Your first dish; then, your second
Why start off with this one dish? First, it is something that makes you happy, and by focusing on only one dish at a time, you do not overload yourself with too many challenges and variations (alternatives). Typically, it is best to start off with something “simple” to allow you to practice and master certain basic skills; a complex dish like a Spanische Windtorte may frustrate to the extremes the complete novice, and may require specialised equipment you do not (yet) have. Air-fried marinated chicken wings, for example, is a great dish to start, for example. But what matters most is that you like the dish and are happy to eat it more than once a week!
Here are my suggestions for the qualities of your beginner dish, and how to go about cooking it.
First Dish Pointers
- Its ingredients are accessible and easy to come by (you can buy this from the grocery store very easily)
- Its ingredients are affordable (you will be making many mistakes in the beginning!)
- Its ingredient list is simple (managing 14 different ingredients before you’ve mastered mise en place in your own kitchen is sure to confound you)
- You practice only after you get home from school or work: you do not want to practice making breakfast at breakfast-time, and start off your day with frustration and mess!
- It is not a dessert (few things are more disappointing than a burnt custard… and so on)
- It does not make more than 3 servings (if you are unhappy with how it turns out, you do not want to be stuck with 4 days’ of leftovers…)
- It cleans easily (if the cooking goes awry, you do not need to add to your frustration by having to clean 12 other pieces of equipment in addition to your own plate)
- It really is the first dish you want to learn. This is very important! If it does not mean something to you, then it will be that much harder to persist, as you will inevitably stumble and make mistakes, as you work to master this dish. This is true whether you’ve cooked a thousand meals prior to this or none. It takes practice and experimentation to master each and any individual dish, to your liking.
My first mistake, when I was beginning to learn how to cook, was that I kept looking into dishes that were out of reach for me. I don’t mean that figuratively, I mean the ingredients were just not going to be found at my local grocery stores. Having grown up witnessing food (and cooking) on the BBC, the BBC website was the first place I would go to to look for recipes… And you know what? Watercress isn’t something you can easily get in California. My cooking journey was stalled because I kept looking at “foreign” dishes on TV, when I should have just picked something from a local restaurant, whose fresh ingredients I could be assured were obtainable nearby.
Should you choose to acquire your first dish from a local restaurant, don’t hesitate to ask the staff about the particulars of the dish. “Wow, this crispiness is perfect! How do you get it like that? What kind of fat do you use?” If it’s a salad, ask about the vinaigrette, and so on. The restaurant staff will appreciate that you like the dish so much you want to ask them about it, and you will likely learn answers to questions you would have never thought to ask, because you hadn’t known to ask them.
And please, dear, do try to focus on only one dish at a time in the beginning! If you try cooking ten different things all at once, you will only end up with ten subpar meals multiplied many times over, before you begin to master even one dish. Hone in on one item at a time first, so you can achieve your first success that much quicker!
Not yet cooking your first dish
You have obtained the recipe, you have watched on YouTube a demonstration of a person cooking it, you may have even searched Reddit for in-depth advice on preparation and cooking methods. But what comes before cooking? Grocery shopping! Do you know where your local grocery stores are, and what they stock? What about the quality of the produce? Whether you have yet to cook your first meal, or have plenty of culinary experience under your belt but have just moved to a new area, you must find out where you can buy ingredients.
The neighbourhood co-op has the best variety of cheeses. The Whole Foods is just a block away from your workplace. The grocery store by your optometrist’s office is having a sale on bone-in New York steaks, and they have a great meat department. There are two different farmers’ markets you can go to each week until winter, where you can get fresh eggs for cheap, and honey creamed with cinnamon, peach, or ginger. But you won’t know any of this until you go exploring.
You could choose to explore all of them as soon as possible, but it is probably best to simply buy as many ingredients as you can from one store—in the beginning, that is. Bring a notepad with you. Make notes on the name of the store, the prices of the groceries, and of the level of quality. You may find that one store offers cheaper chicken wings, but they are small, with more bone and less meat. You may have to go to a specific ethnic grocer to acquire uncommon ingredients not carried in other stores. On your second grocery run, you should explore another store you’re curious about. Don’t attempt to rush and fit as many grocery stores as possible in one day, even if you have a very long day off. The pressure of time takes your attention away from the finer details of the area and the produce, and eventually, you’ll be striking up relationships with some of the locals. This isn’t a blitzkrieg. Take in the experience, and talk to people if you find it appropriate. The meat cutter behind the counter may have invaluable knowledge to impart if he isn’t busy, and if you make friends with him, he may get you the best cuts from the back—yet to be cut and faced in the display shelf!
Almost cooking your first dish