Cooking is a tricky business, even if you’re a professionally trained chef. Food science is complicated, and mastering recipes takes years of practice under a seasoned chef. That’s why so many cooks turn to cookbooks, which provide knowledge and inspiration while teaching novice chefs the basic techniques and terms they need to know.
But with too many cookbooks and too little time, it can be difficult to learn everything there is to know about cooking. To make the process easier, many chefs tend to use Modern Recipes available online and various cooking apps to find inspiration and learn new techniques. These resources can offer them the creative inspiration they need to curate truly unique dishes.
Anyway, the objective of our blog is to offer some beginner-friendly ideas to anyone who is new to cooking, so that they can embrace this art with open arms.
Here’s How to Ace a Beginner-Friendly Recipe:
- Learn Basic Techniques and Understand Cooking Terms.
Although cooking may not seem like the most enjoyable way to spend your weekend, the practice can be immensely rewarding. And in order to truly master the art of cooking, you have to start with the basics-and there’s no better place to start than the pantry. From there, look past the recipes and read through a few cooking guides to learn how to measure ingredients and cook food properly. As you gain proficiency, you’ll gain confidence and be able to try more advanced techniques.
- Choose an easy-to-follow recipe
Choosing an easy-to-follow recipe is essential for beginners in cooking, as the initial experience can be intimidating. With simplified cooking instructions and commonly used ingredients, you can focus on mastering fundamental techniques without feeling overwhelmed. Opt for recipes that provide step-by-step instructions, clear measurements, and familiar cooking terms. This approach can not only make the learning process more enjoyable but can also help build a strong foundation for your culinary skills. For example, you could learn how to make Italian meatloaf or chili garlic chicken fried rice, provided you find a website, book, or video with a clear and concise presentation of the recipe. Following a tried-and-true recipe from a reliable platform will not only give you valuable hands-on experience but also help you develop an understanding of the principles behind the dish.
- Pick The Freshest Ingredients Possible.
If you’re new to cooking or a seasoned chef, it’s helpful to know that some ingredients lose nutrients when they’re past their prime. The fresher the ingredients, the more vibrant and flavorful your food will be. The fresher the ingredients, the more likely you are to avoid foodborne illness associated with spoiled food. While you might know to check to make sure meat is “fresh” by looking or smelling for rotten odors, sometimes it’s hard to tell if the turkey or ground beef you’re buying is fresh. One way to tell is to check the “sell by” date, which tells you how long the store will keep the meat before putting it on display. You can also look at the “use by” date or “sell by” date, which tells you when the store will repackage the meat for resale.
- Have Knowledge of The Characteristics of Ingredients That Will Be Used.
When you cook for the first time, you may feel overwhelmed. There are so many ingredients, and you don’t know much about them. When cooking, it’s important always to use fresh ingredients-and when you know what to look for, it’s easy to choose quality ingredients that will stand up to your cooking skills. For example, when making a salad, it’s important to choose fresh greens and vegetables and either buy sliced, pre-washed lettuce from the produce section or wash, dry, and slice your own. When buying meat, look for fresh, never frozen, and lean cuts of beef, pork, and chicken; avoid fatty cuts like pork belly and bacon, and opt for poultry like boneless, skinless chicken breasts. For oils, lemon and olive oil are both popular cooking staples, but olive oil can burn easily, so avoid using it for frying.
- Be Unafraid to Get Messy but Don’t Forget to Tidy-Up
When starting out with a new recipe or cooking technique, your first instinct may be to keep your eyes peeled for a recipe that looks pretty messy. After all, a tangle of greens and a bunch of skewers of meat can get a little overwhelming. But a little mess is okay when learning a new recipe, so long as you remember to clean up after yourself. There is no greater feeling than making something from scratch. The pride you feel in knowing you successfully (and deliciously) created something from scratch is difficult to put into words. But for those of you who are beginners, being in the kitchen, mixing and stirring, and measuring isn’t as easy as it might seem.
- Practice A Lot.
Cooking can be intimidating. If you’re a beginning chef, you probably have a lot of questions about what all those cooking terms mean and where to even begin. How do you start learning to cook? Is it as simple as cooking a chicken breast? Maybe not. Mastering recipes takes practice, and the more you cook, the better you’ll get.
Cooking at home can be intimidating, especially if you haven’t done it before. But practicing with recipes that are beginner-friendly is a great way to ease yourself into becoming a self-taught chef in the kitchen. There are easy recipes that are easy enough for a beginner to master, but you don’t have to be a master chef to make those recipes.