It's the little things...

[jaala]

I was taught cooking as a child, in that fun, "Here, you stir the bowl, little Sally, while I do this difficult task over here," way. I was also required to bash together some recipes in Family Studies (a.k.a. Home Economics) in grades 7 and 8. That was ages ago, however, and as recently as this time last year, the only cooking I ever did was from a can, the directions on "instant" meals (e.g. tuna helper), pasta, rice and simple egg stuff (scrambled, boiled). I picked up a couple more items (e.g. omelettes) over the summer when I discovered that there's considerably less frozen and quick-fix food available in the UK. I've also muddled my way through really simple grilling of chicken and fish.

This year, at Christmas specifically my family and I both decided it was about time I got down to brass tacks and actually learned how to cook. I already had The Everything Cookbook and couple others but found them pretty uninspiring, so my sister and mum gave me the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book and I got myself Clueless in the Kitchen[1] during a family trip to the bookstore.

I still run into problems pretty frequently, the usual one being that I wait too late to start, so I want food now and don't have the time or energy to really make anything. The other major problem is that it's really difficult to keep a stock of fresh ingredients in usable condition with only one person eating them. So a lot of the time I end up eating sandwiches. But still, with the aid of Clueless... (which is very encouraging) and, to a lesser extent, Better Homes..., I've now made the following from scratch (aside from the occasional substition of frozen vegetables for fresh):

• apple sauce
  
• scrambled eggs with spinach (really handy for semi-quick breakfast)
  
• cooked spinach
  
• tofu stir fry
  
• French toast
  
• pancakes
  
• steamed fresh carrots
  
• "fish a la foil" (fish fillet with seasoned butter/lemon sauce, grated carrot and grated cheese)
  
• shepherd's pie

Yes, I know how sad it is that I got a little thrill the first time I realized I was able to make quite edible mashed potatoes from scratch. It's also... ahem... embarrassing that I use a "cookbook for teens"...

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[1] forget_my_fate recommended it, if I recall correctly.

Comments

[fapiece.livejournal.com]

If I got nothing else out of my last relationship, at least I learned how to make tuna fish.

[dave-t-lurker.livejournal.com]

I take a very experimental attitude to cooking. I'll either raid the stores and see what I think I can make from a random selection of stuff, or I'll decide on something to make and substitute out all the ingredients I don't have.

In the UK at least, cookbooks for students seem pretty common. Things along the lines of 50 quick meals for 3 quid (or whatever it is called).

[jaala]

I'll decide on something to make and substitute out all the ingredients I don't have.

Yes, that's what I tend to do. I keep a number of "basics" in stock and guess at what things I can leave out or replace. The author of Clueless in the Kitchen seems to think that every recipe needs garlic or onions, for instance...

[madrigalia.livejournal.com]

Verily, thou art a domestic goddess.

Cooking is great fun, though, and bravo for shameless substitutions! Last night I made a shrimp-and-chicken noodle bowl that relied entirely on me sniffing my stock spices to determine what flavours would work.

Garlic salt is usually an okay substitute (nothing like real crushed garlic, but if it's not an essential part of the recipe, forget it), and I think they also sell mock "crushed garlic" as a spice as well.

Sometimes I use onion powder, but I likes the real ones better

[flutepicc.livejournal.com]

I was pretty lucky growing up because my dad loved to cook and bake and my mom enjoyed baking so I'd help them make meals pretty much every day. And when we visited my grandparents I'd sometimes help out there as well. And I remember watching cooking shows with my dad as far back as I can remember. So I just absorbed a lot of tricks and things from those. As a result I'm pretty comfortable just digging through the cupboards and assembling whatever I have into a meal or just pulling out random recipes that sound good and giving them a try.

Keep trying new things though. It's fun once you get comfortable with it.

Oh, and I always find the internet useful as well. There's a ton of recipe sites out there and I tend to just go to one or do a search for whatever I want to know how to make and skim through all the recipes that come up and either pick one I like or just get a general idea of how people tend to make that food and then experiment.

[plotinus.livejournal.com]

Really, though, what doesn't need garlic?

[sugar-lumps.livejournal.com]

the other day i made perogies and making the mashed potato part made me think of this post and how nice it was. (i don't normally make mashed potatoes, due to how it's one of the five things my mom would constantly feed me while growing up)