Good dishes for beginner cooks

[minoanmiss]

Tear apart an article with me!

16 Dishes Every Beginner Cook Should Learn

Inspired by A (who is accomplishing awesomely in the kitchen) I was thinking about this subject when this article fell into my inbox, so I read it. I like some of these suggestions and really don't like others. If I were choosing recipes for beginner cooks to learn I would choose recipes that are educational, relatively easy, and taste good even if not perfect.

The cream soup is a good example. It teaches techniques that can be applied to a wide range of ingredients, it can be made with less than beautiful vegetables or even canned or freezer burned ones, and even if it's a bit lumpy or a bit burnt some cream will blunt the edges of the defects.

The marshmallows are NOT a good example. Unless someone has a real affinity for sugar work it's not beginner level. It requires precise control of temperature and texture and timing, and the courage to remain steadfast while burning syrup spatters one's arms. Mistakes are either burnt, goopy, or solidify in the mixer and need to be hacked out laboriously. I would recommend fudge as an introduction to working with sugar cooked to temperature. Fudge isn't easy but it's easier than marshmallows.

What do you think?

Comments

[bikergeek]

Looks like your link is messed up....

[princessofgeeks]

Yes, the link is broken for me.

[minoanmiss]

Writing HTML while visually impaired is difficult.

[dissectionist]

I’m suddenly feeling very good about my skills because to me marshmallows have always felt like a beginner recipe, to the point where it wouldn’t have occurred to me to think of them as complicated. Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; my cooking skills suck ass but I have long experience in desserts and baking.

[minoanmiss]

I am unsurprised at your facility with baking, considering your scientific background. IME baking includes a much bigger proportion of science in it than cooking does (though they both include a lot more science than non-scientific people give them credit for)

[magid]

The link is also broken for me (I’ve been finding issues with the quotation marks showing up in some way that isn’t acceptable, so I have to go back and put in the right ones).

My general approach to teaching folks new to cooking is to show them that thinking in ‘templates’ rather than ‘recipes’ can be very helpful. If you’re sauteing veggies and adding eggs (a la frittata), you can use a pretty wide variety of veggies, as long as they’re chopped reasonably, and cooking time is taken into consideration. Or soup, that ever-flexible dish. Or quiche. Or standard baked chicken with $whatever. Once the general template is figured out, then there’s a wide variety of permutations to go with from there, and once they’re comfortable with that, then it’s easier to think of the more complicated dishes.

This does not apply to baking, except bread (which is pretty forgiving within the basic parameters), nor sugar work.

And I agree, marshmallows are not beginner level. What is wanted is recipes that taste good, aren’t too finicky, teach some basic techniques, and are hard to mess up; nothing is more frustrating than failures right at the beginning of learning a new skill.

[minoanmiss]

YES TEMPLATES! That's exactly the concept I was thinking of!

If you get a chance talk to your nibling A about cooking. He's really leveling up in his abilities. I am so proud of him.

[ethelmay]

I am a reasonably successful baker, and it feels fairly seat-of-the-pants to me. When I think about it I realize that I use recipes more and measure more when I bake than when I do other kinds of cooking, but I have never seen the big divide a lot of people do between the two. (I don't mean they're wrong, just describing how I feel.) And I have been baking longer than I have been doing stove-top cooking, so when I started hearing people say they can make, say, stir-fry more easily than a basic cake, it kind of surprised me.

[princessofgeeks]

The article was fun but it was also interesting to see which of these dishes I have never tried to make at all!

I also would have no interest in marshmallows from scratch!

[dissectionist]

Oh man, fresh marshmallows are a whole other experience. They are nothing like the rubbery store marshmallows. I wish I had the energy to make them fresh regularly because fresh marshmallows are a joy.

(Note that if one wants to use them for roasted marshmallows, the store ones are better for that. But for eating straight or using as a topping? Homemade is 100% the way to go.)

[magid]

OK, now that the link is working, my thoughts:
0. This seems to be a very particular list, but people are much more varied; it would be good to start by talking to the student to find out what foods they like to eat, and use that as a springing-off point.
1. Cream soup is not a *bad* choice, but it certainly wouldn’t be my first one. I’ve barely made cream soups (and when I have, they haven’t been real cream soups, because I’m using non-dairy products a lot of the time), probably because I’m more likely to make soup when hosting, which often involves a meat main course (which for me nixes having a dairy soup), or I’m more interested in a less heavy soup so I can balance the rest of the meal.
2, 3. Roast chicken seems reasonable (though I do it a lot more in parts than whole). Pizza’s also good.
4. Pasta Carbonara: I’ve never made this. I’m sure it’s good, but having a general template for things to put on pasta might be more useful.
5. Whole roasted fish: nah, teach how to cook a fillet first, or a fish steak if they prefer. Most folks these days do not want to deal with fish bones, skin, scales, or eyes. Those who are up for it will get to this later in their cooking journey.
6. Risotto: sure, ok, if that’s relevant to the person learning. I’ve never made risotto, and haven’t felt the lack.
7. Apple pie: is baking, which is a different sort of skill. I think I’m defensive because the pie crust of my ancestors was… bought prefab at the store. So if this will lead to pie crust snobbery, I’m against it, in favor of any other apple dessert (crumble, crisp, slump, grunt, whatever).
8. Tomato sauce: reasonable, except not with butter if you’re teaching someone who keeps kosher, because dairy red sauce is inherently less flexible than non-dairy red sauce (yay, Earth Balance). Also, maybe have the tomato sauce before the pizza?
9. Rib-Eyes: not basted with butter (kosher again). Steak in general? Seems like a good plan… .assuming the student eats red meat.
10. Onion Bechamel: sounds lovely. I’ve never made this, but might try it sometime.
11. Bolognese: a second Italian pasta dish? (plus there was the risotto). See notes above, with the additional comment that this is now feeling extra Eurocentric.
12. Whole lemon vinaigrette: salad dressing is useful, definitely, but why specifically “whole lemon” variant?
13. Garden salad: Yes, how to assemble a good salad is important, learning how to use various vegetables and other ingredients. But the description is all about making vinaigrette, which was the previous item. Take more time to learn your veggies (some can be cooked!) and combinations and extras (croutons, sunflower seeds, olives, whatever).
14. Scrambled eggs: also very useful, unless we’re going to veer into One True Way-ism of eggs. I like them more cooked than most, and I don’t need to have chefs dis my yum.
15. BLT fried-egg-and-cheese sandwich: um, isn’t that two sandwiches put together? How to assemble a good, satisfying sandwich is useful, though. Choosing appropriate bread, veggies, condiments, etc., can be eye-opening. (Not this one for me, given the dairy + meat issue. I have had PLTs (pastrami, lettuce, and tomato), which were quite good.)
16. Marshmallows: as previously noted, not at all necessary for a beginning cook. Sugar work can lead to frustration and extra danger.

I’d swap some of these out to add in basic bread, how to stir-fry, how to cook rice/grains other than risotto, some other kind of non-cream soup (maybe one from an African or South American country?) and (though it wouldn’t fit into these categories at all) how to transmogrify leftovers.

[minoanmiss]

This was a DELIGHT to read. I must come back and reply thoroughly but I wanted to say that first.

[princessofgeeks]

*standing ovation*

[dissectionist]

I think I’m defensive because the pie crust of my ancestors was… bought prefab at the store. So if this will lead to pie crust snobbery, I’m against it, in favor of any other apple dessert (crumble, crisp, slump, grunt, whatever).

I am a dessert-maker with a wide variety of skills and I can make ice cream that’ll make people beg for my recipes, but I gave up on making my own pie crust long ago. (Italian torta I can do well, but that’s a shortbread crust.) The store-bought does the job plenty well and if anyone wants to fight you on this, they can fight me too.

[cellio]

This is very similar to what I was thinking as I was reading, but more detailed and articulate. Thank you for writing all this! Also ditto on what you said about templates.

Also, some skills are recipe-independent, like sauteing onions until they're soft without burning them or making anything milk/cream-based without scorching.

If I were going to pick one dessert for beginning cooks, it wouldn't be a pie. I'd go for cookies or cakes, to teach about dry and wet ingredients and the combining thereof. And with cookies, you'll probably have a few batches, or at least can, so you can see that this batch is a little overcooked and take the next sheet out a minute earlier.

[gingicat]

I might suggest risotto to A - they are working on becoming a chicken+rice-based lifeform.

[totient]

Agreed about the marshmallows. If I were suggesting a beginner sugar recipe it would be my Bananas Foster recipe, which is a gentle introduction to caramel. That particular recipe also includes making brown butter, a useful skill, but in a context that is highly tolerant of imperfect execution.

[minoanmiss]

a gentle introduction to caramel sounds wonderful! Mine was napalm-y

[musesfool]

Some scattered thoughts:

Agreed about the marshmallows!

I think if the person eats meat, the roast chicken and steak recipes are very useful. I don't eat fish, so I'd probably swap the roasted fish out for pulled pork (provided the person eats pork). Risotto-yes, eggs-yes, Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce with butter and onion-yes and probably before the pizza so you have something to put on it.

I think pie crust is just asking for frustration, though it's possible it could be a good confidence builder if the person gets it mostly right after the first couple of tries. A simple yellow or chocolate cake would be my baking recommendation - maybe even a wacky cake - or cookies.

I'd say yes to the bolognese only because that's my cultural background (it's one of the first things I learned to cook as a kid), but I'm surprised there wasn't a stir-fry or curry or rice dish on here instead. I wouldn't suggest carbonara for a beginner, unless they were very familiar with what a successful one looks like (or don't mind suddenly scrambled eggs in their pasta). I'd most likely go with a pasta that didn't require eggs (cacio e pepe, parmesan and brown butter, aglio e olio) but probably instead of another pasta, I'd swap in baked or roasted potatoes or maybe a different style of macaroni - there's already a bechamel on there so why not mac and cheese?

And there's no easy roasted veggies listed either - salad and dressing are good, but no roasted cauliflower or zucchini (or asparagus if it's in season)? Idk idk...

[dissectionist]

I tried carbonara over and over and finally gave up, and then my cousin (an actual Italian chef) taught me how to do it properly while I was in Italy a couple summers ago. I can make it now, but the idea of it being a beginner recipe is ludicrous to me. It literally took a chef teaching me before I was able to manage more than scrambled eggs in pasta!

[ceo]

I'd recommend a basic loaf of bread over pizza (though that's worth learning too). It's nearly as satisfying and is much easier to get right the first time.

I agree that a basic stir-fry should also be in there. With a decent sauce and some basic technique you can throw almost anything in it.

[pameladean]

This was fun, and I love reading people talk about their jobs with love.

But most of these people are DAFT. I think all of them expect to be right there coaching the beginners? If not, REALLY DAFT. The person recommending the pasta carbonara says right there that he uses it to test "his cooks," which I assume means people he's considering hiring or has hired and wants to get a look at their current capabilities. That is not the same as some poor aspiring beginner alone in a kitchen. I've been that beginner and I am still frequently, having changed my eating habits as food restrictions occurred, that beginner; and so many of these people have not an idea in the world what that is like, faced with an inadequate kitchen and ingredients whose habits and vices one does not know yet.

P.

[ethelmay]

I have only barely HEARD of homemade marshmallows being a thing.

[lunabee34]

Some of the suggestions seem silly to me; I don't think anyone needs to know how to make marshmallows if they don't want to. But others are good suggestions like the soup, the tomato sauce, the salad (although to me the salad, the sandwich, and the eggs don't belong on the list because they're not really cooking and don't take any skill to make).

[minoanmiss]

Heh, I still remember my Scrambled Eggs Learning Curve, including buying more eggs at the corner store so my mother wouldn't realize how many I'd used. One of the neat things about this discussion is seeing what different people find easy or difficult.

[sabotabby]

I feel like there are way easier things to start with. Like maybe a stir fry. Also this feels like a very white list.

[ethelmay]

See, I think of stir-fry as being rather difficult to do well, and the really excellent stuff as requiring equipment I haven't got. I can put together a basic version, but I likely would not make it for company. And even the basic version took me a while to get competent at. I was always getting the pan/oil temperature wrong and having things stick or scorch.

[gingicat]

A wants to make blintzes, which are definitely NOT beginner-level.

[minoanmiss]

True, but I think you two can accomplish it. It's three components, right? Thin pancakes which need to not be overcooked: stirred together cheese filling; lightly cooked fruit filling. I am cheering you on!

[anna_wing]

To get in as wide a range of useful techniques as possible:

Stir-fried vegetables
A basic bread recipe
A basic braise
A basic simmered stew (curry counts)
Apple/ other fruit crumble
Scones
Chinese or Japanese -style white rice
Baked vegetables/meat
Chicken soup
Scrambled eggs
Pasta and sauce for pasta
Pound cake

[minoanmiss]

I really like your list. One technique curry can teach is how to bloom spices in oil.