Warm marshmallow frosting for Devil Dog cupcakes. Random. Not in the post. Whatever.
I’ve gotten the impression, after talking to people about food and and reading a lot about food (which is what I do in my spare time when I’m not eating), that many people avoid cooking for two reasons. It’s because they’re either lacking proper information, proper equipment, or both.
Here, then, a list. Above all, please keep in mind the helpful words of the late and much-lamented Douglas Adams: Don’t Panic. You’re not supposed to loathe cooking. My goal here is to make the kitchen more approachable. This stuff you can do.
1. Get over your fear of freezing. I was taught that freezing any food besides uncooked meat ruins it. Freezer burn was a yucky reality in days of yore, and everything else from the freezer had a weird taste. Pretty sure most of this was due to poor-quality storage containers. But today you can safely freeze almost anything as long as you make sure it’s a) completely cooled and b) use plastic freezer zip-close bags. Make sure the box says ‘freezer’ on it. Slice up your fresh babka or bagels, squeeze the air out of the bag, close it and chuck it in the freezer. In the morning, take a slice out of the bag and set it on a plate.* Then go blow-dry your hair and find your shoes. By the time you’ve done that, your breakfast will be ready to eat. It will taste the same as the day you baked or bought it.
2) Repurpose utensils. I use my kitchen scissors to snip scallions and pieces of bell pepper; I smush up apples into applesauce with a potato masher; I whisk with a fork. Don’t buy any utensil that has just one purpose (garlic press, ice cream cookie sandwich mold). You’ll use it once, then it will clog up your drawers. Go low tech and open up the format with how you use your utensils.
3) Buy three good-quality knives and give away the rest. This is huge. I’m convinced that a lot of people who think they’re no good at cooking or get frustrated just at the thought of it aren’t using decent equipment. Knives are first on that list. You need a paring knife (to cut small stuff that you can’t snip with your scissors), a chef’s knife (to chop big stuff, herbs, or chicken) and a serrated knife (for slicing bread, tomatoes, and chopping chocolate or nuts). Knives should be somewhat heavy and the handle should not be made out of crap plastic. Be sure that the metal of the knife extends right down through the handle for good balance. If your knife is flimsy, you’ll be fighting with it to chop, it’s going to break by Thursday, and what’s more, it’s dangerous.
4) Unless you’re serving a cake to company and are excessively precise, ignore recipes that tell you to both butter and flour the pan. Wow. Okay, that one’s done.
5) If you’re a novice cook and want to have people over, go with simple, straightforward recipes. Novices tend to make pheasant under glass and petit fours with spun sugar, usually with nose-dive results. They want to impress their friends. Their friends, on the other hand, want to eat. Ask around for recipes that are tried and true, pace yourself, and read the recipe all the way through before starting so you know what ingredients and utensils you need. Make brownies for dessert.
What did I leave out?
*If you’re lucky enough to have a radiator, put the plate on it. I have a cookie sheet on top of my kitchen radiator for just this purpose. Me efficient.
Good tips Marisa. Unfortunately I have a thing about knives. I love them, collect them, have more than I need but keep on buying more just because I can. They are all sharp, heavy, and useful. And of course, there is one for meat and one for veggies, the serrated one for slicing tomatoes, the bread knife, the paring knife, the fillet knife, the just because I love the color knives, the knives people have gifted me with because they know I love knives, the crappy knives I should get rid of but forget to take out when I go outside,…..
Lol no one will ever hassle you, Angie–you’re protected!
Actually, to add to your post and the above reply, a SHARP knife is just as important as the type of knife used. Nothing deters an amateur cook quite like the first time they try to use a knife and instead of slicing into it, they end up ruining the edge with a dull blade. The feeling of butterflying a chicken is 100% different with a dull blade as opposed to a sharp one. (Mostly because if you try to do it with a dull one, you will end up with mashed bird. No bueno.)
My advice is to not be intimidated by a simple whetstone or knife sharpener. Get a friend to teach you how, and go slow, but don’t settle for a jagged cut when you should be getting a straight one. Technique will come with practice, like the first time you realize that if you only press down with a knife, you are pushing, not slicing. Then you learn to slide that blade along the surface and watch it cut with laser precision. But that satisfaction won’t come with a dull knife.
That extends to the EATER as well as the cook. I know a guy who didn’t like steak for the longest time because it was too much work to cut! His family had long used these antique steak knives that had blades that might as well have been the dull edge of a fork. They served good cuts of meat at the house, but man, it sucked having to cut it! The first time I made him a really good ribeye and gave him a proper cutter, his eyes lit up like I had just shown him Santa Claus climbing out his fireplace. So sharpen your knives! Things are supposed to cut, not mash!
Really good points, Case! Thanks. I should have remembered about keeping your knives sharpened. And if you still don’t want to sharpen them at home, you can usually find a place nearby that will do it for you. The Williams-Sonoma near me has a knife service come by twice a year, and my hardware store will sharpen knives anytime.
Great post. I shared it on all my socials. I’m preparing to sell my house so I’m packing everything I don’t absolutely need for the next two months. I’m astounded at how much cooking I can get done without a bazillion appliances and specialty tools. Even making bread, if made one or two loaves at a time is just as easy and has less clean up if I mix by hand instead of in the specialty bread mixer Bosch.
I have a collection of knives that I rarely use. Your tip on knives gave me an AHA. I mostly use a short paring knife, long paring knife, a chef’s knife, and a serrated knife. Once in a blue moon, I use my boning knife.
Mixers. I get along just fine with my Cuisine Art hand mixer for anything else that needs more arm muscle than using a simple whisk. My big stand mixer is packed away. Haven’t missed it yet. Again, simpler clean up, too.
While my microwave and toaster over were removed in order to paint the kitchen, I was surprised at how little I missed them. Boiling water for tea worked just fine in an old fashioned tea kettle. And, putting cold butter in the oven on warm did the trick.
Hmmm. You’ve give me much food for thought.
Hi Anita–Thanks so much! It’s amazing what you can do without, and do really well without. I had a bread machine that i used every week for maybe 10 years years. It was fun, but cleaning out the extra flour dust in the depths was a drag. Gimme an oiled bowl.
Yes on mixers. I have a big Cuisinart that I use pretty much exclusively for making marzipan (a smaller one doesn’t have the horsepower) and a hand mixer that I bought for $5 at a garage sale. That’s it.
I thought I’d need a microwave and toaster too, but didn’t like how the former made my food soggy…and the toaster is bloody hard to clean, plus it takes up counter space I don’t have. I just put my toast with a pat of butter on a piece of tin foil and stick it under the boiler for a couple of minutes.
(To soften butter for a recipe in a jiffy: grate it with a cheese grater! it’ll be soft in no time but won’t melt.).
I’m going to try the butter tip. I never remember to take the butter out in time for it to soften when I am making cookies or anything that needs softened butter.
I’m with you on knives and also learn to use them! It’s so painful watching someone slice veggies with a steak knife – I know, I’ve watched!
That’s a great idea for softening butter.
Hi Suzy–Eeek! Thank you–I should also have included to make sure to use the right knife for the right job. (And the softening butter thing has saved my butt many times :))
Great rules, Marisa! I’m sharing this on Facebook and Twitter. No one really has to be intimidated by their food or their kitchens.
The one unitasker I allow in my kitchen is my scary-sharp Messermeister vegetable peeler (I’ve never understood those peelers with the jiggly blade–looks like that would give your fingers a baaad time). I once asked a friend to peel some carrots, and when I checked, she’d used a paring knife, and the carrots all looked like #2 pencils! Long live the vegetable peeler!
cheers!
Carol
Hi Carol! Thank you, and so nice to hear from you 🙂 LOL love the story about the carrot pencils. Yes–I need my peeler, too!
Anita & Suzy–When we were kids and my sister wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, she’d have me sit on the sticks of butter. A live bun warmer 🙂 The grater method is much more efficient!
For me my love of cooking increased and my anxiety about having guests over to taste my food disappeared when I actually acquired some technical culinary skills and stopped just following recipes.
It was a real revelation when I finally realized you only have a couple options when preparing anything. It’s either raw or you’ll use dry heat or moist heat to cook anything. That goes for any culture around the world.
Everything really started to change when I learned how to use a knife properly or when I found out every pan is non stick if you heat it properly. That was a game changer too.
http://rouxbe.com/cooking-school/lessons/95-handling-a-chefs-knife/details
Hi Steve–Thanks for your message…and really good points. Tell me more about this: ‘every pan is non stick if you heat it properly.’ I find that if I want to keep eggs from sticking to the pan, I have to use plenty of butter. Is it more about the pan temp?
This one video changed everything for me. It’s the one video the non stick pan folks don’t want you to see. And you’re correct it’s all about pan temperature. I didn’t know you could cook chicken without it sticking to your pan.
Bummer–the link didn’t come through. I’m getting a ‘server not found’. Wait–there it is…
That is REALLY cool! But they don’t tell you what temperature to set the pan to on the stovetop. Medium?
The temp setting depends on the thickness and material of the pan you’re using and the size and power of the stove eye. I have a stove top with a power burner and a much smaller burner for making soup and stock. The other two burners are probably more what we’d call standard sized. So the answer–as usual–is never straightforward. (Like the answer to “How long do you cook it?” is “Until it’s done.”) Grrr!
When a heavy bottom pan reaches temperature the same molecular transformation will occur whether it’s on Med low, Med or High. It just happens faster.
I agree Hunnypassport, the last thing to ask is how long do you cook something for. There are so many factors at play which is why “Cook till it’s done” is what should be printed on every recipe. It’s so important to to understand the basics.
Yes, I suppose so…! I have a basic ordinary stove top with basic ordinary burners, and heavy pans–not nonstick. Thinking I’ll have to test to see.
Steve–Thanks–yes, that’s true. The heat will dictate cooking time. And re: ‘cook til it’s done’–many have become detached from cooking, from knowing by look, smell, feel, taste how something’s coming along. I wonder whether people would find ‘cook til it’s done’ on packaging helpful.
If you have some basic cooking skills it’s easy. Telling someone to roast a chicken for 60 minutes can be dangerous if you just follow that recipe to the letter and don’t know how to tell it’s done on your own other then hearing a timer go off. A little education makes all the difference.
Agreed.