Glug splash drizzle - beginners cookery resources please?

[bimble]

I'm very belatedly learning to cook and why can't people write recipies without presuming that everyone just knows what these words mean? I messed up last night i think by doing a glug of oil instead of a drizzle and a dash of salt instead of a pinch.
Anybody got recommendations of friendly remedial beginners cooking resources, online would be nice but a book if its guaranteed not to presume either that I already know how to cook or that i have an extensive range of obscure ingredients & implements.

 

[Sprocket.]

Delia Smith’s How to Cook, book trilogy are really good and start at a very basic level.
I got them for myself to catch up with Mrs S ability to produce fab food.
They are £16.99 each at the moment from Amazon should be £25.
They got slated at first for being too basic, no such thing in my opinion when you are learning something new.

 

[bimble]

thanks Sprocket. ok getting book one, looks like the right thing, had heard of them before but forgotten.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

I was also going to suggest Delia’s How To books. My only reservation is that she’s very English and quite buttoned up so you don’t get to learn how to freestyle with her.

The other thing I suggest is looking at you tube videos. There are some really good home cooks doing how-to stuff on there, especially with curry and other non-British foods. You can see the colour things are meant to be, watch how they stir or fold etc.

 

[souljacker]

Mary Berry How to Cook is very basic. Tells you how to chop an onion and things like that.

The recipes are a bit dull though. I was bought it for christmas last year (I'd asked for a completely different recipe book).

 

[kabbes]

To a certain degree, cooking is always going to be a bit by feel. Cooking appliances vary -- hobs, pots, casserole dishes, ovens -- and these variations will affect the way food made with them cooks. You have to get it wrong a few times with your own appliances to learn what works and what doesn't.

The word "glug" is not a precise measurement, but merely indicates that you should add some liquid without being overly cautious whilst doing it. As opposed to "drizzle", which indicates some caution is required. Beyond that, it's down to learning by doing, really.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

To a certain degree, cooking is always going to be a bit by feel. Cooking appliances vary -- hobs, pots, casserole dishes, ovens -- and these variations will affect the way food made with them cooks. You have to get it wrong a few times with your own appliances to learn what works and what doesn't.

The word "glug" is not a precise measurement, but merely indicates that you should add some liquid without being overly cautious whilst doing it. As opposed to "drizzle", which indicates some caution is required. Beyond that, it's down to learning by doing, really.

Exactly this. I often find that my hand slips with certain ingredients....

In fact, there is a cookery writer who goes by the name of Carole Handslip, which I strongly suspect to be a nom de plume.

And don’t forget Cook’s Rights, bimble. This is the long-enshrined right to help yourself to the tastiest morsels as you go along, before anything arrives at the table.