Well, I've never really cooked much before, and I was wondering if there's any recipes for novice chefs. Tips are welcome too.
Can you do the most basic 'cooking'? Think make bacon in the morning, omlettes, salads. That's a good tsrta - those sjkills will be used later. Then move on to, say, an easy vegetable soup using some sort of stock. This will help you learn to judge the 'doneness' of a vegetable, and following the recope well will help you realize the different amounts of time different vegetables need to cook. After this, perhaps, you could try a chicken. Buy a whole one at the market, or simply broil some breasts in the oven. Most prepackaged [and even many butcher-bought] will come with reccomended cooking times/techniques. Try those. Since most of the logistics are laid out for you, experiment with seasoning this time. Also, by now, if you don't have a modest amount of spices, buy them! Not in bulk or anything, but you'll use them. If this is successful, you could try a lean cut of meat [or cruelty-free veal]. Simply put a liberal amount of flour on each side and cook in a buttered/greasy/oily pan, as you would an omlette. Wait for one side to brown, then move to the other. Beforehand you could cook up some shallots [cheap! a flavour mixture of garlic and onions, a tiny bit sweet], sauteeing them as you would onions until they are translucent.
Baking [not bread] is all about measuring, manipulation of cough [ie pies] and being diligent. Find your self a good cookie recipe, make 'em from sctrach, and watch them. If they burn, try the next batch - it's a learner's game. Just that hour-long experience should really help you internalize some basic baking 'habits'. Bread is hard [I've always found it so, sourdough starter can be nice], especially from scratch. Try baking it at your leisure.
Recipes can be found at <hxxp://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbooks>
A good cookbook to check out [buy!] is Joy of Cooking. Its recipes range from basic to complex, and will always be useful to you.
Sorry for the long post, this is more a basic progression to learn basic cooking skills. If I took 'I've never really cooked before' in the wrong way, my apologies. Wikicookbooks should still be helpful in that case. NB: 'Easy Dinners' section. The Texas Easy Chili is good!
Wow, thanks, that was a big help. I think I'll try making some bacon and work my way up from there. ^_^
Glad I could help to out! :) It's all very easy, really. And fun!!
>It's all very easy, really. And fun!!
Now you're just sounding like Rei-chan..; )