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[_ducks]

Okay, you. I need your help. I want to cook more, but I'm shamefully inexperienced at it and very tentative. But being on my own means it's okay if whatever I'm making goes horribly wrong so I'm trying to be more adventurous

Comments

[_ducks]

Good point! I do eat meat, but I was a vegetarian between the ages of 11 - about 24, so I'm even less experienced with cooking meat than anything else, and I am very nervous about cooking it properly or buying the right bits. So I might have additional questions.

My only other thing is I'm not good with spicy food at all so unfortunately hot curries are out. I should probably add that to the post. Good thinking, Batman!

[_ducks]

That sounds yummy. I can do a really basic bolognese, but I never thought about adding bacon or beef stock or worcestershire sauce. I suppose that's all part of cooking, getting the confidence to experiment with stuff and see how it tastes.

[1000_words]

i bake more than i cook, but i've been trying to cook more lately. i make lentils and rice all the time, and it's pretty much my favorite thing ever. maybe you could try looking for recipes for kids? my mom bought a lot of children's cookbooks for me when i was younger, and a lot of them are very heavily illustrated and give lots of tips. there are probably sites online that would have something similar. and, sexist as it is, cookbooks and recipes for men would probably be very basic and light on the assumptions.

like i said, i have been trying to do more cooking, so if i come across anything that is fabulous and easy, i will let you know!

[_ducks]

Thanks for the link! Sounds nice and warming (I am currently huddling under a blanket because it is FREEZING today).

Children's cookbooks are a good idea. And man cookbooks. I will investigate.

[_ducks]

Oh, and: what kind of lentils do you use? Any colour? Dried? Are you supposed to soak them first?

Sorry for the interrogation. I told you I was a novice. :)

[1000_words]

i usually just grab a bag of something from the spanish foods aisle. definitely dried. i don't get the red ones, just the yellowy-brown ones. lentils are awesome because unlike some other beans, they cook super fast, so you don't need to soak them for a couple hours or overnight or any of that other stuff i am way too lazy for. actually, if they get too wet, they can get all rancid, so if you open the bag and they have a smell, it means they were probably kept somewhere too humid and got ruined. i just dump them in a colander, run them through with some water to rinse, dump everything on a towel to check for stones or bad-looking pieces, and then dump it all into the pot still a little wet, because you're adding the water to it in a minute anyway. but yeah, you don't want to let them soak, because they're so small that they can get rotten. i'm a vegetarian, so i should eat more beans and legumes, but it's such a hassle that so many of them involve so much prep work ahead of time. that is why lentils are great! the most time-intensive

[amerella]

Ooh, I have a bunch of recipes typed up from a family cook book I made for Christmas, so I'll copy and paste a few

[_ducks]

Thank you!

We used to get fishcakes in school dinners at primary school, but I suspect home made ones would be much nicer. And it's pancake day on Tuesday so your pancake recipe is very timely!

[cindala]

I have a lot of recipes that I could give you but I'm unsure of your dietary restrictions (as are some of the other commenters). I have some great easy to make and freze recipes for kugel (a traditional Jewish casserole/noodle pudding that can be served as a main course, side, breakfast or dessert) are you willing to try all sorts of new foods?

[_ducks]

Ooh, yes, I'm trying to try lots of new things. And other than not being very good with spicy food, I eat anything. Or, I would like to if I knew how to make it. Thanks!

[cindala]

For Kugel

[cindala]

More recipes may be coming, this one's just saved to my hard drive. Also, I'm American so temps are in fahrenheit, and I'm too lazy to figure out the equivalent, sorry! This also serves 20 comfortably so feel free to figure out proportions for a smaller batch (or make and freeze and take out small portions when you want to eat it).

[rikes]

Hee, I've been meaning to ask the very same thing

[_ducks]

That's super helpful, thanks! I have to admit I've only managed microwave rice or part cooked boil-in-the-bag rice before, so that link is very, very useful.

We use metric as well! Almost all recipes give measurements in both metric and imperial, but I think legally everything (food-wise) sold has to be listed in metric quantities b/c of EU regulations. I'm not old enough to remember when it was all ounces and pounds. But I think I can cope without quantities for your recipes, I'll let you off. :)

Can I just ask (although I feel really stupid doing so) - for your chicken dishes, what part of the chicken do you buy? Is it breast?

[rikes]

Yep, breast. Or you can probably buy ready-made "chicken fillet strips" or something like that if you don't want to waste your time cutting them.

You should tell me more about this beef stew because it sounds yummy (the beefy carrots part especially). I have a casserole dish (and lots of other dishes I inherited from grandma) but I've never used it.

[_ducks]

It was a little bit cheating, I used a packet of beef casserole flavouring and got the instructions off the back. I suppose you could use a stock cube, possibly. But I started with raw beef! And I put mushrooms in when it didn't tell me to because I love mushrooms.

It was basically stewing beef, carrots, onion, mushrooms, oil, water, packet beef casserole flavouring.

Fry beef and chopped onion in oil until soft (onions) and brown (beef). Add mushrooms. Make up flavour sachet with water. Add to dish. Chop carrots. Add. Put in oven for a couple of hours on medium heat.

I love the way carrots taste when they're cooked for a good long time in beef gravy and are all soft and beef-tasting.