Quarantine thoughts: Learning cooking for beginners
You’re really just one click away from finding the right push to get you started!
If there was an award for the worst year in the 21st century, 2020 would probably take it home. We’ve been stuck in quarantine for about almost half of the year now, and while that can take a toll on you, remember that with adversity comes opportunities to grow! Right now, the best way to keep yourself from losing it is by keeping busy, and what better way to do so than to obsess over a new hobby?
And my latest obsession has been…yes, you guessed it…learning how to cook!
Come to think about it, going out to eat was never just about “getting food”. Whether you were grabbing a quick bite from your local sub on your way to work, or fine-dining at one of the top restaurants with your friends, food has always been such a huge part of our lives before the pandemic. And the reason I started cooking was that I really missed outside food (The delivery services were also closed for a long time).
If you’re like me, you’ve probably never set foot in the kitchen before. And yes, it’s daunting and you’re bound to make some rookie mistakes, but with the plethora of YouTube food channels and independent food blogs, you’re really just one click away from finding the right push to get you started! So, what better way to be spending quarantine than actually learning to make all the delicacies that you love so much?
1. Start with three-ingredient recipes
The five-layered three-flavoured cake topped with delicious chocolates and fudges made from scratch at home looks glorious, but if it’s your first day in the kitchen, trying to recreate that would probably be a recipe for disaster (Geddit?)! Chefs take years of training to master such complicated delicacies and trying to make something that difficult when it’s your first time holding a pan is like expecting a kindergarten toddler that is just learning the alphabets to write their entire PhD thesis. I mean, on very rare occasions, and if you’re a genius, it might still happen, but it’s highly unlikely! Instead, start with easier, simpler recipes. Bake a 5-min no eggs mug cake on your first day. The next day, opt to make vanilla muffins. Five months later, maybe try that five-layered three-flavoured cake.
2. Try to understand how different ingredients taste, and why we’re adding them
It’s always better to understand exactly why you’re doing something than just doing it because “the book says so”, and when it comes to cooking, that’s no different! The best example I have for this is my experience with using baking powder. I had to learn the hard way that too little baking powder makes cakes dense. In fact, my first batch of muffins was so dense you could probably injure people with them! Getting a feel of what the ingredient tastes like is especially important for cuisines that use a lot of spices, such as Indian cuisine. For example, if you know what cardamom smells like, you could easily understand what sort of dishes to use it in and when you can skip it.
3. Know when to take calculated risks
As amateur cooks, even small wins such as poaching the perfect egg feels rewarding. It’s important that you aren’t afraid to play around with ingredients and techniques, but also remember to play it safe. For example, if a recipe is cooking chicken at a 200 degrees celsius, you could increase that to 210 and see if it cooks better, but don’t increase it to 300 degrees, hoping the chicken would cook faster. You’ll only end up burning your chicken!
4. Safety comes first!
Although I’m mentioning this second last (mainly because I don’t want to deter you guys by scaring you), this is probably the most important of all tips! Cooking sometimes can feel like working at a chemistry lab, and just like in labs, if you aren’t careful, there can be MAJOR consequences. That pan that you just boiled water in is hot. DO NOT TOUCH IT. Adding a tad bit of water to hot oil will make the oil jump up, and if that lands on your skin, it will leave burn marks. As amateurs (and maybe even experts face this), it’s unbelievably easy to get careless and forget that the kitchen is full of hot or sharp objects. Of course, minor incidents are inevitable when you’re in the learning phase, but take precautions nonetheless!
5. Finally, enjoy the process
The entire process of food preparation takes much longer than eating. And if you’re just cooking to eat, you’ll be pretty disappointed when you’ve worked for 3 hours in the heat and then within 5 minutes, all your food is gone! And to top that over, you now have a pile of dirty dishes to do! Unless you enjoy the process- and that includes crying while cutting onions and enduring stinky fish smells- you won’t be able to learn much and you’ll soon get too demotivated to continue trying. So, learn to enjoy whatever you are making — even if they don’t quite turn out perfectly on the first go. If all else fails, just imagine how fun it’d be to invite people over and show off your amazing cooking skills once the pandemic is over!
