Wanting to learn cooking...

[lunas]

I have always want to learn cooking...I would like to start with baking of pastries which I think that it is the easiest among the other culinary type that requires frying and some hand art.

Can someone share with me how & where I can start? I am a newbie in cooking

 

[confession]

As in cakes, tarts and the like?

Try here: http://www.shermay.com/schedule_main.htm

Only thing it is at HV. So if you live far, it may be a bit of a hassle

Other are the Raffles Culinary Instutitute at Raffles hotel.

Personally, do not like pastries. Prefer to cook the main dishes.

 

[Adam Goi]

Hi, welcome to the club! :bsmilie:

For starters, you may wish to get a recipe book which Popular has aplenty. Try to get local publications as the ingredients easier to find/make sense. Look through the book and have a sense of what apparatus and basic ingredients that you may need, zero in a relatively easy recipe, score your first success to boost your morale and then move on to the next level ...

Got 2 books from Popular, published MC recently (they are giving 20% discount if you're a member) and I'm enjoying myself ... :bsmilie:

All the best! :thumbsup:

 

[night86mare]

learn from your mother!

i'm serious

 

[Sion]

The art of cooking is a gift from God.

Those who can cook never starve.

 

[pokiemon]

you can try palette sensations

 

[lunas]

As in cakes, tarts and the like?

Try here: http://www.shermay.com/schedule_main.htm

Only thing it is at HV. So if you live far, it may be a bit of a hassle

Other are the Raffles Culinary Instutitute at Raffles hotel.

Personally, do not like pastries. Prefer to cook the main dishes.

Thanks for sharing. This is actually what I am looking for. By the way, if I would like to try to cook main dish, where should I start from?

Hi, welcome to the club! :bsmilie:

For starters, you may wish to get a recipe book which Popular has aplenty. Try to get local publications as the ingredients easier to find/make sense. Look through the book and have a sense of what apparatus and basic ingredients that you may need, zero in a relatively easy recipe, score your first success to boost your morale and then move on to the next level ...


Got 2 books from Popular, published MC recently (they are giving 20% discount if you're a member) and I'm enjoying myself ... :bsmilie:


All the best! :thumbsup:

Hi Adam,

haha..As a new member of the club, got welcome gift?

I thought it is better to attend a class to have some hands on experience. Contrary, books are only text and pictures. Quite difficult for newbie to understand why certain ingredients have to be added or use what method to stir and bake..books may not be as comprehensive.

Looking forward to this new 'hobby' in 2010...I may invest in 'L' grade apparatus and oven...

Sure. I will go check it out. Good to hear that you are enjoying it...

I will do my best!!

learn from your mother!

i'm serious

Bro, you are right. But my Mum is always busy leh...My mum is a good cook. Love here dishes.

The art of cooking is a gift from God.

Those who can cook never starve.

Sion, just like the art of photography...It is also a gift from God.

I'm starting this hobby in 2010 and not sure where the good Lord will lead me to...This is exciting!

 

[Headshotzx]

Watch Discovery Travel and Living programmes That's how I learnt cooking from young haha.

 

[Deyeno]

learn from your mother!

i'm serious

Totally agree with nm, here. Many moons ago, my mother made sure that all of the children in the family could cook more than just boiled water.

By the time I left school for work(18yr), could cook anything, making cake was a bit more of a challenge, but was fun. My mum made each of us cook Xmas dinner, which consisted of chicken, turkey, roast beef, vegetables, pudding etc.

Also made sure we could wash and iron our own clothes ....

...

 

[dorts]

Try Cooking Mama. :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[Adam Goi]

Haha, on my way out to get ingredients for my Sultana Cake ...

 

[confession]

To cook main dishes, it really depends on what you want to cook.

Be it Asian or Western, the general idea is that the simpler the dishes the harder it is to cook as the taste is at its purest.

For a start, I will say try to cook pasta as a try out. Simple but takes a while to master. The simplest dish is the Aglio Olio. Easy to cook but to get the taste right is the difficult part and to get the pasta al dente A lot of Italian cooks may seem to know how to do it, but they fall short.

For Asian, it will be fried rice. Getting it is something I have not learnt yet.

So if you can get the simple dishes done right, the more complex ones should be easier to handle. Of course then, the cleaning up is a problem thereafter.

 

[Hitman]

...

For Asian, it will be fried rice. Getting it is something I have not learnt yet.

So if you can get the simple dishes done right, the more complex ones should be easier to handle. Of course then, the cleaning up is a problem thereafter.

For fried rice, I couldn't get it for a while too. Until one day, my mother told me that I need to use the rice that was cooked the day before!

To thread starter - the most important is the first step. No use talking about it and asking in forums but you don't put them into action. Start TODAY by frying your first egg! And then learn to cook different kinds of eggs. Go to the supermarket and see what they have in the fresh section. Once you started, don't be afraid to try new things and don't be discouraged if you fail the first few times. Keep trying and you'll get there.

And yes, the cleaning up thereafter can be a pain (or joy depending on how you look at it).

Have fun and good luck!!

 

[mdzmr]

I luv cooking, but hate baking.
Once i baked a french loaf and end up hard like a wood. Try to do a cheese cake for my son bithday and turn up become a cheese pudding. The onli thing i can bake is a chocolate chips muffin.

 

[confession]

For fried rice, I couldn't get it for a while too. Until one day, my mother told me that I need to use the rice that was cooked the day before!

Haha...well it is not only that. The wok has to be really hot and the oil has well. At the same time, the rice needs to be separate and individual by itself. More so if you are doing egg fried rice. Cos the egg tends to make the rice stick together.

The difficult part about fried rice is the control of the fire. That is one thing I still cannot master.

 

[aryanto]

try simple one first...
like learn how to cook rice properly
then upgrade to fying egg - many ways of doing this from sunny side up with watery yolk, or cooked yolk, to half cooked yolk, scrambled egg kosong, scrambled egg onion, scrambled egg shredded ham, etc etc
then upgrade to learning how to chop vegetable properly
etc
dont be ashamed to use pre-packaged spices & herbs because you dont waste them, just add meat and veggies and water.
Many people still cook like that, but at least you have learn how to handle raw meat, know what to do after you thaw the frozen meat, how much water to use (not too much, not too little) etc.

 

[dennisc]

to me cooking comes from my inner feel... i try to feel the food, taste the spices in my head, then make it happen. So far people love my food haha... I've been lucky. Create something new out of it, heck you don't even need a cookbook once you're familar with the spices, you can just invent and improve old recipes just by feel.

 

[aryanto]

my mum teach me how to cook without using measurement and fixed recipe, it is best cooking skill because I become a flexible cook, no this ingredient then can use these alternatives LOL

 

[Yappy]

I have always want to learn cooking...I would like to start with baking of pastries which I think that it is the easiest among the other culinary type that requires frying and some hand art.

Can someone share with me how & where I can start? I am a newbie in cooking

The best person would be from your mother and your wife!

 

[aryanto]

The best person would be from your mother and your wife!

Mum I understand. Wife? many girls cant cook nowadays. Blame their mothers who said cooking are for maids. :thumbsd: