Cooking lessons

[danalwyn]

I've decided to teach myself how to cook

Comments

[nightdog_barks]

Have you heard of Cooking for Engineers? Also, (a) there's nothing wrong in making a variety of appetizers and calling it dinner, and (b) corkscrew = essential for life.

*g*

[danalwyn]

I can't drink alcohol, so I don't have much use for a corkscrew.

My problem with cooking seems to be the opposite of the problems with engineers; I'm patently incapable of following instructions because a) I don't want to buy all that stuff, and b) I'm lazy. This works really well with simple dishes like pastas and basic rice dishes, but is a lot harder with something like risotto, or god forbid, baking.

I'll have to learn how to stuff properly as my next step I think.

[tx_cronopio]

I was also going to recommend Cooking for Engineers. Failing that, you just have to get in there and be willing to screw up. That's how you learn.

Ps I also don't follow directions well. That will work ok in lots of recipes, but not in sauces and NEVER in baking. Just a word to the wise :)

[danalwyn]

Attempting to find something to substitute because I don't have eggs has ended with me in trouble more then once.

I really need to figure out what to screw up before I try to screw it up; I think I've reached the limits of what I can do just by mixing ingredients together.

[tx_cronopio]

You might like this book...not a cookbook per se, more an explanation of what you can leave out and what you cannot :)
http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416566112

[danalwyn]

That looks interesting. Thanks.

[silverjackal]

Depending on what you like food wise, you might want to start out with the purchase of a Dutch oven/slow cooker. It can be used to make a wide variety of things, and for a great deal of it the instructions considist of "cut up ingredients and put in pot". Then you turn the pot on for six to eight hours, and come back to a finished meal. There are a wide variety of things you can prepare using it as well.