How can I learn to cook?

Question

I have lived alone for a long time and enjoy eating out at restaurants. The men I met wanted to know if I could cook. Of course I can cook. I improvise. I buy what I want and cook with it, but without a specific recipe.

Improvisational Cooking

When I cook for my birthday guests once a year, it always ends up being a fiasco trying to get everything ready. We all cook together and family and friends help out. The quantity is usually enough to feed an entire army. But it tastes good. It's just not traditional at all, and I cook by feel rather than by plan and measuring cup.

Since I live alone, it's difficult to learn how to cook. I don't want large portions, but I still need to learn how to cook and prepare several things at once. I can't get to grips with YouTube etc., or I haven't found my way around it yet.

I cook at most once a week because I don't have time when I go to work and I'm tired in the evenings. Then it's more likely to be a quick and cold meal.

Who can give me advice on how to learn to cook?

FunkyMonkee · Accepted Answer

I was fairly good at cooking, things like soup, hamburgers, bacon & eggs (although the bacon was usually burnt), Spam & rice-a-roni and a bunch of other fairly simple things but, mom taught me a few things before she died and I had to help, anyway, for a couple years after she had her stroke.
Sadly, I haven't had a working oven here for 6 years so, I HAVE to revert to the simpler stuff and need to get used to coking the bigger meals, again.
I still know how to cook a roast, pizza burgers, stuffed peppers, meatloaf, pancakes, crepes, and a few other things I don't recall off the top of my head but, if you mentioned them, I could tell you if I can cook them.

For starters: roast.
Put the meat in the oven. I'm guessing you know how (I smear butter all over the inside of the roaster, add salt and pepper to the meat and then put it in the oven.). It's gonna be in for 90:00 so, once it's in, peel the potatoes (and carrots, if you're gonna add some) and let them sit in a pot of salted water until you're ready for them. They usually only take 20:00 to cook so, if they're gonna be roasted, put them in with the meat at about the 70:00 mark and let them cook the rest of the time with the meat. Put the potatoes in the roaster around the meat AFTER pouring some of the potato water in AROUND the meat. Add salt and pepper to the potatoes and let them cook with the meat. If you're making roasted carrots, peel those and put those in with the potatoes. If they're to be mashed potatoes, put them on the stove at about the 60:00 mark and after 20:00 or so, they SHOULD be done. Stick a fork into them. If they resist the fork, they need cooked a couple more minutes. If the fork slides right in, they're done. Drain the water from the pot. Once the pot is empty, toss in a stick, or half stick, of butter, put the lid on for a few minutes, once the butter's soft, start mashing the potatoes most of the way. Add a splash of milk (a mouthful or two) and mash them some more. Then stir them with the masher to kinda whip them up just a little.
If there's gonna be corn, I never cooked it but, I'm guessing you put that on around the 75:00 mark and it should be done the same time as the roast. I'm not big on veggies so, I can't teach ya how to cook any of those.
My brother used to watch a cooking show on t. v. and used to make these extravagant meals that were loved by anyone that ate them but, as he used a bit of booze and loads of spices to cook with, I never ate any. If he can learn to cook like that watching t. v., I'm sure you can, too.
Oh! As for gravy. Get one of those gravy maker cups and fill it about 2/3 with water and add a half scoop of flour (about half what would fill that cup), put the lid on tight and shake it up quite well over the sink (10 or 20 seconds) until it looks like fairly thick milk. After the roast comes out of the roaster and is in a covered dish, put the roaster on a burner on a low flame to heat up the liquid that's in the roaster. Add some of the potato water, maybe half an inch deep in the roaster) and let that heat up to a low boil (a minute or two) and then stir in the flour water you just made. Keep stirring (preferably with a large, slotted spoon) and the gravy will get thicker. If you don't have quite enough to go around or it's not thick enough, make another cup of flour water and stir that in.

OlderAndWiser · Accepted Answer

1. No cookbook was more helpful to me than The Joy Of Cooking. It explains how to shop for meats and produce, how to store them, how to prep them. It explains various methods of cooking and then gives good recipes that incorporate all of the lessons taught.

2. There are a bazillion videos on YT that demonstrate preparing specific recipes. Just pick one dish and learn how to cook that. Then start on a second recipe. The most important thing in learning to cook is getting experience. Anticipate some things being failures, but they won't be a waste if you learn from your mistakes.

3. There are classes taught by some grocery stores, and some restaurants, to learn cooking specific recipes or specific cuisines. There are adult education classes offered by many public school systems, and cooking classes in many junior colleges.

4. Fine someone who is willing to teach and offer to help them if they will teach while you are assisting.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I've been cooking since I was eleven. I was fortunate that my mom taught me, but not everyone is so lucky, but I do have some valuable advice to you:

1. Look up recipes in books, on youtube, on the internet which specifically only have a few ingredients, 5 or less. Not only are these easy to make, they are usually much cheaper, and far and away, less time consuming then trying to cook something with 20 ingredients. Master 5 "go-tos" that you can use for yourself or to cook for others. Then a few more, then start upping the ingredient count. Impressive is simply a tasty dish, not how many ingredients go into it or how long you had to cook it for!

2. Do NOT cook when you are exhausted. You will hate it, and little things will frustrate you. Schedule some time, if you have to, where you can dedicate an hour or less to cooking something new.

3. Learn to Freezer Cook. This is so intensely beneficial to single people and those without time. Rather than trying to just cook a meal for one, cook a large batch of something like fried rice, spaghetti, a soup, or a stew and freeze it in smaller portions. Guess what? Get hungry after a long day of work, pull it out of the freezer and heat it up and you're done, no fast food or further cooking needed!

4. Learn the art of lazy cooking, i.e. one pot dishes, crock pot, or instant pot meals. These are often meals you dump into a cooking vessel and that vessel does all the rest of the work for you with minimal work. These are also often perfect for freezer cooked meals.

5. If you have a friend or family member who really knows how to cook, have them show you 2 of their favorite recipes. Take notes or video and follow along at home when you have the time again.

Good luck to you!

Screenwriter · Accepted Answer

The idea that you improvise is a great one. That's what natural good cooks do. Buy a good basic cookbook: Joy of Cooking, or something from a chef you've seen whose food you like. I don't think anyone needs more than two or three cookbooks. I own two I always use. For variety, order a good magazine that offers great recipes. I find the online food offerings bland, but I'm from New Orleans. Southern Living has great recipes, from drinks to meals. Gourmet is also very good.

And cut recipes in half since you live alone. Or make three things on your weekend cooking spree, freeze half of them, and next week do three more options so you have several choices. You can unfreeze some of your week before foods and add to them with your new week group.

Carefully put tape with dates and the foods in the containers. Use containers small enough so you can defrost amounts you'll consume in a few days. Smaller containers fit better in the freezer too.

Cooking is chemistry: it's an experiment. You can screw up every so often... and don't do it that way again. Keep a recipe box where you write out your favorites that you go to again and again. That means you'll have your idiosyncrasies written out and can pull out the recipe quickly. You can memorize some, but the recipe box will save you headaches, mistakes and energy.

It's like skating. Practice, practice. I'd also say unless you like chaos, limit the number of cooks/and or ask for specific dishes for group dinners. Means you won't have too much of one kind of dish or food. Good luck! Have fun.

James The Foodie · Accepted Answer

Embrace your culinary journey with small steps. Start by exploring easy, healthy recipes that yield smaller portions, like simple pasta dishes or omelets. Cook dishes you love, igniting passion over necessity. Italian cuisine's simplicity or Japanese precision might inspire your process. An organized meal plan for the week ensures you're not overwhelmed. Practice mise en place for managing multiple dishes. Gradually, improvisation becomes second nature with foundational skills. Handwritten recipe cards can personalize your journey. Every meal, whether quick or shared, can be an adventure of flavors and enjoyment. It should be fun, and remember, there are no limits. 🍝🍣

FreyaRed · Answer

First step safe handling of knives. Second cutting onions in different types of slices and pieces (when you can slice onions, you can slice everything).
Third step, how to slow cook chicken stock. Then learn how to make 5 french mother sauces.
Be aware if you watch YT chanels, there is lot of advertisment of sharpening tools, they use too much spices and super hightech pans which are crap after 1 month.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

Start with simple recipes with five lines of text or less.

Static_In_The_Attic · Answer

As for every journey it starts with one small step & as for your journey if you want to step into the kitchen it isn’t going to be easy however it’s isn’t going to be hard & you have to start somewhere. As for me I live alone & I learned how to cook for myself & a great place for you to start is on YouTube.

What do you like to eat & what do you want to cook?

If you like salmon & spinach start off with salmon wellington.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LrI_gvbOsLY

Start watching videos on youtube & watch them over & over & after you watch it go cook it after you go shopping.

If you like sausage & peppers here is a video as well.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VbLXjy0P51Q

Do you own a crock pot or slow cooker?

Mississippi Pot Roast.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fKloNz6NShg

You & I will talk lasagna later.

Cheers!

Purpleronnie · Answer

Well I’m not sure what can work for you so I will tell you how I’ve learned.

Make the time to cook , you will never learn by NOT doing it

Buy fresh and quality ingredients when it matters for a dish , not EVERYTIME.

Build up a range of ground spices , seeds and grow your own parsley , basil , mint etc.. many are impossible to kill , especially mint … trust me.

Learn simple recipes then experiment with them adding flavors … example make a simple sauce or reduction then change the flavors keeping the base the same , ie white wine sauce , tarragon sauce , parsley sauce etc etc.
learn how to saute , smoke , pan fry , roast , boil and shallow fry etc , timings and cuts of meat…. Trimmings pasta / veg etc depending on how they are cooked.
Learn by repetition, make meals over and over again changing slightly , pan fried / roasted / grilled , different sauces , different ingredients for complimentary or contrasting flavors.
Learn how to season properly , so develop taste intuition , knowing what to add and how it affects the flavor and textures

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel , there are some great cook books , apps and you tube channels for people at every stage in learning.

Massageman · Answer

Get yourself a copy of Cook's Illustrated "The Science of Good Cooking" (I just checked- about $25 delivered on Ebay or others, or at a local resale book store). It has 50 concepts/lessons of good cooking. Don't let the word "science" scare you. They are simple little concepts, and are very well explained and illustrated, with several recipes for each. Learn 10-12 of them really well, including a couple of each for meats, fats, pasta, vegetable, and desserts. Pick the ones that appeal to you the most. And, learn to make a roux, a quick, simple mix of 1 T of fat and 1 T of flour. From that, you can make a simple cream sauce by slowly working in a cup of milk, and from there you have a basis of SO many sauces, from Mac and cheese on up! Master those first ones and you will want to learn more. I've dealt with about half of them, and I'm very content. Once you learn the basic concepts and get a few pre-tested recipes under your belt, you can start to get a bit creative and branch out. I wish you well on your journey of cooking.

purplepoppy · Answer

Forget online stuff, 99% of it is people blowing their own trumpet and I'll guarantee you'll struggle to get a lot of the ingredients.

Don't buy a cookbook off Amazon, you need to see inside. Pop to your local library or bookshop and look for books on traditional local dishes. That way the ingredients will be easy to find and you won't need specialist equipment. A bonus is people like foods they're familiar with.

All you've got to remember is right temp for the right time. If it isn't ready give an extra ten mins. If it looks like it's burning take out earlier.

aaron13547 · Answer

You are looking at it like a problem and its making you not want to learn. Cooking is a privilege. An opportunity to prepare your own food with love and attention.

You said cooking for people is stressful and when you are alone you made excuses as to why you shouldn't bother. Don't think of it like that...

Next time you are in a good mood go in the kitchen or maybe to the store, buy some of your most favorite things and go home and experiment with them. Don't try to make some chef inspired meal... make something that speaks to you, that you enjoy, and want to learn about. While you are preparing it try and enjoy yourself. Just act like a kid making a "mud pie" for yourself. If it sucks so what... But if you enjoy yourself doing it, its probably not gonna suck 😉

Lifes about the journey, dont limit yourself with excuses. JUST DO IT 🙂🙃🙂

236color · Answer

Watch "The Urban Peasant" cooking show on YouTube. It's an old Canadian TV show. Sadly, the host is now dead, but he does a great job of teaching cooking. He not only cooks 3 to 5 dishes in a 1/2 hour show, (start to finish, no put the uncompleted one in the oven and take out the pre baked one), but he teaches technique and his recipes are inexpensive, simple and tasty. One word of caution, he uses too much ginger for me. Put in about 1/4 of the ginger he uses until you're able to judge how much you like.

Staximus · Answer

I don't see what's so complicated about YouTube, my friend's kids could navigate YouTube by the time they were 4. You just have to make an attempt. Watch some videos and cook the shit. Follow a recipe, it's not that complicated. Start with a small amount so if you mess it up, it's no big waste of food. Don't cook for 5 people when it's just for you. If you want to do meal prep and cook food for the rest of your week, make stuff that you can easily heat up in a pot or in the microwave or toaster oven. A lot of people cook and don't follow recipes. If that works for you then I don't see what the big deal is, unless you're trying to make a specific dish. You want to cook fast? Chop it up. The saute pan is your friend. Don't use an aluminum or bullshit Teflon coated pan. No coated pans. Use stainless steel or cast iron. Olive oil or avocado oil.

Telekinetic-Potato · Answer

I dunno, an Italian lady said something to me one day and I don't exactly remember what it was. It was something like just do what feels right. And from that day on I was amazing at cooking I shit you not.

Go on YouTube and learn how to cook mean, follow some recipes. Cooking is pretty intuitive. You just get a feel for it. I feel it in my balls... Maybe you'll feel it in your boobs

Noredcarpet · Answer

I have to do it more to get a feel for it, isolate it to 1 or 2 dishes, when u got the hang on it try a third and so on. But u know if u don't want, enjoy cooking there isn't something wrong in telling the guy, maybe he loves it and so then he can do it instead?

abc3643 · Answer

I would recommend buying a copy of Joy of Cooking. There's a reason why this almost 100-year old cookbook is a favorite. __I__ used it to learn how to cook better.

Also, watch cooking shows in particular anything with Alton Brown, such as old episodes of Good Eats.
https://www.youtube.com/@AltonBrown

Lynx122 · Answer

You need to do it more to get used to the multi tasking and the different things you need to keep in mind. Once you get comfortable with the process and you know how to cook some things then you can improvise more. That's how I did it anyway. If you start improvising from the start and you don't cook often then it'll probably be more stressful and messy.

Open2Wisdom89 · Answer

If I were you, I would start out with something easy like maybe tacos made out of chicken

Get some chicken, fry it and season it or get marinated chicken from the market. I suggest chicken breast because there’s so much easier to do. Once they’re brown and cooked, take them out get two forks and shred them to bits until all the chicken breasts are shredded

Put them back in the pan boil them for a few minutes with hot water until it dissolves and then you have fried taco meat

Put that over some tortillas with chili and cheese and there you go something simple and easy.

That’s how I started out doing simple things and then you start learning how to use your own taste you know.

For a guy when I was little my mom used to tell me I think the girl for you is gonna be so happy that you know how to cook. I always laughed when I heard that.

Anonymous · Answer

Start with simple recipes like scrambled eggs nothing to complex then work your way up. But whatever you do avoid taking much cooking advice from Gordon Ramsay and Rachael Ray they can't cook for shit!!! Also taste each ingredient become familiar with each taste and then you'll figure out what combinations work best for whatever you want to make. And the size of your frying pan matter the type of frying pan and the nonstick coating and the heat you set your stove on high medium high medium medium low or low. Also do research on various recipes that usually helps look up different recipes online and see what works best for you

Jersey2 · Answer

Tried and true cookbooks, in order:

Joy of Cooking: Fully Revised and Updated - 2019 edition

The Silver Spoon Classic - 2019 edition

Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy's Greatest Food, with Recipes

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition: A Cookbook

Mastering Pasta: The Art and Practice of Handmade Pasta, Gnocchi, and Risotto

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

Nikki1989 · Answer

I acquired my culinary skills from cookbooks when I was a child.

ohsheeT · Answer

Go grocery shopping and only buy food that you can cook. Don't eat for a few days and 1 day you're gonna wake up. You're gonna be starving , and that's all it takes lol. If you know what it tastes like to blend food and spices , that's a good start

jshm2 · Answer

Fucking hell, child. I lived alone in dorms and hostels for years in my younger days, and learnt to cook alone.

Plus, it is the best way to cook. As if you cook shit, you will still need to eat it, but will do better next time.

jazzy34 · Answer

Start will simple, basic meals and build your way up. Watch YouTube videos on cooking tutorials and Google different recipes you’d like to try. Also, crock pot meals are easy and the options are endless. 😊

EzraIsShy76028 · Answer

No clue (I know not helpful) but I imagine that YouTube is your friend when it comes to this, lol. So you're not only being told WHAT to do but you're also SEEING the process.

Ariesman81 · Answer

It's probably the whole non traditional cooking style that got you in trouble. Stick with what works. You can always ask Grandma to write down recipes that you know are bangin'. Like that French Toast Bake... MMMMMM.

douride2 · Answer

Hard to believe your 36 - 45 years old live alone & can't cook. I learned to cook when I was a kid. Go to a book store & buy a cook book or go to a library & borrow one. Start with something easy.

MrChinaski · Answer

What do you like to eat and would like to be able to cook? We can share thoughts on getting started, but it's hard without knowing anything about your goals.

beenherebefore · Answer

There's a bunch of cooking videos for beginners on Youtube that are very easy to follow. You can also search for simple recipes.

slatyb · Answer

You just do it. It's not all that hard. A few dishes require some delicacy but most are straightforward.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

The way it sounds you can already cook. It looks more as if you have difficulties to organize yourself?

DonaldDarko · Answer

I learned just by reading, watching videos, experimentation. I'm a fairly good cook now.

Bricealan · Answer

I need the same advice, as I do not cook and would like to prepare a meal for others.

Twalli · Answer

cookbooks, and there are cooking classes available a lot of places. You could use food network, but at a class you can find out what you did incorrectly.

LiamS95 · Answer

Whstch a lot of food network shows, join americastestkitchen. com, use their recipes & watch their videos.

jamesgoldman · Answer

Start with the easy stuff say spaghetti carbonara for example

Chrytina84 · Answer

Take a cooking class. Or get those things where they ship them to you.

Iron_Man · Answer

Take cooking classes and work your way to the top and advance

Hispanic-Cool-Guy · Answer

You can learn from YouTube videos from people who teach.

Anonymous · Answer

I just follow recipes every time, doubt id be able to cook anything without one lol

Diana2828 · Answer

YouTube is the answer has been helping me many ways

leva543 · Answer

Watch YouTube, cooking shows, read and practice.

CherryLove007 · Answer

Are you able to take a cooking class🍒

IknowthatIdontKnow09 · Answer

Watching videos online is a good idea

jenna815 · Answer

YouTube and food network

In_Trance · Answer

Read some books. Take a class. Watch some videos

Daytoday79 · Answer

I never did, other than cereal lol

Bklynbadboy12 · Answer

Just by trying recipes and and practice

exitseven · Answer

You Tube videos.

LiamJHayden · Answer

Youtube

888theGreat · Answer

cook books

Anonymous · Answer

From a cook book :)

How can I learn to cook?

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