When starting to cook on my own, I always found it very stressful, because I felt you had to do so many things in parallel and then you look away for too long at the wrong time and something burns.
What helped me is reading the whole recipe very carefully and then prepare everything before actually starting to cook. Many recipes tell you something like “while x simmers, cut y / prepare z”. That’s fine, when you have developed a feeling for how long things take, but as a beginner, it’s better to do everything sequentially. It takes longer that way, but it makes it much less stressful and overwhelming.
Can you follow directions? Congratulations, you can cook! It’s really not that difficult, cooking is just simple chemistry.
When I was young my mum bought me a cookbook and once a week, usually Sundays, we would make a recipe or two that were in it. Sometimes full meals, sometimes just desserts, etc. You’ll learn by doing, so get yourself a cookbook or find a cooking show to watch if you’re a more visual learner. Just put yourself out there and try. I believe in you.
When I was young my mum bought me a cookbook and once a week, usually Sundays, we would make a recipe or two
This is why it might seem so easy to you, wouldn’t you think?
Well obviously OP can’t go back in time to when they were a child, but there’s nothing to stop them getting a cook book once a week and trying out a recipe or two.
I mean, yeah, obviously. But claiming it’s really easy because you were lucky to have normal parents and have been doing it since you were kid, especially on a question that implies someone didn’t have the luxury, is not helping.
It may sound meaningless, but the best way to learn to cook is to cook. Learning by doing, that is the way.
Agreed. You can’t really mess up that badly when cooking. Burnt bits can be scraped off and there’s always a way to fix food when you season too much.
You start by learning how to pour cereal
keep a fire extinguisher handy though
Start small - like a fried egg. All you need is a pan, a spatula, some butter/oil and an egg itself.
Then upgrade to an omlette.
Then omlette du fromage.
Then a pirate’s eye (egg in a slice of bread/bagel). Add some dill.
Boil some potatoes.
Mash some boiled potatoes.
Rice is simple - just boil it for some time.
Essentially - you’ll learn by doing. Just don’t start with making your own bread and you’ll be fine.
