Hiya /ck/. Am just wondering how did some of you lot first

>>8157611
I think you are probably a "visual learner".
In pre-PC days this was known as "being a bit simple"
Get help.

>>8157625
Cheers cunt.

>>8157611
Trail and error for me
If you find a recipe and don't know what a certain cooking term means
Use the fucking Internet.
You are over complicating this

>>8157611
>Wanted to eat well without spending a fuckton of money.
>Got some cookbooks, made some recipes
>Food I made ranged from OK to awful
>Got tips and recipes from people I knew who actually cooked well
>My cooking got better
>Ate at good restaurants and the homes of good cooks whenever I could to get benchmarks for what my cooking was supposed to be
>Over the years my cooking got better
>Settled into being a pretty good cook after the greater part of a decade, but could make a lot of good/great meals well before then

>>8157611
Dedicate yourself to learning. Look up videos, ask people you know questions and practice nigger it's not that difficult

I ate good as a kid, and when I moved out I wanted to continue eating good for little money, so I asked my mom for some very basic recepies.
I learned to follow those recepies and thus learned the basics. Having learned the basics, I could expand and improvise, learning new things as I continued. Whenever I consider using a new ingredient, I'll check the internet for cooking methods and times.
Sometimes I fuck up and try better next time.

Also, smell spices before using them. You'll get to know them better, and learn what they do to your meal. I still do this. It also smells nice.

My mom didn't cook much so we always ate frozen stuff. Then I got bored and started putting stuff in pans. Sometimes it turns up good.

>>8157655
What are these "basic recipes"? Out of interest.

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>>8157611
Use a techniques book. Keep following it until you start to understand how to do stuff like sauteeing, baking, etc. without reference and how to apply existing techniques to new things.

>>8157655
>Also, smell spices before using them. You'll get to know them better, and learn what they do to your meal.
This is true, but remember you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Different cultures have worked out specific combinations of spices for specific dishes. Take a simple dish like eggplant stewed in tomatoes. In northern India it might get one spice mix, in Yemen a slightly different one, Turkey another, and by the time you get to Italy and France you're seeing herbs used more heavily than spices. If you learn a little about the traditions and tastes of different regions you can cast the same basic idea in many different lights.

>>8157611
Here is a list of common cooking terms:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/cooking/tips/a16958/dictionary-cooking-terms/

And for australians:
http://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/articles/cooking-tips/40-common-cooking-terms

I got these databases by clicking on the first two results from a google search "common cooking terms"
If there is a specific type of food you want which uses different terms in the recipe try looking up specifically that type, for example "french cooking terms"

Honestly, anon you should have been able to figure that out on your own and if you couldn't I would not trust you around basic cooking equipment but if you must, knock yourself out just don't endanger your parents and siblings by burning down the place.

>>8157674
A tomato based sauce for over pasta, a satay sauce to go with rice (basic in my family), how to make chicken breast and not die, and the onion-bell pepper-garlic combination that still goes with pretty much all of my go to meals (with differend additions and spices depending on what I'm making).

I grew up eating food, and eventually asked my mom to teach. I was about 10. As oppose to my now adult sister who never asked to learn how to cook and can make Kraft Dinner okay without help.

Seems kind of an important skill to know how to make a turkey dinner with all the trimmings or a lemon meringue pie.

>>8157799
>I grew up eating food,
Most people do.

>>8157799

This guy grew up eating food.

THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN

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>>8157804
>>8157816
seems a legit reason to learn to cook.

You wouldn't think it because most people don't learn to cook. You'd think they didn't grow up eating food.

Some people have eating disorders. Like your mom, because she likes throwing up on my dick!

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>>8157851
>doot
>claims to have a dick
Unlikely.

Trial and error, learning from parents, culinary school, and even YouTube is a great resource these days. Lots of ways to learn how to cook.

Tried and true method is to get into a restaurant as a dishwasher and lean as you work your way up.

I firmly believe that everyone should know how to cook, even in this age of convenience meals and fast food.

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>>8157611
I started cooking for myself after I was tired of depending on my parents or using Frozen microwavable food. I wanted to start eating healthier. Try things out that are easy and make sense to you at first, then start building your skill from there. The more tricks, techniques, basics you acquire and remember the better you get

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>>8157882

>>8157931

The easiest meal to cook is breakfast. It's where anyone should start.