What are the basic dishes one should know how to cook?

Question

I am learning how to cook. However, I always manage to get overwhelmed and resort back to eating out. I have made a determination to start small as a cook and master some recipes (i.e. omelettes, fried chicken, etc). What basic dishes should I learn first?

Answer 1

I highly recommend learning the following:

Roast chicken/chicken pieces
Pan-cooking chicken breasts
Spaghetti & other pasta
Salad
Steaming and roasting vegetables
Baking potatoes

These are the basis of a thousand variations, which are fun to experiment with once you know how to make the fundamental piece turn out well.

Taste often, use your senses when cooking. I recommend following a recipe the first few times, then trying some deviations to your taste.

I think cooking is fun. Good luck, hope you enjoy it!

Answer 2

Professional chefs approach cooking from a technique first perspective
Home cooks approach cooking from a recipe first perspective
Good technique will lead you down as many avenues as you so choose.
Learning to execute recipes is a dead -end street.
If you could competently make one of the five Mother Sauces -Veloute- then you could easily make another Mother Sauce -Bechamel - and between those two sauces you could make about 25 smaller sauces and all of the cream soups. Not bad for one technique.
I personally would suggest that you buy a copy of Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen and spend some time reading it.
Many good culinary schools use it as their standard textbook -and it's a great book.
You don't have to buy a new copy , the older editions will work just as well.
So where do you start ?
You start by making the things that you like to eat and the things that you already know how they should look and what they should taste like.
You then try to cook simple things perfectly every time that you cook them.
You can then expand your repetoire because you have a technically sound base in which to expand from.
Finally what should you know how to cook
Eggs in all forms-especially the tricky omelets
Pasta in all forms and applications
pasta as part of a hot entree
pasta added to a salad
pasta as the main ingredient in an entree salad w/ meat
How to saute :
chicken breasts
vegetables
various meat medallions
How to roast a chicken
How to braise a pot roast
How to make a meat loaf
How to properly cook vegetables -
boil in a little water -plunge into an ice water bath to retain color and texture- reheat before serving by sauting or steaming.
How to scratch make a a red pasta sauce
sweat chopped onions 'til translucent , add minced garlic cook until you can smell it ,add freshly minced oregano , basil & freshly ground fennel seeds , cook for 30 seconds add 2 cans of Progresso whole tomatoes cook for 30 minutes, pureee with a stick blender.
how to make rice
How to makke rice using the pilaf method
How to bake a fish
How to poach a fish
The list of course goes on and on.
One more word on recipes. Anybody who went to culinary school has hear this a thousand times during the course of their education" Recipes are just a guideline "
Until you personally learn to trust the author , all recipes should be approached with more than a healthy dose of skepticism.
Some people write really bad recipes that the naive home cook lacks the knowledge to know are bad and thus blames themself for their inabilty to execute an inherently flawed recipe.
If you get in the weeds when you're cooking , you can drop me a line and I'll try to get you out of them . I'm listed.

Answer 3

There's a very good book out there - you can get it at Amazon.com for about $7 called The Settlement Cook Book by Simon and Schuster - published for the first time in 1901. It has been updated many many times since then but is still excellent at teaching people new to the U.S. It was given to all immigrants that came through Ellis Island. Some were from countries that didn't even have eggs or indoor kitchen facilities so this book tells them all about the produce and products we have in the U.S. and how to prepare them. It explains everything very simply and exact so it would be a great teacher for someone who isn't very proficient in the kitchen. It would tell you exactly how to cook quite a few items.

Answer 4

Rice--goes with almost anything and not difficult (bring 1 cup rice + 2 cups water to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 15-16 minutes, covered)--the basic recipe can be varied for more flavor by substituting salsa or chicken broth for part of the water

Scrambled eggs: also easy and can be eaten at any time of day. The same for other egg dishes--hard boiled, poached, etc.

Grilled cheese--also easy and can be varied by changing the type of cheese or bread

Pasta--all you really need to know how to do is make the sauce (if you can boil water, you can cook pasta!). Again, the ingredients in the sauce can be varied to create different dishes--e.g. different veggies, different meats in the same basic tomato or alfredo sauce.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Both fried chicken and omelets are fairly difficult to do well.

I learned basic cooking from "Cookbook for Girls and Boys" by Irma Von Starkloff Rombauer (the same lady responsible for "Joy of Cooking"). It's out of print, but Amazon has used versions from $3.94. Definitely worth getting, even though it's close to 60 years old.

Another good book to learn from is "Campus Survival Cookbook" by Jacqueline Wood. It came out in the 1970s. It's got a month's worth of recipes that are notable for not taking much time, and being good enough that you can fix supper for your girlfriend when you haven't got the dough to impress her with a sit-down restaurant.

A month with the Campus Survival cookbook, and you'll have the cooking skills to attempt fried chicken or omelets. If you use Alton Brown's recipe, the fried chicken will turn out well. Omelets, well, even professional chefs have trouble doing *those* well, but frittatas are close enough for government work and you'll be able to turn out creditable frittatas.

Answer 6

Start easy--tacos, spaghetti, lasagna, chili and maybe stuffed shells.
Learn ALL kinds of eggs, french toast, pancakes, and biscuits & gravy---because breakfast-for-dinner is satisfying and CHEAP!

Pot roast (and beef stew from the leftovers) a couple stir-fries, and a couple hot dishes would be a big enough variety, and once you master those, you'll have the confidence to try harder things.
Cooking is really all about FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS! If you do as directed, your dish will be great.

Answer 7

I think through the years, the ones that have served me best so far are definitely these:
Omelet - lovely for breakfast but also makes a wonderful dinner with a salad and a glass of wine!
Whole Roasted Chicken - easy enough to prepare, most people love it, goes wonderfully with wild rice or potatoes and a veggie.Bonus: leftover chicken is great for sandwiches, soups and casseroles!
Roast Beef - a nice cut of beef roasted to medium or medium rare is usually a hit, and again a classic with potatoes, veggie and salad. Bonus: Leftovers are great again for sandwiches!
Poached fish - another simply lovely dish that goes well with a nice rice dish and veggie!
Pasta and a red sauce - you choose - marinara or bolognese. Both are satisfying and yummy with a crusty loaf of bread!

Answer 8

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal 1/2 cup Rolled oats (not instant) Enough water to cover Apple juice 1/4 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 A banana, sliced 1 tsp Maple syrup 1 tbs Chopped pecans Preparation Place the oats and water in a small sauce pan over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer, making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. As the liquid is absorbed, add apple juice to reach desired consistency. Add cinnamon and stir. After a few minutes, turn off heat and cover for a couple of minutes. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with chopped pecans, top with banana slices and drizzle with maple syrup. === EASY BREAKFAST COFFEE CAKE **************************************... 1 p kg. dinner rolls (24) 1 pkg. butterscotch pudding (regular) 1 t. cinnamon 1 c. brown sugar Combine sugar, cinnamon, and pudding and set aside. Grease bundt pan and place rolls on bottom and sprinkle sugar mixture over top. Cover with foil and let stand over night. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Great for when you have company. Don't spend your time in the kitchen when you could be visiting!! *************************** Scramble two eggs and gather up any vegetables like mushrooms, tomatoes, onions or sweet peppers that may be hanging in the fridge, along with a grate or two of cheese. Chop, slice or what ever turns you on, onto the scrambled egg, warm up a large burrito and roll it up. You can add sausage or bacon to this as well. Via la! Breakfast Burrito! scramble up some eggs w/ milk, salt, pepper and grated parmesan cheese. add diced ham or sausage or hotdogs cook in skillet before serving - cover w/ salsa and grated cheddar cheese egg sandwiches on toast, bagels, croissants or biscuits - with sausage, ham or bacon & cheese fry up potato slices in skillet with pepper, salt, garlic and paprika. serve with eggs and fresh fruit. pancakes, french toast and crepes are quick and easy granola and yogurt with fresh fruit and toast

Answer 9

Try mashed potatoes. They are yummy and pretty easy to make. Why not try an easy casserole? Brocc. Casserole is easy and yummy to make. Mac and cheese. You can do it. The best place for easy yummy recipes is a church cookbook. If you can find one I bet you will enjoy trying some tried and true yummy treats. Best of luck to you.

Answer 10

try starting out with grilled cheese
then try a casserole
sometimes it takes a few trys before you
get things right
the first thing i cooked was rice
and i burned it !!! lol
left it on the burner for a long time
meat is somehting i havent done yet
good luck