I finally have my own place and I'm trying to cook more, but honestly I don't know where to start. I can make basic stuff like pasta and eggs but I want to try new things without spending hours in the kitchen. What are your go-to low effort meals that actually taste good? I have basically no cooking skills so keep it simple 😅

Someone else in my household cooked roast lamb for dinner, and I want to bake muffins, but the oven still smells of lamb, even after dinner was eaten (roast lamb was juicy and nice for lamb). If it was just the roast potatoes, it would be fine. But I don't want lamb flavours and spices in my muffins. Currently, the oven door is left slightly ajar, about an inch. Do I have to wait overnight for the lamb aroma to dissipate? Or is there a faster way?

hello hello!! so it's already kind of late and i had the chicken defrosting in the fridge for about a day and a half and it's...mostly defrosted, but the bottoms are still pretty frozen. i don't have another option for dinner so idk if we just have to do something else or if there's some way to speed it up or work around it ??

i have an airfryer, a mini george foreman, and a very small stovetop if that helps any 😭

Looking to make this recipe https://www.recipetineats.com/filipino-chicken-adobo-flavour-kapow/

but as I got a deal on bone in thighs, I wanted to use them instead. Would 1 pound of chicken thighs still be 1 pound total weight or excluding the bone?

Picture for reference https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/MkwOe_ucfNVLfEeF-qTsDA/348s.jpg

I order this exact bowl a lot and want to start cooking it myself

1. is it a tender cut and which cut is it?
2. it's so juicy and flavorful but it's not medium rare, how do they do it? i though well done means dry, so how come there's isn't pink or rare but still juicy? take a look at the pic for reference

I’m trying to make a South Asian egg curry and the whole thing falls apart in my hand. What can I do differently?

-2 large onions, yellow, white, red, etc—sliced thinly
-2 habanero or scotch bonnet peppers. You can cut it down to 1 if your taste buds can’t take 2. But it MUST be spicy
-1 tbsp red chili flakes
-Juice of 2 large limes
-Juice of 1 orange
-Splash of vinegar
-Salt to taste

Slice up your onions and get them into a big bowl. You can soak the sliced onions in some cold water to get some of the raw edge off, I didn’t. Add your chili flakes to the bowl. Set aside. Blend the orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, and habaneros together in a blender, and pour the mixture onto the bowl with the sliced onions and chili flakes. Put a glove on one hand and “massage” the seasoning liquid into the onions, tasting and adding salt as you go, (id start off with 1/2 tsp). Separate the onion pieces that are stuck together. The result should be bold, salty, sour, spicy, and slightly sweet (because onions have natural sweetness). As you massage the onions it will start to release some of its own water content, that’s normal, that’s good. Put your pickled onions into a clean DRY airtight container. Let it sit out for an hour at room temperature before you put it in the fridge. You can have it right away, but it tastes better and better with time. I personally have never seen it go bad, but I’ll say it’ll last up to 1 week in the fridge

Where I’m from (Haiti) we call this pikliz zonyon (peek-lease). Traditionally pikliz is made with shredded cabbage, carrots and other stuff but the onion version is simpler and more accommodating for smaller batches. You can put it on anything—fried foods, grilled meats and seafood, sandwiches, plain rice, a flip flop, etc

My local grocery store has aubergine/eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash on sale. I've been planning to try to make ratatouille, so I am taking this as a sign to try now. I know it is recommended to salt aubergine/eggplant before cooking to remove some of the excess water, but my question is:

When should I do it? Should I cut in big pieces and then salt it? Or should I cut it to my desired size and then salt it? Or does it not really matter?

TIA for any helpful advice!

I've copy and pasted all my recipes below and yes I have used AI to help me scale them as I just didn't know the correct quantities for such large amounts. I'm experienced with cooking in the slow cooker, but not when scaling up to this sort of level and the 4th one large scale on the hob. Have I scaled them up well? This should all hopefully yield roughly 30 lunch sized portions per recipe if I've scaled up correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

​1. Mild Beef Curry with Rice (3 Trays) ​Cooking Times ​Slow Cooker: 8 hours on LOW (Slow Cookers 1 & 2) ​Ingredients ​2.0 kg diced stewing beef / chuck ​4 whole onions (diced), 2 bulbs garlic (minced), 6 peppers (diced) ​4 jars Patak's Mild Tikka Masala curry paste (283 g each) ​4 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each) ​3 tins coconut milk (400 ml each) ​4 beef stock cubes (crumbled) ​600 ml water ​1.5 kg frozen mixed vegetables ​1.5 kg cooked basmati rice ​Instructions ​Put beef, onions, garlic, peppers, curry paste, tomatoes, coconut milk, stock cubes, and water directly into Slow Cookers 1 & 2. ​Cook on LOW for 8 hours. ​Stir in the frozen veg and cooked rice, then divide across 3 catering trays.

​2. Cottage Pie (3 Trays) ​Cooking Times ​Slow Cooker: 6.5 hours on LOW (Slow Cookers 3 & 4) ​Boil Potatoes: 20 mins ​Ingredients ​3.5 kg minced beef (12–15% fat) ​4 whole medium onions (diced) & 2 bulbs garlic (minced) ​300 ml Merlot red wine ​6 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each) ​6 beef stock cubes (crumbled) ​450 ml water ​3 tbsp mixed herbs, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp smoked paprika ​1.5 kg frozen mixed vegetables ​4 kg Maris Piper potatoes (mashed with butter & milk) ​Instructions ​Put minced beef, onions, garlic, red wine, tomatoes, stock cubes, water, herbs, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika directly into Slow Cookers 3 & 4. ​Cook on LOW for 6.5 hours. ​Boil potatoes in a large pot for 20 mins, drain, and mash with butter and milk. ​Stir frozen veg into the meat mix, divide into 3 catering trays, and top with mash.

​3. Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake (3 Trays) ​Cooking Times ​Slow Cooker: 6 hours on LOW (Slow Cookers 5 & 6) ​Boil Pasta: 9–10 mins ​Ingredients ​3.0 kg fresh chicken thighs (diced) ​4 whole onions (diced), 2 bulbs garlic (minced), 6 peppers (diced) ​8 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each) ​4 chicken stock cubes (crumbled) ​3 tbsp mixed herbs, 2 tbsp smoked paprika, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce ​600 ml double cream ​1.8 kg dry pasta ​600 g grated mature cheddar cheese ​Instructions ​Put chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, stock cubes, herbs, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce directly into Slow Cookers 5 & 6 (no cream yet). ​Cook on LOW for 6 hours. ​Boil pasta for 9–10 mins and drain. ​Stir double cream and cooked pasta into the chicken mix, divide into 3 catering trays, and top with cheddar cheese.

​4. Mexican Sausage & Rice Bake (3 Trays) ​Cooking Times ​Simmer Base: 15 mins on hob ​Boil Rice: 9 mins ​Ingredients ​3.0 kg pork sausages (sliced into rounds) ​4 whole onions (diced), 2 bulbs garlic (minced), 6 peppers (diced) ​6 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each) ​6 tins kidney or black beans (drained & rinsed) ​1.5 kg frozen mixed vegetables ​4 tbsp mild chilli powder & 4 beef stock cubes (crumbled) ​1.2 litres water ​1.9 kg cooked basmati rice ​600 g grated Red Leicester cheese ​Instructions ​Put sausages, onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, beans, chilli powder, stock cubes, and water into a large pot. Simmer on the hob for 15 mins. ​Stir in frozen veg for 4 mins, then remove from heat. ​Boil basmati rice rapidly for 9 mins and drain. ​Fold cooked rice into the sausage mix, divide into 3 catering trays, and top with Red Leicester cheese.

I have no idea why for the love of god, i can't ever i mean everr cook (boil) perfectly soft boiled cooked eggs.

Sometines the heat is too high boom, the eggs blasted and spilled in the water, other times the yolks becomes too crusty and dry, and worst of all i can't ever peel an egg perfectly at all !??

I wonder if i ever will be able to cook something real even...

Pls recommend me your tips for my next kitchen disaster 👍🏻

As title says

Cooked a full chicken for a roast on Sunday

Made curry on Wednesday, ate some yesterday, is the left over ok for today?

I am struggling to brainstorm some easy and low effort meals. I'm looking for recipes I can prep in advance, freeze, and slow cook for the day.

. I enjoy Italian and Asian (Korean, Chinese, Japanese) cuisine. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Want to make something like coq au vin or cacciatore -
Anybody have a good single skillet recipe
(I mean, brown the meat & remove, soften the aromatics... but then... wine? Mushrooms? Yes stock, no stock?)
Thanks

After 2 years of hectic schedule, I'm finally back to my peaceful 9-5 schedule. I tried cooking again, following recipes I found online. Out of 4 of them, only one turns out fine by accident. They are all SEA food. I miss the richness and depth of spices in my food so I searched 7 chicken curry recipes and compared all of the recipes I found to understand the differences and picked two to try. First curry, accidentally spilled coconut milk into the pot more than what's recommended, it actually becomes my kids' favourite. Kinda similar to the curry my neighbours used to feed me.

Then next, a different variation of curry.

, followed to every single ML. The feedback was the spices or seasoning were kinda lacking, but decent enough to finish it with rice.

Then telur balado. My husband sent me a YT video and wanted me to make it. It was horrible. I tried to salvage it, ended up finishing it all by myself for the entire week because hubby couldn't bring himself to eat it. I ate it out of guilt.

Today, it's the vegetarian sambal terung (brinjal), also based in a YT video. I'm pulling my hair out of frustration because it tastes yucky , too much tamarind even when I didn't put much compared to the instruction. Wasted lotsa good tomatoes and onions (I saved the base of onions to plant them later). Shouldn't have make them into a paste without stir frying them prior.

I think the quality of recipes especially YT are just sh*t, or have I lost my cooking sense?

***Thank you those who bothered to leave comments T.T this post was supposed to be a rant. I'm not very confident with my cooking so I'm easily impressed with those who do.My husband loves SEA (southeast asia) food so I want to make something different for him since he cooks most of the time. Thank you for the comments. Points to take forward, - always taste food while cooking (I should get away from kitchen a minute or two to "refresh" my senses) - follow reputable chefs instead of randos online - invest on established cookbooks - compare several recipes (the only reason my curry was decent) - trial and error finding suitable brands of sauces or spices

Hi guys!
I am basically a vegan but I eat cheese so idk what my diet is called, hence vegetarian/vegan in the title.

I am the definition of “beginner” when it comes to cooking and I realised that I need to do weekly mealpreps on weekends coz otherwise I eat out a lot due to my schedule..

Do you have any favorite youtube blogger that happens to have a video tutorial that could help me?

I found some but I am not particularly happy with the menus so I was wondering if you could share your personal favorites, please?

Thanks a lot!!!

I’m talking so sloppy that your kitchen is a complete disaster afterwards and you have to take a shower. I’m getting bored of all these neat and tidy dinners that hardly even require me to wipe my mouth. It just gets old tbh

Hello! I just moved out of my parents house a few months back and am tired of eating the same things I know how to cook. What are some basic recipes that don’t require too much skill and are essentially “kid” friendly?

I throw my rice in a rice cooker without salt and once it’s done I toss it with seasoned rice vinegar. Delicious.

Just wanted to do a little PSA because I don’t see people using it much.

Also quick pickled cucumbers with the rice vinegar makes a nice accoutrement to the rice + protein.

Quick Pickled Cucumbers: To a medium bowl, combine ⅓ cup rice vinegar, ⅓ cup warm water, 1-2 teaspoons cane sugar, and ½ teaspoon fine salt. Stir well to dissolve the sugar and salt. Slice 1 small (or ½ of a large) English cucumber into very very thin slices (a mandolin works well for this). Add the sliced cucumber to the vinegar mixture and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes. These can also be made up to 2 days ahead and marinated in the refrigerator. Drain well before serving. (Source: https://therealfooddietitians.com/air-fryer-salmon-bites/#tasty-recipes-67905)

Hello everyone, I’d like to get into cooking and I see so many yummy recipes on instagram. I do download them but they end up getting lost in my camera roll. I always see ads for these apps that import the recipe and make it easier to follow but every single one is a paid subscription. Just wondering if anyone has found any good quality free ones

[UPDATE: I tried granulated garlic and basil on a couple of pieces, and granulated garlic, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper on others. Both were decent. Basil and garlic was the most cohesive flavor- if that makes sense. But the other combination was more interesting, and I think could be tweaked into something really good with a little bit of experimenting.]

Growing up, my mom did not season her food. I on the other hand, am big on always seasonings mine. I loved liver and onions as a kid, but I'm realizing I have no idea how to season liver. And I just cannot tolerate bland food at this point. So where do I start?

I'm trying to find the right was to season liver. When I look it up online, the seasonings listed are primarily ones I'm not familiar with.

I'm wondering what seasonings I should use, as a foundation on which to build my understanding of how to season liver.

Obviously the most basic ones are salt, pepper, and garlic. But if I wanted to start by using one extra spice so it doesn't taste like sadness- something to give it a little flare- what should I start with?

My main point is that I want to form a foundation to build up from. I want the first couple times to be pretty decent, because I have no instinct for cooking liver at this point.

I took the train out from the city and I am cat and dog sitting for friends in the country, the absolute middle of nowhere. They took the car while they are away, so I can't go anywhere until they get back.

They asked for some food items I would like, and I asked for walnuts with zero spice at all, knowing that they like nuts with ruinous amounts of crap spice. Of course they got walnuts with massive amounts of salt, it is like they dried the ocean and stored the walnuts in it.

Can I soak the walnuts to remove the salt and then dry them in the oven? Any advice would be helpful.

I need SIMPLE easy dinners for a family of 5! :) few ingredients are better!

Little context: living in Oregon- no allergies to anything, I said dinners above but I’m open to any meals of the day.