How's it going /ck/?
I have a confession to make. I'm dumb and bad at cooking. Like almost to a retarded extent. I barely understand proper refrigeration guidelines and browning beef is the pinnacle of my culinary achievements. If I was given the choice between a fully stocked kitchen and two slightly warm pizza pockets, I'd probably take the later.
That being said, I need to cook something for my girlfriend. Does anyone have any easy/interesting recipes I could try? Honestly anything would be awesome, I tried googling recipes but I felt like such a pleb when I didn't understand what a beef shabu-shabu was.
>>7581331
The shabu shabu is just the japanese name for the cow's pussy lips
https://www.youtube.com/user/chaplinsrestaurant/videos
>>7581331
>Does anyone have any easy/interesting recipes I could try?
Here's one I fall back on if I don't have a lot of energy to make something super fancy
>Mix together panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and whatever herbs you want (if you've got a blend you find at the grocery store, roll with it)
Taste a little bit of the mixture. Can you make out the different flavors? Do you want it more spicy or fragrant? Is there enough salt in it? Measuring stuff exactly isn't as important as getting a blend that you're happy with.
>get about a pound of cod fillets from the store
>preheat oven to about 375 degrees F
>meld some butter and dredge the fish through it, then coat with the bread crumb mixture
>spray a cooking pan with oil to keep the fish from sticking to it
>lay the breaded fish out on the pan
>put into oven
>cook for about 30-35 minutes
>you can tell when the fish is done by taking a piece to test and using a fork. If the fish flakes easily in the center, it's cooked all the way through
Good luck, anon.
>>7581331
I just can't wrap my head around people like you OP
All cooking is, is following very simple and detailed instructions. How is that hard?
>>7581371
Lack of practice for a lot of people, I've found.
>>7581368
>This meticulously detailed set of instructions
Wow, this is perfect. Thank you very much. I'll try it out, but I'm not too familiar with how fish works so we'll see how it goes.
>>7581371
I'm a giant sperglord. I could probably teach you all sorts about spread sheets and science fiction, but cooking that involves more than throwing shit in a pot and cook it for a predetermined amount of time totally escapes me.
>>7581376
>Lack of practice for a lot of people, I've found.
For the majority of recipes. The only thing practice does is make you more efficient.
Also, there are 1000's of great recipes on sites like allrecipes that are as simple as making a box of macaronni and cheese
Seriously, how much practice does it take to put something in the oven at 350 for 20 min
>>7581387
What is the most fire sci fi my dude?
>>7581387
>I could probably teach you all sorts about spread sheets
If you can do spreadsheet formulas/vba, then all it is is following instructions....You sure it's not just being lazy
>>7581331
I got into cooking by watching Sorted Food. Bunch of guys in their mid twenties, not too complicated and well produced.
Have a look through their shit and see if you see anything you like. Something like a one pot recipe might be good, as they're always good, and piss easy to make since you just throw everything in a pot, but normally come out tasting amazing.
Also, what exactly are you bad at? Don't mean to be a dick, but isn't cooking just a case of following instructions? Unless you're trying to do something really fancy, it shouldn't be too hard, just take your time and do as much prep as you can before hand.
>>7581388
>The only thing practice does is make you more efficient.
Practice helps you figure out A.) when you've fucked something up, and B.) how you can fix said fuck-up
Like when I was younger and I was starting to bake shit like cookies on my own it took a bit of trial and error to figure out what consistency my dough should be, and then what the cookies should look like when they're done properly.
>>7581331
>given the choice between a fully stocked kitchen and two slightly warm pizza pockets, I'd probably take the later.
It's not just that you suck at cooking, but you have awful taste as well. How are you supposed to cook something good if you don't have a taste for good food? It would only happen by chance.
Start eating at good restaurants. Not chains, and not places that use Sysco or US Foods as purveyors. They don't have to be expensive places, but they have to be places where someone in the kitchen starts off with recognizable ingredients and transforms them into actual dishes. Learn what that food tastes like, and what dishes you like. Then look up what's involved in making it, and decide what you're gonna do in your own kitchen.
You're very unlikely hit the bull's eye if you don't even know what target you're shooting at.
>>7581393
Depends what you're looking for. I always stick to my guns and give shout outs to the classics. Personally Starship Troopers is my favorite book ever, but I also hold Frankenstein and Man In The High Castle in pretty high regard. If you want something super nifty and a little bit more contemporary, try picking up The Engineer Reconditioned by Neal Asher. I thought it was pretty neat how he combined the absurd with hard speculative scifi.
>>7581398
You're right anon, it's just me being lazy. I find the effort it takes to cook and clean up is disproportionate to the quality of food I make. Maybe with practice I'll get better, I'm just a little anxious about the whole thing.
>>7581423
Nevermind i read starship troopers recently. Shit was garbage
>>7581423
>Maybe with practice I'll get better, I'm just a little anxious about the whole thing.
Everyone's anxious when they first start. I learned how to cook with baking and making desserts so I'm great making a cake, but I'm still pretty bad at cooking meats reliably and get super paranoid about either over or under-cooking it.
>>7581371
A lot of recipes assume a certain amount of experience and willingness to experiment that a some people are missing.
People like OP will read a recipe and some instructions will completely baffle them ("season to taste" is a common one), or they'll follow an instruction exactly and end up with a poor result ("cook on medium-high for 4 minutes on each side" and they end up with meat that's burnt on the outside and cold on the inside).
Rather than using their failures to improve their future attempts, they give up and assume they lack the ability to cook.
>>7581449
Exactly this. Often recipes won't even include things like seasoning, they'll just assume you know it. And if a recipe tells you to dice onions, you won't know how to do it unless you look it up. Similarly, if it tells you to simmer something, are you even going to know what that is if you've never cooked before?
