proceed to fry them on medium heat level during 15 minutes. Remember to flip them every 3 minutes.
7. Put the potatoes, meat and lingonberry jam on a plate and enjoy!
Smaklig måltid! (Bon appétit in Swedish)
Can we eat that with rice? haha sorry for asking but being Asian I like eating my dishes with rice XD. If not I will still try that. I have to get a conversion table for those measurements though haha
good tips so far from you guys! In the last time I cooked I made spaghetti sauce on a whim with a little can of tomato paste, sugar, basil, and some diced tomatoes. After tasting it, I thought it was decent and enjoyed my lunch for that day. That moment was when I decided I wanted to be an awesome cook. Hopefully at the end of these 3 weeks i'll be able to answer questions about cooking in threads like you guys!
Garlic is an excellent spice to have, whether it be powdered or fresh.
I also recommend starting by making pasta... it's easy and you can heat sauce for it very easily, or use oil, or butter, or whatever. Rice is good too.. personally I find boil in a bag is the quickest/easiest.
Hamburger helper is a reasonably easy beef dish to make... you just need the buy a pound of chopped meat and have a saucepan that is easy to drain excess fat from. Similar story for sloppy joe... you can just buy a can of the sauce and a pound of beef and use hamburger buns.
Personally I like taking thin sliced chicken breasts and frying them in oil. If you want the recipe let me know, it's amazing, but it's a bit more advanced than what you should start with.
Another beef dish: meatloaf, if you know how to make it is VERY good. MSG me for details.
Meatballs, same story as meatloaf I guess.
Fish is pretty easy... you can buy it fresh if you can afford it lol and then just bake it in the oven... don't overcook it though or it sucks.
Cans of soup are a great way to start meals also... healthy, filling, and not too expensive on sale.
On October 22 2010 05:52 StukA wrote: Can we eat that with rice? haha sorry for asking but being Asian I like eating my dishes with rice XD. If not I will still try that. I have to get a conversion table for those measurements though haha
good tips so far from you guys! In the last time I cooked I made spaghetti sauce on a whim with a little can of tomato paste, sugar, basil, and some diced tomatoes. After tasting it, I thought it was decent and enjoyed my lunch for that day. That moment was when I decided I wanted to be an awesome cook. Hopefully at the end of these 3 weeks i'll be able to answer questions about cooking in threads like you guys!
Oh, I didn't realise you were Asian. Of course you can cook rice instead, meat balls taste great with everything. Also, I suggest you try out some lingonberry jam beforehand, since some people don't like the taste of it at all.
On October 22 2010 05:39 StukA wrote: Yeah i'm leaning toward chicken dishes currently because like you said, if I bought a pack of frozen chicken breasts I could make a multitude of dishes! I am going to try and cook chicken curry tonight hopefully it turns out really really good. because I love spicy dishes; sadly I might have to tone down on the spices because my mom doesn't like spicy food.
If need be, make a simple, not too spicy curry chicken, and when you're doing yours, just add a bit more. ;3
If you want more ideas, feel free to message me. I'll post a few recipes when I get home and can take a look at my recipe book.
I'd definitely start with pasta. Noodles are easy to cook, cheap and healthy. The taste comes with the sauce, and you can put just about anything onto pasta and have it taste good. Try out various pasta sauces to get a feeling of spices and which ingredients work well together.
A short list of universal multi-purpose ingredients: - The spices you mentioned plus something hot like chili powder, tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper - Noodles, rice, potatoes - Your favorite kind of meat - A bag of frozen mixed vegetables - Sausage/salami, cheese - Tomatoes, onions, garlic - Eggs - Flour
One piece of advice from me would be not to adhere too much to recipes but to learn basic rules and strategies. E.g. if you make a pasta sauce with multiple vegetables, you should add the veggies one by one, from the hardest (longest boiling time) to the most soft (shortest). This is just an example - might not apply in all cases, but you know what I mean.
EPT
