Basic Recipes for Novice Cook

seraphina

I certainly wouldn't include pastry or bread in a beginner's cooker course. Yes, they're great to know how to do but nowhere near essential.

I'd start by teaching a variety of main meals - toad in the hole, a decent pasta sauce, a curry. All of those could include a variety of things - chopping, timing, amounts, making batter etc, boiling pasta and rice.

Then I'd probably do basic baking - a traybake, simple sponge (but to be honest most people will put that down as a bit of a faff if they don't have an a electric whisk, when you can buy that so cheaply) or apple crumble

You could then look at doing a roast dinner (reasonably challenging - you have to cook meat, veg and spuds and make sure they are ready at approximately the same time).

And after the roast a whole chapter on leftovers.

meritaten

Can I give a couple of examples of recipes I used for my kids cookbooks
for instance - There was Beef in Beer
basic recipe is just THREE ingredients + seasoning.
500 kg of either braising steak or stewing steak
a large onion or a couple of small ones
a bottle of Newcastle Brown or the supermarkets equivalent.

first light the oven and turn it to gas 4
Cut your beef into approximately 1 inch cubes (if the supermarket hasnt done this) then chop or slice your onion into thin slices or half inch cubes.
now fry the beef in about a tablespoon of hot oil in a frying pan over a high heat - watch it carefully and turn the meat every minute or so until its evenly browned on all sides. Put the meat in a casserole dish.
turn the heat down and add the onions and let them cook for about ten minutes - make sure that the heat is right down but the onions are cooking gently and dont let them brown!
now add your bottle of Newk to the pan and bring up to the boil, keep stirring. turn the heat off and add the onions and beer to the beef in the casserole dish , add about a quarter teaspoon of salt (thats a pinch) and the same of black pepper. put the lid on or cover tightly with foil and put in the oven.
If you used braising steak it will be ready in about two and a half hours, if you used stewing beef leave it at least three hours preferably three and a half to four.

This is gorgeous with mash and a green veg!
Variations
Beef and mushrooms - use a small onion and add a few mushrooms chopped into quarters to the frying pan. finish as before.
Beef in beer pie - make your beef in beer either the day before and store in fridge or much earlier in the day to allow it to get cold. then take the beef in beer and put in a pie dish (or a deep oven proof plate and cover with shop bought puff pastry, brush with a little milk and put in the oven at gas 6 for half an hour. This is delicious with both mash and chips.
CHEAT - as the casserole is cooking, roll out your puff pastry and place on a baking sheet - put it at the very top shelf of the oven and the casserole directly on the bottom of the oven - turn the heat up to gas 6 and cook the pastry for about twenty minutes until it is nicely browned.
serve by cutting the pastry into as many squares as you need and spoon the beef onto the plate and top with the pastry.

you can do this recipe with Guiness in place of the Newcastle brown. or a bottle of nice red wine for a simple beef in red wine.

An even bigger cheat is to buy a can of Beef in Ale sauce (or Red Wine sauce) but you still need to brown the beef in the frying pan first!

You can see why it took me weeks to type in fifty or so of their favourite meals.

LolaLemon

Meritaten, can I have a copy of your book?

tracey12_2

I love the Dairy Book of Home Cookery as it has really basic recipes such as mashed potato, scrambled eggs, how to roast a chicken to beef stews, kedgeree, root vegetable bake etc.

The book is split into sections soups and starters, fish and shellfish, beef, lamb, pork, offal, chicken, turkey, duck and goose, game, vegetarian, meals for 1 & 2, rice, pasta, vegetables, salads, salad dressings, eggs, light meals and snacks, sauces, stuffings and marinades, puddings and desserts, cakes, icings, scones, breads, biscuits, pastry, preserves, confectionery, hot drinks and cold drinks so it covers most things.

HTH

Tracey

meritaten

LolaLemon wrote: »

Meritaten, can I have a copy of your book?

Lola - I would be happy to let you have one - but email wont cope with all the pages! I know, as I tried to send it to the kids and had to print it out and give it to them!

LolaLemon

meritaten wrote: »

Lola - I would be happy to let you have one - but email wont cope with all the pages! I know, as I tried to send it to the kids and had to print it out and give it to them!

Have you thought about publishing/selling it as an online book for ebook readers? I would most definitely purchase for my Sony reader....
Or with a bit if faffing around, u can save each page individually and email it to family + friends that way, ....
I can cook, but I'm no way brilliant, and even tho I've bm living on my own for around 7 years, the first 2/3 I lived on cereal and toast. Since son born, I'm in a bit of a rut.


Oh, any help, I've said to new guy (1st since sons dad, 5 years ago) that I'll make shepherds pie... I had cooked lambs mince added a stock cube, onions and carrots, its Ben xfered to oven dish, covered up and now in fridge... I know it needs mash on top, but what else does it need?

meritaten

Lola - its just very plain simple cooking! and only about 50 recipes even with all the variations, but I have tried to explain the process as simply as poss, for the kids as they are clueless about cooking!
I dont have time now, OH will be in from work soon wanting his supper - but I will make a list of the recipes and post them on here and if anyone wants to pm me with an email addy I will send them one or two recipes at a time.
alternately - if you trust me with your address I can print the whole thing out and snail mail it!

MandM90

I'd do a basic soup recipe (fry onion, add stock etc, add Xg of any veg and 2 potatoes and X amount of one of the following herbs) which can be adjusted.

Chilli and spag bol.

Stir fry, maybe?

Roast: How to roast 1/2 types of meat, how to do roasties, a chart of how long each veg needs boiling/roasting. Roasts can be a bit hard for a novice but a good thing to master!!

A simple sponge mix but instructions on how to make it into a lemon/choc cake.

sharon7_2

meritaten wrote: »

Lola - its just very plain simple cooking! and only about 50 recipes even with all the variations, but I have tried to explain the process as simply as poss, for the kids as they are clueless about cooking!
I dont have time now, OH will be in from work soon wanting his supper - but I will make a list of the recipes and post them on here and if anyone wants to pm me with an email addy I will send them one or two recipes at a time.
alternately - if you trust me with your address I can print the whole thing out and snail mail it!

Hi sorry to bump up this thread - did you get your book completed? I'm new to cooking and would love a copy if you are selling it ,)

pink_princess

Hi Sharon.

The stickys contain some great threads for beginers, click the link then scroll down to basic cooking learners start here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8736367#post8736367

HTH x