i want to be a good cook, please help!?

Answer 1

practice some recipes or go to a class.

Answer 2

Randy W says just about all.

I will add

1.Get a good basic cookbook for domestic cooks, but also but the Chef's training book par excellence - Ceserani and Kinton's 'Practical Cooking' .This book will inspire you, will explain why things are done a certain way in the kitchen, and will be invaluable when you have done some basic cooking and have gained confidence, and wish to spread your wings.

2. Decide what type of cooking suits your palate - i.e, what do you like to eat. This will help you decide on what cookbooks to buy when you are past the first stage. For example

If you like traditional English cooking, try Sophie Grigson or Elizabethe Ayrton.

French Regional Cooking - Elizabeth David.

Fusion Mediterranean cooking - Antony Worral Thompson.

3. Cook with passion, and if it comes out as a passionated ****-up, fear not. No chef in the world has never had his meat burn or her souffle collapse. Always keep the passion, even if its beans on toast. Choose the best bread for the toast, and dont burn it. Beans on Toast can be as good a meal as Lobster Thermidor if it is what you fancy.

4. Keep looking at Yahoo Answers and ask questions on the cooking forum. Look out for Cubcur, Cheffy, Chefgrill and others - there are quite a few good cooks on this board who will give you ideas and support you.

Never lose the passion.

Finally, make sure you have good pots and pans, knives and some aprons.

Good and cheerful cooking to you.

Answer 3

Some good advice sent to you hope it helps. Yea a good cookbook, learn the basics of measuring, practicing that, and not taking on recipes at first with tons of ingredients until you have a little experience under your belt. Always, read the entire recipe before you start, and make sure you understand the method of putting it together. Ask questions of people you know, or at your grocery store they are often very helpful. Make small amounts at first, or half recipes, cause that way if something goes wrong, you won't feel as bad to dump it out, and start over. I can't tell you how many times I served my family something that didn't quite turn out perfect. All was edible, just not the greatest, which can very well be the recipe to begin with. People all have different ideas, and tastes, and cooking is an experiment to begin with. At least thats my opinion. The best intentions can go wrong, so keep trying if at first you don't succeed. Practice makes perfect....sometimes...& most of the time...

Answer 4

I always thought i was a bad cook but thats because i never really tried. If you cook dinner for yourself every night you will eventually get the hang of it....i think you just need to keep practicing! Start off with some simple recipes and go from there. I like to use the bbc's good food website...there are loads of recipes and it tells you the difficulty of them and how long they should take. Don't feel you always have to stick exactly to a recipe...just do your own thing and experiment a little...you might discover something really nice! Good luck...im sure you will get there :)

Answer 5

Cooking is not hard. Buy a good basic cookbook with all the charts for measuring & difenitons on what cooking terms mean. I will be your long term future reference book.
USE good ingredients, fresh as possible.
From there it is practice. 1st. time a make a recipe I follow the instruction & ingredients closely. After that I may be more creative. Start off with simple recipes. Once you have master the basics have fun with the more involved recipes.
I have cooked since 1965. I am still a simple cook with very little "flash" but very few people don't enjoy my food.
Lots of luck.

Answer 6

To be a good cook you must first become familiar with all the basics. This means that normal cooking of breads and pastas, desserts and meats should come as a natural and you won't need a cookbook.
After you have mastered the basics then you need to begin working on the intermediate items, like making Sauteed dishes, and combining your basics with new ingredients.
You will need to open your palette up to new foods, like escargot, calamari, Duck, squirrel, goose, rabbit, elk, and many other items that you have never tasted or don't care to have.
If you can't enjoy what you are cooking or don't have a taste for something then you will never succeed at becoming a great cook.
Finally, consider a culinary school, this should be done only when you are comfortable with you own skills and ready to learn the final touches and methods that are required to be a master chef.
I hope that you succeed in you new endeavors.

Answer 7

I can recommend Delia Smith's cookbooks, personally, I don't think they are as good as cracked up to be, because I have had some disaster's, but I am in a minority, so they are probably right, although, I made one of her recipes a couple of days ago. It was for Ox liver casserole and it turned out superb.. Thanks to my brother-in-law, now deceased, they came to me.. so I have just about all of them.. The How to Cook Series Books 1, 2 and 3 start from how to boil an egg, so I guess that is what you should try. Get them from the library first and if you are successful, buy them!

Delia is now in the new English Dictionary!

Answer 8

Good for you, and I'm sure you will be IF:

You buy fresh - ALL OF THE TIME.
Practise and enjoy "playing" messing about with ingredients.
Take it easy - don't get uptight about your disasters - I HAVE HAD MANY. Just start again or move on doing something totally different. It's best not to set yourself too hard a task - enjoy being in your kitchen - it's a lot less stressful if you "CLEAN AS YOU GO". If your old enough have"one" for the chef (beer). Make it fun - be happy and when your friends knock - they will always be hungry...........xxx

Answer 9

I can recommend two very good cook books. The Joy of Cooking, and Taste of Home. Scour the interent for recipe sites, look them over, pick one that looks rather simple, give t a try. Good luck

Answer 10

If you want to be a good cook, start cooking. Follow recipes at first until you feel comfortable enough to add your own touches to them. And remember, if you mess up something you cooked, there is always a garbage can nearby where you can bury mistakes.

Answer 11

Invest in the BH&G cookbook, and the Betty Crocker cookbook. It's not just recipes. There are a lot of tips, tricks, substitutions, health info, and photos of what it's NOT supposed to look like. I can't recommend them enough. And don't kick yourself if something doesn't turn out, just figure out what might have gone wrong and remember it for the next time you make it. I wouldn't trust anybody who would claim they've never screwed up a dish.