Well shits to expensive and I’m finally home enough so I’m learning to cook. Turns out when your not being constantly criticized for existing, cooking isn’t nearly as terrible! (Trauma made me hate cooking).
So far I’ve been keeping it very simple. Store bought pasta, store bought sauce, put them together, that kind of thing. I think I’m getting ready to branch out and learn more.
I’d love to hear some things from those of you who know your way around the kitchen. If you have a recipe you love or, a story to tell or, a warning you learned the hard way or, a great website/cookbook/youtube channel or, anything else you feel like sharing.
I’m just here to learn some stuff, hear some stories and get some ideas to try. Thanks for having a fun cooking convo with me!
basic cooking is easy. To me the hardest part is seasoning but you can always get pre made season mixes although its still a bit hard to determine how much to put in. that is a bit of an art. some things to like pasta can be a bit hard to get perfect. Most people I know their pasta tastes better than mine. baking is super easy. just measure mix and make at the temp listed for the time listed. just make sure to preheat. rice cookers are the best easy meal makers. I stink at cooking but I can do a whole lot.
Baking is nice because it’s like “do exactly this” cooking is like “you can try one of these 10 options or fuck it, do whatever you want!” 😂
Sorry to post a second time, but wanted to mention something else:
Yeah, baking is a science, not an art. To get my favorite cookie recipe exactly how I want, I literally stand by the oven with mitts ready so I can take them out exactly when the timer goes off. Being off by as little as 10 seconds has a noticable effect on the texture.
Unfortunately, if I ever move I’ll need to relearn the proper timing and temperature again. This is because ovens have slight variations in temperature sensors, convection patterns, preheat times, etc.
EDIT: Extra note - if a recipe calls for room-temperature eggs, you really should have the eggs you need out 30min ahead of time. That also has an effect
Yeah I just moved and this oven is so different from my last. Ahhh! Lol
yeah baking if you follow directions will by and large always turn out well. cooking if you follow directions it should turn out all right but results may vary.
I’m trying to get myself out of some not very helpful thinking habits (yay therapy) and that’s been an issue for me with cooking in the past. Following the directions and it just isn’t very good. Of course bad thinking habits = I fucked up and I was terrible and why did I even bother trying. Instead of you know, maybe the recipe was just mediocre to begin with or even more simply, maybe I need practice.
It’s a work in progress but, I’m getting there.
I think that is why its so common for people to do baking as a feel good activity. It generally works which makes you feel good and its not hard to find people excited about sweets so you get a second round of feel good when people eat it up and are like. yum. its also generally easier to share. not so much cakes but cookies, cupcakes, bars, etc.
Yeah that makes sense. Plus who doesn’t love eating the product of baking? Lol. I made an Apple crisp last week. Haven’t made it in years, recipe from an old coworker. You know the recipe that’s just ingredients and no method. Thank God I mostly remembered the methods! It turned out great. I should really write those methods down lol.
ah yes. my old enemy. not writing things down. or writing them down and putting them somewhere I can’t find it.
For cooking, the best advice I can give is to just follow the recipe exactly the first time through. Once you have a baseline, then start making personal adjustments.
Once you have experience you can make adjustments before the first try, I wouldn’t do that until you have a few years under your belt and have a good feel how various ingredients react to heat.
For example, a lot of veggies can make a dish soggy due to releasing water as they cook, with other ingredients like rice and pasta absorb it. And this changes with cooking time and temperature. Also some ingredients like tomatoes get sour/acidic the more you cook them, changing the flavor. And eggs continue cooking after you take them off the pan, so they can easily end up more dry than you’re planning
For now it’s easier to just take your time and take small steps towards adjusting recipes. You’ll get the hang of it with practice.
This is how I’ve been doing it so far. I don’t know enough to mess with anything yet lol