Afternoon Rob. I learned to cook from my Mum, so by the time we got cookery at school (age 13) I was way past the initial lessons – how to make toast – under the grill not in a toaster, how to make tea, cocoa, cocoa versus hot chocolate pro’s and cons!. We also made stock from scratch and compared price to tinned soups which was useful and a lot of baking (it was in Scotland).
You clearly approach things from a science point of view, as do I. I read everything I can find about a subject until I find all new info is a repeat of what I have already read. I looked on Amazon for books to see if there were any familiar ones, there was a Jamie Oliver one, but some of the negative comments put me off.
I then remembered about a Delia Smith series from the 90’s – she was given a really hard time about her series on how to cook by other cooks. She started with the basics – how to cook eggs – it was actually a very good series, refresher for those of us who could cook, but getting lazy and for those who never learned to cook at home or at school. I have both the books and still occasionally look them up for timings. One thing about Delia’s recipes is that I have never had a failure from them when I have followed the instructions. They are detailed and logically set out.
She was now has her own online presence, continuing her campaign on teaching cookery on-line. There are some area not to bother with – bread, rice and pasta etc; but scroll down to the bottom of the link and you will find techniques that you will read about in cookery books all demonstrated. The section on eggs is good – use portobello mushrooms instead of rolls/toast. How to roast a chicken. Other recipes, ignore the potatoes, the rest is fine. There is a good ragout recipe plus freezing instructions in another area. It is worth browsing the sections you will not use just to learn more techniques.
You also need to be prepared to calculate the carbs and calories per recipe and think about the portions to keep to a good portion size for the diet.
As Hashimoto says – provide us with some idea of what you like and we can offer some suggestions.
Have fun with it – it is a whole new topic to explore!
http://www.deliaonline.com/deliaonline-cookery-school/allvideos.html
Oh yes – there are also lots of demo’s on YouTube, I would start with Delia then go on YouTube as you will probably get better basics here.
BWT, my hobby is archaeology and I have been teaching myself/going on courses for the last few years. What I find interesting is not so much why the Egyptians are not ruling us, but how so many nations in that past had their day in the sun. Each had an empire for a while – a century or two then it died. The Romans, the Greeks, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Viking, Spanish, British, Dutch, Belgium etc.
