Hey Veeky Forums,
I'm a complete beginner to cooking, have never cooked anything other than scrambled eggs and french toast a few times.
Could you recommend me some books to progress me to a decent chef from nothing? One that explains almost everything, including recipes and stuff?
Also, do you guys have a list of things that one should know how to cook no matter what, one that I can go through and become a functioning cook?
Thank in advance
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Last time I replied to one of these threads and tried to give a serious reply, NEETs jumped on my back for posting unreasonable stuff for elitist chefs
>OMG PUTTING A PAN ON THE STOVE? NICE HUMBLE BRAG YOU FAGGOT HE SAID BEGINNER
>WHAAT? A KIND OF MEAT I CAN'T FIND AT BOSTON MARKET? STOP BEING PRETENTIOUS
>HUH? YOU EXPECT A BEGINNER TO MAKE HIS OWN DECISION ON WHAT LOOKS GOOD FROM A SHORT LIST OF EXTREMELY SIMPLE RECIPES? HOLY SHIT KILL YOURSELF
So, here is a link I will offer instead
joy of cooking
any cookbook from america's test kitchen/cook's illustrated
Michael Ruhlman-Twenty is a pretty good cooking book for newbeginners but if you are that new I would recommend you tube. Check out Food Wishes channel, also Brothers Green Eats is pretty cool with some really easy and everyday stuff. There are many very useful channels but start with these and then explore.
Everyone is different. I know that if I had started with simple stuff I wouldn't have stuck around. Jump into the deep end and reverse engineer yourself to all the basics.
Le guide culinaire by escoffier
Watch cook along twitch streamers. :^)
things everybody should be able to make
>marinara sauce
shit's easy. Just take your time and don't cook it too hot
>a fucking roast chicken
Goddamn the number of people I know who can't reliably cook a bird is shameful.
>a simple cake batter
Doesn't have to be complex, can be the simplest poundcake. Preferably one where you can alter the ingredients somewhat, like to make a chocolate or a lemon cake for example.
>a gravy
Not out of a packet you fucking scrub
>pasta
it's easy as shit. You don't actually need to do it very often because it's time consuming and GUARANTEED those fucking wogs will produce a better dried pasta than the one you make. But you gotta know how to make it because elsewise you are a scrub.
>risotto
come on. It's rice, wine, stock and cheese. It's not fucking hard.
>simple curries
A dhal and a Thai style curry should be enough. Dhal is pretty easy, and Thai curries are easy providing you have the ingredients.
>books
Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Julia Child
French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David
Chinese Cookery - Ken Hom
The Joy of Cooking - Irma Rombauer
Japanese Cooking - Shizuo Tsuji
The Complete Nose to Tail - Fergus Henderson (this book is great but a little complex. Also Henderson is my fucking hero the dude is amazing.)
The Classic Italian - Marcella Hazan
The Edmonds Cookbook - an essential if you are from Down Under or the Antipodes
The Yankee Church Supper Cookbook - the goddamn Yank version of the Edmonds
Please don't listen to this redditor. Just make whatever the fuck you want to eat. Use existing recipes only as a base to experiment and see what you like. Imo you should start simple. Learn to cook eggs, steak, fish, vegetables, the stuff that you're going to eat everyday. Use simple ingredients and seasonings. Oil/butter, salt, pepper, lemon/vinegar. Simple. Experiment with heat/temperature and see how it changes flavour. Experiment with different cooking methods. Practice multitasking and timing so all your dishes come out at the same time. That's it. There's no need to waste money on books at this point.
>to learn to cook all you need to do is learn to cook. Simple.
you're a fucken idiot, you know that?
>yeah don't experiment and try things for yourself just buy these fucking books and read them that will turn you into Marco pierre white
Redditors actually belive this.
To be fair if someone's starting from absolute scratch just saying "lrn2cook" isn't helpful. Sure, practice is the best teacher in the long run but newbies need a foundation to start with. Also
>buying books and not downloading pdfs
There are plenty of places you can go to find those books for free.
>le reddit meme
nice one
ok, let's break this shit down
>use existing recipes
where is OP going to get these recipes from? The notoriously unreliable internet recipes? Sounds like a way for OP to get into bad habits or bad practices to me. Or OP could get a classic, respected and reliable book like Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking and get taught good habits and practices while learning recipes.
>start simple
Sounds good. Simple like French provincial cooking or simple like boiled potatoes?
>learn to cook eggs
There are a thousand ways to cook eggs. Experimentation is not a reliable method if you have literally no experience.
>... vegetables
This is so stupid. Yes you should learn to cook vegetables. But there are so many different varieties of vegetables that cook in wildly different manners, speeds and which take to different flavors that saying
>learn to cook vegetables
is so broad as to lack meaning. A pumpkin cooks different to spinach.
>use simple ingredients and seasoning
Sure would be nice to learn what ingredients and seasonings to use! Especially if you could buy a book which comprehensively shows you how to prepare these ingredients and how much seasoning to use! A book like The Joy of Cooking or something.
>Experiment with different cooking methods.
The Joy of Cooking (and others) describe these different cooking methods. Having a starting point is a good place to be.
Spending money on books, especially books which you can learn from, is never a waste. Only an illiterate mongoloid would think otherwise.
OP bump,
Thanks for these suggestions btw
>where is OP going to get these recipes from? The notoriously unreliable internet recipes?
I actually like watching people cook stuff on youtube because you can see the process and results, including how it looks at basically every stage. This combined with their explanations is really quite valuable; it's almost like being in the room with them watching them instruct you.
>>risotto
>come on. It's rice, wine, stock and cheese. It's not fucking hard.
It's also disgusting.
I watched good eats a fair bit when I was trying to learn more about cooking, I find the explanations about the science behind cooking to be handy, it helps you in moving away from just following recipes. Take some of the advise with a grain of salt though because he has some weird opinions about some stuff, especially his dislike of "unitaskers"
Beginner here as well, thought about making use of this thread instead of creatng a new one:
Is there anyone on youtube or whatever that you guys would recommend for learning the basics? I'm usually frustrated at how they just show the execution instead of explaining the nuts and bolts.
I don't want to (just) learn recipes, I need some guidance because now I have to cook for myself and I literally never did before.
see
I recently watched a bunch of videos of gordon ramsay cooking stuff at home and thought they were pretty good.
But other than that I would say just look for videos of people cooking stuff you want to cook and hope to god they explain shit along the way, and then over time you will pick up knowledge and learn recipes at the same time.
I'm going to go against the grain and tell you start by picking the best thing you've ever eaten and finding out how to make it - no matter how hard it seems.
Write what went wrong and what went right accurately in a review diary, and what you will try next time, each and every time because YOU WILL FORGET WHAT WORKED PERFECTLY.
I did this with bagels and they turned out to be very hard, many failures but I wanted it so bad I stuck with it. Now I have the best bagels (the well hidden secret is in the "autolyse" and shaping technique - slightly twist the extra long dough log in one direction as it goes around your hand and it will twist off easily after you pinch it closed and rub the seal in forwards on a hard surface).
Literally led.dit the answer. We all know there are different vegetables you fucking moron. All the information available on the internet is enough for any beginner to start learning almost any skills immediately. Make use of that before spending unnecessary money on books.
>where is OP going to get these recipes from? The notoriously unreliable internet recipes? Sounds like a way for OP to get into bad habits or bad practices to me. Or OP could get a classic, respected and reliable book like Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking and get taught good habits and practices while learning recipes.
What makes you think Elizabeth David or Julia Child is anymore reliable than someone on the internet? Because they wrote a book and went to some fancy school in Paris? These people have never ever worked in a professional kitchen. Ever. They probably all learned how to cook by reading it in a book too. Just take a look at the way this joker makes eggs:
youtu.be
It's a fucking disaster. Why would I listen to anything this woman has to to say regarding cooking when she can't even make an omelette right? There are actual michelin star chefs (real chef not self appointed chef) on YouTube teaching people how to make simple and complicated dishes for free. They're infinitely more reliable than anything Julia Child the French """""""""chef""""""""" has to say.
>Elizabeth David or Julia Child
>These people have never ever worked in a professional kitchen. Ever.
Not him but I had to check, holy shit he's right.
Top kek.
How can you call yourself a chef if you never worked in a kitchen?
>Everyone is different
shut up faggot
Don't browse around the internet like a horny teenager looking for porn. Grab pic related and buy a cooks lillustrated subscription.
Jacques is a great teacher and this is his modern La technique and la method publication in a nice video and recipe format.
I find that one delicious, fairly aesthetically pleasing and easy to prepare meal is smoked salmon. I make this for my girlfriend all the time and she loves it.
Basically, do this:
>Get some cedar planks for grilling
>Soak them in water (and/or dry white wine if you feel like being extra)
>Weather permitting, you may be able to cold smoke them (expose them to smoke without actually cooking them. Either by using a very small pile of embers or lighting only your smoking tube)
>If you intend to apply dry seasonings to the salmon, do so before grilling. If you wish to use a glaze, apply it as it cooks so it thickens up a bit as it cooks.
>Once the salmon has reached 145F internally and you see the fat (very milky white, hard to miss) begin to drip, you're done.
Serve with some mashed potatoes and salad or grilled vegetables.
They don't call themselves chefs.
But they are clearly more experienced than the average person who posts cringe-tier recipes on their blog.
I don't know much about Elizabeth David, but Julia Child studied for years under a michelin-star French chef. Furthermore, her works have passed the test of peer review. I'll take that over some random mom-blog recipe any day.
Wow some sloot who was fucking a chef for years and wrote cookbooks, such skill.
Pls user.
s-she was a big girl..