How to get into cooking?

Okay, my first post on Veeky Forums.

So basically how should I start making meals on my own? I am a uni youngster and I have pretty much lived on my mother's cooking and some noodles and shit.

Now that I have gf material too, I am really looking forward to making dishes on my own.

Where should I start and how should I start? My current experiences involve cutting the balony and making pancakes.

Thank you all in advance!

Try making Chili

read more post less. we are geniuses.

>we
speak for yourself user

Get a steamer insert, a halfway decent knife and a cutting board. And a peeler. Peel and dice some carrots and potatoes, put those in the steamer insert, put the insert in a saucepan with some water, put all that over heat, covered.

Chop up some broccoli and onion and mushroom and saute it in half olive oil and half butter (SMALL amounts). When the carrots and potatoes and cooked, mix it all together. Dinner!

Buy a salad spinner. Everything goes in a salad, find three kinds of non-iceberg lettuce, add some smoked salmon or kidney beans or whatever you have. Chicks love salads.

You have real maple syrup for the pancakes, yes? Worth the money.

That's enough to keep you from starving.

Fruit salad is simple and delicious.

Sandwiches are easy... extra points if you can get a mandoline and make sandwiches with super thin slices of onion and super thin sliced lettuce (iceberg is ok in this case) Add deli cheese and turkey on a decent sandwich roll.

Soup and a sandwich makes a nice lunch on a cold day.

You own a charcoal grill? Paradise awaits.

Do you have a dish you'd like to learn? Start learning how to do that.

Make sure you study a few recipes for the same thing and compare the differences, try to figure out why things are done a certain way, try again and again until you get a result you'd be proud of. Don't be put off by any mistakes as they are part of the learning experience, analyze what went wrong, why it went wrong and what you want to do next time.

Just by treating food and eating as something more than mere sustenance you'll be miles ahead of half this board in a couple of tries.

The best way to start learning to cook is dishes where you prepare ingredients and then throw them in the oven in a big dish. Something like pasta bakes (mac and cheeses with meat in them, etc.) or casseroles. Plenty of fundamentals in there with the noodles and sauces, then you can add in variety with meats and other ingredients, bread crumbs, seasonings, spices. It’ll also teach you how to experiment and how to monitor your food as it cooks in the over. Have an idea? Throw it in the tray and watch it cook.

Get comfortable with preparing single ingredients then putting hem together to be cooked.

watch food wishes on youtube

JUST commit to eating only food that you've prepared yourself for a certain period. Like at least a month. That means no take-away food or anything from a restaurant, etc, and especially no pre-prepared microwave meals.
Then you'll either figure stuff out or starve.

what kind of foods do you like and what utensils, pots/pans, and cooking surfaces do you have?

Wow, and I thought you were a burger until now.
Egg dishes and salads are both simple, it's probably a lot easier to get some inspiration on the internet, than making this thread.
Think about what you would like to eat and try to research how to make it using different sources and thinking about how it works, skill and intuition will come over time. If you can follow instructions and look up how to do something, when in doubt, you're already on the right track.
Chickens are usually pretty low effort.

Czech Republic is probably an alright comparison

Make the basics. Spaghetti or pasta cabonara, try to make roti, or fried rice.. make fresh soups or stews. Look up the recipes, and try to figure out what you liked about it or what it missed and see if another recipe uses other ingredients.

>she doesn't have a sense of humor

Fuckk... His videos are very informative, but he always ends his sentences with a weird ass tone.

Oven-cooked fish fillets are the easiest thing to ever do and pretty healthy. Add some rice or roasted veggies like courgettes and you end up with an amazing meal done with minimal effort. Eating fish all the time can be a bit expensive though

I honestly recommend cooking up a chicken for yourself every now and then during the weekend, it'll last up towards a week in the fridge and you won't need to buy or cook any other meats thanks to the leftovers.

> be hungry
> Make something you would like to eat

/ UPDATE /

OP here. I just boiled first ever eggs in my life. Okay, that was fairly easy, but very fun! It took me about 25 minutes for the whole process (waiting for the water to boil, then waiting for the eggs to cook in the boiling water + cooling them down in some cold water). And it was enough to keep me fed for the night!

Thank you all for the replies and motivation!

I quite like my rice cooker. I would suggest the purchase. When I first got out on my own my mom got me a fake George Foreman grill. Didn't think much of it but used it quite a bit. Especially cooking for 2 or less.

Not OP, but I have an instant cooker but no oven stove. Should I get a toaster oven if I want to grill or bake food?

my first experience learning to cook was in a high school cooking class. i didn't learn shit there because the teacher was a talent less ass hat. so i have decided to use the internet to learn how to cook

I like my toaster oven a lot. I cook just about anything you would in a big oven in it. It is nice because I just cook for me really. I highly suggest the purchase.

my high school cooking teachers food looks something like this by the way

Thanks man, probably will get it next week or something.

Chef John has a foodgasm everytime the video ends

Look for some recipe videos on youtube and/or get a cook book that has some recipes you'd like to try. Best to just practice by doing. Good luck, user! And congrats on being an adult who wants to cook his own food. Too many people your age who don't care to learn how to cook.

Thank you for the kind words!

If you want to save time you can heat the water with the eggs in the water. It'll just be a bit trickier to figure out exactly how many minutes you want to cook them to get that perfect result you are after.

I'm glad to see you are making an effort.

Honestly I don't really get the question. Have you never ever watched your mom cooking or helped her in the kitchen?

Anyways, there are (at least in Germany) dozens of cooking books featuring basic recipes in how to prepare various ingredients. From vegetables to meat, pasta, rice, sauces, you name it. Those are good for getting into cooking if you really need the basic techniques like sauting, roasting meat etc.

I suggest you get such a basic book and additionally a good book with more detailed recipes. I really enjoy oriental and indian food, the "german gut-bürgerliche kitchen" (local recipes) I normally don't need recipes for, if so I ask my mom.

Think what you like to eat, if it's traditional ask your mom or grandma, if not: get a recipe. (The internet is a good place too)

Also experiment with different spices. With some routine you will get how thinks work, what ingredients go well together and are able to come up with your own creations.

Have a good stock of vegeteables at home all the time. Carrots, celery, leek make for a good base. Also a range of lentils, chick peas, various dried or canned beans, rice, noodles. For a more oriental inspired kitchen also bulgur and couscous. You can buy fresh herbs and keep them readily prepared in the freezer or, alternatively, buy them freeze-dried. (Fresh is better, imo.)

At last, don't get discouraged if a meal just plainly sucks. It happens. It will still happen after years, even with meals you've done hundreds of times. Just yesterday I fucked one up by forgetting the lentils on the stove just to have them ending up way overcooked.

Also, this took me 20 minutes to type/come up with, so it better helps you!

>How to get into cooking?
Are you into it? If not, fuck it. Stick with simple shit like combining spices and sauces to easily microwavable things like pasta and rice in a bag until you have a good idea what you like. Then start from there.
>cooking stuff you wouldn't eat

Try to cook pasta, rice and potatoes properly. Especially rice can become incredible with a little more attention than most people give it