Top 10 basic cooking skills

[Anonymous]

I think it’s important to know that with cooking, it’s OK to use what you have. Don’t worry if you don’t have fresh rosemary; don’t let that stop you from making the recipe. Use what you have, or omit. Don’t be afraid to veer from the recipe.

Learn to use your eyes, ears and nose to gauge what needs more time, what is done, what should be checked for internal temperature, what’s starting to look too brown, etc. Step away from the recipe and use your senses! Add and omit, free yourself from being dependent on the recipe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Hacks like using microwave to cook onion, garlic, herbs instead of sauté in oil. Knowing to add the garlic, ginger in the center of the pan in a bit of liquid for 30 seconds after onion is translucent. How to bloom spices if starting with those. How to chop, dice, cube. How to simmer on low heat. How to store vegetables, herbs, etc appropriately.

I'm not familiar with the first two and I'm a pretty good cook. Can you say more?

It did take my about a year of burning garlic in things like stir fries about 20 years ago to switch to adding it closer to the end of the cooking process. But I hadn't heard of this liquid idea.

[Anonymous]

I heard this like: what should my kids know before leaving home. Assuming they already learned to make cookies and brownies and sandwiches and grilled cheese and pasta growing up.

We taught:

- burre blanc
- basic white sauce and how to expand it
- how to cook a burger, chicken tenders, and steak
- roasting a whole chicken with veggies
- how to build a salad
- how to steam veggies
- mashed potatoes
- how to cook rice
- how to prepare risotto
- generous use of fresh herbs and spices

[Anonymous]

How to make and handle:

Rice
Chicken and other meats
Eggs

Basic family recipes for passing on before they leave for college. I really think this is the way to do it.

If it reassures you at all, my mother taught me next to nothing about cooking and I taught myself starting at 12 out of necessity. I am a decent cook as an adult but it was a lot of trial and error, which is never actually a bad thing.