Blog How to enjoy cooking in 6 simple steps

I started with next to nothing and did the best with what I was given. While it wasn’t the greatest, those frozen meals kept me alive until I could get to a point where I had the resources and time to make something better for myself. Read more about Recipes here. Even then, I still needed a taste of something great to convince myself learning how to cook would be a worthwhile task. I still break the occasional egg or burn toast, but ultimately I’m happy with the meals I make for myself. Other people might not enjoy my recipes or think they’re good enough, but I do and that’s the most important thing for me. Written by professional chefs, each free cooking lesson on Chef2Chef features up-to-date culinary tips and advice as well as tons of tasty recipes. Topics include basic cooking techniques, seafood, meat, and vegetable preparation, and more.

If you rely on the time listed on the recipe, you may end up eating much later than you planned. Use dry measuring cups (right, plastic) for dry ingredients and wet measuring cups (top, glass) for wet ingredients. Read the entire recipe thoroughly to make sure that you have all the tools and ingredients you’ll need, and that there are no timing surprises that will have your meal finished at midnight.

Home of the Home Cook

The humble egg is the perfect ingredient upon which to practice all your newfound cooking techniques. There are so many ways of cooking an egg, whether by boiling, scrambling, poaching, or frying. It’s common to hear of people who can’t “boil an egg”; but poaching is the more common concern. When poaching eggs, use fresh eggs, and poach them in water that’s not quite simmering. Look out for a few small bubbles rising and breaking the surface of the water.

Fresh ingredients mean elevated flavor and that’s why we emphasize the importance of trying to shop for seasonal produce when you can. Start small and think about beginning to replace dried spices with fresh herbs and produce (like onions, garlic, parsley, basil, limes, and lemons).

Stir-frying requires oil in a scorchingly hot pan plus ingredients in constant motion. Those simple building blocks helped me build confidence that I could treat several different ingredients with these methods and work from there.

Invest in a Set of Pans

Even if you fall in love with cooking throughout the learning process, there will be days you don’t have the time or motivation to whip up a full meal from scratch. Cooking some meals in bulk so you have enough leftovers to store in the freezer will provide you with a good back-up dinner plan for busy days. Just like a reliable set of pans is a must, well-made knives are crucial for good cooking.

There’s even an entire section devoted to putting stuff on toast. It’s super easy, and the confidence that’ll come from successfully nailing your first recipe will set you up for more. Our pesto chicken recipe uses heavy whipping cream to make a rich and savory pesto sauce you’ll want to slurp… Fried and then coated in a sticky sauce, this General Tso’s chicken recipe is an easy way to make your… How is it that your local chip shop fries the crispiest fluffiest chips, your barista makes the smoothest lattes, and that Italian nonna makes the best spaghetti al pomodoro?

Just on Thanksgiving, Americans toss a whopping 305m pounds of food. And all these cheese rinds, apple cores, vegetable skins and crusty week-old leftovers that make their way to landfills are harming the planet by emitting methane, a potent greenhouse gas. According to one estimate by the UN Environment Program, if food waste was its own country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.

But experts say to trust your instincts about what’s good to eat, even if expiration dates tell you otherwise. Goff also suggests cooking apple cores with brown sugar and spices, pureeing them to make apple butter. Apple cores can also be made into a spread or flavoring liquid. Adler recommends making an apple cider vinegar, which involves pickling the apple cores with sugar for a few weeks, which will give you fruity vinegar.

Relying on recipes from reputable sources may save you a lot of trial and error. And there are few things that a generous grate of Parmesan or a few hefty slices of feta wouldn’t remedy—including a simple salad (still cooking!) or roasted vegetable. Once I realized that a heaping bowl of crunchy vegetables might need some fat, or a red sauce-slathered pasta could use extra salt and depth, I made sure my fridge was always stocked with cheese.