Like where can i start if im not good at cooking? how do i decide what i want to attempt to make aswell? i dont want to spend to much to begin but is there also a low cost way to start by chance?
Im keeping this brief but if you have a question for me leave a comment?
100% of my cooking skills came from long form cooking videos on YouTube but the key to getting better is practice. Practice the dish you fucked up and keep trying until you get it right. To start, cook an egg every day, cook an egg a different way, every day. Then master the art of cooking a perfect egg any way, every day. Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes out of your schedule with clean up.
If it were me telling me this; set baking aside for now. Focus on breakfast and dinner mains. Baking is a science that takes years to get right. Try to stay away from shorts/reels/tiks they are often click bait with no recipe or worse, fake (wasting ingredients).
Good instructors:
Basics with Babish
Ethan Chlebowski (week night spare rib)
Alton Brown
J Kenji Lopez-Alt
Food Wishes
Nick DiGiovanni
Old’s Cool Kevmo
Niche/Comedy:
Epicurious amateur vs pro series
You Suck At Cooking
Nats What I Reckon
Tasting History w/Max Miller
…and many many more. I create a bookmark location called “to cook” and file yummy looking things in there. Pick a recipe and watch the video a few times. Go grocery shopping, watch the video again, and when it’s time to cook, make sure EVERY ingredient is prepared. Veggies diced and in a bowl, spices measured and in tiny bowls, liquids weighed and in a bowl. Everything in its place or Mise en place (pronounced meez ahn plas). Watch the video again and go go good luck.
Pro-tip, unless you’re boiling water, there’s almost NO reason to set your burners to high heat at this point in your journey. Go slow at first, don’t worry about “developing a perfect crust” just yet. You’ll get there with practice.
After a few months/years, you’ll feel confident enough to improvise and start to understand short form cooking channels and how all the ingredients work together (scientifically).
Equipment you will need:
A Chef’s knife, Cutting board, 8” -12” non-stick pan with lid, Large pot with lid and steamer basket, Stainless steel sheet tray (half sheet), Stainless steel rack (to fit tray), Glass casserole tray, Wooden cooking utensils (I love chopsticks), Instant read thermometer (always cook to temp, NOT time), Lots of tiny & medium bowls, Kitchen scale.
^^go cheap at first and if you use them till they break, upgrade. Except the thermometer, spend a few bucks there. I recommend anything by ThermoPro.
Neat things to have:
Air fryer (adds oven space and great for roasting veg when the main oven is busy), Rice maker, Spice rack, Dutch oven, Cast iron pan, Full steel heavy bottom pot and pan set, Immersion blender, Vacuum sealer, Blender/food processor.
Dang, this question really got answered. Thanks for the long and informative post!
Video is not my format, so I adore budgetbytes.com for including step by step pictures along with the instructions. What does rough chop mean, to the pics. How about how thick the sauce should be after reducing same thing. I think that blog single handedly taught me cooking.
This is some A+ advice. I highly recommend listening to this
I’ll add Brain Lagerstrom as another youtuber to watch specifically because his recipes point out which shortcuts are and aren’t worth taking
Additionally my advice I give people is taste all your food all the time. You should try every seasoning you own individually to know what it tastes like, same with sauces. Taste your food while it’s cooking, go slow and adjust things. Always give a little taste before serving to know if it needs any final touches
Also you can save plating for later. If it tastes good people will overlook your presentation