Ask HN: How do I cook at home?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22609202

by ntumlin • 6 years ago

2 4 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

As a tech yuppie, spoiled by takeout and company food, I'm looking at eating a lot of fast food in the next 3+ weeks, but I'm starting to think that's not great and that being locked at home would be a good time to learn how to cook.

I've tried before, but my main hangup is knowing what to make and what to buy. Part of the hurdle is that I have no ingredients. If a recipe calls for a quarter of an onion and a dash of garlic powder, I end up with 3/4 of an onion and an almost full bottle of garlic powder. If anyone knows some recipes where I'll buy a reasonable amount of things and use all of it, I'd be all ears.

forkexec• 6 years ago

Practice makes perfect.

No one can learn to cook well instantly. I've been cooking for 30 years and coding for 25. There are no shortcuts. Maybe watch Alex of French Guy Cooking, get a book on the science of cooking, and then a translated series of books on classical French techniques that start from the beginning. Don't expect to make a soufflé or merengue before boiling an egg. Start at the beginning.

And for god's sake, don't use powdered garlic. Start with reasonable quality, fresh ingredients or cooking will be utterly pointless and frustrating. I wouldn't waste money on very high quality ingredients for practice, but gets some basic staples like good onions, peppers, carrots, celery and make some soups, chili or stews in a crockpot. Those are hard to ruin. One of my grandmothers just took some random leftover vegetables from her fridge to make chicken noodle soup.

I have boxes and boxes of heirloom recipes that my grandmothers made and collected over the years... they're handwritten and I can't decipher some of them. For most people, it's easiest to just go on allrecipes or similar sites, pick a dish and sort by highest user review because there are hundreds of thousands of recipes online now and statistically thousands of good recipes.

borkt• 6 years ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/

Look through here for week meal plans. They often utilize all of the ingredients fully over the course of a week, and a lot of the recipes are simple (you can cook them all in one day). Feel free to take your time, and watch youtube videos to learn techniques

overthemoon• 6 years ago

I learned how to cook making chili. It was the first dish I feel like I made well and was proud of, it really kicked off my love of cooking. It's hard to mess up, it's cheap, you get a lot, and it lasts a while, and you can freeze it.

This is the recipe I've been building on lately: https://www.budgetbytes.com/basic-chili/

Here are some notes: - I leave out jalapenos and brown sugar--my wife doesn't like spiciness. I generally try not to add sugar to stuff, but it does add a bit of depth that is nice

- using beef broth instead of water will result in a better taste. You can also use beer!

- Don't skimp on the tomato paste! It adds a depth and richness you won't get otherwise

- There's no shame in buying a jar of minced garlic. It's easy and it lasts a long time. Fresh garlic will taste better, but if it's your first go at it, why not make things easier on yourself? Just remember for the future to try out mincing it yourself

- Check out this video for how to chop an onion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCGS067s0zo don't worry about getting it perfect though, just as long as they're smallish pieces

- This recipe doesn't mention draining the ground beef, but I would. You might think that the added beef fat would add to the taste, but in my experience it just makes it greasy, especially once you've chilled it and end up with a layer of hardened grease

- Don't skimp on simmering! Turn the heat all the way down low, put the lid on it, and let it do its thing for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom

- Ignore everything I said if you want, try stuff and see for yourself.

If you want more vegetables, carrots, celery, kale, bell peppers, all good choices for a stew-ish dish like this. It's not "traditional" chili at that point, so it's more of a stew I guess, but who cares.

dastx• 6 years ago

I got into cooking because I was on a lower salary. I calculated my expenditure and realised I was spending between 150 to 300 per month on just lunch at the time.

One of the easiest ways I found is to simply follow a very basic recipe. To this day I read the recipe several times before I do the shopping and always always put all the ingredients in it's own bowl (or you can put multiple in a single bowl if the recipe asks for them to be into the pan together).

By the time I started reading the methods to do the actual cooking, I have all the ingredients chopped, separated and within reach. That way, as the recipe methods call for certain things, all you have to do is reach for it.

Lastly some general tips.

As you can imagine, putting all the ingredients in their bowls gives you more dirty dishes than you would have otherwise. So clean as you go. If your recipe asks for something to be in the oven, you're likely going to have 30 mins to clean. Think about the tools that can be reused and don't wash them yet.

YouTube, as always, is full of amazing YouTubers who teach you how to cook, and use your utensils properly. Joshua Weissman is one of my favourites and has some insane tips.

Learn to wield a knife. And learn to sharpen a knife. Seriously. This is one of the most dangerous things in the kitchen, and an dull knife is even more dangerous. Joshua Weissman has a video on both topics.

When you're starting out, it's okay to choose the easy path. Picking frozen veggies over fresh veggies and having to cut them yourself is not an issue. It'll set you back slightly more, but it's okay for the convenience. Once you're more comfortable with a knife, start cutting these things yourself.

At the end of it, I promise, you will feel a lot better. Every time I get out of habit and start eating out more than in, I feel terrible. Both physically and mentally. Once I go back to eating in, I just feel better.

Good luck.

Ask HN: How do I cook at home?

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