Kick it down a notch if you are apprehensive about cooking...

[Kipper is King]

OK, so I was surfing FB when a friend of mine posted a photo of a delicious looking meal they had eaten.

Being a foodie, that was enough to trigger a rather big, spontaneous note dedicated to anyone who's apprehensive about cooking! Enjoy! (Give me some feedback if you want!):

Kick it down a notch if you are apprehensive about cooking...

People often get intimidated when thinking about cooking. They feel it's too complex, or too time-consuming, or they simply are unsure how certain ingredients will taste when they are combined.

Emiril Lagasse ("Bam"!) is famous for shouting "Let's kick it up a notch!" on his TV show! I am writing this note especially for those of you who are curious about cooking, but uneasy about it. Today, I urge you to "kick it down a notch"...

Like practically any other skill, with cooking it's key to learn some fundamentals. Here is a very brief, compressed guide to what I think might help some of you "closet cooks". You know you don't want another night of take-out!

Ingredients are the DNA of dishes. If you do not have good genetics, the basic building blocks of life, your health will not be good. If you do not start preparing a meal with good quality, fresh ingredients, then you are not doing yourself any favours, and you are likely to become frustrated. I cannot stress enough that starting with fresh ingredients gives you a fighting chance to create a great meal. If you are at this fish/meat counter, ask the fish monger or butcher what the freshest items are, for instance. Proactively searching out fresh ingredients will help your cooking. Don't settle for stale stuff!

Another key to not feeling stressed about cooking is getting everything prepared before you start. This is known as mise-en-place (French for "put in place). Read through the entire recipe at least twice, and wash, chop and measure your ingredients beforehand as required, setting them aside in separate bowls. This way, you aren't frazzled by running around trying to prep ingredients as stuff is already cooking away on the stove or in the oven. It's all good to go, and you are calm and in control!

Secondly, start out with a basic dish- what you know and love. Maybe you have a macaroni and cheese fetish, but Kraft Dinner isn't cutting it anymore. A quick Internet search reveals a myriad of recipes/interpretations of that dish. Baked mac n' cheese? Curried mac n cheese? Sure! Pick a few of the recipes that seem distinctly different in cooking method and ingredients, but not overwhelmingly complex, and make them over a couple weeks. There you go! Your horizons are expanding, and you are learning your likes and dislikes as well as gaining a sense of different techniques and ingredients. Good job!

You have to go on a adventure of sorts with cooking. Open-mindedness is a key to becoming a well-developed cook. For instance, if you see a vegetable in the grocery store that you know is fresh, perhaps you just saw the produce guy putting it out, and the name of it sounds strange, but it looks in good shape, perhaps buy it. When you get home, a quick Internet search on a website like Epicurious.com will reveal a myriad of delicious ways to cook it. I can't tell how many times I have come home with a bag full of "what the hell is that?" and it has proved to be a culinarily enlightening experience. True, sometimes it has been a disaster, but I have always appreciated the learning experience.

Another tip- try getting a slow cooker and a basic slow cooker cookbook like "The Everything Slow Cooker Cookbook". A wonderful aspect of slow cookers is how foolproof they are. Often,just prep your ingredients, throw them in, turn it on and come back to a delicious meal hours later. The low heat, slow cooking has the benefit of making meats fall-off the bone tender, and it's difficult to overcook something in a slow cooker. That method of cooking lacks the stress that could come from having stuff bubbling away on the stove or in the oven. You can again expand your food knowledge, and build up your confidence with a slow cooker. Plus, they take up very little space and use little power!

Lastly, mastering just a few dishes can be great! You may have no desire to become a Iron Chef, but we all entertain friends and family at some point. Try different recipes for a few nice dishes multiple times. Perhaps a salad, appetizer, main and dessert. When you finally feel you have that arsenal, the next time you are entertaining, you have an ace up your sleeve! They don't have to know you don't cook that much! You've got a menu, and you can cook it well, yeah! Maybe it could be the key to wowing a special someone, perhaps! ;-)

Cooking has a ton of benefits. It's healthy often, because you are much more aware and in control of what's going into your meals. You can also expand your appreciation of other cultures perhaps, or master a dish that you always love to eat in restaurants. Lastly, just to name a just few benefits, cooking well really does impress people! :-D

I hope this helps send you on your way to good eats! Mmmmm...

PS- Watching Ratatouille also may help boost your enthusiasm for cooking! Sure, it's a Disney movie aimed at kids, but one of my favourite chefs, Anthony Bourdain was consulted for it! It's a fun movie that captures the appeal of cooking! If by the end of the movie, you don't have even the slightest inkling to cook something, you aren't human! :-)

[fatso]

Good for you Kipper is King... cool note! I fancy myself a bit of an amateur chef and really enjoy cooking. I agree with all your suggestions, especialy those about fresh ingredients and Ratatouille. The great thing about Ratatouille (the film) was that it was about creativity itself... if you approach cooking in that way, you'll likely find it more challenging and adventurous. Don't be focussed exclusively on the end product, but enjoy the process!

I'll add a few tips to try and make cooking fun if you don't enjoy it or are stressed by it. One trick is to set aside cooking time and music time. If you like to listen to music, throw your ipod or stereo on and get a chance to hear that new cd you've been wanting to listen to, while you try that new recipe. Another is to cook with your partner... one of your preps while the other has a drink and then you switch... that kind of thing.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

cook with your kids, I cook with both my kids, 5 and 3, they both love it, and I can get them to try food that normally they would not try

[nik-]

Nice write up. To be honest, I started wanting to cook more after watching Jamie Oliver cooking shows. Seeing him make recipes that seemed rather 'simple' (not a lot of ingredients or difficult preparation with a focus on freshness and herbs) made me inspired to cook.

I pretty much watch the Food network and sports only now.

[Slanter]

Great post... but I'm not sure I would agree with the idea of just randomly buying something and then going home to look for a recipe. Inevitably, the recipe will call for four other things that you don't have.

Instead, I would recommend remembering what you saw, looking it up, and then buying it (and the other ingredients) the next time.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks. One of them, I think Jamie's kitchen, has an excellent section on how to outfit your kitchen.

I also highly recommend Cook's Illustrated magazine.

[bigtmac19]

Our favourite is Alton Brown - Good Eats.

You learn so much stuff of the science behind everything when you watch him.

We have two of his books, they are awesome.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by Slanter

Great post... but I'm not sure I would agree with the idea of just randomly buying something and then going home to look for a recipe. Inevitably, the recipe will call for four other things that you don't have.

Instead, I would recommend remembering what you saw, looking it up, and then buying it (and the other ingredients) the next time.

Thanks!

You're very right. Myself, I like cooking so much I don't mind going back to the grocery store a second time, but I am biased! Your point is well taken!

[Flaming Choy]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

Sure, it's a Disney movie aimed at kids, but one of my favourite chefs, Anthony Bourdain was consulted for it!

He's good, but he's no Rachel Ray....


I kind, Bourdain is awesome.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by Flaming Choy

He's good, but he's no Rachel Ray....


I kid, Bourdain is awesome.

I have a special dislike for Rachel Ray lol! If hear someone being all cute calling Extra Virgin Olive Oil "E.V.O.O" one more time, I will have a mental breakdown!

Nigella Lawson is a much better cook than Rachel Ray. Like Rachel Ray, she has no professional culinary experience. Unlike Rachel Ray, she is not annoying as hell!

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by Flaming Choy

He's good, but he's no Rachel Ray....


I kind, Bourdain is awesome.

or giada de laurentiis


http://s3.amazonaws.com/as-photo-cache/164067_1.jpg

or

http://im.sify.com/sifycmsimg/may200...4670198_10.jpg

[Cheese]

Both my wife and I are great Chefs. Our children are also able to fend for themselves very well. I think its imperative that parents teach theiir kids to cook.

We ran into a family a few years back...the kids were in their early teens and had never had a home cooked meal. Everything was bought in boxes, pre-frozen and prepared. We were disgusted that these people actually considered themselves parents and teachers.
Experiment...learn different things and techniques...nothing better than a nice home cooked meal!

[redforever]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks. One of them, I think Jamie's kitchen, has an excellent section on how to outfit your kitchen.

I also highly recommend Cook's Illustrated magazine.

Very good magazine, although at times, they do go overboard in the retooling of an old recipe.

I have joined their internet site, very cheap for a whole year subscription. Then you can access any recipe in their magazine, as well as a lot of cool archived stuff.

They have great teaching videos that go through a lot of recipes, a lot of good info comparing appliances, cookware, etc.

I also follow a gazillion food blogs.

And I will hardly ever make a new recipe that is not accompanied by a picture. Old recipes that I am familiar with, ok, but rarely a new recipe. And if authors of new cookbooks are stingy with pictures of the recipes, then I am stingy with my pocket book when it comes to buying that cookbook.

And I have started to archive all of my recipes on the computer. I am doing this for myself personally, to get all my recipes better organized, as well as to sort of make a family history of recipes. I have an addiction to buying food magazines and new cook books. And sadly that shows in the piles of recipes I have ripped out, ready to try. I do however make at least 1 new recipe each week, usually more, so the pile of recipes I want to try is not getting much higher.

If a recipe meets with my satisfaction, I take a picture of whatever I have made. Then I type up the recipe on my computer and attach that picture. Then it is easily accessible on my computer. This also comes in very handy if my kids or friends ask me to share a recipe. I just e-mail it to them. I am also doing this every time I make an old favorite recipe.

As someone else mentioned, cooking with your children is a great idea. And I have always firmly believed in a family eating at least one meal together every day.

[Dion]

As a male i love to cook and experiment with new recipies. Food can get quite boring if one is eating the same thing all the time. I often search out new recipies on the internet and different ways to cook types of food.

The only thing i learned and refuse to make again is cheese cake. Too many calories and i can't eat just one slice.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by fotze

I think Ratatouille was more based on Thomas Keller and who was hired by the makers. I think Bourdain played a bit part though. Bourdain did say it was the best food movie ever made.

Correct! While eating at the French Laundry would be amazing, if I could eat at any restaurants in the world it would have to be "El Bulli" in Spain (Ferran Adria's superhuman- he's such a good chef!), or "Babbo" in New York (Mario Batali's my fave chef!), or Heston Blumenthal's "The Fat Duck" in London (Search for Perfection is a fascinating show!).

[GreenTeaFrapp]

I've eaten at Keller's Bouchon in Vegas for breakfast and it was really good.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by fotze

There is some chef in Calgary that trained at fat duck apparently.

If you can find out his name/ the restaurant he's at, that would rock!

[Phanuthier]

Cool note

But...

A wonderful aspect of slow cookers is how foolproof they are.

You would think it is...

[Dion]

I love my rice cooker!

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Cool note

But...


You would think it is...

What happened?