+30 Experience Points to WhiteGhost

[WhiteGhost]

For the first time in my life, I cooked a meal from scratch!

 

I have been able to independently feed myself since I was a child, but it has always been either processed foods or stuff out of a can/bottle/box.  I once tried to pass off making tacos as cooking, but the only thing that didn't consist of opening a jar/bag and dumping out the contents was the meat, and that was just heating up ground beef and mixing it with taco seasoning.  

 

Tonight's dinner? Spaghetti!.  Pretty simple fare, but you have to start somewhere.  Sauce was completely homemade, with only the stewed tomatoes coming from cans.

 

It came out pretty bland, but nothing a little salt couldn't help.

[Guzzi]

Way to go man!  Cooking is a brilliant skill to learn but it's amazingly intimidating if you don't know how.  

 

There are some really good videos out there for absolute beginners and a British celebrity cook called Delia Smith has several cookbooks that are really good and explained really well, if you're interested.  

[WhiteGhost]

I bought a cookbook called How to Cook Everything. It is great in that it explains in a lot of detail all of the steps.

 

The hardest part (besides making the time for it) is finding the ingredients.  I had to order all of the spices I needed online a few days in advance.

[Coco P Loco]

Woo hoo - a fabulous start!

Once you get the seasoning/herbs/spices right, you'll never look back!

 

When I moved from the UK to India I had a rude awakening... Nearly everything I 'cooked' before the move included packets, jars, bottle, tins, or reheating in oven or microwave. Once I got to India, I realised that I was going to have to learn to make stuff myself, though we do get a few packets or jars here (imported) for Italian/Mexican/Thai foods. I now have a decent repertoire of recipes, but still can't make circular chapatis/rotis even after 10 years here

 

[Guzzi]

5 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I bought a cookbook called How to Cook Everything. It is great in that it explains in a lot of detail all of the steps.

 

The hardest part (besides making the time for it) is finding the ingredients.  I had to order all of the spices I needed online a few days in advance.

 

Ugh, yeah!  Buying all that stuff is such a PITA when you first start, and it seems like no two recipes use the same stuff!  But once you've got a selection in your pantry it gets easier, and a lot of herbs/spices can be swapped for others rather than buying a whole new set every time, you'll soon find out what they taste like and which ones you like.  Some of the basics I always keep are vegetable stock; a range of herbs and spices; jars of ready chopped garlic, ginger and chillies in vinegar so they last ages; balsamic, red and white wine vinegar; dijon and wholegrain mustard; tomato puree; tinned tomatoes, beans, and coconut milk: flour and cornflour; frozen chopped onions, peppers and mushrooms, they're so handy for when you don't have fresh, or just can't be arsed to chop (and they're cheap too!); pasta and rice rice including micro rice, you get lots of really nice flavoured micro rices and they can be ready in just 2 mins; and lots others but those are the ones I probably use the most (or used to when I was able to cook).

 

Not much then, huh?   

[Sloth the Enduring]

Nice one. Your nutrition is about to get a whole lot better.

[WhiteGhost]

56 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Nice one. Your nutrition is about to get a whole lot better.

Only if I keep it up. This may be a good thing to consider for the upcoming 4wc.

[WhiteGhost]

2 hours ago, Guzzi said:

Not much then, huh?   

I'm not even sure what sone of those things are...

 

I plan to just getwhatever I need for the upcoming dish, and I suspect eventually I will have a fairly good selection of herb, spices and whatever else I may need.

[WhiteGhost]

7 hours ago, Coco P Loco said:

though we do get a few packets or jars here (imported) for Italian/Mexican/Thai foods. 

 

yep, that sounds like what I can get here as well. Thank heavens for online shopping as well so I can find some of the things even the import shops don't have (like sage)