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!

  • Feathercrown@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    Congrats! Cooking can be very rewarding. I have a few pieces of advice; they may only be useful to you later, but when the time comes that they’ll be helpful, they’ll still be here.

    • Online recipes always skimp on the sauce. Don’t be afraid to 1.5x or even 2x the amount you make if the recipe doesn’t make enough. Spices (except salt) are also a fun place to experiment with adding a little extra amount.
    • Premade stuff is fine, even now that I don’t strictly follow recipes I use plenty of jarred sauces, spice mixes sometimes, refrigerated chicken slices (it’s more expensive, but I don’t like raw chicken), frozen/canned ingredients, etc. If you want to make something ambitious but don’t have time to do something long, hard, or complex, premade stuff that’s not too expensive can let you make recipes that are otherwise out of your reach.
    • Most cooking reuses the same skills you’ll learn as you make other recipes. Cooking pasta for spaghetti teaches you how to make it for most pasta dishes. Chopping veggies is a skill transferable to like every recipe ever. Rice is easier than you may think and unlocks a whole category of delicious foods. Just keep at it and before long you’ll know way more than you expect just from doing similar steps in previous recipes. Knowing these common patterns in the ingredients and techniques used to cook different recipes is how people eventually learn how to improvise, which is always fun.
    • Cooking is art, baking is science. Throwing in extra ingredients in a dinner recipe is a great way to express your personal tastes. Messing with ratios in a baking recipe is much more dangerous.

    Most importantly, I hope you have fun and enjoy the fruits of your labor!