Stir Fry basics is a good start for a young bachelor learning how to cook. The same process can be used for a variety of different cuts of meat, vegetables, sauces and other compliments.
A really easy recipe that looks and tastes like it took you hours is chicken marsala. It does require alcohol, but the guy is 19, fer cripes sake.
Cook pork, chicken, and hamburgers fairly slowly. Cook steaks quickly on higher heat to get a brown seal on the meat. If I had to give a new cook one lesson, it would be patience. Cook things as long as they’re supposed to cook, at the heat you’re supposed to cook them at. It just works better.
Sometimes less is more.
I’ll take a can of tomatoes, puree them, then just add fresh basil, garlic, salt and the sausage.
That alone tastes beter than any store bought stuff I’ve ever bought.
That’s more-or-less how I do it, too. I don’t like any of the jarred sauces, period, but it’s not because they need doctoring–they’re (for the most part) already too doctored and cooked-down tasting. Just start with some good canned tomatoes. But that’s just me. Some people like that Prego or Ragu base flavor and go from there. So try a bunch of stuff and see what you like.
I agree with the Mark Bittman How to Cook Everything suggestion. I cut my teeth on Joy of Cooking, but Bittman’s book is a bit better for the beginner. I have a copy and, I confess, I rarely use it, but it is something that would have been perfect for when I was in college starting to learn to cook.
I skimmed the posts, so I want to add or reiterate, as the case may be:
The first time you make the meal you are making for company should not be when you make it for company. The first time (and often the second and third) are learning experiences, and you want to make for other people stuff you’ve already learned.
My number one tip for a young man (or anyone else) serving a meal to his parents:
Don’t try a new recipe. Do a test run with the GF and make enough for four people.
Onto my recipe. Once the water is boiling, it takes 10 minutes.
Salmon with Pasta
Utensils
1 burner/gas ring
1 large pot
1 pasta draining device
1 knife
1 pasta ladle (or some sort of big spoon like thing)
Ingredients
Water
Salt
1 packet of pasta - preferably tagliatelle, but long flat noodle will work
1 tub sour cream (don’t get the reduced fat stuff)
2 smoked salmon steaks (if you can’t get a hold of these, regular smoked salmon or even canned salmon might do in a pinch) 10-12oz is plenty for four people.
1 lime
1 large handful frozen peas
Black Pepper + Parmesan cheese (optional)
Method
Put a lot of water in the pan, throw in a teaspoon or so of salt and put it onto boil.
Cook the pasta according to the packet directions
While the pasta is cooking, chop up the salmon into small pieces using the knife*
Cut the lime in half
As soon as the pasta is cooked, turn the burner to low, drain it, put it back in the pot and return it to the stove. Put in the sour cream, salmon and still frozen peas.
Stir.
Squeeze the lime into the mix.
Stir again.
Put the lid on the pot and get ready to serve. It will be ready to eat in one minute.
*if you’re using canned salmon, you’ll have to add some extra flavor here. A few red pepper flakes, Italian Seasoning, garlic, or you could swap out half the sour cream for that fancy Boursin Cheese stuff. If you’ve managed to score some smoked salmon steaks, don’t forget to remove the skin.
Serving tip
This dish is going to be pretty sticky. This means it will look good if you pile it into a mound on a big plate. Adding black pepper and/or Parmesan makes it look a little prettier
Yup. I still consult the household copy of Grub on a Grant for stupidly simple things, like how long to cook vegetables and bake potatoes 
Does he have any previous cooking experience at all? Helped out in the kitchen when he was younger? If he doesn’t have experience doing basic prep (cutting, measuring, mixing, oven preheating, etc) then I would make something really basic but tasty like a meat loaf (with potatoes and veggie) or spaghetti sauce.
Very important: Do NOT cook something for the first time for people you are trying to impress. Test the recipe out a few days beforehand, in HIS kitchen, not yours.
Meat Loaf
2 to 2 and 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound bulk italian sausage
2 eggs
2 packages Lipton beef soup mix
4-5 pieces of white bread with the crusts cut off (crust makes little bread nuggets inside the loaf, which some people like but I’d leave it out)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Mash together, shape into a loaf, place into a roasting pan with a lid, put in the oven @350 for an hour and 15 mins to an hour and a half. The nice thing is the recipe is pretty forgiving. You can leave out the sausage if you don’t like it, use 4-5 ramen soup flavoring packets instead of the lipton mix, etc.
Boil some water and add veggies (green beans, lima beans, brussel sprouts, etc).
You can even get pre-made mashed potatoes (We like Bob Evans cheddar potatoes) to save time, or throw some whole potatoes in the oven about a half hour before you start the meatloaf. Or cut your potatoes into chunks, cover with rosemary, parsley, garlic, and olive oil, and put in the oven for the last half hour the loaf is cooking. Simple, easy to make, and delicious.
Another vote for anything these guys put out. The recipes may be boring, but they are usually bulletproof. I do agree with the idea that one should learn why something is done, and not slavishly follow a recipe, but if you’re going to use recipes in cooking, Cook’s Illustrated is a pretty good resource.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is how to perform some of the activities in a kitchen, like chopping or sauteeing. For that, I really recommend a book like La Methode from Jacques Pepin. Follow its very detailed, step-by-step instructions, and you’ll learn the right way to hold a knife, how to make fine dice, how to make a roux, etc…
Nothing beats practice, the willingness to trust your senses, and not minding when you screw up. Veggies are cheap. Practice on them. Smell when the vegetables have been sweated, don’t rely on the timer. Feel how the meat goes from squishy to springy to hard. Taste how things change when you add a little acid, then a little more. (You can always add baking soda if you overdo it. Saved a dish with it the other night when I got a little carried away with the vinegar.)
This may cause more confusion than enlightenment. There is no difference between a liquid cup of something and a dry cup of something, there is however a difference between the type of measuring cup that is appropriate to measure liquid vs dry ingredients. Measuring cups for dry ingredients are meant to be filled to the top and have a knife drawn across them to level it off. For liquid measures, you use a transparent cup with lines that account for the meniscus. Probably more important is that they are not meant to be filled to the brim as that would result in spilling. This is why there are multiple measuring cups for 1/4. 1/3, 1/2, etc. intended for dry ingredients and generally that large Pyrex one with multiple marking that is used for liquids.
What is crucial, is understanding the difference between ounces and fluid ounces. Ounces measure weight, fluid ounces measure volume. For water there is an equivalence: one fluid ounce of water weighs one ounce (in America anyway).
That is not true for things like flour, or rice, or salt, or cocoa. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people think that 8oz of salt will fit in a 1/2 cup jar.
Ugh, one cup jar :smack:
For most recipes, it does not matter if you use a liquid measuring cup or a dry measuring cup. Maybe for baking, but there I prefer to use a scale there if I want to be exact.
Back on topic, people…
I would google Gordon Ramsay’s “how to make a steak video” on youtube. I used to make mine that way, until I could buy a grill.
A nice salad never hurts. You can buy the pre-bagged kind, or get 2 heads of lettuce (NOT ICEBERG), some roma or cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, a red onion, some croutons, and a nice dressing. BAM!
That’s what I was trying to get across Too many words.
Buy one thick-bottomed stockpot and one heavy non-stick saute pan from the restaurant supply house.
Also buy one $30 chef’s knife. Just one. Learn the parts of the knife, how to hold the knife with your right hand, how to hold the item you wish to cut with your left, how to stand at the board. How to hone a knife on a steel.
How to dice an onion. How to make an omelet. How to break down a chicken. How to make stock. How to reduce and mount a sauce. Fundamentals. Fancy stuff comes later.
This thread kind of makes me feel proud, because I am a 27 year-old American male who was in a very similar to this 19 year-old in question back when I was that age. I think I have made huge strides since then, at least relative to many of my peers. Reading books like Kitchen Confidental did wonders to improve my curiosity and confidence in the kitchen.
He also needs a cast iron skillet - 12" I have my mother’s set (they are over 40 years old). Pan searing meats, making cornbread, offensive/defensive weapon, gritball, its all good…
Second (or third or fourth) the suggestion to start by learning to cook breakfast. The ingredients are cheap. The Aldi around here frequently has a dozen eggs on sale for $.89, or you can buy a box of seven and a half dozen eggs at CostCo for less than $8. That was how I perfected my poached egg and omelet making.
Cooking breakfast for an overnight guest is usually a big win as well.
This. It’s ridiculously easy to cook with a crockpot. Toss some chicken breasts or pork chops in the crockpot in the morning, pour in a bottle of salsa or barbecue sauce and half that bottle of water, set it to cook… and when you get home, cook up some minute rice or pasta and you’ve got dinner. Cheap, easy, and surprisingly good.
Agreed. If you want to impress them make dinner; If you want their everlasting love and admiration make them breakfast. Learn to make a decent cup of coffee, good bacon and eggs, and have fresh juice and they’ll be practically throwing their daughter at you.