Teaching yourself to cook.

[brassnuts]

I can cook a few basic things, and I'm decent on a grill. However, I'd like to be able to legitly call myself a good cook... or at least decent. Short of going to chef school, does anyone have any suggestions for this? Books? Internet site? I'm thinking of just using the trusted trial and error method. Anyone know where to get good recipes/directions?

[GuyOnTilt]

Anyone know where to get good recipes/directions?

Google. Recipes are the number one searched thing on the internet. No joke.

GoT

[jakethebake]

Lots of good shows on the Food Network and other cable channels.
[ QUOTE ]
I can cook a few basic things, and I'm decent on a grill. However, I'd like to be able to legitly call myself a good cook... or at least decent. Short of going to chef school, does anyone have any suggestions for this? Books? Internet site? I'm thinking of just using the trusted trial and error method. Anyone know where to get good recipes/directions?

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[Monkeyslacks]

www.epicurious.com

Best site by a mile.

[stabn]

Just buy a better crocker cookbook man, it's the nuts.

[KJS]

I second whoever said epicurious (sp?). Foodtv.com also has great recipes.

I would get the newest version of Joy of Cooking. It has great information about food and cooking that are necessary background for proper food buying, prep, cooking, etc.. I use it all the time to go from "what do I have" to "how to I want to cook it" to "how do I want to flavor it".

Trial and error will always be part of the process. Try making a few easy recipes to get the methods down, then branch out into more difficult ones. Do watch Food TV if you have a chance, especially the shows geared towards beginners that teach a lot of the science behind cooking; they show you stuff you can apply across many recipes.

Still learning myself.

KJS

[benfranklin]

A good, but expensive, magazine is Cook's Illustrated. They have a very good TV show on PBS called America's Test Kitchen, and their web site is free, and has a lot of great recipes from the show. ATK

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
I can cook a few basic things, and I'm decent on a grill. However, I'd like to be able to legitly call myself a good cook... or at least decent. Short of going to chef school, does anyone have any suggestions for this? Books? Internet site? I'm thinking of just using the trusted trial and error method. Anyone know where to get good recipes/directions?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had good luck with "How to cook everything" by Mark Bittman. I also like "Essentials of Classic Italian Cuisine" by Marcella Hazan. If you want to learn to bake, "The Bread Bible" and "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum are good places to start. Given that you're looking to become a "good cook", I think "The Professional Chef" is pretty much indispensable. It's done by the Culinary Institute of America, and is pretty much the standard as far as culinary textbooks go. I have all of the above...I'm at best an intermediate chef, but they're slowly making me better.

[Slacker13]

bettycrocker.com should get you started.

[M2d]

Beard on Bread is pretty essential for breadmaking.