Honestly OP, about ten years ago I sucked at cooking too. Then one day I just got excited about being a better cook, and that was enough to make me keep on trying until I did. Since then I’ve managed to help two other people who knew literally nothing about cooking get to the point where they can absolutely wow people with some of their dishes.
It all comes down to this; learn one meal. That’s it. Just one thing that you can do well. Mac and cheese. Spaghetti bollognaise. Fried chicken. A grilled pork chop with green beans. Garlic bread. Just pick that one thing, and get good at it. Then you pick another thing. And another. And before you know it, you’ll not only have a catalogue of dishes that you can confidently cook, but also dish will have taught you techniques that you’ll find yourself reusing when you learn the next, and so the learning process itself becomes faster and easier. Eventually, you’ll look at a recipe and just immediately think “Oh, right, I know how to do all that. Easy.”
But how do you get there? I find that recipes are a terrible way to learn to cook. Video content is much more helpful, because a video can break down technique for you. Binging With Babish is so popular because he’s exceptional at this; every video he tries to introduce at least one new technique to his audience. Ethan Chleblowski is also really good at getting into the how and why of cooking, as well as just the what. If you’re vegan or vegetarian Derek Sarno makes excellent content. For baking Ann Reardon’s How To Cook That is wonderful. Joshua Weissman is really fun. Kenji Lopez Alt is an absolute master of breaking down the science of cooking (and also just doling out fun and easy late night recipes). And despite the name and humorous tone, You Suck At Cooking really does offer good cooking ideas.
Watch a whole lot of this content. Just bounce through videos until you land on a recipe that makes you go “Yeah, I want to try that.” Then, after you’ve had a few cracks at it, start looking up that meal on n YouTube and finding other videos about the same thing. Compare and try out different techniques. Look for where people agree and disagree an try everything until you find something that really works for you. If, try as you might, you just can’t seem to make a dish work, move on to a different one (but only after really giving it a few goes). Sometimes you have to come back to something later, once you have more of your basic technique down.
Eventually, you will get good at one thing. And then another thing. And another. And as you do that, your confidence will grow exponentially. Soon enough, you’ll feel at home in the kitchen.
Honestly OP, about ten years ago I sucked at cooking too. Then one day I just got excited about being a better cook, and that was enough to make me keep on trying until I did. Since then I’ve managed to help two other people who knew literally nothing about cooking get to the point where they can absolutely wow people with some of their dishes.
It all comes down to this; learn one meal. That’s it. Just one thing that you can do well. Mac and cheese. Spaghetti bollognaise. Fried chicken. A grilled pork chop with green beans. Garlic bread. Just pick that one thing, and get good at it. Then you pick another thing. And another. And before you know it, you’ll not only have a catalogue of dishes that you can confidently cook, but also dish will have taught you techniques that you’ll find yourself reusing when you learn the next, and so the learning process itself becomes faster and easier. Eventually, you’ll look at a recipe and just immediately think “Oh, right, I know how to do all that. Easy.”
But how do you get there? I find that recipes are a terrible way to learn to cook. Video content is much more helpful, because a video can break down technique for you. Binging With Babish is so popular because he’s exceptional at this; every video he tries to introduce at least one new technique to his audience. Ethan Chleblowski is also really good at getting into the how and why of cooking, as well as just the what. If you’re vegan or vegetarian Derek Sarno makes excellent content. For baking Ann Reardon’s How To Cook That is wonderful. Joshua Weissman is really fun. Kenji Lopez Alt is an absolute master of breaking down the science of cooking (and also just doling out fun and easy late night recipes). And despite the name and humorous tone, You Suck At Cooking really does offer good cooking ideas.
Watch a whole lot of this content. Just bounce through videos until you land on a recipe that makes you go “Yeah, I want to try that.” Then, after you’ve had a few cracks at it, start looking up that meal on n YouTube and finding other videos about the same thing. Compare and try out different techniques. Look for where people agree and disagree an try everything until you find something that really works for you. If, try as you might, you just can’t seem to make a dish work, move on to a different one (but only after really giving it a few goes). Sometimes you have to come back to something later, once you have more of your basic technique down.
Eventually, you will get good at one thing. And then another thing. And another. And as you do that, your confidence will grow exponentially. Soon enough, you’ll feel at home in the kitchen.