I am a newbie to cooking. Most of my life my mother or someone else has cooked all my meals. I can make eggs, grilled cheese, and canned soup, but that's really about it. However, I recently started getting into cooking. I have a couple weeks in my home kitchen before I have to go back to my kitchenless dorm, so I want to try and cook dinner every night that I'm here.
However, as a newbie to cooking, I don't know where to start. Which dishes do you think would be the best crash course for this eager-to-learn chef? (As for what I can make, I have an oven and a stove, and I can buy ingredients, though nothing too fancy. No rock salts from Mount Vesuvius, please.)
Basically, I'm wondering which recipes you recommend for beginners. Please, give me some good ideas and I will cook them!
REPORT #1
Tonight I made Chicken Tortilla Soup. Nothing fancy: I just chopped some chicken, cooked it in chicken broth, added salsa, lime juice and cumin, and served it in bowls with tortilla chips and ground cheese. It was pretty good.
I also prepared a marinade for some Korean style pork ribs, which I'll cook tomorrow.
If you suggest a dish that sounds good, I'll probably try it. YOU HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CONTROL MY FATE.
you said you can cook eggs, but eggs benedict is awesome, I cook it every time I have time to cook breakfast.
Pasta is your friend.
I particularly like carbonara and arrabiatta style sauces.
GENIUS. I must try it. In return, I suggest to you some Pizza Soup.
Boil all the toppings of a pizza ("Meatlovers" or "Vegetarian" are great ones) for a while, with pizza & tomato sauce, herbs, etc. Add pasta in your last 10-15 mins (Penne or maccaroni is a top choice), and serve it with grated cheese on top. Wonderful Winter warmer and flatmate crowd pleaser.
REPORT #2
The pork turned out delicious. The recipe had a ton of ingredients (if you really want the recipe, I'll post it) but it was worth it. After marinating the pork in the sauce I made, I just cooked it for a while, then when we ate it, we wrapped it in red lettuce leaves. It was fucking delicious. The only thing missing was rice, which I forgot to make. NOTE TO SELF: MAKE RICE NEXT TIME.
>>5
Pizza Soup? I must try this out! Thank you for the suggestion. I'll be eating leftovers for the next few days but the next time I cook, this will be my recipe.
REPORT #3
I didn't have much to work with from >>5's description, but I tried my best to make Pizza Soup. I put only pepperoni in because that's how I like my pizzas. I also put way too much pasta in and not nearly enough water, so it ended up more like a very saucy pasta. Next time, I will put much less pasta and much more water in. It was still delicious, though. Thank you very much >>5, for a delicious recipe!
http://xs123.xs.to/xs123/08024/pasta_02s738.jpg
http://xs123.xs.to/xs123/08024/pasta_01s945.jpg
REPORT #4
Okay, since nobody gave any more suggestions, I went ahead and made some Tagine Chicken. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25445,00.html)
It turned out pretty well, though I didn't find it as tasty as the pork.
Well it looks like you are getting on pretty good with this!
Keep up the good work.
Also: try to make some greek food if you have any time over :)
>>9
Thank you. Friday my girlfriend is making me dinner, and Saturday is my last day home. I'll make something Greek before I leave. Wish me luck.
Well I really hope that everything will be great, and since you seem to have gained some more expirience I think you really can pull this one off!
Have a nice cooking expirience!
REPORT #5
With a strange twist of events, I did not make anything Greek after all! Sorry, guys. But as it turned out, my girlfriend had been planning to make Okonomiyaki on Saturday, so after some deliberation I gave in and helped her make that instead. (I can't say no to her. ;))
We made them with shrimp, bacon, and cabbage. They turned out okay, although very doughy in the middle. I think the pan we used was too small, and that we had too many ingredients for our batter for it to cook evenly. But it was still good enough to eat, and a learning experience.
Maybe some other time I can make Greek lamb kebabs as I had planned. But until then, thanks to everybody who posted in this thread for your help and support!
>>6 oooh, if it's not too much trouble, could you post the reicipe? i'm always looking for new ways to cook pork.
>>13
http://www.kikkomanusa.com/general/recipedetails.asp?id=2078&Curpage=84&loc=101&Ptitle=browse&subsection=Soy&subsection2=
I couldn't find Cochujang, so I substituted another kind of hot pepper paste. (Any kind of Asian red hot pepper paste should work fine.)
Also, don't skimp on the brown sugar. It really makes this recipe great.
The trick to cooking when you're a beginner is to follow recipes 100% and don't cheap out on ingredients. Buy the best stuff you can afford. Learn the differences between good and bad products (i.e. olive oil, soy sauce, pasta). Get a good set of cookware and knives. Never buy anything pre-made.
The last person who told me never to buy anything pre-made... I asked them if they made their curry paste from scratch, and they didn't. How lazy is that?
Hehe nice one!
I think it is best to start with basic recipes, nothing too fancy. And when you are sure on yourself some more then you can advance further to more complicated meals. maby make some deserts too.
Basic recipes are the key. You learn techniques that way. You can't dive head first into braising, smoking, clay pot cooking, sautéing et cetera without knowing the basics.
You got that right.
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nice picture
