I can’t, but I’m learning..

Recently I’ve made a beef madras curry, and a garlic honey chicken noodle type dish – both in the slow cooker – which is (possibly) one of the easiest ways to cook. Although I enjoyed the meals, the process of preparing it, I found a bit too stressful and I’m thinking once/if I move on to proper ovens, saucepans etc I’ll lose all interest completely!
Does it get easier? Do any of you have a nice simple recipe that’s easy to follow?

does beans on toast count?

or egg bread? or nachos?

if so, then yes… i can!

otherwise, no, but i reckon i could knock something up if required.

i am always in awe of the missus when she does a roast or similar, timing everything so its all ready at the same time.

It was a good curry right? You are over thinking it, just keep going

Can you cook?

Yes.

As with all things, it gets easier with practice. Most curries are pretty easy – just download a recipe and follow it. A couple of tips:
* If it’s using loads of spices and you don’t have them, just substitute all of them for a tablespoon or two of hot curry powder. (In general, if you’re missing an ingredient and it’s not one of the main ones, just google alternatives. Or leave it out. It won’t be the same, but a lot of the time it won’t matter too much).
* Add the salt at the end, give it a decent stir, and TASTE IT. You can always add more salt, but removing it… For a big pot of curry start with half a teaspoon.
* If in doubt keep the heat low. You can’t unburn food!

Bonus tip:
To reduce the stress get everything ready before you start. Get the ingredients out of the cupboard, check you’ve got everything, then chop your onions / dice your carrots / weigh out your lentils etc. Having the ingredients prepared makes cooking a lot easier – you’re not trying to fry an onion (and avoid it burning) while simultaneously peeling a potato or whatever… If you want to get fancy, this is known as “mise en place”.

yes. and very good at it too.
but i love food, and that obviously helps loads.

Yes it gets much easier – and actually enjoyable, especially when accompanied with wine.

It is actually quite hard to produce something totally inedible, though my sister once made a liver and bacon casserole at school which the dog wouldn’t eat.

both in the slow cooker – which is (possibly) one of the easiest ways to cook.

Slow cookers are awesome, the meat is so tender after spending a day in there.

Yes it gets much easier – and actually enjoyable, especially when accompanied with wine.

Does it get easier?

Yip. I can do loads of decent meals now without needing to bother referring to recipes. Whats better is that once you get pretty good at it I find its got really enjoyable and I love going in the kitchen, putting the radio on, cracking a beer open and pottering around, cooking. Its a great way to wind down when you finish work

Do any of you have a nice simple recipe that’s easy to follow?

If you want a good one to do in the slow cooker, these are personal favourites

Braised Beef Goulash with Smoked Pimenton

Chicken and chorizo casserole

And a quick and easy one thats always good

Corned-beef Hash with Fried Eggs

Yes, and we did Gousto meals for a year or so over lockdown which counter-intuitively maybe re-invigorated my passion for cooking from scratch more often!
Although they don’t set out to teach you to cook, you will find yourself doing a lot of the techniques over and over again and if you follow the recipes you’ll learn the right way to do stuff, and in the right order! Plus they have a huge range of recipes from actually a fairly narrow pool of ingredients, spices etc which is handy as you don’t have to keep millions of spices etc in stock (we don’t get the meal kits any more but I still almost always cook from the recipe cards, 99% of the meals I would say were excellent which is a far better hit-ratio than any cook book I’ve ever had!)
Would definitely recommend to someone getting into cooking.

Yes, I can cook to feed myself no issue there, but can be lazy to prepare due to the small kitchen.

The thing that put me off cooking is electric cooker because I want gas turbo flame thrower style burner.

If you really want to guarantee the food will taste good then deep fried them especially meat. Deep fried them half way then then put them in the oven. Done!

Tonight I am just going to boil a chicken. Boil pot of water, put in some ginger, spring onion and salt. Then put the chicken into the pot with rolling boil water for sometime (never time it me) and use a skewer to pierce the thickest part of the chicken to ensure no more red water come out. Then it’s cooked. Take chicken out to let it cool/rest, then chop it to bite side pieces as you wish. Dip with source. Simple.

Yes and I enjoy it but I used to have a relatively limited range of recipes, I’d often find myself going for the same half dozen things but I used to pop into our small local supermarket and buy stuff more or less as I needed it plus I’d do some batch cooking and keep it in the freezer.

Then back in May last year, I had an operation on my foot so I knew I wouldn’t be walking to the supermarket for a while so I started ordering Gousto boxes. Dead easy – pick a few recipes from the 80 or so available each week and a few days later a box of ingredients arrives along with the recipe cards. I’ve kept them going, it’s a much broader range of food, no food waste and all pretty straightforward. There’s no obligation, you can skip boxes anytime, you just pay for what you have. Plus you get to try loads of things you’d never think of cooking normally!

Speaking of which, I have a couple of discount codes so if anyone wants 60% off their first box and 25% off boxes for the first 2 months, drop me a PM…

YEp, pretty good at it too.

patience is the key

Yes it gets easier, especially once you understand the basics of building and encorporating flavours (not hard). I rarely cook anything in more than one pan (well apart from a bit of rice or spuds on the side). Stress is a natural response to new things but after a while it becomes second nature, just keep doing it – learn from your mistakes.

The Guardian website has a great series called ‘How to Cook the Perfect…’ The author tries out different variations and then gives their best version at the end. Well worth a look for all sorts of things:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/nov/25/how-to-make-perfect-bolognese

I love going in the kitchen, putting the radio on, cracking a beer open and pottering around, cooking. Its a great way to wind down when you finish work

This^

The BBC recopies site is pretty reliable reference.

Also, we’ve got dozens of cook books, but we usually revert to the first Jamie Oliver or Prashad by Kaushy Patel. If not to follow directly but to pick up ideas and come up with something yourself. Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.

Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.

Hello, Ottolenghi!

The River Cottage “Everyday…” books are good for fairly simple recipes using easily obtainable ingredients.

Speaking of which, I have a couple of discount codes so if anyone wants 60% off their first box and 25% off boxes for the first 2 months, drop me a PM…

doesn’t help you of course, but you can get the same deal via Quidco etc PLUS you get cashback too 😃

I like to think so!
I probably do 90% of the cooking in our house and always enjoy it. My recently acquired obsession with expensive pans is proving tricky (and yes the pans do matter in some circumstances).

Gousto meals

Yes these (or I think a similar one) seem good enough to get my daughter cooking some pretty nice stuff starting from level 0

Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.

Or ridiculous amounts of equipment which costs a fortune and you’re never likely to use again.

doesn’t help you of course, but you can get the same deal via Quidco etc PLUS you get cashback too 😃

Yes but if you use MY discount codes, I get credit on my Gousto account and you get the warm fuzzy feeling of being kind to a fellow forumite… 😉

yes. and very good at it too.
but i love food, and that obviously helps loads.

Very much this.
I didn’t have a clue until about 25 years ago my sister in law who’s family had a restaurant taught me some very basic skills. Chopping an onion, making base sauces using tomatoes or milk, cream and cheese as well as using garlic and other seasoning to enhance said sauces. I just took it from there.
The internet is great for recipes, I use bbc good food a lot and as others have said, don’t worry about leaving out any ingredients so long as it’s not a major player.
Cooking has definitely become a big part of everyday life and A passion of mine.

I love going in the kitchen, putting the radio on, cracking a beer open and pottering around, cooking.

Edit, exactly this. Best bit of the day.

Although I enjoyed the meals, the process of preparing it, I found a bit too stressful and I’m thinking once/if I move on to proper ovens, saucepans etc I’ll lose all interest completely!

youll come to realise that at least 80% of stuff really isn’t that stressful/complex and if you get it slightly wrong it wont matter (in fact, because hobs and pans etc are all different, and ingredients vary you and I could follow the same recipe exactly to the letter and it won’t be identical) – it will still be edible.  Even when you burn stuff most of it is fine.

Yes, quite well if I put my mind to it.

But I don’t get excited by it. It just needs doing by someone in the house.

I really like cooking but trying to get things that all 6 of us will eat can be a bit hit and miss. One tip is never beleive the prep time thats given in recipes its usually bollocks unless you do it as a job.

Bonus tip:
To reduce the stress get everything ready before you start. Get the ingredients out of the cupboard, check you’ve got everything, then chop your onions / dice your carrots / weigh out your lentils etc. Having the ingredients prepared makes cooking a lot easier – you’re not trying to fry an onion (and avoid it burning) while simultaneously peeling a potato or whatever… If you want to get fancy, this is known as “mise en place”.

I do this much to the annoyance of the Mrs, I like to get everything ready then youre not rushing about like a fool trying to keep up with the stuff your cooking.

Yes.
We hardly ever have a meal that hasn’t been made from scratch, apart from the local bakery pies – mmm pie.
I’m not the best of cooks, but I was taught the basics: how to chop, make sauces, food hygiene eg handling chicken and making sure pork is properly cooked through, how to brown meat and most importantly of all understanding timings. But, I love baking more.

I’ve started using the microwave more and batch cooking using the slow cooker. Rice in a microwave is so flipping easy, who knew?

Anyone, no matter how bad a cook can make soup. Soup is one of the healthiest things to eat, it’s easy to batch cook and easy to freeze.

Some however are bloody useless with unobtainable ingredients or huge amounts of prep time.

Or ridiculous amounts of equipment which costs a fortune and you’re never likely to use again.

The Guardian ‘Feast’ supplement on a Saturday certainly is a feast. Hello, Ottolenghi features prominently. A feast of the most ludicrous ingredients, a lot of which I’ve never heard of and are probably only available at 3 deli’s in Islington, and prep times which would take up most of your weekend. Plus most of the recipes sound absolutely bloody awful

A fantastic faff-free book that I used all the time when I started cooking properly was Nigel Slaters 30 Minute Cook

I love his unfussy attitude. The preface to the book simply says: at the end of the day, you’re just making something to eat

Anyone, no matter how bad a cook can make soup

Almost true. My mother was a wizard(ess?) at soup. We knew that her dementia had advanced to the point that it was time for her to go into a care home when the church for whom she cooked soup every Wednesday asked us to stop her as the soup had become inedible.

That aside, the Covent Garden Soup cookbook is ace. Soup with some decent bread is a brilliant meal.

That aside, the Covent Garden Soup cookbook is ace.

It is indeed! My favourite recipe is Arbroath smokie and Scottish cheddar soup. Basically; cheese and smoked fish soup. Bloody lovely!

I was taught the basics: how to chop, make sauces, food hygiene eg handling chicken and making sure pork is properly cooked through, how to brown meat and most importantly of all understanding timings.

Forgot to mention food hygiene. When you’re preparing your food do the veg first, then you can use the same knife and chopping board to prepare the meat (incl. fish, chicken, etc. etc). Always wash your hands after handling meat (oo er), and don’t use the board or knife again until you’ve cleaned them.

My best recipes have come from things like… hmm I’ve got some cod, some lettuce and some bacon.. what can I make with those? Search goodfood and there’s a decent sounding meal. Turns out lovely.
Most things I can’t be arsed with doing properly from scratch though (I’m mostly cooking for 1), so jars of Italian sauces, curry type “kits” are good enough. Tasty as any curry cooked from scratch tbh. goes for the noodle ones, Thai etc. Easy and delicious. No place for snobbery in my one-man kitchen.

Yes, you can find me on OnlyFlans…

cod, some lettuce and some baco

Pad fried cod with chargrilled lettuce and whatever dressing you have the stuff to make? (Crispy chopped bacon on top obvs)

My grandfather was a chef (Supposedly. I never met him). Both my parents could cook to a decent enough level and got us kids involved and then I went and got a food related degree and worked in the food industry for a few years. That doesn’t mean that I can cook, but I might have struggled in new product development without being able to put ingredients together. 😀

It’s my 20th wedding anniversary this year and my wife still complains that I haven’t made her something that I used to claim was a guaranteed winner on an early romantic date. (It might have been a sole dish, with a cider sauce and mushrooms, all in a puff pastry case. I seem to remember that a simple steak in pepper sauce worked better. Anyway, 20 years and no need for shenanigans like that any more!)

Pad fried cod with chargrilled lettuce..

Er, I ate it a couple of weeks ago. As I said it was nice. 😆
(oh, this was it – https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cod-bacon-lettuce-peas )

I cook simple stuff using a paste, bit of stock and chopping up onions, garlic & peppers etc.
Makes me feel like a chef when I’m not 😆
Tonight’s speciality is going to be a seafood & chorizo linguine knocked up after several beers.

was a guaranteed winner on an early romantic date

Shagging Mash?

I used to work with a serial adulterer. Shagging Mash was his secret weapon.

Yes, you can find me on OnlyFlans…

🙂

Its the only creative thing I can do.  I struggle a bit to cook just for me but I do have folk round to eat and love doing that.

Specialties are chinese style, ( and I don’t just mean a wokked stirfry) stews and classic fish cookery.  I can bake and it always tastes good but by ‘eck cakes always look like they were made by a five year old. If / when I cook its almost always from scratch barring pastry

20 years ago at uni the height of my culinary prowess was a supernoodle sandwich.

These days I tend to either stick with a few things I’ve managed to get pretty much perfected. Staples like Bolognese, chili, curry (I have one or two go to recipes). If you can cook a good spag bol you’re halfway there. Make sure it simmers for a couple of hours though, anyone that cooks a bolognese sauce in 30mins can’t be trusted.

Other than that I pick thing off website or telly that I think look achievable. I quite enjoy the process (mainly because I can be in the kitchen and ignore everyone else), but I also enjoy the end result and the reactions the family have when stuffing their faces.

I will never starve, can cook well enough to keep myself and others alive, but I don’t really enjoy it. My mum is a trained chef, I probably set my expectations too high.

First roast dinner I cooked was Christmas Day 2006. MrsMC had given birth by cesarean 5 days before, so I couldn’t leave it to her, really. Surprisingly easy to do if you get organised with your timings and don’t try to do too much