I figured I'd have better luck if I post this on a blog that's actually public...
I can't figure out why I suck at cooking.
Nine times out of ten, if I try to throw something together it turns out funky-tasting. Even if I follow a recipe, it's never really good. I recently tried a fettuccine alfredo recipe that I found on one of those well-known recipe websites, and it sucked! It had a strange bitter aftertaste, and I followed the recipe exactly.
I can bake like it's nobody's business, but I can not figure out WHY I suck at cooking. I need to find a very simple, beginner's cookbook to cook my way through and gain some confidence.
I mean, I'm not completely clueless. I can boil an egg or make mashed potatoes, and spaghetti is a good standby, but I don't have the slightest idea how to check out the ingredients in my fridge and say, "Hey, these flavors would be awesome together."
One problem I have with the 10 cookbooks that I do own and the eleventy billion recipes on the internet is that they're full of crazy recipes that I wouldn't normally make. Really? Apple Fennel soup? Deviled Crab?? Sounds delicious, but that's a far cry from chicken noodle soup from a can and spaghetti.
And I really want to get away from using pre-made, pre-packaged stuff because we all know it's full of crap. If I'm going to learn how to cook, I'm going to do it the right way.
I need a cookbook full of down-home, standard recipes. Like pot roast. Everybody likes pot roast.
Anyone have any suggestions? Maybe the library has some good cookbooks...
2 comments:
Are you looking for an actual gluten-free cookbook or just any cookbook? We use just a plain old Betty Crocker cookbook. It's one my mom has had for years, but I am sure that the basic recipes like roast and such remain the same even in the new ones. Anything that asks for wheat I just substitute with my own flour mix. Cooking is typically easier than baking when it comes to substitutions. Oh, and btw, roast is delicious cooked in a crock pot. I love doing bbq wings in the crock pot too. There isn't really any trick to seasoning bbq as long as you have gluten free bbq sauce. (The Betty Crocker book has a bbq sauce recipe)
I have to agree. My mother got me a Betty Crocker cookbook when I first got married, and I've carried it with me forever - through countless moves and many, many dinners. I have a boatload of cookbooks, but for the basics? It really is the best one out there.
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