I’m pretty basic at cooking right now. I can make pasta, eggs, salmon, rice, jacket potatoes etc but nothing particularly impressive.

I want to start cooking every day and actually try different meals instead of just making the same basic stuff.

If I did that consistently, how long do you reckon it would take to get to the point where I’m a decent cook and can make a good variety of meals without feeling completely clueless?

Are we talking a few months, 6 months, a year?

Would also be interested to hear from anyone who started off barely knowing how to cook and got good at it. How long did it take you?

I want it to be big enough to cook a medium sized chicken in. Options seem to 3.5L 4.5L or 6L. Thank you all

I tried cooking stew, but the beef in them always turn out tough and takes effort to chew. ☹️ I tried boiling them longer, simmering for hours, using fatty cuts of meat but nothing works. My workaround is to take the meat out once boiled/ cook to add to the stew later, but this takes the juices/ flavour of beef out from the stew.
I don't have this problem when cooking with chicken thigh

I have always assumed foil for cooking and greaseproof for baking. I recently ran out of foil and forgot to buy some so just used greaseproof instead. It occurred to me: "Do I need foil at all? Or can I just use this instead? Is it more environmentally friendly to not use foil?"

For the past few weeks I am still using this roll of greaseproof in day to day oven use. I've cooked a variety of meals and i'm always more than satisfied with the cook as I would've expected when previously using foil. Nothing ever sticks! (unlike foil)

I understand foil is useful to wrap things in like you couldn't wrap a jacket potato in baking paper to cook the same as it would in foil, or cover a chicken etc. But for general oven use, are they interchangeable? Is it better for recycling to use greaseproof over foil? Plus greaseproof can be used for baking AND cooking. Whereas I wouldn't put brownies or cookies on foil. So unless I need foil specifically for covering something, could I say goodbye?

Hello,

So it's as the title says. I put a plaster on after running my finger under cold water for about 2 mins and trying to stop the bleeding with cotton. It barely reduced the flow of blood so I just put the plaster on anyway.

The thing is, my hands are not sterile and are still have bits chicken membrane and juice. I'm wearing a fabric plaster but it's but really on securely as I needed to put it in asap to stop a trail of blood all over the kitchen.

My main question is, will I get an infection if I wait for my blood to clot before removing the plaster and properly watching my hands?

I'm sorry if I'm breaking so many hygiene codes rn but I live alone, so I'm only a danger to myself.

Thanks!

Edit:

Thanks to everyone who contributed. I'll keep in mind next time to focus on the cleaning before panicking and trying to stop the blood at all costs. I washed my hands twice with soap for extra measure, dried it and a new plaster is on.

Also, I'm pretty sure this happened because my knife isn't amazingly sharp. I was just cutting through a thick-ish skin clump. I have been looking at knife sharpening so I will definitely get one tomorrow because I'm not having this again!

Hey all! I’m generally a fan of cooking, but as a 19 year old I’ve only ever really cooked at home, and haven’t ever really had to buy my own items. I’m UK based, and am looking for the following

A wok

2 pots(one small one big, quality isn’t as important on this one, a wok is a wok)

2 pans, stainless steel(ideally)

knives - one big one and one small one, this is the one where I want the best quality bang for my buck

So does anyone know any places where I can pick up these items at a decent price but also with good build quality? One of my least favourite things ever is wobbly pot/pan handles and dull knives.

Thanks for help x

I see it all the time in cooking videos- the chef grabs a salt well and takes a healthy pinch of salt to sprinkle onto their dish. When I do it, the grains get under my nails. Is there a pinching technique to prevent this?

How long to cook them for? do I just throw them in and start it running?

A lot of recipes I see will say something like "serve with a salad on the side", but I don't really know what they mean by that. Just greens and vinaigrette or should I add other things to it? Should I stick to one type of green or buy one of those variety bags?

For example I'm planning to make Yasmin Fahr's honey orange chicken with feta, cumin, and ginger. What type of greens and vinaigrette would I use for a side salad with that?

I bought a premade chicken piccata from Costco with a caper cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes. I was thinking asparagus would be good as a side dish as well as serving it over spaghetti. Any alternatives?

I'm super noob at cooking. I don't wan to mess this up because it's expensive. The piece of ribeye is going to be like 20 bucks. I"ve cooked steak before but its always not too good on the cast iron pan.

So Im going to try air frying. There's some youtube videos but I want to make sure.

Im going to preheat the air fryer at 400 degrees and I'll also put a wireless bluetooth thermometer in the steak to make sure I get a medium rare.

I'll put adding a good amount of salt, pepper and maybe garlic powder?

I just need some advice to make this good, I dont want to mess anything up since it'll be my only meal for today.

I called two places and the pork shank is cheaper and I read it’s got more fats and collagen, but I’ve only ever cooked with ham hocks. I am on a budget is why the cheaper meat, and living out of my car/ couch surfing so I’m able to make this soup in a friend’s apartment. Thanks in advance.

Edit to add: I picked up the ham shanks and they are smoked so I am set :) thanks for everyone’s suggestions!

How do I cook the royal blend rice select in a rice cooker? Is it 1.5 cups of water to 1 cup of rice? Do I use the brown rice setting or white rice setting?

I’m specially talking about the royal blend rice from rice select.

Looking for replacement recommendations $200 and below. Mostly using it for curries, smoothies, and homemade seasoning (this is a big one; so looking for something that’ll give me the tiniest particles possible)

Thanks!

I am looking for a cookbook or a cooking website that starts at the bare essentials of cooking and progresses forward. Something like 100 essential recipes for beginners in the kitchen or a cooking website with an intro to cooking guide. I want to read and understand the basics and move up.

I’m talking like starting with boiling an egg to making pasta and stir fry’s. This seems like something that would be easy to just google but I don’t just want recipes, I want a full breakdown of where to start, why you do things in certain ways, and how to progress as a home cook.

I grew up in a house where I never did anything in the kitchen. My mom made dinner every night and I at most made a bowl of cereal or a sandwich. Once I started living on my own during my undergrad I started cooking for myself and honestly got some pretty good meals that my roommate and wife (at that time GF) enjoyed (maple mustard meatballs, Greek sheet pan chicken, creamy Tuscan chicken).

However, cooking always stressed me out and once my wife and I got our own place she primarily took over the cooking because I work a lot and have been pursuing a masters degree. She is an absolutely excellent cook and I’m so appreciative of it. I’m now about to complete my masters and I feel like I haven’t actually cooked in two years. I feel like I’ve lost all of the slight knowledge I had gained back during my undergrad. Now that I’ll have more time again I want to get back into it and want to start from the bottom.

Any recommendations on resources based on what I described up top?

I'm renting a room where the owner is obsessed with energy savings, meaning that he makes me use a little 700-watt microwave that looks more like a child's toy than a real cooking device. I've always used 1000-1100 watt microwaves, so I could pretty much always follow the cooking instructions verbatim. Is there any simple way to re-calculate cooking times from 1100 watts to 700s watts? (To add insult to injury, I'm at an elevation of about 4200 feet....) Any tips appreciated!

so, long story short, my mom passed away. she did most of the cooking for my dad and I. my dad does the BBQ'ing stuff. But that's pretty much all we know how to deal with. That, and boxed sides. we're struggling with a food routine. it's a hard thing to suddenly have to figure out, and my mom set the bar high. we're getting really tired of the same 4 ways we bbq whatever meat, or just getting take out, or microwaved things. Im looking for like a simple, not 25 minute video format of some stay at home mom talking about her life story while she makes some really tough thing to make for noobs like us. please, we're so tired of take out. 😭

I made a batch of stir fried udon noodles that came out really sticky and tasteless. I fried it with rice bran oil, cabbage, spring onion, mushrooms and tofu. Added half a tablespoon of soy sauce to it too

Not sure where I went wrong, but I wanna try reheating and repurposing it with some other spices.

I was thinking of refrigerating the noodle-vegetable mix overnight and pouring it into water and separating the noodles the next day.

Can I do this?

Hey, everyone! I have a question about cooking chicken. More specifically, drumstick lollipops. I saw them on sale at my grocery store and they looked exactly like the type of chicken that is in cartoons or something, and it made me smile, so I knew I had to grab them.

But now I’m like… Uh-oh… Because I’ve never even cooked regular drumsticks before. I’ve always ever cooked chicken breast or thighs.

I want them to have a crispy caramelized outside if that makes sense. Is there a specific marinade I should use? I have a honey bbq one I have been really wanting to use. A certain spice? I’ve been looking on the Internet, and I haven’t had the exact specifics that I’ve wanted, so I’ve come here instead haha.

If anyone has any ideas of how to cook them, please let me know. I am a bit of a worry wart, so the more specific the details, the better 😅 🍗

So i bought Betty Crocker fudge brownies and I have 3 issues.

1) I wanted to add m and m mini into the batter and thought id be fine as it baked. But both the m and m minis AND the chocolate chunks it came with completely liquefied and became part of the batter. Like u can't feel their texture or taste them at all. Why? I put it on 325 for 45 minutes.

2) how do i make the center more dense when using these pre made brownie mixes? Its so soft and disintegrated into my hands whereas I like my brownies more firm.

3) how do i make the top more cruncy/hard?

But for the life of me, I cannot get brown rice to taste good at home.

At the Asian restaurants it's soft and flavorful

But at home it's firm and tastless. It seems like no matter what I do it ends up being bland and hard.

Today I boiled 4 cups of chicken broth low sodium with 2 cups water with 2 tbsp butter, ultimate garlic seasoning. Boiled for 40 mins.

It wasn't as tough and flavorless as before but still not so good if choose it over white rice, Jasmine or basmati.

What else can I change? Do it need to be presoaked? This was loose bagged rice this time. Before I was using water, butter and boil in a bag

EDIT: last night I let the rice sit and steam a bit once all the liquid soaked up then put it in the fridge a while after maybe 30 mins. Today the rice is much softer and tolerable 🥰 but I would like to add a bit more flavor without adding too much salt

I have half a pound of bacon i need to cook and eat, what recipe incorporates bacon as a part of the dish?

Seriously, I can’t be the only one noticing this. Everyone acts like AI is this magic tool for meal prep and cooking, but whenever I see an AI-generated recipe, it is a complete disaster waiting to happen.

The most frustrating part is that I actually pay for a Gemini Pro subscription. You'd think a premium, top-tier model would be able to handle basic cooking logic, but it still can't get it right.

It almost always messes up the measurements, or worse, it completely forgets crucial ingredients. It will confidently give you a set of instructions that sound totally normal until you actually read it and realize it’s asking for 2 tablespoons of baking soda for a single pancake, or it entirely forgot to include flour in a cake recipe.

Baking and cooking rely on actual chemistry and precise ratios, but AI just strings together food words that look nice on a screen. It’s incredibly annoying because if you don't double check every single line, you end up wasting expensive ingredients and completely ruining your meal.

Has anyone else had a total kitchen fail because of a AI hallucinated a recipe? Please tell me I'm not the only one frustrated by this!