Kitchen Survival Recipe Guide

When you first set up home, the kitchen can sometimes feel like an intimidating place and the thought of cooking a proper meal terrifying. Unless you are used to cooking from an early age, you may not be familiar with the art of food preparation and how a kitchen works, so it is helpful to learn the basics.

What basic kitchen equipment do I need?

In order to create some simple dishes, you will need a few basic pieces of kitchen equipment. Firstly you will need a set of pans—three pans in different sizes will be enough, although you can add a small milk/sauce pan if you like. You will also need a frying pan or large flat bottomed pan. A casserole or oven proof dish is also useful for cooking baked dishes in the oven or microwave.

What extra kitchen equipment will be useful?

There is no end to the number of different things you can buy for your kitchen and as your experience grows you will find new and exciting pieces of equipment to add to your collection. However, in the beginning when you are first starting out, the only really useful items you should consider buying are a measuring jug, a mixing bowl, a set of kitchen scales, a sieve, a set of measuring spoons or cups, and a colander. All of these will come in very handy for making basic recipes and culinary masterpieces.

What essential kitchen utensils do I need?

Kitchen utensils are rather like pots and pans—you can never have too many. However, there are a few basic pieces that are useful to have around if you plan on spending time cooking in your kitchen.

A wooden spoon is good for stirring sauces, especially if you have non-stick pans. A flat plastic spatula is good for flipping burgers or meat; it can also be used to lift pizza and fries from the oven tray. A pair of tongs is useful for turning sausages over and a metal whisk will be necessary of you want to make sauces. Lastly, always make sure you have some heatproof oven gloves handy when handling hot pans and baking trays.

Some basic cooking terms explained

For the complete beginner, a cookery book might as well be written in a foreign language for all the sense it makes. You flick through the pages, admire the pictures, and wonder how on earth you will ever be able to produce something that looks so mouth wateringly tempting. But don’t panic—all is not lost—once you understand the terminology you will be fine.

Baking involves cooking food in an oven at the recommended temperature. In most cases an oven should be pre-heated prior to cooking, but in the case of electric fan ovens or some gas ovens you can sometimes cook from cold.

Boiling involves placing food in a pan of boiling water and maintaining the temperature at a level whereby the water stays bubbling but not overflowing.

Simmering means you need to turn down the heat under a pan of water so that it is barely bubbling.

Steaming cooks food in steam, which is one of the healthiest ways of cooking any type of food, especially vegetables and fish. You can buy a purpose designed steamer for best results.

Basic recipes

There are some basic recipes that are useful to know and if you can manage these, you will definitely not starve. They all require simple ingredients and can easily be enhanced and expanded upon if you wish to create a more complicated dish at a later stage.

Tomato sauce: a basic tomato sauce recipe can be served up with pasta for a quick and nutritious meal, or made into bolognese, lasagna, or stew. To make a simple tomato sauce, fry some chopped onion and garlic in olive oil and then add two tins of chopped tomatoes or a tub of passata. Cook through gently, season to taste, and throw in some fresh basil in the final five minutes.

White sauce: you can serve white sauce with pasta, add it to potatoes or cooked vegetables, or serve it with fish. To make cheese sauce, melt 25g of butter in a pan and stir in 25g plain flour. Add 600ml of milk slowly and stir over a medium heat until the sauce has thickened. Add grated cheese to turn it into a cheese sauce.

I don’t know how to cook – help!

Cooking is not one of the dark arts. It is pretty simple and once you understand the basics, you can expand on your knowledge and experiment using different ingredients and eventually you will be able to come up with your own variations of classic dishes.

In the early days, it is a good idea to buy a good cookbook that contains easy to follow recipes for everyday dishes you are likely to want to try at some point. These might include a basic Victoria sponge, batter for pancakes, stew, pasta bolognese, and any other personal favorite you might have.

Once you have mastered a small selection of basic but nutritious dishes, you will never starve, and as time goes on, you can branch out into more demanding territory and try your hand at using different techniques with different ingredients.

One of the biggest challenges facing newbie cooks is trying to figure out what meat to use in different recipes, but rather than take a wild guess and buy whatever you think is right, ask your butcher for advice and let him offer guidance. The same applies to fruit and vegetables—ask if you are not sure whether you are buying the appropriate ingredient and if you try an recipe and it goes wrong, don’t give up—have another go!

As your experience grows, you will become more and more confident in your culinary skills, and before you know it, a dinner party for ten will not faze you in the slightest. Learn to enjoy cooking and spending time in the kitchen—a good cook is always a good friend to know!