Cookery 101s

[nottsgirl]

That would certainly be my handy hint but strangely not everyone can, some people are more, creative.

I mean it was a bit of a slapdash answer, but I can do many things in cooking without using a recipe, but I learnt all of them by following recipes initially. Maybe with the exception of making a white sauce. I think I learnt that from my friend. Everything else, recipes.

 

[Pickman's model]

Vinegarette 3 oil to 1 vinegar
But also experiment, add a pinch of salt and pepper, try fish oil (from anchovies etc) for more flavour, or a spot of mustard

 

[ElizabethofYork]

Like how to make a bechemel, veloute, mire poix or soffritto, a French tomato sauce, an Italian tomato sauce. How to adapt these to make bechemel into a cheese sauce if desired, or a veloute into a supreme by adding cream to it while cooking your protein in wine, what to do next with your mire poix or soffritto, and so on. Or which herbs are good with which sauce. Where lemon juice can help. Or lemon rind.

Blimey, I wouldn't call any of that basic, or 101!

 

[nottsgirl]

Save the oil that sundried tomatoes etc come in now olive oil is getting so expensive.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Blimey, I wouldn't call any of that basic, or 101!

I'm so glad you thought so too. I literally don't know how to chop vegetables the best way. I can't make a sauce, don't know what a veloute is or how to make a soup. I can make a fry up, mashed potato, make something with chicken and spices, probably a curry. I don't know how to layer flavours. I couldn't make you a cake or a bread loaf.

 

[ska invita]

Save the oil that sundried tomatoes etc come in now olive oil is getting so expensive.

Buy rapeseed for cooking, eat olives (big jar)
Olive oil only for salads, though I don't even do that, prefer balsamic

 

[nottsgirl]

Buy rapeseed for cooking, eat olives (big jar)
Olive oil only for salads, though I don't even do that, prefer balsamic

I used to use olive oil for everything but I’ve got a massive bottle of sunflower oil for basic frying and a bottle of rapeseed for posh frying and basic salads. I couldn’t afford to be shelling out a tenner for olive oil. I’ve got a fridge full of leftover oil that I keep forgetting to use.

 

[Epona]

I like rapeseed oil for cooking - it's worth checking the often cheaper "vegetable oil" which is usually 100% rapeseed.
Good smoke point for general cooking use.
Also use ghee for some dishes.
Olive oil for dressings that don't contain mustard, or just to have as is on a salad. Dressings that contain mustard will eclipse the flavour of olive oil anyway, and rapeseed (which is in the same family of plants as mustard) works perfectly for those.

 

[nottsgirl]

This was discussed on another thread but the conversation moved on, I have recently discovered that in fact, 75g of pasta is enough. I standardly weigh my pasta now.

 

[iona]

Blimey, I wouldn't call any of that basic, or 101!

Writing it out like that with all the poncy names for stuff makes it sound a lot more complicated than making a few basic sauces and frying chopped veg before adding other ingredients.

I'd add how to bake/roast/fry/boil/steam a range of commonly used veg and other ingredients, along with rough cooking times and which cooking methods tend to work best for certain things. A few easily altered chuck-anything-in recipes like traybakes. Some basic herb & spice combinations and what types of food they generally work well with. How to make proper gravy if they eat meat.

 

[nottsgirl]

How to make a proper baked potato with olive oil and salt.

 

[Epona]

If you're making a dish (eg. egg fried rice) that involves sesame oil, do not add it until the heat has been turned off - cooking it will kill the flavour, just stir a bit in at the end.

 

[Epona]

Use a sharp pair of kitchen scissors to cut chillies direct into the pan, no need to worry about accidentally touching your eye or nether regions later if you've not handled the cut chilli - just hold it by the stem over the pot and snip snip snip.

Also chillies freeze really well, I tend to buy the £1 for a bowl off our local £1 a bowl veg place and put them straight in the freezer. Defrost by running under the cold tap and then give them 5 minutes to thaw (otherwise if you do the snip snip snip method above you'll be firing wee discs of frozen chilli across the kitchen )
Other things that freeze well and are useful to have in the freezer - parsley, coriander leaf, ginger. Dill and tarragon also freeze ok.

 

[iona]

Best way to add various seasonings to dishes - e.g. most spices work well with heat + fat, softer leafier herbs do best added right at the end of cooking

 

[Epona]

Best way to add various seasonings to dishes - e.g. most spices work well with heat + fat, softer leafier herbs do best added right at the end of cooking

This, absolutely. The compounds in chillies and most spices are activated by heating in oil and will taste better for a brief fry before you add any liquid ingredients.
Dried herbs or fresh woody herbs such as thyme and rosemary and bay need to go in early on to impart best flavour to the dish.
Fresh (or frozen) soft herbs stir through when you've turned the heat off.

 

[Epona]

Shallow frying fish fillets in a pan with a bit of oiled greaseproof paper/baking parchment between fish and pan is an absolute game-changer.
I saw it on telly and it really does work well to stop the skin sticking to the pan.

 

[nottsgirl]

How to make an omelette.

 

[Elpenor]

If you're making a dish (eg. egg fried rice) that involves sesame oil, do not add it until the heat has been turned off - cooking it will kill the flavour, just stir a bit in at the end.

This is the first tip I’ve actually known although I dont think I’ve ever cooked egg fried rice. And would probably struggle to cook either eggs or rice particularly well!

Hence my earlier to focus on washing up

 

[MrCurry]

Get the salt level right, or it won’t taste good. And add less to start with as you can always add more, but taking it out is difficult.

 

[Epona]

Onions always need longer to cook than it says in recipes.
Softening them takes at least 15 minutes, caramelising them 45 minutes at least, maybe longer.
Cook them low and slow.

 

[RevolutionSound]

You can always add more of an ingredient, but you can't take it out.

This is generally my approach to drug taking. I'm a terrible cook though.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Onions always need longer to cook than it says in recipes.
Softening them takes at least 15 minutes, caramelising them 45 minutes at least, maybe longer.
Cook them low and slow.

It annoys me. There are no short cuts with onions. Same with risotto. It's a slow process and it'll be done when it's done.
And never believe a recipe that says perfect (insert name of dish) in 10 minutes. They're lying.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Don't follow a recipe.

Which is to say, don't just take the recipe as a fixed set of instructions. Compare recipes, look at different ratios of ingredients, get a handle on what happens if you add more fat, less fat, sugar, etc.

Definitely know how to - fry onions without burning them; make a roux; pastry handling; cook potatoes (parboil, full boil, other methods); have a reasonable understanding of the uses of a range of spices and herbs. Oh, and how to chop an onion.

Useful, but probably less relevant to day-to-day cooking, would be learning how to make bread dough and bake bread; make a sponge cake; boil an egg (hard and soft), and - I guess - cook a variety of meats, eg fry a decent steak, bit of fish, etc.

This article about how long it really takes to brown and then caramelise onions really stuck in my mind. Like, I still remember it now, just Googled for it, it was published in 2012!

"Layers of Deceit
Why do recipe writers lie and lie and lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions?...

...Soft, dark brown onions in five minutes. That is a lie. Fully caramelized onions in five minutes more. Also a lie..."

Why Do Recipe Writers Lie About How Long It Takes To Caramelize Onions?

Browning onions is a matter of patience. My own patience ran out earlier this year while leafing through the New York Times food section. There, in the...

slate.com

I always used to try to brown them quickly, like the recipe said, and they'd end up burnt.

Now, I figure they take as long as they take.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Save the oil that sundried tomatoes etc come in now olive oil is getting so expensive.

You used to throw it away?!?

I've always used the oil that olives or any antipasti type stuff came in, either for salad dressing or to cook with for extra flavour.

 

[Epona]

This is generally my approach to drug taking. I'm a terrible cook though.

Cook first, then drugs

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

This is the first tip I’ve actually known although I dont think I’ve ever cooked egg fried rice. And would probably struggle to cook either eggs or rice particularly well!

Hence my earlier to focus on washing up

Easy peasy way of using leftover rice. Fry some onions, and the rice heating it thoroughly, (add a dash of soy sauce and or sesame oil, if you have/want to), throw in an egg and scramble it.

I tend to add some peas, usually a handful of frozen that I pre-cook in the microwave before stirring them in, just to add colour and vegetables/vitamins.

You could add garlic or spring onions.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Vinegarette 3 oil to 1 vinegar
But also experiment, add a pinch of salt and pepper, try fish oil (from anchovies etc) for more flavour, or a spot of mustard

I'd skip the fish oil, but might add a squeeze of lemon juice or maybe some honey and mustard.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I think one of the things that most people assume ought to be easy is actually one of the most difficult things to get right, which I think is why many people have a go, get it wrong, and then think 'I can't cook! I can't even boil an egg!'

Boiling an egg takes lots of trial and error to make one that's not too hard, not too soft, that's cooked perfectly (for you).

There are so many different options, and me and an ex-bf probably tried them all.

Start with an egg in cold water.
Boil some water, then pop an egg in when it's starting to bubble, time for X'x".
Boil some water, pop an egg in, then turn the temperature lower and simmer for longer.
Add some vinegar to the boiling water.
Don't add vinegar.
Etc
Etc
Etc

And then you have to experiment with the timings.

Although, tbh, iirc, I think we worked out that Delia's recipe for boiling an egg was the best.

But make no mistake, it's tricky.

 

[spring-peeper]

Get a slow cooker. Pile in the ingredients and let it cook.


Simplest recipe - in the morning => pork roast (joint?) + 1 can apple pie filling

this gives a tender roast and bonus of sliced apples as side

 

[spring-peeper]

grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup!!!!