r/cookingforbeginners

I got more than a dozen cans of garbanzo beans from a food pantry, most of which are low sodium. I used a very basic hummus recipe that called for tahini, olive oil, garlic, water, lemon juice, salt, and garbanzo beans. Even after adding 50% more tahini, salt and lemon juice, the recipe still tastes quit bland. What other things can I add to it to make it have more of a zing or bite? No one is allergic to anything in our household, and I like a wide variety of flavors.

Bonus points for basic things found around the pantry since I am short on funds, and I would not like to cook a completely separate dish to add to it. I don't have a lot of time between a young child, work, and basic household chores. Thank you for taking the time to read!

I eat a lot of eggs, I do well frying etc without sticking to various pans, without using a ton of oil (on a low cal diet), but struggle to make scrambled eggs without leaving a layer in the pan. Various pans various coatings, any suggestions?

Hello everyone, I would like to share this photo from my Canadian thanksgiving turkey. (See comment for photo!!)

Unsure as to what made the broth blue but we elected to not use the broth to make gravy, and we decided not to eat the turkey itself in case it was spoiled.

Any ideas??

Seasoned with lots of butter and various seasonings. Cooked in a carbon steel roasting pan as shown.

Turkey itself not blue..just the broth and skin that was sitting in the broth.

Hey guys, ive started cooking certain things and have wanted to make a good burger for a long time. I trialed twice and I’ve found working with ground beef, the burger ends up with the same texture and taste as a piece of meatloaf with onions in it… how do I achieve a better burger? What are some of your beginner tips that i should also consider outside of this issue like seasoning and flavour?

1. It’s in a lounge type room where there are outlets but not much counter space.

2. It needs to stay warm for 2 hours. I have a crockpot, could I keep them warm in it without ruining them?

3. Is there a better recipe that’s like a main course that would be a better fit?

Thank you in advance!

Last time I was at the store I saw instant microwavable lentil meal cups, the brand was Lentiful. It cooks in 2 minutes in the microwave. How do they make the lentils able to just-add-water cook in the microwave? Do they precook then dehydrate them? Is it the type of lentil? The cups are expensive and making my own microwavable lentils in bulk would be much better if it’s possible to make at home.

I love adding candy/chocolate shells to my baking stuff. Just today I made chocolate covered cookie dough by dipping pillsbury cookie dough into melted bakers chocolate.

But the thing is no matter what I do I cant get a perfect or semi perfect nice ball. I dip the cookie dough with a fork to let some of the chocolate drip through the holes; but then wherever the fork was touching u can see lines.

Then wherever the cookie dough is drying on makes a big flat spot as the chocolate drips down.

How do people make those round near perfect circles?

Any advice for me? Thanks.

I understand WHY the container still smells, but I’m wondering if a plastic container that still smells of brown sugar after being washed is safe to reuse. Is it any sort of a hazard? I plan on putting brown sugar in it again if that affects it at all.

I have a large casserole dish of frozen enchiladas and did not take them out to thaw. I was hoping to still make them. can I reheat from frozen? What time and temperature?

Google has lots of different times and temps and some sites say you have to thaw first. any advise?

Hello everyone how are you?

I tried making dinner rolls for the first time today and failes.

It came out hard and dry on the outside.

I could cut it and it's edible but clearly not a dinner roll.

Can some help me understand what I did wrong and/or share with me an air fryer friendly recipe please?

Guys I've just discovered something actually freaking magical.

First I was trying to do apparently teriyaki chicken right, marinate breast (apparently thighs absorb more so I should've used that) chicken in soy sauce, dashi, mirin, and a pepper and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge. Then it was searing time and I used a stainless steel pan with olive oil.

The chicken went well (minus the woody breast I didn't notice), but then I decided with the fond to make a pan sauce. Downside is some of the seasoning I added burnt onto the pan so some of it was black so I rushed it with onions and butter and used mirin to reduce it. At first I was worried it was gonna taste terrible because there was a black kinda molasses like liquid now. I mixed the onions and tried it and it had this thick smokey sweetness I've never had before, I added salt and a splash of vinegar and some more dashi and it might genuinely be one of my favourite new sauces.

Does anyone know what happened so I can recreate this with other ingredients and maybe any other fun things to do with onions?

I just finished eating dinner. I grabbed rice from the rice cooker and it did look a little dried out. I didn’t think anything of it since we usually eat rice from the rice cooker that is kept warmed for about a day (it was at 22hrs). I didn’t realize that the keep warm cycle reset and it reset which means it was cooked a few days ago. I’m terrified of getting sick from this rice and don’t know what to do. I ate about a palm full of rice. Is there anything I can do besides staying hydrated to help???

I'm planning on moving out immediately when I turn 18, and that's only 9 months away. I can cook a few basic kinds of eggs, basic nachos if I have meat already in the house, and the same with salads. I'm entirely unsure about how to make meat and how to cook vegetables properly, I was wondering what would be good to start with? I saw a tiktok saying mushrooms could be a good start, and I love mushrooms so maybe that? I would be very interested in figuring out meat or how to saute vegetables as well, but I have no idea what the skill level required for that is. Any advice is welcome, thanks!

Hi everyone,

I want to invite friends over for a traditional pork boil but admittedly I've never helmed one myself. Do I just boil the pork until it looks done? Is there anything special I should do with the boiling mixture? Any tips would be appreciated. I do have ham as well. I do not enjoy strong tasting spices or vegetables.

When do I add the salt and why? Is it different for sauces vs sautéing? Does it matter what you’re sautéing? I’ve heard salting early draws the moisture out and makes things more wet. Discuss.

I have some large slices of ham and thought to put sauerkraut on top of them and heat them in the oven for half an hour. Do people cook ham like this? Thanks for any feedback.

I recently purchased a Hex Clad frying pan which has a non-stick coating. Like all teflon or other non-stick coatings, the non-stick properties don't last very long. In no time at all everything was sticking to it. I am always careful to never overheat a pan, so I don't think this is the cause.

I happen to cook with Avocado oil. This oil seems to polymerize a lot and leaves a tough sticky deposit that no amount of scrubbing with detergent will remove. I suspect that it's this baked on oil coating that is destroying the non-stick properties of the pan. I just wonder if anyone else has experienced this with Avocado oil? Is there a better oil that I should be using? I stay away from olive oil for cooking because it's a low temperature oil. I hesitate to waste money on another frying pan until I solve this.

Potentially a really silly question, but as much as I've done a pretty good amount of cooking before, it was mostly when I was younger in a sort of sous chef role. With a lot of things you can make stuff at the same time and line up when it's sorted or maybe you just can keep it warm or whatever (like rice), but the other day for instance I was making steak, and I tried my hand at doing a nice sauce after I'd cooked it. It turned out really good, but the issue is that since you need the stuff from cooking the steak in the pan for the sauce, you can't really line up the cooking time. How do I keep the steak warm for plating after the sauce is done?

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