>Learning to cook
>Decide to make Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo for my picky eater mother and sister who refuse to cook and would drive to fast food daily if they could pick.
>Slow at cooking/prep and with limited supplies so it takes me an hour to obtain all ingredients/dishes, etc.
>Sister asks if we can go to McDonald's because she is hungry while I am cooking it.
>Mother says "eh, it's okay, just not as good as what I'm used to thanks though." and proceeds to pour a fuckton of pepper/additional shredded cheese on it.
>What she's "used to" is the original ragu alfredo sauce jar found in WalMart poured over cooked noodles w a shitload of added cheese.
>Sister shovels food in while watching YouTube, nonchalantly. Doesn't care at all about my effort, no appreciation.
>Now I have an entire kitchen to clean later on top of all of it.
What even is the point of cooking when nobody appreciates it and it's easier to just buy frozen/pre-made food?
I mean I know it wouldn't be restaurant-quality or anything but apparently a pre-made jar of shit tastes better than fresh ingredients & homemade cooking. I'm so upset.
>>7350764
when you've only eating premade and processed food, you usually can't taste the subtle things that make fresh food taste fresh, and you just crave an excessive amount of salt/sugar/fat.
there's nothing wrong with adding more pepper and cheese to your food if you like it, and you should also be prepared to have a lot of your cooking suck if you're still learning. but usually it'll taste better than premade stuff.
and some people just don't appreciate food. they just want it to make them feel good, like an addiction.
>>7350764
Keep at it. Also, you should not take people seasoning your food as an insult. Sensitivity and preference varies.
Also in case anyone was wondering:
The recipe I used:
Ingredients - 500g pkg of rotini noodles (didn't have fettuccine on hand), 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (0,664kg), 2.5 cups chicken broth, 8 tsp flour, 8 oz cream cheese (didn't have neufchatel), 6 tbsp parmeggiano reggiano shredded, salt, cajun seasoning, a little bit of garlic powder and some pepper.
What I did:
>Bring pan of water to a boil, add salt and extra virgin olive oil to water, cook rotini noodles, drain and add to bowl.
>Simultaneously, cut chicken breasts into slices. Season with salt, pepper & cajun seasoning.
>In a large deep skillet, fry chicken breasts, flipping occasionally.
>Remove chicken and shred it, set aside.
>In same skillet I fried the chicken in, add chicken broth and flour mixture, whisking in the cream cheese, parmesean, garlic powder and pepper until boiling/thickened.
>Add shredded chicken to mixture, remove from heat and pour over noodles, mixing in a large bowl.
>I then added more parmesean and also shredded Râpé Fondant cheese.
>Served all three of us in bowls with garlic bread slices.
Do you think I might've done something wrong? Noodles/chicken were cooked well. Perhaps anyone has suggestions on why it might've not tasted good to them? I just am not understanding.
>>7350764
You did the right thing. Next time maybe your sister will watch you cooking.
>>7350836
Thanks anon. I was more hurt by the lack of appreciation for my efforts and her just blatantly looking at me and saying she preferred store-bought food.
>>7350788
Well thanks. I grew up eating as they did, fast food daily etc. but it ended up just disgusting me and I just realized that I needed to start putting in effort to cook & fast food kept grossing me out, was becoming too greasy. I have been eating lighter foods at restaurants and slowly incorporating veggies/fruits/rice into meals and trying to make things a bit healthier/at home.
My cooking definitely sucks, but I think it's slowly improving. I am a lot better at baking sweets but I can't make cookies for dinner every night kek.
>>7350841
For alfredo I would lean toward butter and heavy cream instead of cream cheese.
Cut the chicken breasts in half crosswise (be careful not to cut yourself). It's ok if they're not perfect halves. Lay them out and then pound or "massage" them with a blunt object until the meat is about 1/2 inch thickness. You don't have to beat the fuck out of it, just hammer it a little. Season both sides with salt and pepper and cover lightly with flour.
Panfry the fillets in oil over medium high heat. Let them sit on each side for a few minutes so that they develop a nice brown color. They are ready to flip when they can be picked up easily with a spatula without sticking. Let each side sit for a couple minutes, then flip a few times to ensure the meat finishes cooking. If you are uncertain, you can check the doneness by cutting into the thickest part.
Remove the chicken and place it on a plate to rest.
You will be left with fond (brown stuff) in the pan. Add a little oil, then pan fry two minced cloves of garlic. When the garlic is just starting to turn brown, add some white wine (quarter or half cup). If your pan is made of steel you can scrape up the fond with your spatula while the wine reduces. Reduce the wine until it is syrupy and the bubbles have become larger. Once the wine has been considerably reduced, add the butter and cream, lower the heat and simmer. Then add the cheese to melt.
You did fine salting the pasta water, but don't add oil, it's not going to adhere to the pasta. Instead, take a minute off the pasta cooking time; when time is up, drain it, then add the pasta into the pan with the alfredo sauce. Stir the pasta with the sauce to finish it. It will adhere much better.
Serve the alfredo pasta with the chicken filets. If you want, you can reserve some sauce before adding the pasta, and spoon the reserved sauce over the chicken.
>>7350952
Check online for recipe inspiration, here are a few for inspiration. They don't use wine, but I like wine, you just have to make sure it reduces long enough or the sauce will taste off. There are many ways to make alfredo. My number one recommendation would be cooking the chicken as fillets and finishing the noodles in the sauce.
http://www.chef-in-training.com/2015/07/perfect-homemade-alfredo-sauce/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/fettuccine-alfredo-recipe.html
>>7350952
>Cutting chicken breasts crosswise
I keep forgetting to attach the illustration
>>7350764
Women are a meme, don't take them seriously. Their views and opinions, even if they are correct, aren't coming from a place of competence or understanding.
care too much about what even your own mother thinks is a recipe for disaster, a dish that women never seem to fuck up
>>7350952
>Instead, take a minute off the pasta cooking time; when time is up, drain it, then add the pasta into the pan with the alfredo sauce. Stir the pasta with the sauce to finish it. It will adhere much better.
To clarify, the pan of sauce should be hot, so that you can finish the noodles by cooking them for one minute in the sauce.
Sorry for the late response, got distracted.
>>7350952
What oil would you rec? I am currently living in a foreign country and only have access to copious amounts of olive oil and sunflower oil.
What kind of white wine would be good for cooking? I do not drink due to family reasons and have never actually tasted it. Would the white wine be a replacement for the chicken broth?
I added the oil to make it so the pasta wouldn't stick to the saucepan, but I will definitely try it your way next time! Thanks anon, a lot.
>>7350960
How can you tell how reduced it is? Along with never drinking wine, I have never cooked with alcohol either.
>>7350973
Kek anon I too am female, I didn't think it was relevant and I still do not. Gender has absolutely nothing to do with cooking.
>>7350973
Back to >>>/reddit/ transient scum
>>7350841
seems fine, you could improve it but it's more than edible. I'd eat it with a big heap of broccoli mixed in
>>7350764
>What even is the point of cooking when nobody appreciates
to eat good wholesome food that you enjoy and to practice a basic life skill. Anyway, don't cook for them anymore, eat your good stuff, let them be fat slobs and pass over the great pleasures in life.
>the best revenge is living well
>>7350764
Hey anon. I get you, when somebody cooks for me I thank them for it and provide respectful advise on what can be improved. I think cooking for people is an act of love and should be regarded as such.
Still in order to improve you must be able to handle criticism (well intended) and be able to criticize yourself as well. Also make an habit of tasting the food when cooking, this will help you see if you are going on the right track flavor wise.
Kerp it up!
>>7351437
Also if you family likes burgers why don't you do homemade burguers? They are really easy to do and with a kilo of ground beed you can do like 10 regular burguers
>>7351139
Olive oil, just heat it until the surface shimmers, don't let it smoke.
For wine you want something drinkable but inexpensive. Don't buy "cooking wine" that is sometimes sold in a separate aisle. Go to the wine section and pick something that's like $10 or less. Pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, and chardonnay are good white wines for cooking. Keep it cheap, there's no point blowing tons of money on wine you intend to reduce. Keep white wine in the fridge after you open it.
As wine reduces, it will get thicker and the volume of liquid will decrease. It's typically ready when it's reached 1/2 or 1/3 its original volume. At this point the flavors of the wine will be stronger, and the raw alcohol flavor will be eliminated. The liquid should cling to the spoon slightly instead of running off like water. You'll get better at identifying when it's done the more you do it.
The wine is not technically a replacement for the chicken stock. If you wanted, you could use stock to deglaze the pan instead of wine. However, I think the stock just serves to dilute the alfredo, since the focus of the sauce should be the cream, butter, and cheese. If you use stock then make sure you reduce it before adding the cream and butter.
I found an interesting-looking recipe for "traditional" alfredo that looks very simple, composed only of butter and parmesan, requiring only that you toss the noodles with the ingredients. It might be a fun and simple experiment compared to the trouble of reducing wine and cream. Supposedly this is how the original creator, Alfredo Di Lelio, made his version.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/The-Real-Alfredo
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/The-Original-Fettuccine-Alfredo
>>7350764
>>cooking for basic eaters
rookie sub mistake op. you need to find people who appreciate you and your skills. trying to force it on shit eaters like your family apperantly are, it may be harsh to hear, will only break your heart like the picture you posted.
Find people, make friends, cook good for them.
>>7350966
how did you take this pic
both youre hands are being used
>>7350764
>entire kitchen to clean later on top of all of it.
>later
You suck at cooking then. If you don't wash while you cook then you're obviously not very good at it.
>>7351761
literally nobody washes while they cook
>>7351761
autistic/10
>>7351765
>>7351771
Not him, but I do that too. Sometimes I have to wait on something to cook on the stove, so I quickly clean the cutting board and the counter.
By the end of the meal the only things that have to be cleaned are the dishes I cooked in, utensil I served food with, and dinner plates. Dinner plates and small utensils go in the dishwasher.
>>7351139
If it's more convenient for you, you can also cook with dry (or extra-dry) white vermouth. Its advantages are that it keeps a bit longer as it is fortified, it costs about the same as a bottle of wine (I use a fairly servicable £5 bottle), and you can use less of it. However, it is more "herby" and distinctive (hence using less - about half if using it in place of wine) so it may be out of place in more delicate dishes.
As for learning to cook, I recommend "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" if you're into that kind of thing - I believe PDF versions can be found online for free. Julia Child et al have a very accessible style which is also very informative. If you want to read more deeply, "The Professional Chef" is a textbook/cookbook which there is a link to somewhere. At 1.2k pages and an 800MB file it isn't for the faint of heart however!
In your OP you didn't address the most important point: what did YOU think of your food? If you enjoyed it then well done, mission accomplished. If not try to pinpoint exactly what it was that you weren't so happy with, note it down somewhere, and try something different next time you do the dish (or a similar one).
>>7351791
This guy knows what's up. Fuck washing a bunch of dishes on a full stomach. Find a few minutes while shit's cooking and clean a few dishes.
>>7350764
Sounds like your family have more problems than taste in food. If they are going to be rude as fuck to you, why cook for them? And if you cook, why can't your sister clean up?
>>7351765
I clean as I cook in general. I'd rather clean up a lot of little messes than to wait until after a meal to have to clean up a giant mess. I also have a really small kitchen with not a lot of counter space, so I need to keep things fairly clean while I work.
>>7350841
The sauce seems needlessly complicated. I would go with a good sized chunk of butter and a few cloves of minced garlic. Add cream and heat for a second then throw in a handful of shredded parmegian . also sliced>shredded chicken
>>7350764
bump
Why upset op??? what you did it was just to practice and it's cool dude,you get experience and you improve your cooking skill which is something really really usefull i mean one day you ll be living alone and with the knowledge to prepar some delicious food for youself and you sure will find some people you would really aprecciate your cooking skills
>>7350764
its about setting realistic expectations at this point, you'll get better with practice and i promise if you stick with its you'll be impressing everybody in no time
>>7350841
you took too long to make it and it's also just another boring stay-at-home dinner night
next time cook something that's fast or git good at prep
>>7350764
>doing anything for the sake of pleasing someone else
lmao
Cook for the sake of cooking and enjoy your own cooking. If anyone else enjoys your cooking great but that's just a byproduct of you displaying your greatness to yourself once more.
Your home is full of tasteless idiots? Good, more for you. Those retards can eat dog food or party pizzas while you're chowing down on some goodass food.
The only person you need to impress is yourself. As long as you're trying to make food tomorrow that tastes better to YOU than the food you made today you're going to become a good cook.
Try cooking for people capable of appreciating it
>>7350966
those dainty hands
>>7350764
Mother is trying to act like she doesn't care because women are petty like that. You'll be like that with your daughter. She'll be better than cooking at you and you won't be able to handle it.
women are so catty, that is so like them
>>7350841
did you just use raw flour or did you make a roux? either make a roux and cook the flour until it smells nutty, or reduce the broth until it's thicker. add more parm.
>>7351745
>camera tripod
>>7350764
Cook for yourself, then.
