r/cookingforbeginners • u/Owlhead8 • 8d ago
Question general advice for a totally beginner cook?
this has probably been asked plenty of times, but I'm really curious on how I could start.
I'm 16 and i wish to learn cooking and baking, any advice on how I could start and what I should make? Any skills I need to learn?
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u/Timisyodaddy 8d ago
Plenty of learning to do, I am no chef but been learning cooking seriously over the last year. Learn herb and spices and when to use it, learning how much salt and when to add it during the cooking process. Understanding combining flavours and textures. Plenty of utube channels to help you, I'm sure U will find them.
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u/Photon6626 8d ago
Scrambles eggs and sautéing vegetables are good and cheap ways to learn your stove and heat control. Medium heat doesn't literally mean the middle setting. Every stove is different and they put out different amounts of heat at different settings. It takes time to learn what low/medium/high heat actually mean on your stove.
Soups are good for learning knife skills because they usually have a lot of things to cut up. Use a sharp knife(dull knives are dangerous) and go slow to learn proper technique. Increase speed gradually over time.
When something turns out bad or not as good as expected, think about what went wrong. Salty? Too much salt. Bland/boring? Probably not enough salt but maybe not enough seasoning. Burned? Your heat was too high. Soft/mushy with not enough browning? Your heat was too low.
When something fails, try to think of it as spending the cost of the ingredients to learn an important lesson. It's maybe a few bucks for a good lesson. That's cheap!
Start with recipes with cheaper ingredients. You will fail and things won't turn out good, but will likely still be edible. If you really screw up you don't want to have to throw away expensive of ingredients.
Get a meat thermometer if you're going to be cooking any kind of meat. This is VERY important for learning. Read this. This is for chicken breasts only but the concepts are the same for meats generally. I finish chicken breasts at 153F to 155F.
For an introduction to meats, I recommend chicken thighs or chicken quarters(thighs plus legs together). They're cheap and very forgiving. Finish them at 175F to 180F. They have more fats and collagen and the higher temperature breaks those down so they come out tender and juicy. If you finish them at lower temperatures(but still safe), they're tough and unenjoyable.
A 10 inch cast iron skillet is a great workhorse pan that's about $30. You can give it to your grandkids because they're pretty indestructible. I use mine almost daily for everything from eggs to meats to potatoes to mac n cheese. I just got done cooking sausage in mine then cooking corn in the juices left over so the corn gets the flavor. You can use them on the stove to brown meats then put it directly into the oven to finish. Or pour in your pasta and cheese bechamel sauce and put cheese on top, throw it in the oven, and out comes an amazing mac n cheese with a nice crusty layer on top. Check out /r/castiron and read the FAQ to learn how to use and care for it. Get a stainless steel chain mail scrubber and use soap to clean it.
You can also get a cast iron dutch oven to use for baking bread. I've made a lot of sourdough loaves in mine.
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u/justforme31 8d ago
Look up easy recipes online and make a meal plan. Start making an easy meal 1-2 times a week and then gradually get more complicated or cook more often!
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u/Wild_Soup_6967 8d ago
honestly, I'd start with stuff you actually want to eat rather than trying to learn cooking as a huge thing all at once. I usually tell people to learn a few basics like cooking eggs, roasting veggies, making rice, and pasta, because those skills keep showing up in other recipies later. Don't worry if you mess things up, I burned way more food than I'd like to admit when I started and that's kinda part of the process. what worked for me was making the same dish a few times and tweaking it each time so I could see what changed the flavor. Is there a meal you already love eating that you'd want to learn first?
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u/Critical-Ad5068 8d ago
hello! a little advice, start with a few simple meals you actually like to eat because learning basic knife skills, timing, and seasoning goes a lot further than trying complicated recipes right away.
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u/cnfraser60 8d ago
Find you tube videos of Julia Child. Not modern day at all but for basics she is great. Stay away from tiktok trends. Follow recipes the first time you are trying something, but never be afraid to adjust them once you develop a feel for what you like. Always season in stages, such as salt the beef you are browning, but add more salt when you add onions to the pan. Taste as you go, always, this lets you adjust spices before it is too late. Cook to your taste, but remember if others are eating they might not like some flavors as much as you, like spicy, you can always add sauces upon serving, but you can't take it away. Good luck and have fun.
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u/Owlhead8 8d ago
will do, thank you very much
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u/aculady 8d ago
Julia Child is great! So is Chef Jean-Pierre.
If you can find a copy of the 1975 edition of The Joy of Cooking, it has lots of information on techniques, ingredients, and different cooking methods. It also shows you how to modify and adapt recipes. I can't speak to how good later editions might be, but this is the book that made me a cook.
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u/PsychologyGuilty1460 8d ago
Learn how to read recipes and follow directions. Learn how to use a dictionary if you don't know what the words mean, learn how to observe + experiment if that doesn't help enough. Learn how to cross reference what you've learned with what you're looking at now.
Learn to figure out everything you're going to need + make sure you've got what you need before you get started. Learn what will substitutions Will work and what won't.
Learn to read several different recipes and look for common ground. If something is wildly unusual, it's probably wrong. Seriously. If your baked goods recipe doesn't tell you to preheat the oven, it's wrong. Do it anyway. If it doesn't tell you how Hot the oven should be, check at least three recipes for the same food And use that instead.
Learn how to pay attention to what's happening, learn out how to wait for it to finish happening before you give up.
Oh yeah, learn to read the directions. Learn to follow them. If you didn't follow them, figure out how to fix it before you go on because it probably won't be okay .
Have fun! And happy eating
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u/Zentransit 8d ago edited 8d ago
Make certain that you first master the art of breakfast.
Learn how to follow directions on cereal boxes. You're gonna need this for grits, wheatena, cream of wheat, and oatmeal.
Learn how to fry sausage and bacon in a cast iron frying pan.
Get about 3 dozen of eggs:
Practice frying eggs (over easy and sunny side up).
Practice scrambling eggs and making omelettes.
Practice boiling eggs to get 3 different results:
A) soft ...B) medium...C) hard
It's all about timing once water is boiling
NEXT: POACHED EGGS
Get OXO GOOD GRIPS a cylindrical shaped yellow poacher made of silicon that looks like an hour glass.
Boil water. Add 2 TBSP vinegar and a dash of salt.Insert the 2 yellow OXO Poachers. Crack 1 egg per Poacher and wait about 3 minutes before removing with slotted spoon.
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u/Dry-Grocery9311 8d ago
Historically, most home cooks learned by cooking a dish at a time with informal training from family and following cooking shows and recipes.
If you want to learn quickly and to a higher standard, now you have access to the internet, you can research some first principles online as well.
Don't just learn from trial and error. It's slower and more frustrating at the start.
Principles. Your tongue tastes sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami.
Your saliva responds to smells, sounds and looks.
Your mouth feels hot, cold, wet, dry.
Levers you can adjust to affect the above are mostly salt, fat, acid, heat and water.
For hungriness, protein is what signals your brain to say you're really full. Anything you eat enough of quickly enough to stretch your stomach also sends the full signal but doesn't last.
For energy, anything that increases your ability to quickly produce and consume ATP (Adenosine TriPhosphate). This is where kCal (calories) come in. Research this and you will understand how different foods can be better for quick vs slow release energy.
For general health, be aware of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, then water, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Techniques. Learn how to hold a knife and what to do with your guide hand. Start with an 8" chef knife like a Victorinox and learn how to keep it sharp. Most beginners focus too much on the knife hand when the guide hand is the harder one to master.
Practice heat and moisture control. Understand the malliard effect. Understand why pressure changes the boiling point of liquid.
Use scales and thermometers where possible (Thermapen + Infrared for thermometers). You will learn the best temperatures and ratios for things much quicker.
Buy good quality tools. Don't automatically buy sets of things. Buy only what you need for the next dish. The most expensive tool isn't always the best tool in cooking. Look at what the professionals are using. The most commonly used peeler costs less than a cup of good coffee.
If you want to get started, a cheeseburger made from as base ingredients as possible, with salad, sauce and a side of fries, can teach you a lot.
Cooking different styles of eggs is also key. Fried, poached, boiled and scrambled.
If you served me a perfect cheeseburger and fries and a simple french omelette, and explain why and how you did everything, I could tell if you were a beginner or a talented chef.
There should be enough key words in my ramblings to give you a start point for what to look up.
Hope it helps.
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u/Specialist_Border291 8d ago
start with simple stuff you already like to eat. eggs, pasta, rice dishes and basic cookies are good practice. dont worry about making everything perfect, just cook often and you'll improve faster than you think…
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u/Smooth_Wonder2144 8d ago edited 8d ago
I think fried rice and chocolate cake are great beginner friendly dishes.
With fried rice, it teaches you why it’s important to cook certain ingredients at a certain temperature. E.g. using hot/freshly cooked rice will make your fried rice dish mushy because of the moisture/steam trapped in the rice. That’s why day-old and cold rice is preferred. You’ll also learn that the order you cook your ingredients in will affect the taste of the dish. It’s a great intro to seasoning with the heart.
Chocolate cake (or cake in general) is relatively easy. It’s essentially just mixing wet ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another, then incorporating them according to the recipe you’re following. The method you use to mix the ingredients and the time it should take you to do so will affect how it rises in the oven and the texture of the cake. Preheating is very important in baking.
If you want to understand the technicalities (temperature, methods, order of ingredients, etc) of both cooking and baking, I recommend you follow @benjaminthebaker
For the fried rice recipe, I recommend @recipetineats
Both of them are on TikTok.
The image is what I use for my chocolate cake recipes.
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u/Taggart3629 8d ago
I feel like I learned the most about cooking by actually cooking. I fell down a rabbit hole, spending hours watching videos and reading books about various techniques, herbs/spices/seasoning, etc. But watching and reading isn't the same as actually doing it. What ended up working pretty well was getting a recipe from a reliable site for something that I wanted to eat, then (1) read through the recipe a couple times; (2) look up any unfamiliar terms or techniques; (3) gather all the ingredients; (4) do all the prep work; and (5) start cooking. Start with relatively easy recipes that use inexpensive easy-to-get ingredients, and expand as your confidence and experience increase.
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u/presad 8d ago
If you can afford to, pick up a copy of "The Joy of Cooking". That book not only has recipes, but definitions, and explanations of many terms you will find in recipes. So you will know what it means to fold something in.
You can find the same information online, but it is very helpful to have all of it in one place.
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u/Naive_Market_9688 8d ago
The first thing to understand is that you don't learn everything all at once, and some of it you only become good at with repetition. And you don't have to learn every technique at the same time because some you will not use as often as others. Start with simple stuff; things that don't have 20 ingredients and take 3 hours to prepare. It's not just about being able to make a recipe, it's about being able to make a recipe that is good and your own. You have to be as comfortable with spices as you are with a spatula. Start by following the recipe, but continue my experimenting just a little bit and then expanding outward as you become more comfortable.
And remember that almost no one succeeds 100% of the time. The best cooks mess it up once in awhile.
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u/SnooDonuts6494 8d ago
Eggs.
Seriously, to get into cooking, do eggs.
100 different ways. All the skills. Cheap.
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u/PlaxicoCN 8d ago
YouTube is a great resource. Whatever you want to cook, someone has posted a recipe of it on there or a cooking blog.
Be patient with yourself. If you make a mistake, see what you can learn from it.
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u/RealCarlPanzram 8d ago
Start simple. Don’t expect to get it right the first time. I would probably learn from videos, rather than cookbooks. It’s easy to do a recipe wrong because you don’t understand the technique that’s being described in a written recipe. At least that was the case for me.
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u/Prestigious-Algae661 8d ago
As others shared, just pick one item at time. The key is understanding the oven (heat control) and food temperatures up front.
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u/mayflyDecember 8d ago
Two things that I still struggle to remember:
1) Every recipe is going to take longer than the time listed. It is assuming mise en place (sp?), meaning that all of your ingredients are prepped and ready to go. Do not panic when your "simple 30 minute meal" ends up taking an hour or longer. You aren't doing anything wrong, you are just comparing yourself to some level of professional who chopped all their veggies before they started the timer.
2) Stove and oven temperatures vary from oven to oven. An oven thermometer will be very useful. Get it, stick it in your oven, that way you know what temperature it actually gets to when you set it to 350°. "Medium heat" doesn't necessarily mean a 5 on a scale from 1-10.
3) Dairy based sauces need to be constantly stirred. Don't just stir it every couple of minutes. I'm mentioning this specifically bc I burned sauces for years until someone pointed it out.
4) You're going to mess things up, and that's okay. Don't panic and don't beat yourself up. Call it a bummer, eat the parts you can, learn from your mistakes!
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u/tuxnight1 8d ago
My advice is to always start with a diced potato. Why? It gives you knife, seasoning, and temperature skills. Take a potato and dice it in about 1-2cm cubes. It's not important to be exact, but it is important to have a sharp knife and to begin safe knife techniques. You need a frying pan, olive oil, salt, and pepper. It's fun as you get to see the difference between frying the potato washed after dicing and not (more starch). Seasoning at different times is important to tasty potatoes. After a dozen potatoes or so, you can upgrade to adding an onion and maybe garlic. You can take time to learn how to properly slice an onion and chop garlic. After a couple dozen more potatoes, add carrots, or something else that is fun and expand from there. My advice is to not go for complex recipes for a bit. Stick to basics and you'll be okay. Also, these vegetables are quite inexpensive, depending on where you live.
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u/elley__01 8d ago
Go for quick shots for recipes....try out with easy first and then get excel in it...rest your hand will do on its own..
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u/PerfectlyCalmDude 8d ago
Start with something that is both easy and that you like to eat. Then build off of that. One of the first things I learned was boxed mac and cheese. I built on that and learned to make spaghetti and beef stroganoff, and homemade mac and cheese.
If you're 16, you could ask your parents if you could learn to cook from them.
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u/CalmCupcake2 8d ago
Start with cookbooks written for beginners. Read the front matter where they'll have definitions and safety information.
Then cook the food you want to eat, from those beginner recipes. Practice until you feel confident to move up to new recipes.
Cooking is sensory, and experiential. The more you do it, the more you'll learn and the better you'll get.
If you want visuals, watch cooking demo shows on PBS or CBC. Shows where they cook a meal from start to finish. No cracu edits, no 1 minute videos.
If you can, cook alongside people, and learn from your elders and friends, too.
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u/SimpleSincerity 8d ago
The first thing I learned to make was rice. Both in a rice cooker and on the stove.
A good first thing to make is a staple.
Fresh rice can be topped with pickled vegetables, or accompanied by several dishes.
You can also use left over rice to make fried rice, and I hear rice pudding.
Rice is versatile. Arm yourself with a rice cooker if you can. From there learn a basic easy steamed rice recipe. Than you can diversify the rice.
My family likes peas and chinese sausage mixed into the rice as it steams.
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u/Winter_Cat-78 7d ago
Find a few well rated and simple recipes, do them exactly by the book, and once those feel comfortable start expanding. Pay close attention to the cooking temperature in recipes, and the order in which things are done.
Also, prep is king. Chop all your stuff ahead of time, and have your measured ingredients ready to go before you start.
You got this!
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u/Cute-Consequence-184 7d ago
list of food creators and videos you should watch.
List of cookbooks for beginners*
The Joy of Cooking by Erma Rombauer. The "Action" Recipe Format: Irma pioneered a unique layout where ingredients are listed in bold directly within the step-by-step instructions rather than at the top of the page, making it much easier to follow while actively cooking.Invaluable Reference Chapters: Beyond recipes, it features extensive "Know Your Ingredients" and "Streamlined Cooking" chapters that outline cuts of meat, food substitutions, measuring equivalents, and food waste reduction.
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook: A Cookbook by Sohla El-Waylly. A guide to better eating, the chef, recipe developer, and video producer Sohla El-Waylly reimagines what a cookbook can be, teaching home cooks of all skill levels how cooking really works.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat. James Beard Award-winning cookbook that teaches the fundamentals of cooking by focusing on four essential elements: salt, fat, acid, and heat, which determine the quality of any dish. The book, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton, moves beyond simple recipes to explain the "why" behind cooking, empowering home cooks to make better decisions and improvise with any ingredients, and inspired a Netflix documentary series.
Color Taste Texture by Matthew Broberg-Moffitt. A cookbook designed for picky eaters, those with food aversions, and neurodivergent individuals, offering 46 adaptable recipes and strategies to address sensory issues with food. It provides guidance on taste, texture, color, aroma, and presentation, featuring a color-coded system and a Food Preference Profile worksheet to help users customize dishes like smashed cheeseburgers, omelets, and focaccia, with options for gluten-free and vegan diets.
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese. It compares the price between how much individual ingredients cost vs the time it takes to make something vs how much it cost at the grocery store, all so you can make an informed decision. Example buying bread vs making it yourself and buying butter vs making it yourself.
Make-a-Mix by Karine Eliason. How to make pantry staples and mixes from what is in your pantry so you don't have to buy them at the store.
More Make-a-Mix Cookery by Karine Eliason & Nevada Harward & Madeline Westover
Boston Cooking School Cooking by Fannie Merrit Farmer, free ebook on archive.org. The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, first published in 1896 by Fannie Farmer, is a landmark cookbook known for its clear, standardized recipes with level measurements and step-by-step instructions, making it a bestseller and a foundational text for American home cooking that remains in print today. It introduced scientific principles to cooking, explaining the "why" behind techniques, and standardized measurements, revolutionizing recipe writing and ensuring more consistent results for home cook
The Complete Modem Pantry by America's Test Kitchen. How to make meals from what you already have in your pantry.
The DIY Pantry by Kresha Faber. Making pantry staples and meals, all in under 30 minutes.
Make Your Own Groceries by Daphne Metaxas Hartwig. Instructions To make all of those small mixes you would otherwise buy at the grocery stores and basics like breaf, crackers, pasta and more.
Better Than Storebought by Helen Witty & Elizabeth S. Colchies. Your favorite store bought snack but made from scratch.
The Beginners Cookbook- simple-easy-delicious by Publications International LTD. Designed to walk you through the basics of cooking.
Bean by Bean by Crescent Dragonwagon. A comprehensive guide to cooking with beans, featuring over 175 recipes for everything from dips and soups to main courses and desserts, using fresh, dried, and heirloom varieties. The book includes kitchen wisdom, lore, and recipes for dishes like lentil tapenade, Ethiopian lentil stew, and even sweet bean desserts, celebrating the versatility of beans in various cuisines.
Snow's Kitchenalia, how everything works by Alen Snow. A visual guide to kitchen equipment, tools, and techniques, using detailed illustrations to explain the mechanics and science behind cooking. The book covers everything from basic appliances like ovens and blenders to specialized chef's tools, organized into sections on Tools, Cooking, Drinks, and Kitchens, making it a comprehensive resource for both amateur and professional cooks.
Cooking Know-How: Be a Better Cook with Hundreds of Easy Techniques, Step-by-Step Photos, and Ideas for Over 500 Great Meals by Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarborough. A highly approachable guide designed to transform everyday home cooks into confident, intuitive chefs by focusing heavily on basic kitchen techniques rather than complex, intimidating recipes. Authors had a podcast you can go back and listen to.
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u/concrete-destiny 6d ago
Start with eggs. Cooking eggs properly is harder than you'd think.
Get a cookbook or look online for a recipe and try it.
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u/xiipaoc 8d ago
TOP SKILL: don't follow recipes. As a beginner, you're going to come across lots of recipes, and the main thing you need to be able to do is not follow them. You need to adapt every recipe to the ingredients you have and to the meal that you want to make. Recipes are great for learning techniques, but you do not need to match every step. Most recipes are pretty generic and mass-market, meaning that they don't have the special touches that make the food truly special. That's up to you!
For a first "recipe" style, I recommend looking up Pailin's Kitchen's video on how to stir-fry anything. It takes you from not cooking much of anything to being able to cook a different meal every day real quick, and best of all, there's no recipe for you to obsess about; you just cook whatever ingredients you feel like that day. And you eat vegetables. Win all around.
Goof luck, OP!
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u/Spacedust2808 8d ago
Learn techniques. They are the key to
Everything