Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old took a cooking class last week and was able to figure out beating and whipping without any prior experience. If it's the terminology that trips you up, perhaps you could take a class or watch some online cooking videos. Cheesecloth and parchment are both incredibly easy to use, and do not mean that a recipe is complicated. You can take pre-bought, pre-portioned cookie dough and pop it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to bake it. It does not get easier. Cheesecloth strains and/or holds things like a bag. That's it. I get the gist of your message- people need to give simple instructions and recipes to beginners, but some of your examples (not all) indicate that you are intimidated by some things that actually are very basic.

Sigh. I guess my point is just not getting across.

My 7 year old took a cooking class last week and was able to figure out beating and whipping without any prior experience. If it's the terminology that trips you up, perhaps you could take a class or watch some online cooking videos. Cheesecloth and parchment are both incredibly easy to use, and do not mean that a recipe is complicated. You can take pre-bought, pre-portioned cookie dough and pop it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to bake it. It does not get easier. Cheesecloth strains and/or holds things like a bag. That's it. I get the gist of your message- people need to give simple instructions and recipes to beginners, but some of your examples (not all) indicate that you are intimidated by some things that actually are very basic.

When I was learning to cook in my 20s and 30s I made some ghastly food and the memory makes me laugh. But not at the time. I was frustrated and embarrassed. As a PP said you just have to take the plunge at some point with the knowledge that it's not rocket science and you'll improve with experience.

Once I had a few go-to recipes that I could make when someone came over I calmed down a bit. Back in the day when basil pesto was the rage I remember making it by the baggie full and freezing it. My guests has a lot of pasta those days. Then I moved on to stir-frys. The trick to the stir-frys was to chop everything up beforehand. Experienced chefs call it mise en place - French for everything in place. That way you're not trying to cut things up while the food on the stove is burning. I also learned how to roast a chicken with onions and potatoes and make some simple stuff on the grill like shish kebobs and marinated flank steak.

Once I had those dishes under my belt it gave me a lot more confidence to try things and maybe fail but learn something in the process.

You'll get there.

OP here. I appreciate the replies. Actually, I can cook a fairly decent meal. I make a lot of chicken dishes; chili; stir-fries; do a good roast; flank steak; know how to make Thanksgiving dinner and have been doing it for years on my own; can make a simple cake, brownies, etc. I always contribute to potlucks. (Okay, hold the applause.)

The point of my post was more that sometimes I see recipes that use terms that I know are not appropriate for beginners, or use several steps in tandem that I know from experience would cause a beginning cook to take hours to execute. Or that would cause confusion.

That's all.

I understand your frustration OP, but you have to start somewhere and you have to aspire at least to something more than Hamburger Helper. You are not "learning to cook" if you only try recipes that require cutting and boiling. Practice builds confidence. And it's really not as hard as you think. People cook every day, even people who work.

Watch Food Network. Google demos. Pick a recipe that sounds good to you, one that involves a bit of effort, and try it. That's how we learn. No one is born knowing how to cook -- I learned in my 30s. But as PP noted, there is no reason an adult should not be able to cook a decent meal.

I basically taught myself to cook as an adult and as with anything, it takes practice. We're lucky nowadays that there are so many resources online and most food bloggers post pictures of each step so you can check your work. Google and YouTube can help you a lot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way you learn is by putting in the time the first time you make something, so do it. There is no excuse for a grown adult not to know how to cook.

And you can come to my office, where I work full time, and learn all about that too...because there's no excuse for a grown woman not to work.

No, thank you. I have my own job to go to. I am a full time litigator, but that is completely irrelevant to this discussion.

And I guess you were never a beginner cook. You came out of your mother's womb making chestnut glacee.

Ladies, please. You're on the Food forum. Take your snit elsewhere. Thanks.

I agree with the PPs who've said that when people ask them for cooking advice, they don't suggest opening a box of this or a can of that. To me that isn't real cooking!
The only suggestion I have for beginner cooks is to just plunge in and cook, so that your first time is not when you have to bring something to a potluck. Even if your dish is not perfect, your family/ friends are the lucky beneficiary of something home-made, wholesome and tasty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way you learn is by putting in the time the first time you make something, so do it. There is no excuse for a grown adult not to know how to cook.

And you can come to my office, where I work full time, and learn all about that too...because there's no excuse for a grown woman not to work.

No, thank you. I have my own job to go to. I am a full time litigator, but that is completely irrelevant to this discussion.

And I guess you were never a beginner cook. You came out of your mother's womb making chestnut glacee.

I can understand where you are coming from, OP. I learned to cook as an adult. But there are some cooking terms that are basic enough that you need to learn them if you want to cook something that doesn't come straight from a box. I encountered my favorite confusing term when I learned to make bread. For many bread recipes you need to knead the dough until it is "satiny and elastic;" what the hey.

I've always thought that new cooks are asking for tired and true recipes that have more steps than combining different pre-made ingredients together. It's not that I don't have a few recipes like that, its just when someone says they want to learn to cook I don't think to pull them out of the box.

I would go to that box if someone asked for a recipe with only 4 or 5 steps.

To beat egg whites just make sure everything - bowl, beaters - are absolutely clean. Do not get any of the yolk in the white. Any impurity makes it hard for them to get fluffy. The objective is to basically fill the whites with air. I beat cream when it's cold and the whites of room temperature eggs.

You have to look up an online demo and see folding to get it right. I had a tough time with that too. It's basically making eights in your bowl and not collapsing the air out of beaten egg whites or cream.

I love cooking and baking but will not teach my daughters as I think it's something any motivated adult can learn with practice. I prefer that they spend their time on their passions, not mine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way you learn is by putting in the time the first time you make something, so do it. There is no excuse for a grown adult not to know how to cook.

And you can come to my office, where I work full time, and learn all about that too...because there's no excuse for a grown woman not to work.

No, thank you. I have my own job to go to. I am a full time litigator, but that is completely irrelevant to this discussion.

Anonymous wrote:The only way you learn is by putting in the time the first time you make something, so do it. There is no excuse for a grown adult not to know how to cook.

And you can come to my office, where I work full time, and learn all about that too...because there's no excuse for a grown woman not to work.

The only way you learn is by putting in the time the first time you make something, so do it. There is no excuse for a grown adult not to know how to cook.

I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but as a beginner I see a lot of posts that are just well beyond beginning cooks or non-cooks and I thought I would point out why:

We don't know what it means to beat, fold, or whip. So telling us all we have to do is whip or fold or beat this or that until it's fluffy is not an easy or no-fail recipe. It's gobbledy-gook. Anything beyond stir or cut up needs to be explained.

We don't know what soft peaks or hard peaks are. So that's not an easy recipe or a beginner recipe. And although I know intellectually at this point what soft peaks look like, 3 out of 5 times, I can't achieve them, so I tend to avoid those recipes anyway.

A recipe that calls for three different steps -- for example, making your own crust, making the filling, and then decorating the top, is going to take HOURS for a beginner. I'm serious. We can't multi-task like experienced cooks. We can't watch a double-boiler and wash this and chop that at the same time. It's also, potentially, three different set-ups for failure. Utter and complete failure.

Recipes that call for cheesecloth, double-boilers, parchment, and other such implements -- not beginning recipes.