Basics for New Cooks: A Beginner's Guide

By Kerry Whelan

What's the difference between stirring and beating? How do I cook an egg? What spices can I use with what?
This book explains the unexplained to help new cooks get going. You can impress your girlfriend or boyfriend, or even your mother after using this book. With nutritional guidance, tips for vegetarians and a bunch of recipes, it's a simple guide to good food.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kerry Whelan
• Release date: Feb 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9780991890200

Kerry Whelan

Kerry Whelan has just returned to the writing life after many years. She's a mad gardener, cook, and renovator who is enchanted by the possibilities of the wired world. The Whole Garden is her internet publishing company and also a gardening site. "The garden as a metaphor for life!"

Book preview

Basics for New Cooks:

A Beginner’s Guide

Copyright Kerry Whelan, 2013

Published by The Whole Garden at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Thanks to Paul Seifried, Candy Peters MacKay, Jannie Baillie, Nancy Peat and several generations of cooks for all the help.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE BASICS

BREAKFAST - GRAINS

EGGS

LUNCHES

DINNER PRINCIPLES

CANDY’S TEX-MEX RECIPES

DINNER WITH GROUND BEEF

DINNER WITH POULTRY

DINNER WITH FISH

DINNER WITH PORK, SAUSAGE AND HAM

CAKES AND COOKIES

DESSERTS

SPECIAL TREATS

HERBS AND SPICES

THE LAST WORD

RECIPE INDEX

The Basics

After many years of cooking, things that seem easy to the experienced are not so simple to new cooks. Many new cooks rely on pre-made dishes – which may be healthy (or not!) but are usually high priced. I hope these pages will give new cooks the confidence to create better than store-bought dishes at a more economical price.

Some background: I come from a family that ate meat and potatoes every day. When I was a kid pizza was too spicy and spaghetti came from a can. My parents lived through the depression and the Second World War in London, England, and those years of scarcity left them wanting hi calorie plain food. However they did appreciate farm fresh produce and home baking and so do I. My mother made wedding cakes for the neighbourhood; my uncle was a pastry chef. Cooking runs in the family and the junior members are taking up the challenge.

Why learn to cook when fast food and quick meals are available everywhere?

1. If you know how to cook, what you cook will taste great.

2. You cut down on the artificial flavours & preservatives that can make you unhealthy.

3. You can save a lot of money, or spend the same and eat better.

4. You can impress your girlfriend or boyfriend, let alone your mother!

Here’s some advice – start slowly and simply. Pick the easy stuff first and watch what happens as you are learning to cook. Observation will teach you more than a book will. Get a few basic dishes down before you spend a lot of money on ingredients for a fancy dish. Cooking takes time: don’t get overwhelmed by time pressures. If there are several stages to a dish, you can prepare it so far and put it into the fridge while you do something else. In fact, fresh leftovers are your friend: they can reduce the preparation time for the next meal.

Cooking and baking are applied chemistry. The type of heat, the temperatures at which you cook, the type of pan or pot you use, the interaction of the acids and bases, proteins and starches in the ingredients, will all make a difference in the final product.

Nutrition

OK, here’s a little rant coming from the Mom in me.

Our society is becoming increasingly sophisticated about nutrition and particularly food supplements. However, some people get waylaid on the path to sound nutrition because of the overwhelming amount of information out there. Young people can abuse their body for a while before they will get sick, and then it takes awhile before they can get on track again. Canada’s daily food guide, prepared by Health Canada, is a pretty good guide to the basics, and can be adapted to all sorts of different diet preferences:

- 5 -12 servings grain, preferably whole and/or enriched

- 5 – 10 fruits and veggies, preferably dark green or orange vegetables and orange fruit

- 2 – 4 servings of milk products (or a high calcium food source)

- 2 – 3 servings of meat or alternatives

(On-line at Health Canada)

This gives you a wide range of options and you can probably fit most weight loss diets into this format. In fact, you can work this many ways because serving size is quite variable.

- A slice of whole wheat bread is a grain serving, or

- ½ a cup of rice, or

- A large plate of pasta might be 3 or 4 servings.

- A medium fruit or ½ cup of raw or cooked vegetables or fruit is a serving, while a cup of green salad is a serving.

- A cup of milk or a piece of cheese the size of an adult’s thumb is a serving.