Learning how to cook!

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meggwtw
meggwtw Posts: 95 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Where did you learn to cook, and how expensive was it to take classes? I need to learn!
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  • DAdele823
    DAdele823 Posts: 2 Member
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    I found the Food Network to be a great place to start! Good luck:)
  • copperhead799
    copperhead799 Posts: 2 Member
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    no need to spend money on cooking classes, just learn on your own from experience just like everything else in life.
  • rachface1234
    rachface1234 Posts: 227 Member
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    Hi friend! learning how to cook need not cost tons of money! I love to cook, I am a foodie, I learned lots of basics from my mom, but the internet is a VAST resource for cooking, and most of my love for cooking came from doing it this way! You can prepare so many interesting healthy foods for yourself at home! Try this, start with a site like allrecipes.com, you can look up recipes with lots of stars but few ingredients, and start simple. Try one new recipe every few days. If you don't know what an instruction or ingredient is, look it up! Lots of free youtubes on how tos, lots of great foodie sites with great advice on methods etc. I would be happy to assist with questions, etc. if you would like to friend me!
  • yelliezx
    yelliezx Posts: 633 Member
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    Anything I want to cook, I google and find a recipe that is at like 4 or 5 stars. This usually works out pretty well.
  • kganc001
    kganc001 Posts: 317
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    Honestly? Food network. I know what I like to eat, so I google recipes similar to flavors I like (things based around chicken, asian flavors, etc) and I just follow the recipe.

    Watch youtube videos if you have a hard time figuring out some of the technical terms!! :) My mom taught me how to cook some as a child (i.e. pumpkin pie) but I'm pretty much self-taught.

    www.skinytaste.com
    Go there for health conscious meals :) I make TONS of meals off that site! She's awesome.
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    There is an old saying if you can read you can cook.

    Checkout cookbooks at library.

    Go on you tube

    Google healthy recipes


    Herb
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    My mom and grandmother taught me the basics. The rest I learned from experimentation, trial and error, etc. I'm sure you can find some off-the-beaten-path type classes in your area, but if you have a major Whole Foods nearby, they have great cooking classes. Prices are going to vary based on what kind of class it is (a basic skills class or specific foods) and also the expertise of the instructor. Anywhere from $30 to $100 has been my experience, but the $100 classes are typically multiple-course meals and not really basic classes.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    My mother taught me and didn't charge a dime!
  • cavia
    cavia Posts: 457 Member
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    I initially learned from a book called "The Cook's Bible". Now, all of my culinary skills come from youtube. foodwishes, Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, My Little Paris Kitchen to name a few of my faves that I enjoy gleaning recipes from.
  • Amitysk
    Amitysk Posts: 705 Member
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    Food Network really was the inspiration. I watched Rachael Ray and Ina Garten religiously! Now I do my own thing but alot of tips and techniques I learned from reading a ton of recipies and watching those shows.
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
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    pinterest.

    ETA: I had basic knowledge, and i'm smart enough to follow a recipe.
  • KatLifter
    KatLifter Posts: 1,314 Member
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    When I was learning about healthier cooking I subscribed to a bunch of blogs. They gave recipes, instructions, information on ingredients and substitutions, and some of them videos to help get started.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    The Joy of Cooking and the Boston Cooking School Cookbook, and asking my mother.
  • chileheadmike
    chileheadmike Posts: 78 Member
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    20 years in the restaurant business. Started as dishwasher, ended up a kitchen manager/sous chef.

    As creepy as he was, Jeff Smith put out some very good cookbooks that explained the basics very well. You may find some at garage sales and used book stores.
  • GnomeLove
    GnomeLove Posts: 379
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    From my dad, and then I just started experimenting when I grew older. I check out blogs, pinterest, allrecipes, cookbooks, etc. for ideas. Most of the time I just kind of wing it.
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
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    I use recipes. If I do exactly what it says, I get the food I was trying to make. No mystery to it!
  • Delicate
    Delicate Posts: 625 Member
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    I mostly use recipes, (preferably the ones with the good reviews)

    failing that, slow cooking (crock pot) since it never burns if it has liquid in it!
  • LoreleiEvil
    LoreleiEvil Posts: 65 Member
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    PBS.

    America's Test Kitchen is a great show, even if Chris Kimball is a bit of a twerp. Julia Child taught me to cook on Saturday afternoons.

    Jeff Smith knew how to cook. You don't want to spend time with the guy (creep) but he knew how to cook. Food Network is a waste now, sadly. All "personalities", no real chefs.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    Where did you learn to cook, and how expensive was it to take classes? I need to learn!

    I started cooking when I was 8.

    You can of course, do the same. If it was easy enough for an 8 year to start learning, as an adult you'll quickly surpass what I learned then!

    Get some cook books, and get a book called La Technique - that's an amazing reference for technique.

    Oh yeah, Youtube. I plan on using it the next time I make foie gras au torchon so I can try to get it a little more dialed in technically.
  • chadraeder3
    chadraeder3 Posts: 288
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    I learned how to cook from my parents cost nothing. I would suggest that you might want to look in to a program that used to be on the Food network called "Good Eats" by Alton Brown he is very scientific with the approach to cooking you can find most of the episodes on youtube another program that I like is "Americas test Kitchen" good recipes and scientific too.

    If you have some friends that are good cooks ask them if they can teach you a little like knife skills and you can learn from them they probably would enjoy the help too you can make a few meals together.

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