Reddit mentions of Cooking for Beginners: Quick & Easy, Proven Recipes

> Do it in the next weekly thread, here it will get buried under our bakar.

Yes, I will share the pics of my experiments so far.

> Get a OTG down the line and learn todo some roasting/grilling/baking. If you are at a clear soup level, kudos. When did you start learning?

I am living in a rented place and it does have a Bajaj Oven. I marinated a chicken leg piece and was planning to grill it, plugged the oven in for the first time and the main circuit board got tripped. I am waiting for the electrician to check the house connections. After that, I am sorted.

> You know I am always glad when folks learn to cook. The initial cost is usually a bit high, what with wastage, but gradually your living expenses will see an appreciable decrease.

Yes, I think my initial investment so far has been a lot, because I purchased a lot of pasta and oils. I have also got all the herbs that I will use (Rosemary, Marjoram, Mint, Thyme etc) so I think I won't need them for some time.

> When did you start learning?

I started cooking myself last year when I realized it helped me de-stress after a very hectic day of work. I kind of enjoying cutting my own onions and tomatoes, every day trying to get better cuts. Soon I realized that it's very difficult to cook rotis and dal every day and clean up the mess afterward. (for a bachelor living alone like me). I did some backpacking trips to Thailand and Germany and that's when I realized that's there is so much more to cooking than I thought. It was then I started cooking new things that didn't involve rotis and dals. My job was still a problem, as there were no real timings and I was not able to form a routine.

Recently I have changed my job and relocated to Kochi. I got a very sweet place for myself with a beautiful kitchen. Now my aim is to cook daily and be an expert in cooking breakfast and making meals for office, that too in less time.

The books that I am using to cook now are:

1. Cooking for Beginners
   
   
2. Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook
   
   The second book was recommended to me by my friend from Germany and is a little difficult to follow as the cook is British and I haven't heard of any of the stuff in the book.
   
   Sorry for the long message, but I would like to thank you, kind stranger, for helping me out on my early struggle.
   
   Cheers.

The first thing I thought about was a book that would explain how to boil an egg :-) . . . Sure enough there is a cookbook that is aimed for those that are just starting out called How to boil an egg: 184 Simple Recipes for One. The only thing I don't see is any nutritional information or pictures to show what the food should look like after its made. The recipes in the cookbook are for one, (but of course you can double, triple, etc. the amounts when making for more people). BTW, it doesn't just have egg recipes: It covers a range of standard ingredients (meat, chicken, vegetables, etc.). The reviews seem to be positive.

I also found this: Cookbook for Beginners. It has illustrations and has information about cooking (what utensils you should use and basic techniques). It doesn't seem to have nutritional information. Again, the reviews for this book are positive.

Delia also makes a basic cookbook for beginners called Delia's How to Cook - Book One. It has great reviews on Amazon. It has pictures of the food although no nutritional information.

My favorite cookbook which I always recommend is: Assyrian Cookbook. The recipes are not difficult and instructions are pretty easy to follow with full colour pictures of each recipe. The food is tasty and every recipe has cooking times and calorie information per serving (although not nutritional information in terms of fats, carbohydrates, etc.).

My recommendation for this person would be get one of the first two (I'd lean towards the second as it has pictures).

I couldn't find a basic cookbook that has full nutritional information. The ones that have this information seem to be categorised as Healthy Eating - dieting books, Muscle building cookbooks or those aimed at pregnant women.