As someone who has had an interest in cooking at a young age, my favorite thing about cooking is how teaching someone to cooking is so so much more than that. Giving someone a meal is like reading someone a story, but teaching someone how to cook something is almost like teaching someone how to read so they are then able to spread that love to other people. Especially during Covid-19, we all may not be able to visit family and friends’ holiday parties. Something to lift our spirits and keep us connected with traditions is learning how to cook! Whether it be learning how to bake a traditional family recipe or learning a recipe from the food network, everyone this season should step outside their comfort zone and learn how to cook! Here are five easy steps to learn how to cook:
1. Research
Every good project has solid research as its foundation. Similarly, every good plate of food or dish has a solid recipe. There are many ways to research what to make and contrary to popular belief the research does not have to be extensive or hard. It can be as simple as asking yourself and the people you are cooking for what they are craving. Additionally, research can be asking around to see if anyone has dietary restrictions or even seeing what type of food is in season at the farmers market. Whatever your research looks like, just make sure you have a distinct idea of what you are seeking to make.
2. Find a recipe
Now, this is where people sometimes get a little lost. Finding a recipe is pretty easy, however, it can feel overwhelming as there are so many recipes on the web. An easier way to find a recipe is to call up neighbors, family, and friends and ask them if they have a recipe. If this fails, it’s always a good idea to rely on the web, but more specifically, I would recommend searching the dish upon credible sources like foodnetwork.com or bonappetit.com. Stray away from using recipes from a “mommy blog” or other unreliable sources; this should only be used as a last resort(even then maybe go back to step one and think of another idea of what to make).
3. Mise en place
Mise en place is just the french word for get your shit together. Before you even think about turning on the stove and cooking, it is vital to chop all of your veggies, measure your ingredients, have everything you will be needing for said recipe outside, and read the recipe thoroughly all the way through. This way you are sure there will not be any mistakes while cooking and you are able to simply cook without having to stop in the middle to get something out of the fridge, chop something, etc.
4. Cook!
This is pretty self-explanatory, however, I am going to emphasize reading the recipe at least once all the way through. This is really vital to cooking. Sometimes recipes can be weirdly worded or misleading so it is crucial to read the recipe fully at least once.
5. Eat, Share, and Poll
After cooking it is obvious that the next step is to eat and share with your loved ones. The thing people often forget in this step is to poll the people that eat your food. This can be sometimes biased as they are probably people close to you and they may not want to hurt your feelings, however, make sure to ask them their honest opinion so you can improve as a cook for the next time. If you make too much, leftovers are a great thing. Additionally giving to people less fortunate than yourself is great as well!
Hopefully, you learned a few things about cooking. May your holidays be filled with good conversation(socially distanced of course), good energy, and, of course, good food!
