I think some of this depends on how much you are into this. I personally got overwhelmed with cookbooks with a lot if information. Look for simple recipes of food you will like. When trying a recipe for the first time, do all the prep first (cut what needs to be cut, measure out the ingredients) and allow double the time it says. Start with meals that only have one thing that needs to be “watched”. So if you are cooking chicken breasts in a pan, pair it with a salad you can make before hand and fresh rolls from the store. Or a rice dish that is “put in pan and let sit”. Where mistakes happen is when you are trying to cook two different things and the timing goes wrong.

Agree with much of what’s said here. Ina does have many simple recipes that yield great results. If you’re going to cook anything or many things of hers I also recommend checking out Storeboughtisfine - there is both a blog and an Instagram account. He cooked his way through all of Ina’s 1300+ recipes over the course of about eight years (and documented it) in an effort to teach himself to cook. So if there is anything confusing or complicated in an Ina recipe, Trent will almost always explain it or break it down for you in layman’s terms.

Agree with watching Food Network shows (even if they’re just on in the background) —you will pick up things even if they’re just concepts that will help you later.

I’m quite a good cook and I wish my knife skills were better so I see the point of those suggesting knife skills courses and good knives but I feel that if you’re just starting out that maybe isn’t as important.

As someone else suggested, start with things that don’t require a ton of precision — recipes that use sausage or meat that has already been cooked or smoked (pasta with rotisseries chicken). Things with ground meat like meatloaf and meatballs, and Bolognese sauces - less intimidating than say, a rack of lamb.

And find someone or several people who resonate with you. If you find someone whose videos either on Food Network or YouTube or wherever hard to follow or their personality is annoying to you or they just make things that you don’t think sound good you’re not going to want to cook the recipes no matter how good they might be. For example, I enjoy Bobby Flay. I watch his shows. I have his cookbooks and use them, I’ve been to his restaurants. I know a lot of people can’t stand him.

I really like Bittman’s Cook Everything books. He talks about the skills, the recipes are pretty much all attainable, and he always gives lots of options. For me, I think that’s great because you learn to see recipes less as specific instructions and more as flexible things, which for cooking, they are.

I love cooking but I’ve gifted those books
to college bound folks in my circle and they’re always appreciated.

One fun thing to do is pick
Some completely random ingredient at the grocery store that interests your family and then learn how to use it. We have had so many fun and wonderful discoveries that way.

Anonymous wrote:Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything has a lot of really basic info -- like charts that say how much water and how long to cook every grain, etc.

I took that book out from the library and found he assumes a basic set of skills that I did not have. I needed a book that comes two books BEFORE that book.

Anonymous wrote:Invest in 1 high quality chef knife. Take that block or drawer of crap and trash it.

Take a knife skills class at Sur la Table -- not only will you learn knife skills, you'll get to try out different knives, than get a discount on your favorite.

Take that thing to be sharpened twice a year

Anonymous wrote:I really liked (and still use) Martha Stewart’s Cooking School book. I got it 18
yrs ago to help me figure out how to cook, as a newlywed. I’m the product of the Shake N Bake and Hamburger Helper generation. I didn’t even realize you can make brownies and cakes without a boxed mix until I was an adult.

I was floored to find out there's some way to make pancakes without a box. Honestly, I like box mixes of all kinds.

Agree that I mainly learned to cook from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Also those meal kits can be useful from Blue Apron to just force yourself to try new recipes.

Cooking classes can be a fun way to learn skills too.

I watch a lot of cooking shows, my favorites are ones with Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, Giada, Nigella Lawson.

Anonymous wrote:Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything has a lot of really basic info -- like charts that say how much water and how long to cook every grain, etc.

+1. This is a great book.

Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything has a lot of really basic info -- like charts that say how much water and how long to cook every grain, etc.

Invest in 1 high quality chef knife. Take that block or drawer of crap and trash it.

Alton Brown books and videos.

I really liked (and still use) Martha Stewart’s Cooking School book. I got it 18
yrs ago to help me figure out how to cook, as a newlywed. I’m the product of the Shake N Bake and Hamburger Helper generation. I didn’t even realize you can make brownies and cakes without a boxed mix until I was an adult.

Yes, for knife skills and basic concept of cooking.
Use YouTube tutorials.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start cooking for my family. My current skills don’t go much further than pasta, rice, and steamed broccoli. It’s sad. Can anyone recommend a book / website / other source that could serve as both motivation and education?

Pam Anderson’s How to Cook without a Book.

Was just going to recommend this.

Also, watch Serious Eats videos -- very detailed about what to do and how the food will look.

Ina has great recipes, plus the sage advice that store-bought is fine

Anonymous wrote:Look for some really well reviewed recipes online and get started. As you go, you’ll learn something in every recipe.

Start with flavors your family already likes. Try a few different versions of a dish to see which you like. Keep track of those and build up a library.

This. My initial recipes were from family for dishes I liked. Now that I know which tastes / techniques I prefer, I tend to search for recipes, read reviews and usually go through several recipes for same dish, this gives a better idea and I can adjust things to my taste and based on reviews.

I also like watching YouTube videos, which helps visualize things. With experience you’ll find that you tend to like certain chef’s recipes better or certain blogs more than others and they’d be your go to.