Survive 100% on fast food and restaurants

I think alot of people get into cooking because they had a handful of dishes they wanted to make and it just blossomed naturally from there.

Who knows what those dishes will be for you. But once you cook a handful of dishes, you'll either want to keep pursuing other varieties of those dishes or pursue other dishes to have a varied cooking rotation.

All this can be done from youtube cooking videos and online recipes. (protip: read a recipe's comment section to find out variations that could be better)

>How do I even pick one? How do I know who's right?
Realistically, you have your whole life ahead of you to cook.
You try one, then try another, and another.
Everyone has a different taste pallet, and a dish doesn't necessarily have to be "traditional" to be good.

If you ask on this board as well, I'm sure some would be willing to give their own recipes or recommend recipes for specific dishes or types of dishes.

>How do I even pick one? How do I know who's right?

By applying your brain. Looking for a Thai recipe? It had better be written by a person with a Thai name and call for ingredients you can't pronounce. Looking for fried chicken? You want a fat black lady. An omelet? Look to a French chef.

Think about who prepares the kind of dish you're looking for and find out how THEY make it.

>>What items do I need to do this? How do I shop for groceries?

Look at your recipe. It will list the ingredients you need. Go to the store and buy them.

>Realistically, you have your whole life ahead of you to cook.
>You try one, then try another, and another.

This is fucking infuriating because tens of thousands of people or more have already figured out all of these answers through trial and error, and aren't sharing that information with me

>This is fucking infuriating because tens of thousands of people or more have already figured out all of these answers through trial and error, and aren't sharing that information with me

Everyone has different opinions, user. Welcome to real life.

Except if you go to Veeky Forums there's a sticky that spells out exactly what you need to do to learn how to manage calories, how to exercise, how to use proper form, how to track progress, supplements etc. It covers everything you need to get started with no time wasting and no bullshit

Why isn't there anything like that for food?

ck.booru.org/
Behold, the ck booru

There's no correct or methodical way to approaching cooking.
If you follow a recipe from someone on Veeky Forums, it's generally the same thing as following any other recipes online.
The only thing you need to do is train yourself how to differentiate the better recipes from the worst ones. A lot of that will also be dependent on what quality of ingredients you have available to you.
That's something only you can really learn yourself, since everyone has different taste-buds.

Do you need mommy to hold your hand or something? Christ.

But that's not true. Everyone's tastes and preferances are different. There exist classic recipes for many dishes. You can look them up. For example, Escoffier for classic French food. But who cares about that because you might like a totally different recipe.

If I fucking had parents they would have taught me to cook and I wouldn't be making this fucking thread

Surely there is SOME objectivity in cooking? Ingredients? Cookware?

Fuck no there isn't. Have you ever been outside your own country? Everything is completely different everywhere.

>Why isn't there anything like that for food?

There is. It's called a cookbook. Buy one, follow directions. Use google or a dictionary to explain terms you don't understand. Watch videos on youtube if you're unsure of technique.

If you want to understand the science behind it then there's a specific book (or should I say, set of books) for that too: Modernist Cuisine.

Buy potato
Cook potato
Add spices to potato
Add vegetable or meat to potato
Repeat process
Violin, you can cook

Lost my coffee at violin
fuck

Best advice i can give is to find recipes got thins you crave, e.g. find a recipe for spaghetti if you want it tonight. Buy the ingrediants, follow the recipe, eat the food. Then maybe you're craving chicken parmesan; do the same thing. Try to get a large variety of recipes in and keep the ones you really enjoy as staples in your life. You will learn what ingrediants taste like, what dishes to add them to, and you'll suddenly realize that through experience, you have learned the fundamentals of cooking. You dont have to study a bunch of infographics and remember lists of ingrediants. Just start making shit. Dont be discouraged if you suck at first. If you keep up with it, you will get good.

This board isn't too bad- sometimes you get assholes but generally it's quite helpful.

A good place to start would be the foodtube videos. A lot of the people on there are targeted at beginners so often you'll get videos on which herbs/spices go with what, which kitchenware is good for what along with basic recipes. Good luck with your journey!

>healthy
the word you are looking for is nutritious

99% of what you want to cook does not need to be cooked on high...

Just try some recipes in the beginning. Without experience, it can be hard to tell wether a recipe is good or not. But it's OK, just get cooking.

If something turns out not-so-good (eg. too greasy), just do it a bit differently next time (use less oil). After a while you'll have enough experience to (usually) tell good recipes from bad ones, and to be able to improvise without recipes.

Start by shopping based on what the recipes tell you. Some stuff that I always have at home:

Yellow onions
(Red onions)
Garlic
Rice
Some kind of pasta
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Rapeseed/sunflower/corn oil (these are neutral in flavor and can handle more heat than olive oil, any one will do)
Butter
Milk
Flour (for thickening sauces and baking. if you don't bake, buy the smallest bag/carton)
Vinegar
Canned tomatoes (they keep a long time and are very easy to use in many dishes)
Salt
Eggs

If a recipe calls for 2 onions, buy 4. There's onions in everything, so you won't have any trouble using them before they spoil. If you buy the spices that are called for in recipes you'll eventually have a nice stock of spices. If you need non-frozen meat for something, buy it a few days before you plan to use it.

Be careful if frying garlic. It burns easily and tastes bad if it does. Put it in the pan after most other ingredients.

This. Pick a dish you like. Find a recipe for it, buy the ingredients, and follow directions. If you're really unsure of yourself then watch cookalong videos on youtube.

There are a lot of good ones which explain the how and why of everything. Good Eats with Alton Brown is the classic example. You can also learn a lot with Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, etc. Just watch and do the same thing.

If something comes out wrong then try to figure out what you did wrong and don't make that mistake the next time.

There is no subjectivity.
The closest thing is what the majority of for example, say, Italians use in traditional Italian cooking.
And even that varies depending on the region and ingredients.

Again, the best thing you can do is stop envisioning cooking as some kind of "daunting task".

Pop open a recipe that you think looks good, and start making it.

Hell, you can even pop open a laptop and/or play some music while doing it. It doesn't have to be unenjoyable.

There is no objectivity.*

It's called a "cookbook", user. Get a general one, without any particular focus. In Sweden we have the very popular "Vår Kokbok", with both specific recipes and general techniques.

>If a recipe calls for 2 onions, buy 4.
This.

I just tore through 8 or 9 onions today preparing French Onion soup, half an onion making my Greek salad for my lunch tomorrow.

I tear through onions like no tomorrow.
Same with tomatoes.

ck.booru.org/index.php
/thread

Being able to chop an onion reasonably quickly and evenly is very useful.

youtube.com/watch?v=TwGBt3V0yvc

Damn, this is making me hungry.

Start with the packages almost every foodstuff has a dead simple recipe to follow you can't fuck up.
>pancake mix
>tells you how to make pancakes, waffles, biscuits, cobbler
>rice bag
>tells you how to make rice
>can of beans
>has recipe for bean soup

>bag of potatoes
>tell you how to bake a potato

learn to fry an egg and a steak and you're good to go

I just made some Bocadillo about an hour ago, except substituted Jamón Ibérico with Prosciutto and Pancetta, since I can't ever seem to find Jamón in my area.

Always keep those salted meats stocked, my nigga.

at first cooking is tough
pick a few recipes for dishes that you like
try them out, then branch out
cooking is a very steep learning curve, and an important skill.
eventually you can start experimenting if you find yourself enjoying cooking, and finding all sorts of wonderful flavours with different spice combinations.
its a long road learning to cook
so just take one step at a time

>And aren't sharing that information
They are user. Which is why they recommend you a cook book you imbecile.

>you won't have any trouble using them before they spoil
I've literally never seen a rotten onion in my life. Only thing I consume faster must be beer, and not by a huge margin.

There's a good reason Veeky Forums does not have a sticky, frankly the fastest way to spot a newfag around here is asking why. Here's a clue: try asking Veeky Forums the correct way to cook something basic and non-controversial like rice and see where it gets you.

>ck.booru.org/index.php
Except it has one from a long time ago, some nice fellows made the Veeky Forums cookbook and put it on this site, nobody has bothered to admin sticky it though.

Another problem is that each country has different fundamental ingredients and techniques, you'd need a sticky for each major cuisine.
In my country I'm missing a lot of ingredients I see used in recipes on Veeky Forums. We only have 1-2 types of chili peppers, avocados are fucking expensive, some spices don't exist, buttermilk doesn't exist, etc. Heck even the flour is different from US flour.
What do you want, a sticky about basic techniques? How to cut an onion? Fry an egg? There are youtube vids for that.

>violin

The booru is just 4th grade tier recipes.
There is no discussion of technique.
Veeky Forums needs a sticky.

>make up shitty story
>conclude that you can't cook
>pretend that you want a sticky
>actually just want your articles / name in a Veeky Forums sticky so you and your IRC buddies can masturbate furiously

You forgot that one picture of the guy surrounded by pizza and mountain dew

Op buy a beginner or basics cookbook.

The Americas test kitchen cooking school if you want to learn learn, the cooking for 2 book if you just want recipes.

IRC?

Chat client, although I'm guessing the new generation of sticky obsessed editors is too young to use it. Skype also works too, they can even send menstruation vids to each other while they read the passages they wrote.

Buy a GOOD cookbook. I recommend this one if you live in Europe or something similar if you're elsewhere. I'm currently learning from it and it's working wonders. It doesn't simply come with a lot of recipes, there's also several guides on different matters such as balancing a diet, seasonal food, cutting meat, etc.

Cooking is not binary friend, it's not right or wrong. It's a skill, a passion and an art, and like everything else it will take you time to perfect it. There is no way to learn except by starting, by practicing, just as you would with anything else. But lucky for you eating is something you have to do multiple times every day for the rest of you life, so you have plenty of time to practice!

You'll fuck up, you'll make mistakes, you'll mess up a dish, you'll burn meat and split sauces and your rice will be too hard and your noodles too soft, but you will get better eventually. Remember, how does one get to Carnegie hall? Practice practice practice user!

So read recipes, watch actual cooking shows, find books and info about cuisines, and cook cook cook!

You will get better, you will improve, trust us. And when you do get better you'll realize the best thing about cooking isn't acing a meal for yourself, but cooking for others and nurturing their hunger.

Good luck user, you're on step one of an amazing journey!

Hahaha what the fuck
Get off the internet

no one actually cooks here, we just post memes about fast food

There is barely any objectivity to cooking, that's why a sticky is retarded. You'd get one person (or a group of humongous faggots) opinion on cooking and half the information wouldn't work for most people.

Get a cookbook or just look up a recipe of something you want to make. If you can't do anything cooking related just start by boiling an egg / frying an egg, frying some meat, cooking rice and get some pre jarred sauce or something.

Once you can do that just move on to recipes with more steps. Generally the only thing you need are a knife, a frying pan, a pot, a heat source and some tongs or a spatula.

Hey mate. I'll keep it short and to the point.
Learn the following skills in order, they are easy as shit.
1. Frying meats (either skillet or grill)
2. Boiling vegetables (retard level easy)
3. Mashed vegetables
4. Baking vegetables
5. Stews of meat and vegetables (it is a combination of frying and boiling but the cuts of meat used are different, much tougher and cheaper)
6. Baking meats. Bit more difficult than frying but involves the same cheap cuts as stews.
7. Pick something specific you want to learn, at this stage you have the skills to cook almost any western meal.

Regarding equipment and groceries.
Ideally you would have at least one good cutting knife, preferably a set. A chopping board, 1 pan, 1 medium sized pot. Plates and bowls, a mixing bowl. That is all you need.

Groceries. Any standard house should have a supply of the following
Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Those are the most basically stock you need. Purchase meats and other vegetables when required.
If you have time/money invest in spices. They last a long time. Herbs if you are a faggot. Also canned shit is good. Tomatoes, beans, chickpea

Make sure you have flour, plain flour
Salt obviously and pepper

Personal advice, which I follow for recipes I don't know, google "recipe serious eats". All of their recipes are decent, some brilliant.

If asian, it gets more complex.