The more I talk to people in the city, the more I realize that people really don't eat at home. Many want to, but the task to setting up a kitchen, stocking it, let alone learning how to cook, is rather daunting.
So start small - forget home-made soups and freshly baked bread. Do something easy... but something nourishing, delicious and beautiful.
My current obsession is Honey Crisp apples - available at farmers’ markets across the city. This is the best apple I've ever had, and it's consistent. Apple after apple, not one has let me down. Juicy, tart, sweet too. I've eaten two every day for the last week and a half. This morning I actually ate one in the shower, I couldn't wait.
Go buy yourself a few, put them in a bowl and eat one, at home. It’s a start. Maybe next week you'll find yourself buying artisanal cheese and eating it together with your apples. It won't be long until you're cooking in every night. Bon Appétit! skgr
There's something hard about basic bread?
$2 for one apple!!
Just as long as you don't start to make salads in the shower.
I've tried going to foodnetwork.com and such and printing up an appropriate recipe, but's like, I feel like while I can read the directions and go out and buy the appropriate ingredients, I'm just following instructions. I'm not really learning about how to cook, what goes with what. I live in an apartment, and I have a small kitchen, so what kind of basic utensils and ingredients should I always keep on hand for some easy recipes that can put me on the path to being a cultured cook?
(Sigh. I managed to mess up commenting on a website. Awesome. Just read these two comments in reverse order.)
I'd really like to hear more about this.
One of the things I've really tried to put an emphasis on, as of late, is cooking. I'm sick of eating out, or, worse, eating out of a frozen bag.
And I've done fruit!
Also, yes, I realize this isn't really the focus of this website.
I'm just saying.
(I'll shut up now.)
Kyle, I reccomend two books "How to cook without a book" and "how to read a french fry." The former is more technique driven, while the latter is more science driven. Both go into how cooking works and are pretty fun reads. They'll go over a basic skill like braising or poaching and then give you a few recipes to practice with. Could turn you into a quality chef.
We have the same obsession with the honey crisp! I discovered these for myself a couple of weeks ago at Mother's here in So. Cal. I think I've eaten a bushel so far. For a long time, I wouldn't eat apples because they've let me down too many times... but these... these... yep. Dem's goooooood apples.
I'd also suggest subscribing to (or checking out from your library) "Cook's Illustrated" magazine (www.cooksillustrated.com). The recipes range from pretty simple to complex. The thing that is great about the magazine itself (they also have books & an associated TV show) is the fairly lengthy explanation style of the recipes.
Much more than the recipes themselves (although I have used those as well), the page or so of explanation on how they went about figuring out that this was the 'best' recipe really helps one understand what is going on with the process. That way, when I try the recipe or even something similar, I can compare how they tweaked the recipe or worked with it to make it taste or look how they wanted.
They also have equipment & product comparisons (similar to consumer reports), which can be helpful. They don't have lots of glossy pictures and their recipes usually have drawings or black & white photos. They are generally pretty good about providing guidance if you don't have premium cooking utensils & lots of different kinds of pots, but they can tend to focus on having a particular type of equipment (e.g. a 12-inch stainless skllet, not nonstick). However, they do usually explain why it was important & what the effect was, so you can make the decision on a substitution and whether it would be worth it.
Their associated fleet of books & PBS show "America's Test Kitchen" I find to be less valuable than the magazine, although watching the TV show with the magazine article in mind or hand can add another dimension. Both the books & the TV show seem to have less of the explicative material I really like about the magazine.
As for being able to look at a bunch of ingredients in my fridge and pantry and throwing together something tasty like my chef friends can do, I am definitely not there yet. However, I feel I can take a look at an ingredient list & process and improvise from there, as well as having techniques to make some of the process easier and more fun.
I learned to cook from the cooks in my family, and then learned more by experimenting and cooking with friends. Like anything else that is new, becoming comfortable in the kitchen is something that happens over time. Cooking with someone who has more experience and can take the lead with a recipe is a great way to learn your way around the kitchen, learn techniques and recipes, and also a great way to spend time with another person. Some of the best conversations can emerge over chopping, grating, stirring, peeling, kneading....
I also highly recommend cook's illustrated magazine, although I feel like the magazine is sort of retreading old water if you have been reading it from the start. You can buy the old magazines in a bound form which are very useful, although the Best Recipe and Quick Recipe are very good, so are the Poultry and Pasta larger books.
I would also highly recommend How to Cook Everything by the minimalist from the nytimes (he used to be on the staff of cook's illustrated, so was the writer of How to Cook Without a Book.)
Cook's Illustrated recipes are long, but they are extremely specific which is great for the beginning cook. The magazine is great because it gives you the rationale for example of water bath vs. not water bath for a cheesecake, but most people don't want that. They just want it to come out right. Cook's Illustrated recipes are extremely reliable.
That being said, I think Everyday Food by the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living is probably the most useful food magazine around. The recipes are simple (easy techniques and not many ingredients) and its all at pretty much every grocery store.
How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Without a Book is all about how to get Dinner on the Table every night. There is another book I picked up called Cooking for the Week put out by Chronicle Books that gives you good meal planning ideas.
Personally, I think skgr is right. start simple first, and you can work your way to larger, more complex flavors. I think its very important to really try to eat things in their simple state first and then introduce more complex flavors and techniques slowly. the idea isn't to make a four course meal every night. For me, its to take the time to nourish yourself properly (there are some prepared things that I love!) and enjoy it.
Wow! I never expected such a generous response! Thanks for the information, guys. Part of the problem, I think, is that I'm always too incompetent or too lazy (I haven't bothered to figure out which) to really figure out where to look. I kept waiting to just 'pick it up' as I go along. (I think I have the same problem with women.) These are some great pointers. Hopefully I can break out of the torturous trend of Skillet-In-A-Bag meals.
The real problem is that no one is really addressing this idea of dinner for one or two. (well except for lean cuisine, I suppose. I personally think the Amy's frozen vegetarian meals are suprisingly good. they have a little too much sodium than i would like but its better than fast food, I guess.)
Everything has such large portions and you get tired of the same stuff after a while (I think there was a study done once that people cooked about 10 different things, now its probably people order out 10 different things...) At least in my case, I really have to watch myself and not eat everything that I fix, not so much out of hunger but just because its there.
I definitely understand kyle's dilemma. Its easier to just fill up on the bag, and I think the bag is not all bad (There are definitely worse meal choices.), but why not supplement the bag with a green salad (from a bag!), some raw/steamed/roasted vegetables, and for dessert some fruit, or even a scoop of premade sorbet.
So you can start cooking small things like side dishes. The idea is to just start. As you start to cook yourself, you will find the stuff that you like and the stuff you don't like. That's why its a good idea to start small.
For more vegetable side ideas, for a magazine look at everyday food, for books there are vegetable books that are great like anything by Elizabeth Schneider or Deborah Madison (but its a lot of info and they aren't really cheap), but I really like Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop (also on staff at Cook's Illustrated) and How to Cook Everything has lots of information too. (Also not cheap, but that is what bookstores are for. Browse around.)
One of the gifts that I give to friends who are marrying and moving from eat out mode to starting to cook at home mode is the book Learning to Cook with Marion Cunningham. But I think its great for anyone who wants to start cooking. Its suprisingly informative and takes you from cooking to baking. Its roadtested, meaning she actually taught people of all different ages and backgrounds how to cook with these recipes.
The tools are simple and the ingredients are available at any grocery store. She gives you info on how to cook step by step and there is lots of information like how to store vegetables. The book has clear recipes with simple flavorings and plenty of pictures (You will finally learn what a simmer looks like) including techniques (how do you chop an onion efficiently?). The recipes in this book typically make small portions so you aren't left with a lot of leftovers.
I love cooking and eating leftovers which is pretty lucky as I live alone most of the time.
Once you've tried a few recipies you get a feel for what you can substitute and get more intuititive after a bit of practice.
I tend to get into cooking ruts so a really inspirational book from someone like Claudia Rodin really helps. Also cooking for friends. Frankly people are just grateful for a meal...
Finally www.chocolateandzucchini.com is a really inspirational food/recipe blog
Molliekatzen.com is a great site (she's the author of the original Moosewood Cookbook, plus many later independent efforts, and has a show on PBS). She features a food of the month, always something seasonal, and gives good, detailed preparation advice with estimated prep times, etc.
I also have to recommend "How To Cook Everything" - it's a great cookbook that I tend to read when I'm NOT cooking. And covers everything from how to boil eggs to how to poach fish....plus gives you great explanations of all your basic kitchen tools, etc....
The best thing is that you can go to the greenmarket, find seasonal veggies and then check for a recipe that has them in it.
And while epicurious.com doesn't teach you how to cook, it does have tons of great recipes and I find that the user comments are very helpful for real-life cooking!
In my salad days (no pun intended), I thought I'd try cooking for a living and spoke with the mgr of a restaurant I was working for. His response to me was that he'd always ask someine interested in cooking to prepare an omelet for him -- if you can do that, you can pretty much cook anything.
I don't know how true that is, but scrambled eggs and omelets are great options for households of 1 or 2. You can stir so many things into eggs. My partner & I often get home around 9 or 10pm and can easily dig into scrambled eggs with leftover sliced steak, spinach, or just tomatoes & cheese within 15 minutes -- enough time for me to cook and her to read the mail.
And there's also the salad in a bag with Perdue chicken cuts thrown on top(I know, mass produced, etc...) or you can go to the supermarket and get a whole roasted chicken. Or open a can of tuna, some white beans, tomatoes, shake up a quick lemon vinaigrette.
Good luck.
As far as tools go, invest in a good chef's knive. Your cooking looks more professional and feels easier with a good spart knife. Some people are afraid of good knives (my mom!), but try them. I started off with the large chef's knife by OXO Good Grips and moved up from there.
In general for kitchen tools, check out the OXO tools. A bit more expensive, but you can catch them on sale bit by bit and get a collection of them over time. Beware of filler kitchen gadgets that we, living in small apartments, probably don't need (olive picks and oyster knives and that weird stuff). The OXO can opener and peeler are awesome tools!
Clean up is real important too. My new obsession is Williams Sonoma kitchen towelsl They are very absorbant and make cleaning up much easier. You're saving paper towels too. They are a little expensive, but you can often get last season's color on sale in the back of the store or in the catalog.
Little, relatively practical treats like these make cooking in a small space more rewarding.
And . .the Food Minimalist is awesome. He has a weekly col. in the Wednesday New York Times.
Good luck, let cooking be fun.
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