Cooking is a great skill to have. You can cook yourself delicious meals and impress others with your skills. When you begin cooking, you can start to enjoy the process of creating new recipes and learning new skills in the kitchen. Not sure where to start? We have created our top 10 tips for teaching yourself how to cook.
1. Learn the basic skills
There are many skills which are included in delicious cooking meals. Taking time to explore the basics is key to gaining knowledge on cooking. For example, practicing your cutting skills will allow you to become more confident when handling a knife. Many chefs have stated that the 5 basic cutting techniques are chopping, dicing, mincing, julienne, and chiffonade. By learning these skills, you will have the ability to replicate almost every recipe you wish.
2. Keeping a sharp knife collection
This leads onto the next tip which is to keep your knives sharp. This will ensure you can achieve the most accurate chopping. Having a full collection of knives will also aid in creating great results with chopping. There are many knives which can be purchased, and you can also purchase full sets of knives. To keep your knives sharp and in the best condition, a knife sharpener is a great tool to have in the kitchen. The AnySharp Knife Sharpener is a great option as it has added grip which will prevent any injury and can be sued to sharpen all styles of knives.
3. Have a variety of pots and pans
There are multiple basic pots and pans which are vital for cooking. These include the frying pan and a saucepan. Having the correct pots and pans means you can efficiently cook each dish using the correct cookware. This will help you gain the best results as different pans distribute temperatures differently, giving different results. For a full list of the best pans and how to use them, check out our post on How Using the Best Pan Can Upgrade your Cooking!
4. Use a selection of spices
Spices are the key to creating each recipe. They provide flavour and allow you to turn basic meats and vegetables into flavourful meals. There are a huge selection of spices which can be purchased and we suggest you invest in a variety. This will allow you to create meals inspired by different cuisines such as Chinese, Indian and Italian. To keep your spices organised, you can create a dedicated spice section in your kitchen. Spice racks are a great way to keep these organised and allow you to see what you have available, without losing any spices in the back of the cupboard.
5. Keep your meals simple to start
As with any skill, it is important to start simple and build up the difficulty as you go. If you were learning how to run you would not run a 10k as your first run, so why should you choose a complex dish to cook first? There are many recipes which are simple and give amazing results. These are the best place to start as they allow for you to learn how to follow a process and come to terms with the cooking times and skills needed. Dr. Cooker has many blogs on simple recipes if you are looking for simple but delicious meal inspiration. Once you become confident with these simple meals, you will naturally progress onto more advanced recipes.
6. Allow yourself to experiment
Cooking should be fun for everyone and the best way to learn
is to allow yourself to experiment with recipes. Once you become more aware
about flavours and spices, try to create your own recipes. This will keep
cooking fun for you as well as creating your own delicious meals. A recipe book
where you can keep note of your creations is a perfect thing to purchase, or
gift someone who is beginning their cooking journey.
7. Do not be hard on yourself
Learning to cook can be a complicated process and takes time. Do not get angry or upset with yourself if you make mistakes. This is just an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and improve next time. As with any new hobby, not every dish you cook will be perfect and that is absolutely okay.
8. Bulk cook your favourite meals
If you want to keep up with your cooking but are finding it hard to have time, choose one day a week to batch cook the food you want to make that week. This ensures you find time to keep up your new hobby and improve week by week. It also gives you the opportunity to enjoy your cooking as you go.
9. Find time to cook with your friends and family
Making cooking a social experience to share with your friends and family will ensure you continue to enjoy it. This will also help you learn as you can share your knowledge and teach others, whilst learning tips from them too. Cooking with others can be extremely fulfilling and help build relationships. Keep it fun by getting creative cooking meals such as homemade pizzas.
10. Practice, practice, practice!
The final tip we have is to keep on practicing! This skill is not something that comes naturally, but overall, it comes down to learning and following processes. Once you have the basic skills and learn how to follow the process, it will become much easier to follow new recipes, but you must continue to practice ensuring you do not forget any skills and can continue to improve.
We hope these tips can help you become a great cook in the kitchen and help you learn how to cook. If you would like more information on cooking basic recipes, or which cookware to use for each, take a look at the blog and cookware areas of the Dr. Cooker website
