/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.7550733]

I want to learn to cook. What's the /ck/ version of "start with the greeks"?

[Anonymous No.7550737]

Eggs

[Anonymous No.7550742]

>>7550737
I can cook in the same way most people can read. Now I want to get good at it. Where do people start for that?

[Anonymous No.7550745]

>>7550742
With eggs.

[Anonymous No.7550748]

>>7550733
i want her russian piss on me

[Anonymous No.7550753]

>>7550748
she's ukranian.

[Anonymous No.7550757]

>>7550753
Ukraine is rightfully Russia.

[Anonymous No.7550762]

Just look up recipes for what you want. There isn't much depth to cooking.

[Anonymous No.7550782]

What's the best country to start with for pure technique?

[Anonymous No.7550785]

>>7550782
I'd go so far as to suggest Australia.

[Anonymous No.7550787]

>>7550785

[Anonymous No.7551130]

People like to give off simple ingredients like eggs or potatoes but those are things that even when you colossally fuck up, it will still taste ok. That's supposed to teach you to freestyle a bit but I think that just establishes bad habits.

I suggest you start with mixed dishes. Fried rice w/ meat and veggies. Different pastas. Anything that has some sort of grain base so that you can really learn how to season and fry. It's very easy to adjust the tastes of a fried rice dish as you cook. Not so much with an egg or potato.

[Anonymous No.7551350]

Start with the basics:

Pasta, and pasta sauce

Rice, and curry /braise/stir fry. Learn a good fried rice recipe for your left over rice to use the next day.

Steak and jus and some spuds, either roasted or mashed with butter and salt

Master some basics then move on to things like baking, breadmaking, sushi, chinese style steaming, smoking, working with caramels, anglaises, etc.

[Anonymous No.7551378]

1. buy food
2. apply heat until it's brown
3. season with salt and pepper

cooking is not art. cooking is not science. it's a basic activity like taking a shit or brushing your teeth that everybody can do.

[Anonymous No.7551400]

>>7551378
>that everybody can do.

The way you describe cooking makes it seem like you're talking about "everybody but you".

[Anonymous No.7551407]

>>7551378
>trial and error experimentation and molecular biochemistry
>not science

[Anonymous No.7551411]

>>7551378
cooking can be an art and a science though anon. Sounds like you're just dull.

[Anonymous No.7551450]

>>7550762

this pretty much. only time management and multi-tasking is hard. each individual thing involved in cooking even difficult dishes is easy. you can find a youtube video or idiot's guide to make anything these days where long ago all you had was a cookbook.

[Anonymous No.7551497]

start with raising your animals/plants and learn to cook when you can grow and harvest/murder them

[Anonymous No.7551509]

Go the old French method and start with soup. Teaches you stock making, proper knife work, searing, timing, how to work with roux etc etc. and if it sucks, it's still edible.

[Anonymous No.7551512]

>>7550733
Since decent cooking has always been associated with Britain I'd start there with England's finest creation Beef Wellington. And maybe a spotted dick with creamy yellow custard for dessert

[Anonymous No.7551525]

>>7551509
I would say this is the right approach and very good advice. You'll learn how to season and add oils/fats to foods and get a feel for the basics and it's a bit hard to screw up, unless you just violently add things like a savage animal to the stock and soups. You'd get the basics down going this route for sure.

[Anonymous No.7551530]

>>7551509
>>7551525

why the fuck are you two the only people to have given this advice so far into the thread

they are correct, OP. essentially, pick a significant Mediterranean country, and study its cooking. French cuisine is an excellent starting point. after, try Italian, & by the time you pick Grecian, youll be predicting then differences between styles and cultures.

all dishes are a combination of simpler ones. learn those, & youre on your way to cooking anything you want

[Anonymous No.7551690]

>>7550733
start with the french
escoffier=homer

[Anonymous No.7551699]

Learn to prepare and cook vegetables first.

Amount of dumbfucks who scratch their heads at the greengrocer section is infuriating.

[Anonymous No.7551789]

>>7550733
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL435B8F0CB00AF764

Watch PBS.

[Anonymous No.7551821]

>>7550733
If you wanna get good, buy Larousse G, aim for a new recipe a day from it, and learn to ignore 90% of posts here. Good luck.

[Anonymous No.7551899]

>>7551530
Jesus fucking Christ!
The guy doesnt what be be a fucking chef, he wants to cook himself dinner you dummy. Not fucking soup, or every French dish ever made.

Fuck sake, cooking fags need to learn how to pull their head out their ass.

[Anonymous No.7551917]

>>7551899
What's the problem here exactly? That guy didn't tell OP to go stage in restaurants all over the world. He suggested starting with the basics.

Frankly I agree about the recommendation of starting with French. It doesn't matter if you're cooking at home or want to be a chef: it starts with the fundamentals and grows from there.

[Anonymous No.7551944]

Honestly, i suspect hate for this but seriously,

Jamie Oliver

Get any book of him and cook every dish in there, no matter if you think you dont like it, just cook it and after it, you will have basic citchen skills. I started out with " Jamies Kochschule" ( jamies cooking school , pic related) and learned everything i needed! Easyest way to learn by yourself, a real " teacher" would be better but hey, its the best you can do yourself!

[Anonymous No.7551974]

>>7551944

2nding that specific book. It's called "Jamie's Food Revolution" in the US. Fantastic beginner cookbook.

I can't say the same about his other books though. In my opinion they're pretty crappy.

[Anonymous No.7551989]

>>7550782
Viva Le France

[Anonymous No.7552050]

>>7551974
Well, i have to admit, you are right, i have two other books of him and only made a hand full of dishes from them. The food revolution on the other hand is genius!

[Anonymous No.7552091]

>>7551509
>>7551525
Is there a good single resource for learning soup the French way? This sounds like what I was looking for.

[Anonymous No.7552132]

>>7550733
Well, why do we say to start with the Greeks?
The Greeks are the root of all Western thought.

In cooking, it's a mistake to look for some objective root to start with. Cooking and eating are a personal, subjective experiences. Your palate is formed by all of the foods you ate from infancy to now. What did your parents cook for you?

Are you Vietnamese? If so, you can probably taste when something has too much fish sauce better than when a white sauce has clashing spices, right?

So start with what you know. I'm guessing fettuccine alfredo might be a good start.

It requires you to know how to make a roux,
and make the most out of simple, common ingredients. It requires you to connect your intuition with timing for when to execute an action (stir, lower heat, add cream, etc). and if you have had the dish a lot, you'll know what worked and what was shit. (if you don't, you can come here and ask)

You want to learn a skill. That's great. Don't waste your effort and motivation doing things people say are "easy" but don't interest you. Cooking is about you, and what you love. technique and extrapolation follow.

[Anonymous No.7552175]

>>7552132
Err, I mixed up my sauces.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Alfredo_Sauce

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:White_Sauce
^ this requires knowing how to make a roux. It's used to make sauces, soups, etc.

You're always welcome to post pics here of what you make :)

[Anonymous No.7552192]

>>7552091
Today I'm cooking up a whole chicken to make chicken soup from the carcass. I'm doing it in a pressure cooker, first half cooking the quartered chicken with celery, potatoes, onion, tomato and carrots for 25minutes on high, just adding salt and pepper. When that's done I rip the meat off the bones, strain out all the veggies and set them aside with the chicken meat. I add the bones to the strained stock and cook for another 25minutes on high pressure so all the marrow is extracted from them, I then strain this add rice. It's a clear broth soup with rice, plus you have dark and white meat cooked nice soft.

[Anonymous No.7552426]

"Start with the Greeks" refers to the start of our literary tradition, as opposed to folk/pop/orally-transmitted culture. The cooking equivalent of that is Start with the French. Also for music, actually. Ignore the posts that don't acknowledge this e.g. >>7552132

>French Cuisine was born around the 16-17th century. Not from the peasantry, like in many other countries, but directly from the highest nobility. The reason why is England and Netherlands. During the late Middle-Ages, most noble courts were using large amount of spices. Indian trading was starting to intensify and the first thing nobles wanted was the prestigious spices. You wouldn't be able to eat a single meal in late Middle-Ages without breathing fire. But the trade was mostly controlled by England and Netherlands, selling to France an outrageously increasing price. French nobles got fed up and took matters in hand. They decided to remove most spices from recipes and realised... it tasted bland as fuck. So they actually took the time (they're nobles, they have time) to research how to improve the taste without spices. They rediscovered herbs, they created butter cooking, they invented many sauces and even made up several cooking tools. More importantly, they wrote books. Many cooking books, in a time where there was almost none in Europe. French Cuisine had obvious troubles reaching the rest of Europe while spices was still the Dogma but in France it became an acceptable occupation for the nobility, even an Art for some. King Louis XV was actually known to cook some of his food himself. When French influence became critical around late 16th-17th century, european courts finally started to copy French Cuisine (except Bongs because they hate French) and after the Revolution, cooks in noble houses lost their jobs and went away, opening restaurants all over France and Europe. That's how it became the standard.

t. Florent Quellier

[Anonymous No.7552510]

>>7552426
What's the best way to start with the french? Who's the best resource?

[Anonymous No.7552739]

>>7550733
probably The Joy of Cooking.

[Anonymous No.7552763]

Jacques Pepin
Julia Child

[Anonymous No.7553418]

>>7550748
This

[Anonymous No.7553811]

>>7550753
>ukranians
>not russians
Literally the same people.

[Anonymous No.7554008]

>>7550733
Anthony bourdain wrote a cookbook "Les Halle's cookbook" with basic French recipes ... funny to read too...

[Anonymous No.7554011]

Julia child

[Anonymous No.7554016]

>>7552739
This OP. Don't fuck with the frogs

[Anonymous No.7554025]

>>7551899
>dumbshit
you don't need to listen to every grateful dead song to get a feeling for their style and techniques

[Anonymous No.7554043]

>>7553811
>Russia used to be called "Kievan Rus"
>Kiev, capital of ukraine, was the center of the "Russian" world

[Anonymous No.7554047]

soups and pasta (sauces)

[Anonymous No.7554100]

>>7550737
>>7550745
looks like someone's been watching gordon ramsey

[Anonymous No.7554133]

>>7551378
How to paint a masterpiece.

1. Buy medium
2. Apply paint
3. display in frame

Painting is not art, painting is not sciends, it's a basic activity like taking a shit or brushing your teeth that anyne can do.

[Anonymous No.7554145]

[Anonymous No.7554258]

Everyone saying start with the French is drawing a false equivalence that you forced them to OP. If you start with the French you'll learn how to cook French food and maybe the food of its neighbouring nations. If that interests you go ahead but if you like some other cuisine it'd be better to start with that because at least you'll have a very good idea of the flavours you're going for. If you want to learn modern cuisine eventually, starting with the French is not inherently better than starting with Italian, Chinese or Indian. They all focus on different techniques.

[Anonymous No.7554267]

>>7554133
I painted something I was really pleased with a couple weeks after I started painting but yeah I ended up making some garbage first.

[Anonymous No.7554302]

>>7550733
Learn from the best.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf-k6-nJ6NzStEFdpBl03gQ

[Anonymous No.7554307]

>>7554302
a-at least, he tried

[Anonymous No.7554310]

>>7552426
I concede in that you answered the original question better than me. However, the idea of learning how to cook that way, the way a college student starts with the greeks in literature is not actionable.

One does not learn to paint by "starting with the impressionists". One does not learn piano by "starting with baroque".

One does not learn to cook by starting with the french.

Not to say it isn't worth pursuing early on; I'll attach a link to a recipe at the end for OP that falls exactly in line with the quoted text (as many britons and americans that cook french try to add unnecessary ingredients to enhance flavors)

This is not where you learn intuition of what tastes good, though. You eat steak dozens and dozens of times, and then when you cook it, you say, "needs more salt, not cooked long enough, poor crust formation, etc."

The /ck/ version of "start with the greeks"? I hate to stay it, but the best answer is start with chef john. Watch something that looks good, that you can cook and is a challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSRZRp2Ovqc
(not the simplest, but you can find one that fits you)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uzLRSl3u2w
(english subtitles are offered)

[Anonymous No.7554330]

>>7550733
Knife skills, knife skills, knife skills
Learn how to hold a knife. Learn how to cut veg and meat properly. Learn to dice.
Also learn how to care for your knives and how to sharpen them.
Seriously.
Knife skills are literally step 1. Without them you're going to have a much more difficult time with everything else and possibly be a danger to yourself.

After knife skills are acquired, then start on stocks. Chicken stock, roasted chicken stock, beef stock, white veal stock, brown veal stock, mushroom stock, vegetable stock, fish fumet. Stocks will elevate your cooking to god tier.

You master all of the above and your foundation will be solid.

[Anonymous No.7554333]

>>7551130
>still taste ok
The idea is to make it taste great. "tastes okay" just makes it easier to choke down your failures.
Don't underestimate the propensity of the average joe to throw pounds of food in the trash out of sheer laziness.

[Anonymous No.7554412]

>>7554330
>not using stock cubes

[Anonymous No.7554870]

>>7554310
>I concede in that you answered the original question better than me.
Wouldn't it have been nice to leave it at that?

>I concede in that you answered the original question better than me. However, the idea of learning how to cook that way, the way a college student starts with the greeks in literature is not actionable.
Why? Starting with the Greeks isn't especially "actionable" [practical] either, it's simply the best course.

>One does not learn to paint by "starting with the impressionists".
Why would you? They are latecomers and idiosyncratic. You would start with the continuous tradition that ended in the 19th century.

>One does not learn piano by "starting with baroque".
Similarly, the piano didn't start with the baroque, it started later on. Unless you mean keyboard.

>One does not learn to cook by starting with the french.
But that's clearly the equivalent.

>many britons and americans that cook french try to add unnecessary ingredients to enhance flavors)
That makes it seem ideal for basics though, you don't have to rely on spices, which are secondary.

>This is not where you learn intuition of what tastes good, though.
That's obviously how they do it though. Taste then adjustment seems to be an essential technique, and obviously will be more sensitive if you are not even getting into spices yet.

>You eat steak dozens and dozens of times, and then when you cook it, you say, "needs more salt, not cooked long enough, poor crust formation, etc."
That is literally just trial and error, and folkish. In which case OP shouldn't bother asking anything, he can do random stuff infinitely and eventually it will get good.

>The /ck/ version of "start with the greeks"? I hate to stay it, but the best answer is start with chef john. Watch something that looks good, that you can cook and is a challenge.
Utter pleb.

[Anonymous No.7554887]

>>7554258
>Everyone saying start with the Greeks is drawing a false equivalence that you forced them to OP. If you start with the Greeks you'll learn how to read Greek literature and maybe the literature of its cultural descendants. If that interests you go ahead but if you like some other literature it'd be better to start with that because at least you'll have a very good idea of the values you're going for. If you want to read modern literature eventually, starting with the Greeks is not inherently better than starting with new atheism, genre fiction or manga. They all focus on different values.

[Anonymous No.7554894]

its similar but called "Start with the NEETS". har har har

[Anonymous No.7554916]

>>7550733

start off easy i would say

cooking potato
make an omelette
soup
spaghetti sauce
bechamel sauce
a stir fry dish
stew

[Anonymous No.7554948]

>>7554887
Again you're drawing a false equivalence between Italian, Chinese or Indian cuisine and new atheism, genre fiction or manga. Are the majority of the highest rated books right now in the Greek tradition? Cause the majority of best restaurants are French.

How far does this equivalence go? Are there some great literary works of genre fiction or manga? Because there are some great Michelin starred Chinese and Indian restaurants. Does the existence of Viet food have a corollary in literature.

Food, cuisine and cooking is not art. It's artful. But not art.

[Anonymous No.7555009]

>>7554948
>Again you're drawing a false equivalence between Italian, Chinese or Indian cuisine and new atheism, genre fiction or manga
Both sets were meaningless examples of preferences varying.

>Are the majority of the highest rated books right now in the Greek tradition? Cause the majority of best restaurants are French.
Definitely in the Greek tradition, in that the Greeks were the bedrock of European culture. Same way the French tradition is the bedrock of haute cuisine.

>Are there some great literary works of genre fiction or manga?
Probably some exceptions, and they are exceptions in that they meet the expected criteria of the european tradition rather than escapism or perversity.
>Because there are some great Michelin starred Chinese and Indian restaurants.
These are the same phenomenon, and you'll note that those establishments are more gourmet or haute cuisine than traditional.

>Does the existence of Viet food have a corollary in literature.
Probably.

>Food, cuisine and cooking is not art. It's artful. But not art.
Speak for your own experience..

[Anonymous No.7555017]

>>7554870
What do you seek to gain in learning something in chronological order? In academics, the benefit is to understand the underlying axioms that are the base for a discipline; but what do you gain by trying to master a skill that way?

People aren't spawned with a discerning taste, they learn it over time, through trial and error. Much as a member of the elite can spout knowledge of greeks to maintain his class distinction, yet have no ability to have a meaningful discussion comparing eleatic monism and dualism; that same member of the elite can propose eating at a high end french restaurant, yet not be able to notice the cook is american and proposes adding tomato paste and beef stock for glutamates instead of emphasizing browning the meat and making the most out of flour.

Where do you learn the difference? through experience. You can actually relate and understand why certain things are done that way instead of just reading about it and pretending you know.

to call cooking through trial and error folkish tells me exactly how much you know about cooking and to call me a pleb for emphasizing technique over institution shows me exactly how little you know about skill and trying to acquire it.

[Anonymous No.7555121]

>>7554948
"Start with the greeks" is about greek philosophy. You're not supposed to end your "education" with manga and YA trash

[Anonymous No.7555136]

>>7555009
>Definitely in the Greek tradition, in that the Greeks were the bedrock of European culture.
That's a cop out. There are very few recent great books in the Greek literary tradition. You're broadening the definition of Greek tradition to an extent that it loses meaning just to include current works within it.

> Same way the French tradition is the bedrock of haute cuisine.
It's not the same at all. One's an academic root the other is persisting fashion.

>Probably some exceptions
Not nearly as many as non-French restaurants.

>and you'll note that those establishments are more gourmet or haute cuisine than traditional.
There are a great many traditional Italian, Indian and Chinese restaurants with Michelin stars. Even the haute cuisine variants you mention borrow the most from Japanese plating style. And any and all restaurants that serve courses, including French, follow the Russian tradition.

[Anonymous No.7555183]

>>7555017
>What do you seek to gain in learning something in chronological order?
It's not chronological, otherwise we would start with the Egyptians and Iraqis instead of the Greeks.

The rest of your post seems to confuse dismissing pure trial and error with dimissing any kind of trial and error (which is present in literate/haute culture, just in addition to "institution"). You need both. Folk traditions only have the former, that is how you make the distinction.

[Anonymous No.7555233]

>>7554302
Upvote, this is the best chef to learn from. Straight forward, easy dishes, international food.
ALso I like his easy way recipes!

[Anonymous No.7555246]

>>7555183
But people rarely go earlier than Ancient Greece, so it is very much chronological.

[Anonymous No.7555324]

>>7555246
>Epic of Gilgamesh
>Ptolemy
>Zarathustra

Come on.

[Anonymous No.7555396]

>>7555324
>ptolemy
>earlier than the greeks
???

[Anonymous No.7555449]

>>7555233
No wayyyyyy