Learn to cook. Tips to get started

Learn to cook from scratch.

According to the study Kitchen: attitudes and time that consumers spend in it , from GFK.

“We Spaniards dedicate an average of 6 hours and 20 minutes a week to cooking. 51.6% cook even four or fewer hours a week. ”

You see, 4 hours spread over 7 days … it comes out very, very little. And the sad fact is that one in ten people never cooks for fun.

But why? If we have all kinds of precious gadgets, which make everything easier and easier, countless recipes, a variety of products … Can you tell what is wrong with you that you have everything and don’t use it?

Well, it happens to you that not all of us want to be heroes. Because the gap between digital life and real life is distancing the world of cooking from everyday life.

Now the recipes are exploits and the chef is a hero who plays a new journey model in the kitchen: overcoming obstacles in extreme situations against the clock with amazing results.

In Rechupete Recipes we have started with the ideas to survive if you do not know how to cook , but little by little, we will bring out that little kitchen that you have inside and that wants to go out to take care of yourself and others.

The hero’s journey

As I was saying, a new model of The Hero’s Journey, which of course is carried out with the public and if it is victorious, it will give the hero its category as such, materialized with some brand, outfit or badge that may appear in society.

The most curious thing is that the hero and his audience hardly eat, because showing the process and proving the result just enough to attest to the success of the recipe is enough for his award and his fame.

But this is not cooking to eat or cooking to enjoy cooking, although the hero greatly enjoys becoming it and the public enjoy watching, but it is not the same, it feeds different parts of our lives.

Just like doing sports and seeing how others practice it also brings different things. In the case of the kitchen, confusing these two things is triggering the success of the first and lowering the practice of the second.

Why do we have to learn to cook?

• There are numerous studies, doctoral theses, and research that demonstrate the relationship between cooking and better health .
• It is one of the great pillars of taking care of yourself, empowering yourself , taking an active role in a very important section of your life.
• Although you cook less healthy food to start, or with some frequency, from starting to cook to being interested in healthy recipes, there is a very short way, it is crossed immediately. However, no cooking and health are on opposite sides of the river, they barely touch.
• So now you know, if you want to learn to cook to take care of yourself, don’t try to be a hero, you’re going to have as much or more fun. And you can also wear a cape: buy yourself a very cool chiffon, tie it around the neck and then turn it back and fly through the kitchen! If staining is what is cool.

materials

To start cooking easily, you only need simple utensils. Start with simple gadgets and as beautiful as possible.

Being in love with your gadgets is a great help to wash them, take care of them and put them under pressure in the kitchen without your mind attacking you with “but what am I doing wasting time with this if I can buy it already cooked “.

List of typical materials to start with are:

• Knives, vegetables and meat . They are not the same and will stay in better condition if you use them for what they are designed for. A couple of good knives are most useful in the kitchen and you will use them in practically all recipes, it is worth it to be of good quality.
• Spoons, ladles, spatulas and oven mitts.
• Graters and peelers.
• Mixing bowl and oven sources.
• Pots and pans and flower or container for steaming.
• Measuring cups and utensils, such as jugs, measuring spoons, or scales.

Recipes

• Digital or paper , you have many options in both formats. Take some time to browse books and websites (ours … you know, cool) and select the ones that are comfortable for you to start locating yourself with the necessary ingredients. That way you will know better how to decide what to fill the fridge and pantry with.
• Start with simple, short, easy beginner recipes . Starting to know how to make a good sofrito , which saves any recipe is essential … from there to some book lentils .
• My first tip is to start with cold recipes as a salad dressing , pate with leftovers from the food your mother sent you in tuppers, or a combination of yogurt, cereal, and fruit for snacks.
• Preparing different steamed sandwich or vegetable models is a good start. You can experiment with different types of bread, sauces or cheeses … that way you practice generating novelties without increasing the difficulty, you strengthen the habit and increase your confidence.
• Recipes of things that you like a lot . Learning to cook is not a good time to introduce new foods. Step by step, the new thing is to cook first, and then the food will come. And when that time comes, spend time one by one.
• Dose the news well will be a stimulus to continue learning.

Basic tips to start in the kitchen

• Surgical style hand washing before starting to cook and between each food change.
• Never allow raw meats to come in contact with other foods, and always clean surfaces after cooking to prevent bacteria growth and cross contamination. To do this, you must use a different knife and a cutting board only for meat.
• With other foods, you should clean the surfaces that come into contact with them every time you change your food . That is, you can use the same cutting board and knife for vegetables, fruits or cheeses but washing with each change. And be especially careful with the foods that you are going to eat raw.
• Follow the recipes to the letter . It will be your treasure map and until the environment is known and you learn to orient yourself without it, the recipe will be a necessary guide.
• Start cooking just for yourself and if possible with a long time . Don’t fall too soon into the temptation to cook for your friends, as that puts a lot of pressure on the kitchen.
• Wait for some practice and invite them to try one or two recipes that you have mastered. Have a good wine …

Practice, practice and practice . It is like sex, no matter how much you read or see … it is only improved by practicing.

Meal plan – The weekly menu

• When cooking is occasionally overpowered, it’s time to connect the kitchen to normal daily life.
• Make a meal plan for each day of the week, in which you can organize the meals that you are going to cook. At Rechupete Recipes we help you every week, you can even download our weekly menu template. With it you can organize everything from scratch, the purchase of ingredients and you can also start preparing food: for example, cook white rice and save to use it as a base and then finish with different touches.
• Then you can use what is left over from a dinner transformed into a rice salad , another day you can prepare a sauce with vegetables to accompany it, etc.
• Prepare a guideline for new dishes . The right rhythm for you according to your time and interest can be one every week, from learning how to cook an egg (everything has its technique) to how to cook pasta , one every 15 days or even one a month . But introducing new foods and recipes will keep your interest, progress and progress in your skills.
• These new dishes can continue being simple, no problem, with the fact that they introduce a new aspect for you, they will already be a stimulus and a progress: a new ingredient, a new cooking, a new cut for vegetables, etc.

In summary…

And when the kitchen is conquered territory where you lead and the food dances around you … give it gas and level up!