two cookbook recs for beginner cooks
two cookbook recs for beginner cooks
& why you should get a cookbook in the first place
i kind of tweeted about this in 2020 so im not sure how much value add there is in me making a substack about it. but i am going to do it anyway bc 1) the longer form of substack might encourage me to emphasize different things & that might be useful 2) i had like no followers back then so basically no one saw it
first off i am going to make the case for cookbooks for beginner cooks. i think a lot of beginner cooks don’t want to buy a cookbook bc it’s expensive & a commitment, when there are so many free recipes online. however beginner cooks are not in a good position to really get much out of the wealth of free recipes online, bc they don’t have the experience to judge the recipes. better to limit yourself to one source you trust for a while, rather than having to choose from, & judge the trustworthiness of, every recipe on the internet every time you want to pick a meal to make
ok. if that convinced you. here are two cookbooks that i have seen work really, really well for beginner cooks. they each work for slightly different problems & life situations
what to cook & how to cook it
i got what to cook & how to cook it as a christmas gift in college, & it was the perfect gift for that life situation—i still had some kind of small meal plan at the cafeteria so i had a fallback if i fucked up my cooking, & my schedule was more or less mine to control so i could make time for cooking stuff that kind of stretched me beyond my current abilities.
what this cookbook does beautifully is kind of hold your hand by being very clearly written & showing in pictures exactly what your food should look like at every step—and also, as simple as it sounds, by just being trustworthy. the recipes actually work as written & taste really good, which is rarer than it should be.1
i’m calling it a beginner cookbook, but that doesn’t mean a beginner-only cookbook. i don’t feel like i am “beyond” this book yet, a lot of these recipes allow you to make really good food that anyone could be proud to cook. the shepherd’s pie recipe in particular is the best i have ever made or had
the six ingredient solution
this cookbook solves problems for a very different life situation. this cookbook acknowledges that the problem of cooking is not just a kitchen problem but a grocery store problem—every recipe, as you might be able to guess from the title, calls for only 6 ingredients. also, this cookbook isn’t promising like “30 minute dinners” or anything like that, but there is only so much you can do with 6 ingredients so the recipes tend towards uncomplicated/quick/easy. so if you’re like a busy adult who maybe doesn’t have a super well stocked kitchen , stopping off at the grocery store after a full day of work, this is great
from my experience of teaching people how to cook, this is a really great second step from meal kits. meal kits let you cook without worrying about shopping, this book gets you used to shopping in a kind of shallow-end-of-the-pool way
obviously this isn’t the only cookbook out there claiming to be a great easy cookbook for busy adults, but this is muchhhhhh better than the general run of such books. for one thing, cookbooks advertising themselves that way, are often really bland. also a lot of times the recipes simply do not actually work. this cookbook was put out by america’s test kitchen/cook’s illustrated, a company that i super trust for making recipes that actually work, are possible to follow, and have a lot of flavor.
i think something about today’s instagram culture or whatever makes us undervalue how important it is to have the ability to make easy stuff. in my experience of sort of teaching people how to cook—if you are confident that you have the option to make something dead easy, it’s easier to get into cooking regularly, & then trying fancy/difficult/complicated stuff feels lower stakes
as frustrating as this is, hopefully it also makes you feel vindicated—a lot of recipes out there just will not ever result in good food because they are bad
Such a good point that not all recipes work! This was a hard lesson for me when starting out - food would come out bad and I would think it was my fault.
The book I always recommend for beginners is Nigella Express. This was the book that got me into cooking. What I like about it is that she writes very good introductions and actual recipes - you really get a sense of what to do (many books do not do this at all). Also there is a lot of info on how to stock and arrange your freezer/fridge/pantry so you can cook without going to the shop. Great range of recipes for all situations too.
There is a tv series ( on YT as well) where you can watch the food being made - I learn best visually so this was a big help.
I will check out the books you mention above they look great! It can be quite hard to get books for beginners as Insta/ tv is all about overly complicated food mostly which is intimidating and off putting!
I know how to make scrambled eggs; chop things up into basic salads and soups; and then there's chili-like concoction that was originally a sloppy joe's fillings recipe. Basically, yea, I live off what my dad cooks a lot of the time. But recently, I learned to make apple sauce (and apple butter is not far behind) -- I know that's super random, but it reminded me of this power we have to turn one food item into another! Doors are opening. Strongly considering that a cookbook might be the next step here.