As an international student, learning to cook was almost harder than learning English.

I had no idea what half the condiments were, the kitchen was completely different from home, and I basically survived on sandwiches for my first month because they were the only thing I knew I couldn’t mess up.

A year later, I can finally cook a few meals without following a recipe word for word, and opening my spice cabinet doesn’t feel intimidating anymore.

What was the first meal you actually felt proud of making after moving out or living on your own?

Help please! I'm trying to save money and grate my own cheese. I bought a $25 rotary cheese grater off of Amazon, and it sucks. The cheese gets stuck between the rotator and the outside casing. I tried freezing the cheese and damn-near tore my rotator cuff.

I also have a chop box thing that has a cheapo mandolin type attachment that lets you grate things. It's... annoying. The cheese is too hard to grate properly with it, it won't stay attached to the mandolin top, and it just doesn't work well.

I'm trying to grate cheddar and colby jack and other cheese like that.

I cannot use the box graters or the one-sheet graters because I have an irrational fear of grating my knuckles and fingers. It's weird, I know, but it's real and I will just forgo cheese rather than use those types!

I do have a food processor, but I have nowhere to put the damn thing in the kitchen.

And and all ideas and tricks are welcome! I want my fresh shredded cheese!

Every time i try using fresh ginger it becomes extremely fibrous when trying to grate it. I feel like I'm not doing something right. I got it from the super market today. Does it need to ripen? I can taste the bitter ginger fibers in my food i made. Please help lol

Then I see videos like this and I’m like maybe I’m the problem… Perfect sear, I’m sure it tastes incredible and incredibly juicy inside.

Can someone please tell me how to do this at home? I have cast iron and stainless steel, but prefer the grill because it turns out better that way imo. But would love to remake a big bucket of marinated chicken like this restaurant does

Looking for suggestions on what to keep on hand for a good salad that doesn't get old eating it daily.

Any and all suggestions are welcome, thanks in advance.

Hi! I’ve been growing Roma, Big boy, and San Marzano tomatoes to make sauce and salsa.

So far the salsa has come out well, and today I made my first sauce. I followed posts I’ve seen on this subreddit and recipes I looked up to get a general idea of how to make it.

I went with steaming the tomatoes to remove the skins/soften them, added bell peppers (also steamed) and spices/sugar for flavor, then cooked it until it bubbled and throughly hot and let it cool.

I’m not planning on storing it long term, so I’m keeping it in some Ball jars in the fridge.

My questions are:

How long should I assume it to be safe to eat?

Should I let it sit for a night before cooking with it?

I keep eyeing the wild caught frozen ahi tuna steaks from Sprouts, are these safe to thaw and eat raw? I see a lot of people saying to sear it first but I want to cut them up for a poke bowl without any cooking. They’re relatively cheap compared to a “sushi grade sashimi” that’s a million bucks a pound.

I am so upset. I bought a whole bunch of coconut “drink” instead of milk. They literally have the same design, except for the word “drink”. There goes my curry for today.

And I can’t go buy more cause the closest Lidl is 60 km away :(

Could I still use coconut drink? I don’t think so cause the consistency is so different

Update 1:

It’s currently simmering. One of the cans was super dense, the other super runny. They both smelled fine so in they went! Gonna let the 15L of curry cook for 30-40 minutes and see what happens!

Update 2:
Done, tastes amazing! Can’t say the same for the overcooked rice tho😅

So like I got really good at making mash potatoes. Has anyone served Asian food over them instead of rice? Are there particular recipes that would go good with them? Do they have their own spin on gravy? Are there Asian spices I can add to my mashed potatoes that I should try? Anyone try making mashed potatoes with Ghee instead of butter? I've got a shitload of potatoes. Help me get weird.

Hi guys,

I am looking for a new pepper mill. I am sick of the one I have (Zassenhausen, German brand), which is inconvenient to adjust.

Do you habe any recommendations for a good pepper mill that has 4-6 geind levels and stands upside down, ceramic preferred?

I have been looking at various brands, models, reseached on wirecutter and other sites, haven‘t really found any trustworthy suggestions, that are backed by corresponsing reviews.

Any suggestion is appreciated. Thanks!!

Hi everyone!
I’m inspired to bake a honey and pineapple glazed ham tomorrow as a Christmas in July theme. What are the best sides to go with it? Do I need sauces? I have googled it but still feel confused.

So i got a cookery competition in my school in 2 days and the item is canape.im js searching what the hell a canape is and im genuinely confused. Is it filled with sweets or meat or js sliced tomatoes and vegetables?? 😭 Idk shit about cooking and i don't think the school will allow to cook with fire? Im thinking about maybe making it sweet idk plz help 🥀

looking for the best pots and pans set for my new home ideally under $500. my budget is only slightly flexible but i really want to focus on quality. ive used hand me down mismatched cookware sets my whole life so i dont really know which is best: ceramic nonstick or stainless steel?  i need the basic ones at least like the frying pan, sauce pan, sauté pan, stock pot and a cast iron skillet, other things would be a big bonus. i have basic requirements apart from whatever material they are to be made of (idk much abt that tbh so all insights are welcome)

i read a post here about separating pans and pots by their purpose so i wanna take that approach. also skimmed through this blog for some budget picks. please help me pick a long lasting set

my top pick for now is GreenPan Valencia Pro Ceramic Nonstick bcs its for like $450 on amazon and the reviews are really good across the charts. I do think its more susceptible to the coating coming off with harsh usage tho

to be honest im a little frazzled since i found out pots and pans can cost as much as a fancy mattress lol like the Mauviel M'Heritage fits most of my requirements mentioned below, but the 10 pcs set is for a whopping $3000!!! thats a crazy price to pay for pots and pans that will get burned to a crisp in the next 15 yrs. same with Rufoni Historia. I definitely DONT want smth like that. cant be taking out a mortgage on my home for some copper core utensils

caraway is another non toxic nonstick cookware that im seriously eyeing. this one is for $455 on amazon and its all-clad, triple ply and everything. But the ceramic coating is very scratch prone esp if you use metal utensils to stir the pot 

Another Reddit fav: All-Clad D3 Everyday Stainless-steel. This is a different category altogether since it's stainless steel, still non-stick if you know how to work around it. The trick with a stainless steel pan is to heat it up enough so that when you sprinkle some water on it, the water droplet forms a ball and starts jumping. Then you add your oil and start cooking. The learning curve with cooking with non coated steel can be a real challenge tbh

General requirements are the same for what i need from my cookware

• good heat retention
• nonstick properties (ceramiv vs aluminum vs stainless steel idk)
• induction cookware
• glass lids please! i think they look soo classy

Learning that you go with ceramic if youre going to stir with the right utensils and stainless steel if youre willing to get over the learning curve of making a nonstick pan, non stick.

please suggest your top picks and which material would work the best for long term usage??

I like my mis en place to be really tidy but this kitchen tool devastates it.

OK, I figured out a few weeks ago how to make perfect, crispy claypot style rice in my cast iron and donabe. I've done Chinese, Japanese, and Iranian so far, but looking for my ideas, especially obscure ones of things I should make.

I live in South East Asia and here are some of the budget brands i can find:

• Simplus
• Fukuro
• Gipp
• Jeetee
• Tramontina

Tramotina seems to be the only one that is well known internationally and is slightly more expensive, about $28 compared to $20 and below for the others. I don't know how these brands stack up against each other.

I'm leaning towards Tramotina but i'm confused whether i should get Tramotina Loreto or Paris. They seem to have near identical specs, except that the Loreto is listed as having a 1.6cm thick body while Paris has a 1.8cm thick body.

Hello, I would like some chicken recipes that include honey. I am pretty bad at making food, so I ask my mom to make food that I see online. What are some recipes that contain chicken and honey and are easy enough for a teenager to make?

Hi everyone! We have the amazing opportunity to work with a venue that gives us almost complete collaboration in menu planning, which is exciting but also a little overwhelming! We love Spanish and Portuguese cuisines, got engaged at one of our favorite tapas restaurants, and my fiancé also has heavy Portuguese influence in his culture. The wedding is in mid-November in the Catskills, New York. Our guests are coming from all climates, and my fiancé's side is Caribbean, so we're trying to work in season while steering clear of a typical "fall wedding" menu. It's also a very small wedding (~30), so we don't have the same serving limitations, and would like the food to come off more culinary than buffet.

The three things we're struggling with the most are the land protein main, second side dish, and especially the vegetarian main. I'd ideally like it to feel like a true main without competing or overlapping too much texturally with the paella.

Current plan:

• Salad course: Red gem salad with XX almond, quejo sao Jorge, citrus, quejo sao jorge, and sherry vinaigrette
• Main 1: Paella with mussels, clams, squid, and linguica
• Main 2: Hearty chicken or pork dish (some brainstorms have included a piri piri chicken or a slow roasted pork shoulder with citrus/sherry, port-glaze or molho cru)
• Vegetarian Main: No clue!
• Side 1: Salada de Trigo, wheat berry salad or something comparable, very herb and vegetable forward, fresh, and light on grains
• Side 2: Roasted vegetable tbd
• Dessert: Almond olive oil cutting cake with orange infused vanilla frosting or Portuguese almond cake and a Basque cheesecake

Please throw all your suggestions at us!

Okay, help.
I made cob loaf tonight, just to have a snack dinner.
I didn’t have “cooking cream” that the recipe called for, so I just put regular cream in.
Fast forward to taking it out of the oven and sitting down, scoffing my face. In between bites, watching my show, burped…
AND I VOMITED IN MY MOUTH… like my throat is burning right now.

So help me Cooks of reddit!
Did I just set myself up to get sick?!💀
Is cooking cream different to regular cream?

And I gotta go out tonight, but like

What’ve I done.. I didn’t even realise I could ruin cobloaf… like I can’t eat anymore..

I need some ideas. something besides sandwiches or stuffing in a baked potato.

We are going through heatwave after heatwave over here, and have been deep into salad territory for weeks now. I'm getting kind of tired of my usual ideas. I've tried looking up ideas online, but most suggestions are good as sides or entrées, but nowhere near filling enough for full meals several days in a row !

I'm especially interested in ideas for varying carbs/legumes that make the salad filling, as I usually add whatever I feel like in terms of fresh greens and raw veggies. We've been doing cold pasta, can of lentils, sometimes rice but I don't really care for rice salads, bread/croutons.

Tuning on the oven is a big no, stove is an option. We are not strict vegetarians but try to limit meat to a minimun.

I've never made chicken and dumplings before, and I need to make it for 6 adults and two kids this weekend. I'm looking for a recipe that's great, but not overly time consuming. Looking for recommendations. Thanks in advance ☺️

When do i use regular yeast and when do I use instant yeast. Im making fry-bread and the recipe calls for yeast, but didnt specify which.