glenna74
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 51
Location: Small Town, Eastern Ontario
02 Jan 2010, 12:23 pm
02 Jan 2010, 12:37 pm
Dantac wrote:
Its a learning curve. When I started all I could cook was bacon, eggs and microwave food.
I literally would burn soup @ 22yrs.
Started by learning what I loved to eat the most.. sushi. Very easy recipe to follow.
The little by little tried out cooking fish, meat and other things sticking to the simplest recipes.. the results were not very tasty (simple recipe=simple taste) so for a while I lost interest in it since the results weren't encouraging enough.
then...
I discovered the slow cooker (crock-pot).
To anyone wanting to learn how to cook I recomend one of these!
You literally can't screw up. You can get a big piece of beef, put it in the pot, pour water or beer or even cheap wine on it, random spices to your taste, boillon cubes and just turn the thing on and go enjoy your day. 8 hours later you come back and it will have made you the best, most flavorful beef stew you'll ever have.
no mess either, easy to clean since its just the one pot.
cooks everything from veggies to fish to chicken to soups and even eggs (yes.. one boring day i cracked a whole carton of eggs in there without beating them or anything.. poured some salt over 'em and turned it on for a 4hr run. Came back and had a piece and it was glorious..better than pan-fried eggs).
After a couple of years of enjoying the crock pot and experimenting with it and learning you can easily move back to pots and pans and go ahead from there. In my case I did so to make the side-dishes for the main meal being cooked in the slow cooker.
I literally would burn soup @ 22yrs.
Started by learning what I loved to eat the most.. sushi. Very easy recipe to follow.
The little by little tried out cooking fish, meat and other things sticking to the simplest recipes.. the results were not very tasty (simple recipe=simple taste) so for a while I lost interest in it since the results weren't encouraging enough.
then...
I discovered the slow cooker (crock-pot).
To anyone wanting to learn how to cook I recomend one of these!
You literally can't screw up. You can get a big piece of beef, put it in the pot, pour water or beer or even cheap wine on it, random spices to your taste, boillon cubes and just turn the thing on and go enjoy your day. 8 hours later you come back and it will have made you the best, most flavorful beef stew you'll ever have.
no mess either, easy to clean since its just the one pot.
cooks everything from veggies to fish to chicken to soups and even eggs (yes.. one boring day i cracked a whole carton of eggs in there without beating them or anything.. poured some salt over 'em and turned it on for a 4hr run. Came back and had a piece and it was glorious..better than pan-fried eggs).
After a couple of years of enjoying the crock pot and experimenting with it and learning you can easily move back to pots and pans and go ahead from there. In my case I did so to make the side-dishes for the main meal being cooked in the slow cooker.
I love the crockpot! I have beef stew cooking in one right now. wonderful thing to eat when it's -23F out!
glenna74
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 51
Location: Small Town, Eastern Ontario
03 Jan 2010, 1:29 am
03 Jan 2010, 1:40 am
glenna74
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 51
Location: Small Town, Eastern Ontario
03 Jan 2010, 1:43 am
03 Jan 2010, 6:34 am
I love cooking and I'm an excellent and rather adventurous cook. I always start from scratch and dislike using any "ready to use" stuff.
dddhgg wrote:
Spokane_Girl wrote:
dddhgg wrote:
I honestly don't understand why so many people (Aspies as well as NTs) have trouble cooking - apart from maybe the very beginning of the learning curve. If the recipe used is anywhere near decent, then cooking is just following a certain set of rules. Cooking is indeed very much an algorithmic activity.
For some reason I have difficulty understanding cooking instructions but I can understand simple instructions like I can with easy cookie mix and easy cake mix and how to make cranberry salad, I just need to learn the steps.
I think me having difficulty is due to my learning difficulties so it makes it hard for me to understand cooking instructions unless they are simple.
You're right. Many recipes are sort of abbreviated and use all kinds of culinary jargon which often obscures rather than clarifies. But once you get the hang of the words used, most recipes aren't all that difficult. You've just given me a great idea for a cooking thread.
You hit the nail on the head. Most recipes are written for people that already have a certain amount of experience. When I first started I was also very confused about most of it - quantities, timing and so on. I used to call my mother with lists of questions - how thin should I slice this and that? How many minutes should I cook the onion before adding the meat? Exactly what does "medium heat" mean? How large should "a cup of cream" be?
It took a while to sort everything out, but the first successful results will boost your confidence and motivation and after you do it long enough you hardly need to measure or time anything. These days I only use a recipe as a starting point and prefer to improvise. Lately I've tried quite a few Asian dishes - most have rather short cooking times and the new spices and flavours make both cooking and eating a joy.
As somebody mentioned, a crock pot is an excellent investment for those who don't have enough time or skill and the result will be way healthier and tastier that the microwaved/frozen stuff.
* I look forward to your cooking thread, dddhgg
