In my day we had cookery classes at school, but i learned mostly from watching my mother cook, and helping her. That's the only time i ever saw real food being cooked, the classes were usually things like cakes and savouries. Nowadays we have google to assist us also.

Most people start out learning from their parents or grandparents. I was peeling carrots as soon as I was able to see over a bench while standing on a chair.

I like to use cookbooks and watch some 'how-to' TV shows; I have friends who swear by cooking classes; so whatever works for you.

Most cooking is pretty forgiving - except baking - baking is more like chemistry.

Cook what you want to eat.

The key is really what pop top says. Cook what you want to eat. Start with a favorite meal, like spaghetti, or steaks, or something you enjoy. Then look up a recipie and the rated difficulty of prep. Start with easy dishes first, that only take one or two series of preparation to cook, then work your way up. This is over years of experience of course. I recently completed a 3 course meal for the first time, solo, which took almost 4 hours of prep plus cooking, and it was so exhilarating watching everyone enjoy it, but it was a lot of stress at the same time, and it takes a lot of work and knowledge to understand how to cook and prep at the same time and not mess up :p

for example. Making spaghetti. ( and easy favorite) you have 2 series of prep.

series one, brown the meat, while meat browning cut up various veggies, once meat Browns, dump veggies and sauce in the pan, and simmer for a while. Easy peasy

series two, put on water, wait until It boils, then put in spaghetti, taste every 5 min or until you like the texture. Easy as well.

So thats a recipie that is that is a good starter. Obviously find an exact recipie, but that is the steps

in summary, learn to do by doing. Find a recipie, ask questions, try it, figure out why(if it does) went wrong, and don't make the mistake next time you try that recipie. And repeat! Good luck :)

Easy way to test spaghetti, throw it up to the ceiling, if it sticks, its cooked!
My tip of the day, lol.

If it sticks, its overcooked.

Al dente is what Italian pasta should be cooked to usually, meaning "to the tooth"

When you bite through the pasta it should still have a firmness in the center, to the tooth, firm to bite, ya ya?

Real tip of the day :P

Not just pasta also veg! Also steaks can be pretty hard to cook if your doing it by temperatures :L

my dad was a chef so i grew up cooking ... well tbh i grew up peeling a lot of potatoes, onions and so forth but somewhere along the way learnt to cook

I worked restaurants for twenty plus years(dishwasher to management) Bartending being my favorite and longest(Majority of it being in the Hawaiin islands)Aaahhh!!! the good ole days. Aside from the little, non essential things learned in school "home economics" classes...most of my cooking knowledge is from prep and line cooking. But, here's a GREAT tip that I learned from local hawaiins when i camped and surfed for a year over there.
COOKING WHITE RICE W/NO MEASURING CUP(perfect every time!!)
===========================================

1)pour amount of rice into pot(remember it expands to over 2X).
2)Rinse with water(more you rinse, less sticky it becomes)**because your washing away the starches**
3)Fill with water until the level is thumb knuckle deep(stick thumb in,when water is even with knuckle,stop)
4)put on high heat until rapid boil, then
5)reduce heat to simmer and cover w/lid....let simmer for 25 minutes
6)when time is up, remove from heat and crack lid a bit(let's excess steam escape)and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
7) fluff with fork and serve!! Perfect every time!!

**special note**

Hawaiins(and myself) like "sticky rice"(very little rinsing,i just put water,no rinse)...But on average "Haoles"(everyone not polynesian), prefer their rice" loose"(non-sticky)...which means rinse the rice til water is clear!

Enjoy the grinds braddah!! Mahalo and aloha!

P.S.

If any questions on other dishes, hit me up and i'll see what we can do.Like maybe "seared Ahi"(yellowfin tuna),"cajun"Blue rare steak w/asparagus and garlic roasted russett potatoes??? Hhmmm!!! Sounds Ono Huh!?!

The net is a very good resource. I used it to make pasta and it turned out to be pretty good for my first time. [:tongue:]

From personal experience, I learned the most from asking tons of questions to anyone and everyone who might have had an answer, reading every book, news article, and magazine around, and finally just cooking..a lot. I never made the same things twice if I could help it, always trying new techniques, cooking methods, ingredients, etc etc.

Since my cooking knowledge came from working and managing in professional kitchens, learning at home will be a much different process. Here is a list of books that I feel are a must own for anyone serious about cooking and learning.

Professional Chef - Culinary Institute of America

Baking and Pastry - Mastering the Art and Craft - Culinary Institute of America

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

The Flavor Bible

Culinary Artistry

All of these books helped me greatly over the years. They can be expensive but you will have them forever. I have over 100 culinary books that will be dragged around with me until it's time for the dirt nap.

Once you master all techniques and ingredients, move on to this:
Alinea - Grant Achatz - This guy does amazing things with molecular gastronomy, although he ripped off Ferran Adria from Spain.

I'm a newbie in the kitchen also, but I like it. I started out by pretty much just watching little things about how others cooked then started asking questions about why they did things a certain way. Eventually I just started off small looking up meatloaf recipe because I love hamburger and very delicious meal and fairly simple.

Also as a newbie always think safety :)
Don't leave cooking surfaces unattended and make sure your food reaches proper temperature.
I always cut into meat when I make something new just to make sure I cook all the way through, but I like well done meats and have an old old stove I never quite trusted fully.

I found that when I wanted to learn to cook many moons ago I felt that I wanted to learn from a book. Although everyone will be different in how they like to learn stuff, this method seemed to work best for me.

I bought myself a copy of "The First Time Cook" by Sophie Grigson. I think I got lucky with the purchase to be honest as it really does explain things in a way that assumes you know absolutely nothing, yet is not condescending at all. I have bought a few books since, that have been no way near as clear and concise as this one. There is nothing worse than vague and unclear instructions when you are starting out.

It covers the basic things like cooking terms and cooking equipment. Explains roasting times and what cuts of meat are best for the method used to cook them. It even explains how to cut an onion. The recipes range from eggs and soups to homemade fish pie and a passable replica of teriyaki sauce.

I like the fact that it "dips your toe" into many types of dishes, which is perfect when you want to learn about a few different things. A roast chicken here, a beef stew there to steamed fish, homemade pizza and a stir fry.

As you can tell I totally love it! I am so glad it was the first cookbook I purchased, and even though it was a good ten years ago, I still regularly use the recipes out of it.

I'm no chef, by any means and alot of good suggestions above. Mastering basic techniques, using fresh ingredients and not trying to overcomplicate a dish is key for me. Monitor your heat source, understand the effects of different types of heat, and build your flavors as you go...if you are waiting until the end to season, you are too late.

If you live in a large city there may be workshops, the DHS office may have classes...

If you go to church, ask one of the ladies who always bring dishes if you can come hang out...

Cooking channel...do exactly what they do...

Youtube :)

just experiment my friend, I am turning into quite the cook and all I really do is think on what i want to make like fajitas or a mushroom sauce, i look on youtube for a how to video as a guide if it isnt already obvious and I go from there... im 26 years old and untill very recently I didnt know how to do a proper steak whenever i tried before I would just dump the steak into a pan with some oil and it would come out tasteless, now i know to season and marinade it beforehand and now i make a steak as good as if not better then restaurants

so yea go to mums kitchen and just say i want to try cooking for you tonight, and use youtube as a guide for more complex things, screw cooking schools you can achieve the same result for free

also dont stress about measurements because although the same thing they may have a different brand which affects the recipe, just use you eyes as a guide

Im just an "f**king amateur" but have spent much time in the kitchen and my way :

experiment, experiment, experiment!! Smell, taste and touch as much different stuff you can.

start mix different things to see what happens when doing it.

Try different ways to prepare the basics you will use daily~ (like potato, rice etc etc) How does the taste &texture of x change when boiling it for y minutes vs boiling it for z vs frying it.

Dont over think it, you are not building a nuke, its "just" food! ;) Try to not get stuck in what others think are right and wrong in cooking and find your own rights and wrongs.

The kitchen is my safe zone i usually dont have a plan what to make more then maybe "today im gona do something with rice" so i look around to see what i got home and i get into this trance state where i let my taste buds play around with what i see and my mind starts to visual the final product (here we come back to #1, experiment!).

Get one or two good knifes (i use a bread knife for most of the time), it helps alot! but remember that the price does not neccesery have to do something with the quality of it. Two other tools myself use very much are an kitchen tweezer and rubber scraper.

The last things i want to add for the moment is : Simple food does not have to mean bad food and curry is an awesome thing to use if you made a f**k up as it hides much bad flavours :D


edit, preperation is also very important so you dont have to run around as an headless chicken and stress fix something you forgot when the food is 3 min from done!



Different sauces is also a good thing to beginn with, can make an ok meal into a top notch one with often not so much work!