i'd look at youtube channels. chef john at foodwishes is terrific and he shows technique too. his cooking times are spot on. i'd say to start on very simple recipes meaning top quality ingredients and maybe 5 or 6 ingredients. let the food be the star, not the additives. cook your favorites. don't feel like you need to buy the most and expensive equipment/tools. make your tools do double duty. i mostly look at recipes to find ratio of ingredients and amounts. and also food flavor combos. it's a lot of fun. happy cooking.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and you won't master a wedding cake overnight, but you CAN keep mastering skills and soon they will be second nature to you. As Nancy said... Master the basic recipe as written before you get creative with personal variations so you pretty much know what that recipe should taste/look like when done. Read through your recipe to make sure you understand each step before you start. I would also read all the comments under a recipe. Some give tried and true variations that work, others will discuss issues/problems that the cook had and sometimes how they solved it. Learn from well known, honest websites... Food52 is a great community with a tremendous variety of members worldwide. Serious Eats has some great cooks working there and delves more into the science of cooking and baking. Both are free. America's Test Kitchen is also good for basics, but requires a paid membership.
Agree with what Grammy says...e.g., read through recipe (and not just once), see comments, practice. (like answer to old Vaudeville question, how to get to Carnegie Hall? practice practice practice). Also remembered another piece of good advice I once got or read (if someone reading this recognizes & knows the source, please say) was to learn a few basic recipe and make them over and over. Like roast chicken, chocolate cake, garlic mashed potatoes, green salad & salad dressing, a good minestrone. (Or your equivalents for main, dessert, starchy side, green side, soup.) Then they become part of you, you can make them anywhere - visiting the sick, the boyfriend, the parents. Also, when you're in a grocery store, and you see chicken or top quality chocolate on sale, you can scoop them up, knowing what other ingredients you need to finish the cooking or baking. And you're not dependent on recipe lists in the market. Later, you can learn more dishes, more variations. For now, learn a few basic things you can use to feed yourself and those close to you.
skills - quick mixing checking oven temp mastering a basic recipe and then variations (add herbs, cheese, etc or use biscuits as sandwiches, dumplings or other)
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Also remembered another piece of good advice I once got or read (if someone reading this recognizes & knows the source, please say) was to learn a few basic recipe and make them over and over.
Like roast chicken, chocolate cake, garlic mashed potatoes, green salad & salad dressing, a good minestrone.
(Or your equivalents for main, dessert, starchy side, green side, soup.)
Then they become part of you, you can make them anywhere - visiting the sick, the boyfriend, the parents.
Also, when you're in a grocery store, and you see chicken or top quality chocolate on sale, you can scoop them up, knowing what other ingredients you need to finish the cooking or baking. And you're not dependent on recipe lists in the market.
Later, you can learn more dishes, more variations.
For now, learn a few basic things you can use to feed yourself and those close to you.
quick mixing
checking oven temp
mastering a basic recipe and then variations (add herbs, cheese, etc or use biscuits as sandwiches, dumplings or other)