Basically gonna echo most of the answers already posted, but just to pile on:

• 8" chef's knife. 10" is longer than may be comfortable and 12" is longer than necessary, but 7" may start to feel a little short if she's ever slicing large melon or squash. I'm a casual knife nerd and I have knives by Wusthof, Victorinox, Shun and Mac. My favorite.
  
  
• This Dutch oven. Enameled and cast iron just like the Le Creuset that a few other comments have mentioned, but much, much cheaper. I own two and they're both great. I also have the non-enameled version for baking bread, but I don't recommend it for general use unless you're a Boy Scout. Here's an entertaingly-written blog post comparing the Lodge vs. Le Creuset in a short rib cookoff.
  
  
• This cutting board and this cutting board conditioner. The importance of an easy and pleasant to use prep surface can't be overstated. I'm listing this third on purpose; this is one of the most important things your kitchen can have. A recipe that calls for a lot of chopping is no fun when you're fighting for counter space to do the chopping, or doing it on a shitty plastic board.
  
  
• A cheap scale and a cheap thermometer. Seriously, these are as important as the cutting board.
  
  
• Just gonna crib this one right off /u/Pobe420 and say cheapo 8–10" (I recommend 10–12" but that's my preference) nonstick skillet. One note I'd add is that pans with oven-safe handles are a bit more dual-purpose than pans with plastic or rubberized handles. You can't finish a pork chop in the oven in a skillet with a rubberized handle. But one could say you shouldn't be cooking a pork chop on a nonstick pan to begin with. The important thing is to keep this one cheap: you're going to be replacing it every couple of years, there's no getting around that. For my money $30 or less, and $30 is pretty expensive for these things.
  
  
  

• Cookbooks
  

  Nothing inspires cooking like a good cookbook collection. The great news about cookbooks is that they're often bought as gifts or souvenirs and they make their way onto the used market cheap and in great condition. Here are my suggestions for a great starter shelf:
  
  

1. The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt. I kind of hate that this is my number one recommendation, but I don't know your wife and I do know J. Kenji López-Alt. This one is brand new so you're unlikely to find it used and cheap, but as a catch-all recommendation it has to take first place. Moving on to the cheap stuff:
   
   
2. Regional French Cooking by Paul Bocuse. This is possibly the friendliest authoritative book on French food out there, and a hell of a lot easier to just dive into than Julia Child (Julia is the expert, and her book is an encyclopedia). Bocuse is the undisputed king of nouvelle cuisine and people like Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain (so maybe a generation ahead of you and I) came from him. Paul Bocuse is French food as we know it, and yet this book—an approachable, coffee-table sized thing—still has a recipe for fucking mac and cheese. It's outstanding.
   
   
3. Theory & Practice / The New James Beard by James Beard. These will completely cover your entire library of American cooking. Nothing else needed until you get region-specific. When you do, go for something like this.
   
   
4. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. When she died, the NYT ran a second obituary that was just her recipe for bolognese.
   
   
5. Christ, top five. Who gets 5th? I'm going with From Curries To Kebabs by Madhur Jaffrey. Don't get bamboozled into buying "Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible" which is the same book, repackaged and priced higher. You want the one with the hot pink dust jacket, it's unmistakeable. This is one of those end-all books that you could cook out of for the rest of your life. It covers almost every diet and almost every country that Beard and Bocuse don't.
   
   
6. Honorable mentions: Here come the downvotes. Pok Pok by Andy Ricker. If you're American and you want to cook Thai, this is the one. Ten Speed Press can go home now. The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Rosen (so close to making the list). I shouldn't need to say much about this; it's the book of diasporic Jewish food, which means it covers a lot of time and almost every possible country. It's a no-brainer. Thai Food by David Thompson (a perfect oral history of Thai food for English speakers, only it doesn't include Pok Pok's precise measurements, which in practice I've found important). Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish. Not for someone who just wants to become a baker, this book is for someone who wants to make Ken Forkish's bread. And for a casual bread baker I can't imagine a better introduction. Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham. Andrea Nguyen is out there and Andrea Nguyen is awesome, but I really like Mai Pham's book. It's accessible, reliable and regional. You don't get the dissertation-level breakdown on the origins of chicken pho that you get from Andrea, but the recipe's there, among many others, and it's fucking outstanding. Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. This vegan cookbook is dope as hell and will really expand your imagination when it comes to vegetables. This could actually have been number five.

The best advice I can give you is to check out the America's Test Kitchen equipment reviews. Some of the things they recommend will be out of your budget, but most of the things will get you great quality at an affordable price. I'm very active in my kitchen and I don't buy anything without first looking to see if it's an item they've reviewed.

Example: Victorinox Fibrox Knives. Commercial quality, BIFL knives, and a fraction of the price you'll spend on department store BS.

$600 is a stretch to outfit a kitchen, but there are soooooooo many kitchen items sold that you DON'T need. Stay away from gadgets that only have one purpose. You can do MOST of what your really need with simple, multi-purpose tools. So here's the basics:

1. Knives (Victorinox Fibrox)Amazon This is a decent starter set that will give you versatility starting off. Add as you go.
   
2. Pots and Pans - All clad is the BIFL industry standard. I have them and love them. But a set will crush your budget. A starting set will usually be cheaper than one-piece at a time. For your budget I'd recommend the Tramontina tri-ply wich ATK rated highly right next to All Clad. At around $140, it's a great set. Also, get a non-stick skillet and whatever other non-stick pieces you can afford. The best rated non-stick cookware (better than All Clad, I've had both) is good old Tfal. Ask for the All Clad Stainless stuff if you ever get married.
   
3. Food Storage - I consider good food storage to be a kitchen basic, and the I like Snapware Airtight. But if the budget is tight, you can probably get buy on Gladware for a while.
   
4. Other Tools - This list should get you started without too much "fluff"
   vegetable peeler, grater, liquid & dry measuring cups, measuring spoons, thermometers (instant read), spatulas (plastic & metal), Wooden Spoons, Ladel & Larger Spoons, Tongs, Colander
   
5. Bakeware - at a minimum, get 2 commercial style aluminum sheet pans and I recommend 2 silpats to fit. These will make flawless cookies, roast vegetables, whatever in the oven. I'd also get some wire racks to fit as well. The rest depends on what you want to bake.
   
6. Small Appliances - this is where it gets tricky. Remember, focus on multi-purpose machines. I'd rather have one high-quality electric motor than many cheap ones - less to break. The first appliance I would buy are: a stand mixer (kitchen aid), a food processor(cuisinart), a blender (my favorite value, the new Oster Versa (a Vitamix without the price tag).
   
7. Dinnerware, Flatware and Glasses - Stick with classic stuff. White plates never go out of style and make the food "pop". Doesn't need to be expensive now.
   
   I'm sure I missed some things, but this will get you started. My recommendations added up will take you over your budget but you can decide what's most important to you. Don't skimp on the knives or the pots and pans.

When I started out, I relied most of the Fannie Farmer cookbook, to be honest, but something like The Joy of Cooking, Bittman's How To Cook Everything or Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food would be good, too. Joy is classic, simple recipes with clear instructions, aimed at beginners. Brown is excellent at explaining the science behind why reciepes work the way they do. Bittman emphasizes showing a technique, then showing lots of simple variations, allowing you to learn a skill and then apply it to different ingredients.

You might also take a look at Rhulman's Ratio --- for a certain sort of personaility, that book can be like a lightbulb going off. It's all about the common principles that underlay many sorts of recipes. Some people find it too abstract, especially if they're just starting (most actual recipes break his rules a little, one way or another), but if you're more of an abstract logical thinker it can be quite helpful.

But cooking in general can be quite diffucult to pick up from books --- techniques that are quite simple to demonstrate can be super difficult to describe. Youtube/the internet can be your friend, here --- Jacques Pepin, America's Test Kitchen, and Good Eats are all good at demonstrating and explaining technique. Check out the Food Wishes youtube channel, too --- Chef John is a former culinary instructor, and he demostrates a lot of classic techniques in the reciepes he does.

At the end of the day though, cooking's like Carnigie Hall. Think of stuff you like to eat, find a recipe for that stuff, and just go for it. If you start off making things you know and like, then it will be easier to tell if you're getting it right as you go along, and that I think is the most crucial and most difficult part of becoming a skilled cook --- being able to tell when something's ready vs. when it needs 5 more minutes, being able to tell if the batter looks right before you cook it, if something needs more seasoning and if so what kind. All that's mostly a karate kid, wax on, wax off thing --- you just got to keep making stuff in order to have the experience to tell when something's right.

If you dislike vegetables here are a couple of good ways. They aren't recipes but are good and easy habits I found when trying to do the same thing. Luckily in my case I'm younger but want to try to avoid trouble later on. But I'm a picky eater too so maybe it will help you

• Do stir-fry and eat it over rice. You can try it with various sauces for different flavors while still eating a good variety of vegetables in each sitting. I do this, and use a good quality rice steamer that can hold rice at eating temperature for up to around 5 days before needing to change it out.
  
  You can stir fry some vegetables in a few minutes and have rice ready to go as soon as you finish, and is very fast when done this way.
  
  If you go to a normal place like Safeway\Frys\Kroger\Giant Eagle\Bashas you can probably find a sauce brand called Soy Vay that makes some fairly decent ones right out of the bottle.
  
  
• Another good way is salads. Just try to eat a small salad with each meal. The lettuce won't give you what your doctor wants, but if you put some vegetables in with it it will help.
  
  Also, try eating them cold\raw. I'm not a big vegetable person either but find that some things like spinach, broccoli and such taste better when only lightly cooked like in stir fry, or cold out of the fridge as a side dish. Like for example try dipping pieces of brocoli in something like a salad dressing, especially something like Italian dressing if you like it because the calories will be lower.
  
  
• An honorable mention would be in soups. Some vegetables I don't like on their own such as celery I have no problems with at all once their flavors have been blended in a soup.
  
  The best way for someone who dislikes them to get them into your diet would be to have them be a side dish. Make a sandwich or dinner or something that isn't too unhealthy but is something you know you like. Then have a bit of soup, steamed\stir-fried vegetables or whatever on the side as a piece. Then add in a third thing thats really fast such as a piece of whole grain bread.
  
  I think giving yourself a couple things to go back to between vegetable bites can make it easier as well.
  
  

Here's some good resources that I usually tell people about when they ask what can help them cook more better.

• Alton "The Man" Brown. His book, I'm Just Here For The Food, is fantastic for those of us who are just getting into cooking. He teaches you how to cook, not how to follow a recipe...because they're two totally different things. You can find Good Eats, his show, around on the web too...it's like if Bill Nye had a cooking show. Just great stuff.
  
• The Start Cooking blog has recipes, but focuses more on beginner techniques and information. When you're getting started you'll ask yourself stuff like... What kind of knives should I have? Or... How do I get that giant pit out of an avocado without getting green crap everywhere? Or even... How do I mushroom? Which is the kind of existential question I know I've asked myself a dozen times or more.
  
• Working Class Foodies - They make some really good food, have some good tips, and it's all done on the cheap. Definitely a good channel to subscribe to on the YouTubes.
  
  And as for getting comfortable with using your knives, here's my advice. Make sure you have a GOOD knife. You can go to a restaurant supply store and get good knives for cheap, if you aren't at a spot where you can part with the cash to get superknives. Having a good, sharp knife is extremely important. Getting familiar with terms and handling is important, too. And finally, just cut stuff. Buy some potatoes and get to cutting...slowly at first, but once you get more comfortable pick up the speed. Make some mashed potatoes, hashbrowns, home fries, french fries, whatever. If you get sick of potatoes, use carrots or peppers. Just get some experience under your belt and you're well on your way.
  
  Good luck!

If I were to build my kitchen from scratch, it would be pretty much what I have today w/out having to go through all the old, cheap stuff that I wound up buying getting rid of because it was low quality and wore out or broke or didn't work as well as it should have. So as follows:

All Clad Stainless:

• 12" skillet
  
• 1.5 qt pot
  
• 3 qt pot
  
• 8 qt stock pot (I have the 12 qt but most people won't use something that big
  
  Cast iron:
  
  
• 12" skillet
  
• 8" skillet
  
• other cast iron pieces for grilling that most people won't use
  
  Enameled dutch oven (Staub):
  
  
• 3 qt round cocotte
  
• 7 qt round cocotte
  
  Various Appliances:
  
  
• Kitchenaid mixer (hand mixer first, then stand mixer)
  
• Cuisinart stick blender
  
• Coffee maker (I have a Cuisinart, but I'm not stuck on the brand)
  
• A toaster oven (again, I have Cuisinart, but check reviews)
  
• An electric kettle (no brand specific)
  
• Vitamix (optional - I love mine and use it daily)
  
  Knives:
  
  
• Shun 10" chef knife
  
• Shun 4" utility knife
  
• No name super-thin flexible fish filleting knife that debones poultry like it was butter
  
• Honing steel
  
• Magnetic strip for storing knives
  
  Other misc stuff:
  
  
• Fish turners in all sizes
  
• Good set of bamboo (not wooden) spoons/spatulas
  
• Set of silicone scraper/spatulas
  
• Oxo tongs in various sizes (at least short, med, long)
  
• A mandoline slicer
  
• Epicurian cutting boards
  
• Microplane grater/zester
  
• A variety of mesh strainers (I use them more than colanders)
  
• Thermopop instant read thermometer
  
• A good quality probe thermometer (the kind you leave in the oven)
  
  Bakeware:
  
  
• A basic set of Corningware
  
• A couple of half sheet pans
  
  
  Fun things to have if you think you'll use them:
  
  
• Pasta maker or attachment for your Kitchenaid
  
• Ice cream maker
  
• Bread machine
  
  These are the things that I have right now that I'd get from the start if I were starting over from scratch. I have other stuff, but it's been gathered over time and I'm sure I've left out a few things, since I'm kind of working off the top of my head. Oh yeah, like a good set of storage stuff (Rubbermaid or similar) and a garlic press ... and ... and ... :)

Fuschia Dunlop is a good source for Chinese food. Her published recipe for Kung Pao Chicken is pretty killer. Eileen Yin-Fi Lo is also a well respected Chinese recipe author, check out My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen.

For Thai Food, Andy Ricker's Pok Pok is pretty interesting (and the restaurants are pretty awesome). There's also a tome, simply called Thai Food from David Thompson, as an outsider, looks complete and exhaustive (it's also daunting to me, but nice to have).

Hot Sour Salty Sweet also features Thai (as well as other SE Asian flavors). And I really like Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges as a more upscale cookbook.

Also, I find this little, unsung book to be a great resource. It has fairly simple recipes that can yield some nice flavors, great for weeknight dishes.

And, Momofuku is a fun contemporary twist with some good basics, but it's not a beginner book by any stretch!

Finally, The Slanted Door is on my wishlist. Looks divine.

Lots of people will say to look at the Instant Pot which is a combination electric pressure cooker/slow cooker/rice cooker ("multi cooker"). I had a bluetooth enabled "IP-SMART" 6qt model of theirs (actually three: first had a safety recall, second was dented on arrival, third still exhibited regulation issues). Lots of people are happy with Instant Pots, but I had a lot of issues with the pressure control being flaky for certain recipes. Additionally, much of what makes slow cookers safe when you are out of the house is their low wattage heaters... typically 250-400W... and low complexity (basically it's a small electric blanket that is wrapped around a very heavy ceramic pot). The Instant Pot has a 1000W heater, and is more complex (microcontroller + a thermocouple), so this negates some of the safety aspects of unattended slow cooking... though it is UL listed and has a thermal fuse in case anything goes wrong.

My recommendation if you are interested in pressure cookers and slow cookers:

1. Presto 8qt stovetop http://www.amazon.com/Presto-01370-8-Quart-Stainless-Pressure/dp/B0000Z6JIW $69 More volume than electric pressuer cookers (8qt > 6qt) which is important since safely pressure cooking needs lots of headroom between the food and lid valve so as not to clog. Typically headroom is 1/3rd volume for most foods, 1/2 for foamy foods like rice, etc. Thus a 8qt pressure cooker effectively has a volume of 4-5qt. When using it without building up pressure, it can double as a large 8qt stockpot. I ended up preferring stovetop over electric since I can get an initial brown on meat without having to use multiple pots, and I don't have to wait for an electric heater to come up to temperature (10+ minutes on the Instant Pot for me).
   
   
2. Hamilton Beach 6qt set'n'forget slow cooker http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33967A-Programmable-6-Quart/dp/B00EZI26DW $50 Check reviews on thesweethome.com for it, but it beat out a lot of more expensive crock pot models. Oval shape lends itself better for some slow cooker recipes, such as mini, chocolate lava cakes, roasts, etc.
   
   $120 for both.. around the ballpark of the cheaper Instant Pots, you gain an additional pot for stove use, pressure cooker is of bigger size, slow cooker is safe unattended and a more conventional shape, and IMO will last longer. You lose automatic rice cooking capabilities but... by a $20-$30 rice cooker and probably get better rice, or just do it on the stovetop.
   
   By the way, no idea what food you like to eat, but these are two of my favorite cookbooks if you are getting started and wanted to build up some experience:
   
   

• America's Test Kitchen 100 Recipes http://www.amazon.com/100-Recipes-Absolute-Best-Essentials/dp/1940352010/ Good for in-depth explanation of 100 recipes across a pretty big range of techniques.
  
  
• Cook's Illustrated Cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustrated-Cookbook/dp/1933615893/ Shorter explanations but lots and lots of recipes.
  
  And major shout out to Kenji's (from Seriouseats.com) new book if you want more detailed science information:
  
  
• The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking through Science http://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087
  
  This post ended up being much longer than I expected, but those are my recommendations if you are just starting out. ;) The main thing I've learned since beginning to cook is that 90%+ of the recipes online (and even in print) are untested crap, and to look for recipe sources you can trust. The second thing is that a finished recipe is much more dependant on the technique (the steps you use to modify ingredients at specific times, temperatures, and textures) and way less dependent on the ingredients themselves (you can easily sub ingredients for many recipes once the core techniques are understood).

You don't need a set, you only need a few decent knives: a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife for bread. Maybe a fillet knife but unlikely.

I use this chef's knife, which is high-quality and inexpensive. The Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch also has a very strong cult following. However, you can also easily spend $100-200 for a good German or Japanese knife like Wusthof, Henckels, Global, etc.. The two most important things however are:

1. It feels good in your hand. If you're going to spend that kind of money I would definitely recommend going to a store (like Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma) and trying out a few to see what feels right. For $35 I was willing to take my chances on the Mercer and it worked out well.
   
   
2. Keep it sharp! I noticed you said it feels "dull and unbalanced". Great that you noticed those are two different but related things. Every time you use your knife, you should be honing it on a honing steel. Honing it trues the blade, meaning aligns the edge down the knife's centerline. Eventually, even honing it won't be effective, because the knife edge itself is dull. This means you should have the knife sharpened, which is typically done once every 6 months-1 year. Sharpening removes material so it shouldn't be done too often. I recommend going to a professional hand sharpening service which will typically do it for about $10-15 per knife. Some people do it themselves at home with a stone, but in my opinion this is not worth it and too easy to screw up.

ooh ooh finally something I can give insight on. I am a hot chocolate lover as well.

I would buy an immersion/hand blender. Here is an amazon link to the one I use and its awesome. The hand blender will blend mexican hot chocolate and chocolate bars into milk you heat in the microwave or blend right in a pot and froth it nicely. Try to use a big glass jar. Don't add chocolate to a pan that is on the burner, if you burn the chocolate it tastes really bad and you don't need that much heat to blend chocolate.
amazon link

When you heat milk it needs to be hotter than you can drink because when you use the hand blender it will cool it down. Also be careful with it boiling over.

I'm Hispanic so I was accustomed to Abuelita and Ibarra and I realized over time the flavor changed, recently I looked at the ingredients and they were made cheaper. You have to be careful with some Mexican groceries because they will substitute cheap ingredients.

I suggest Tazo hot chocolate if you want that Mexican Style Hot Chocolate, they sell them at whole foods or at their website but their shipping is ridiculous.

Another hot chocolate I like is called Wicked Hot Chocolate
here is the link to the website

Godiva serves hot chocolate and I love it from there.

What I do normally though is buy a huge quality bar of chocolate like at Trader Joes and chop it and put it in a jar. I dust it with some cocoa powder so it won't melt to the jar. If you ever see a good flavored chocolate bar get it and use it in hot chocolate. Remember to look at the ingredients and make sure it has cacao butter not palm oil substitute. Also be careful when buying things with "flavor" in the end. Like Cinnamon "flavor" means there is no cinnamon in it, just something with that flavor.

For sweeteners I prefer raw sugar or maple syrup. But normal sugar is fine. I like to add sugar and keep tasting and add more as I go in teaspoons. I've found 1 Tablespoon of sugar to 3 Tablespoons of chopped Chocolate to be my favorite. If you measure the milk, chocolate and sugar and have the measurements down you can make them really quick.

Also I like to add a pinch of sea salt to finish the chocolate. And I also eat it with Hawaiian bread, when you dip the Hawaiian bread in the chocolate it coats it and is delicious.

Stay at home Dad here. I cook for six every night. Prior to about four years ago the most cooking I did was on the grill. I started with the Betty Crocker Cook book. Literally. Red book in binder format. It has simple comfort food and the recipes are simple. I now have 30+ cookbooks, some better than others. (Giada's are only good for the pictures.) Once I started cooking, I then started watching Alton Brown for other ideas and other techniques, but without a firm base of at least six months of trial and error, it won't help much. Without that, it'd be like watching a Michael Jordan video having never even picked up a basketball and thinking you could play like him. Get used to the environment first.

Start simple. Do a chicken breast and a vegetable from a can. Maybe rice. But note what works and what doesn't. Get a feel for what a "done" chicken breast looks like and feels like. Same with a pork chop. Same with some pasta. Get yourself used to the chemistry and physics of cooking first, then work on more complicated techniques and dishes.

Starter Supplies:

• One good frying pan - nonstick
  
  
• One good Chef's knife - [$25 on Amazon]
  (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008M5U1C2/182-6325493-8824318)
  
  
• Cooking Thermometer - $14 on Amazon - Cook all meats to 160 degrees F to start. You can get fancier later. To start don't poison your guests.
  
  
• Flexible cutting boards - $5 Amazon This makes it easy to chop and then dump straight into the pot/pan.
  
  Clean while you cook.
  Salt and butter are always your friend. And cheese. If something sucks, add cheese. Good luck!!! Report back please.
  
  
  TL;DR Just start cooking. Keep it simple, but start cooking.

There's a slow cooker subreddit.

/r/slowcooking



If you like rice get a Zojirushi Nero Fuzzy Rice Maker. It's one of the easiest ways to stay alive. My search made this one show up. I've seen them in the $100-120 range. It keeps rice perfect for 2 days, and good enough for another day. You can make jasmine, basmati, etc. Since the rice is ready after an hour and good for 2 days, it can be quick. Heat up some beans, put on rice, make little stirfrys, put on rice.

The other big one for me is a big toast oven. I have this admittedly expensive one. Note you can use a 20% off bed bath and beyond coupon to bring it down to $200. I bake in it, make pizza (from scratch, or store boughten), can braise in it with a 3.5 quart enameled cast iron braiser. I make bread in it in a 2 quart enameled cast iron dutch oven. Make chicken in it.

This recipe is a great go to. It's 'fancy' but easy as hell, and cheap. It's the greatest cheapest meal you can make probably.

You can make baked potatos in a toaster oven that taste great. You can make a baked potato in a microwave. Or you can even make a baked potato starting in the microwave and ending it a toaster oven that's a pretty good compromise. Just make sure you turn on the toaster oven first thing, then prep the potato, then microwave it, then the toaster oven will be good enough. Salsa keeps in the fridge easy, can throw some on the baked potato. Just throwing out some ideas.

Also have an eating strategy based on how much time you have to eat, and shelf life.

level 1 (takes 1-2 min)

protein shake (long shelf life)

special k & milk (short shelf life (milk))

handfull of nuts.

level 2 (5-7 min)

Heat something up and put it on your rice that is already ready.

ramen (long shelf life)

level 3 (10-15 min)

baked potato in microwave (medium shelf life (potato))



level 4 (30 min or so)

kraft mac (long shelf life)

You can make a plan that makes sure you eat if you have no time or lots of time. It's always best to eat something healthy before you are hungry, because if you don't you will get hungry and be willing to eat something bad.

consider literally making a chart. Look down the chart to how much time you have, and then look over to the short self life, and long shelf life options. Revise the chart around your schedule. This is how I think, but hell I should make that chart.

upvote for zojirushi with fuzzy logic.

we have had this one from zojirushi for ~3 years and use it almost every day. we cook all sorts of rices in it, basmati, sushi, medium grain, and it does an incredible job every time. we also love to put steel cut oatmeal in it before bed to be ready for breakfast in the morning (cheapest meal ever and our 2 yr old loves it). this rice cooker is a wonderful investment and worth every cent.

edit: things we love about the zojirushi - retractible cord, easy clean up, easy to read, functionality, timer so that we can set it aside to be ready when we get home from work or wake up, cooks every rice we've tried perfectly, highly versatile, it's cute and plays twinkle twinkle little star.

One of the best things you can do is to train your palate. This way, when you taste something, you can figure out what's in it, and make it yourself if you want. It will also help you to learn what goes with what. For example, dill goes with salmon, lemon with raspberries, tomato with onion and cilantro or basil, etc. That kind of knowledge will help you to invent your own recipes which are catered directly to your tastes.

If you really want to know what makes food do what it does, I would recommend the following books:

• For general culinary science, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. It is one of the best books ever written which actually explains why things happen in the kitchen.
  
• I usually buy a copy of Shirley O. Corriher's CookWise for anyone who says they want to learn to cook. It is perfect for beginners and has lots of very useful recipes. If you watch Alton Brown's "Good Eats", you will see Ms. (or is is Dr.?) Corriher explaining some of the science.
  
• If you want to learn how to bake incredible cake, Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible is indispensable, same for her Bread Bible and Pie and Pastry Bible. I rarely fuck up a cake now, and if I do, I know why. And her cake recipes are brilliant. From learning to make her chocolate butter cake, I also discovered the secret to making the BEST cup of chocolate ever. The aforementioned Ms. Corriher's BakeWise is also excellent for beginners.
  
• The Larousse Gastronomique is probably the most famous book on cuisine. It's an encyclopedia which contains pretty much every cooking term. It's a pretty high-level book, but it is the authority.
  
  Have fun with it! =)

I have a few ideas for you. I love this thing it's great for slicing and shredding almost anything. and cleanup is a breeze it goes right into the dishwasher

https://www.amazon.com/Presto-Professional-SaladShooter-Electric-Shredder/dp/B0000Z6JJG/ref=sr_1_1?

​

I Love this thing I have had it for about 5 years now and it purees better than my large Ninja blender. this is the one I have

https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-Blender-Brushed-Chrome/dp/B00ARQVM5O/ref=sr_1_5?

One with more accessories is not much more

https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-79-Smart-Blender-Stainless/dp/B00AN9UJ68/ref=sr_1_4?

​

Sorry can't help with the baking or bread. but I am sure someone else will help with that part! Good Luck! I hope you find some great stuff!

>Unrelated question, I read that meat should be poached with the liquid starting cold and then gradually increasing the heat so as to cook the meat evenly. However when grilling or baking an oven is required to be preheated, and I read the reason is again, so that the meat cooks evenly. Sorry if this is a dumb question, I know the medium of cooking is different but why is this contradicting?

Let's start here. You can safely ignore advice for starting things cold in any aqueous cooking method (poaching, braising, making stock, boiling vegetables) -- whether it starts hot or cold will have minor differences when it comes to when and which compounds move from your solids to your liquids, and other details like clarity of your final liquid (e.g. a broth or stock). These are fine finicky details however, and will have very little effect on the final flavor of your dish. When it comes to poaching meats, what matters it the final temperature of the meat. The closer the temperature of your poaching liquid is to that target temperature, the better -- whether it starts hot or cold when the protein goes in. The same basic principles apply for meat cookery when grilling or roasting, with the added caveat that you usually want to create a crust through the maillard reaction and caremelization, which requires high heat. Hence the very best methods are a combination of low and high heat, such as Sous Vide and Reverse Searing.

As for categorical learning, there are lots of resources!
One of my favorites is the website Serious Eats which is very science based and has plenty to learn sorted by technique or by recipe.

I personally learned with Alton Brown -- seek out the show Good Eats, or check out some of his books 123

There is no right or wrong way to learn to cook. In fact, the only real way is to just get in the kitchen and cook. Yeah, you will screw some stuff up, burn some stuff, and maybe make some truly awful food. But you will make great food as well.

• Taste of Home Best Loved - A great down-to-earth cookbook with homestyle meals that mom and grandma used to make.
  
• The Silver Spoon - Originally in Italian, hundreds of awesome, authentic Italian dishes using a massive array of ingredients.
  
• Gourmet Magazine Cookbook - I got my copy at a brick and mortar bookstore many years ago, and it may be out of print now. But it is full of elevated dishes that are easily obtainable at home.
  
• Dinner for Two - For years it was just my wife and I. This was the perfect little cookbook for us. Additionally, ATK has a similar cookbook. This isn't the one we have, but one like it. It's basically their recipes scaled down for two people.
  
• Bocuse Gastronomique - It's like an awesome cooking class on paper from the master himself.
  
• Bocuse - An awesome collection of recipes from Paul Bocuse.
  
• ATK Cookbook. I probably cook more from here than any other. I used to buy the new version every year with the newest recipes, but now I have the online subscription.
  
• The Flavor Bible that someone else linked.
  
  
  I could keep going but I should stop. So many great ones out there.

Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food is a great primer on the science of cooking. I read it in culinary school, and it was a great distillation of the main concepts (which cuts are of meat are good for braising, searing, roasting, etc. and how to properly perform each technique). If you end up enjoying Alton Brown's style, I would also recommend Fish on a First Name Basis for fish cookery. Lastly, Cook's Illustrated is a wonderful resource on food and cooking. The yearly online membership is only approx $25, and you get access to all previously published recipes and equipment reviews.

In terms of equipment, the knife I personally use is the Victorinox 10-inch chef knife. Japanese steel is great and all, but for the same price you could get this knife, a good electric knife sharpener, and a honing steel and still have some left over. The best knife is a sharp knife after all. I would also highly recommend a T-fal non-stick pan for a solid multi-purpose first pan.

Finally, for an herb garden, I generally try to aim for either expensive or infrequently used herbs for indoor gardening. The reasoning behind growing expensive herbs is pretty straightforward. I primarily grow infrequently used herbs to avoid wasting what I wouldn't use up when cooking (as you mentioned is oft a problem). In my region, basil, sage, thyme, tarragon, and oregano would all be good candidates to grow. Parsley, cilantro, and bay leaf tend to be cheaper at the market in my area, so I usually just purchase those.

This is probably my favorite cookbook ever, but I am not sure if it's a book that everyone would really enjoy reading. For me, the book is fascinating because it goes into an enormous amount of detail on ingredients, technique, and food science; at the same time, you kinda have to be a total need to read and enjoy such a sense book.

For something that everyone should read, I like to recommend Alton Brown's book "I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking"; it is basically the science and techniques from the first seasons of Good Eats, so I see it as kind of a Food Lab "lite", a great and very accessible way to introduce people to food and cooking,.

Well isn't that a cute little thing!

Is it bad? Hard to say without being able to feel it myself. Mine is very thin as well, but you definitely cannot bend it by hand.

As far as clean up, I like to use these to scrape off any big stuck on chunks. Then I clean it with soap and water with the soft side of a sponge.

I use a metal stir spatula, it does scratch the seasoning a bit, but it's totally fine.

I only season as needed. Maybe once every 4 or 5 uses, or if I have to scrub to caked on stuff off.

I get best results with 30 minutes in a 450F oven. Wrap wooden handles in foil first. As thin of a coat of oil as possible, actually try to buff it out with a clean towel first.

I will tell you that there is a huge difference between pre-seasoned cast iron and bare carbon steel. The seasoning that you apply to bare CS is way more thin and fragile than a pre-seasoned pan.

I get most of my recipes online, but I've been cooking for 30+ years. Usually I end up looking at 4-5 for something before I find one that looks good, especially if I'm on AllRecipes or other non-curated sites.

Most good cookbooks talk about technique as well as ingredients. (or all technique as with Pepin's "Complete Techniques" There are lots of crap cookbooks out there, but in general cookbooks by well known chefs have stood the test of time. I also lean toward PBS chefs instead of "Food network" as they're more about educating than entertaining. Cookbooks from before WWII are great too, as they were designed for people who cooked meals every day instead of being made of "convenience" food (the 50's and 60's were horrible for cooking)

My favorites:

• James Beard
  
• Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything is a great technique reference)
  
• America's Test Kitchen
  
• Jacques Pepin (great technique stuff, and good tasty food)
  
• Julia Child
  
• Nick Stellino
  
• Martin Yan
  
• Lorna Sass (for pressure cooking)
  
  For Web sites I tend to use the following more than others:
  
  
• Serious Eats
  
• Hip Pressure Cooking
  
  For V-Blog "Food entertainment" that's still educational I like Chef John's Food Wishes.

I have made banana ice cream with an immersion blender plenty of times! You can make pesto in it but I prefer a mortar and pestle, You can make pico in it, but I generally think pico gets ruined if you use any sort of blending/processing. If you want easy clean up, I'd get an immersion blender- it's great for soups and blending directly on the stove top! Theres a cup you can use to make the banana ice cream. If you want to do bigger batches, I'd get a cheap processor - great for making things like hummus, grating cheese and veggies, dough, etc.

This is the $45 processor I have and I like it.

This is the $30 immersion blender I have and also like.

If you like reading, a couple books that I'd recommend would be The Food Lab and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. They'll help you understand a lot more about the tools and ingredients you want to use and learn how to use them. There's plenty of recipes too! These are both award winning books that I think should be in your local library too if you don't have the money to buy them! Happy cooking!

The meal prep subreddit might give you ideas too on big batch meals.

Do you think your dad might help you cook or help you learn? It could be a cool thing to do together and maybe you could help him learn somethings and give him some autonomy!

America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I have the older edition, but I assume the new one is good as well. It has both basic recipes (such as different ways to cook eggs or the best way to make a baked potato) as well as typical classics (lasagna, roast turkey, steak with pan sauce, pizza, etc.).

Basically if you're looking for one cookbook that covers all common American fare, this is a great option. Also has equipment and ingredient brand recommendations. It's spiral-bound, which is great for a cookbook since you can lay it flat on the table.

America's Test Kitchen Cooking For Two. Many of the same recipes as above sized for two people. Plenty of different ones as well. A lot of focus on easier weeknight meals.

A few of my favorites that are fairly cost effective:

• Benriner Japanese mandolin
  
• Amco Grease Separator
  
• Microplane
  
  The Benriner is just over $20 and the other two are under. I can't get enough use out of my Microplane for mincing garlic and adding freshness with citrus zest. Some people don't really like the Benriner as you have to use one hand to hold it as it doesn't have legs - I find that it stores easier and cuts more evenly overall. As for the grease separator, I'm always making stock and such - pretty straight-forward design that doesn't leak.
  
  I'm also a big fan of ring molds(or biscuit cutters) of various sizes as they make for easy plating and cutting of biscuits/polenta & grit cakes/etc...
  Oh yeah, immersion blenders are definitely useful and you can get away with the cheaper ones as long as you let it cool down a bit once it starts smelling like ozone!

> zorjirushi brand rice cooker

Also have one, specifically the Neuro Fuzzy. It's a bit pricey but it's the best rice cooker we've had and well worth the price if you cook enough rice. Also, besides working well, the machine looks very nice. A bit silly but it does seem smarter to trust an Asian company to make rice cookers.

Nordic Ware makes really great sheet pans, make sure to check that the size you buy will fit in your oven. I also recommend getting a Silpat for easy cooking with no sticking and easy cleanup. As far as gloves, this is the one I have and it is very good quality.

You may also want to get some muffin tins, just in case. Honestly, I have some cheap trays, but I have silicone liners that are also great for easy baking and cleaning.

Hope this helps!

> If you're not getting good rice, the problem is not the rice cooker.

I disagree. I used a $30 Sunbeam rice cooker for a decade. It made acceptable rice. When it finally flaked out, I replaced it with a Zoji NS-ZCC10. Beyond having a number of other useful features, it simply makes better rice. The moisture level is perfect every time, regardless of rice type, batch, or age.

Does the difference matter? It depends on your needs. It's not a night-and-day difference, but it's there. I upgraded more for the capacity, extended hold options, and timer capability than for the rice quality. But the better rice quality is nice too, especially given how much Asian we cook here.

OP, I had similar needs as you when I picked the ZCC10 - I really just wanted top-quality rice with some convenience options (hold and timer), not a steamer/baker/multi-purpose tool. I also considered induction models. But induction matters most for mixed rice - rice with veggies/meat mixed in. The ZCC models don't have induction or a bunch of extra cooking modes but do have a spherical heating element and better sensors and logic than Zoji's cheaper models. They're also made in Japan and not China. They're more expensive than the entry level models but a bit cheaper than the high-end induction ones. I'm completely happy with our ZCC - it does exactly what I wanted, which is make really good rice in quantity and provide the convenience options I need.

Try a simple pasta dish...it's very hard to mess up pasta, and there are a ton of recipes online. Once you have one success under your belt, I think it will be easier to move on to other dishes. Pastas and stir frys are usually pretty simple. Salads and soups are usually pretty simple as well. I usually stick with simple because I can easily get lazy about cooking. The internet is a great resource for easy recipes and there are a ton of books that specialize in easy recipes. I think this book is a good resource for easy cooking:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Without-Book-Techniques/dp/0767902793

This is the one I have, and it makes great rice. What I really love is using the timer function on it. That way I can put my rice in way ahead of time and have it finish exactly when I plan to serve. It's also great for making fresh oatmeal for the next morning. There are more expensive ones with more settings and features. For example, I know there is one for $220 that uses induction heating and has a "quick" setting. There are some that also have an "umami" setting. I can't vouch for those features specifically, especially since the one I linked (that's already expensive) is cheaper and makes great rice. I'm skeptical of how much stuff like induction cooking improves your rice. That said, whatever Zojirushi you get, just make sure it's made in Japan.

We also have a tiny kitchen, and here's my advice. We improved on our space by putting a storeables rack underneath our barstool-height table, and our table has wheels if we need more leg room.

>a slow cooker, a pressure cooker, a rice cooker, a panini press, a juicer, a food processor, a blender, a hot pot, an indoor grill, bakeware stuffs, and a set of basic cookware.

We have a grill/griddle that I'd go nuts without, and it generally stays on the stove.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00008GKDQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1450209760&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=cast+iron+griddle&dpPl=1&dpID=414n4OG7bEL&ref=plSrch

A cast iron Dutch oven also works as a skillet if you need it to, but we store my skillets in the oven.

You could probably use a vitamix as a food processor too, though I have not tried. If you don't have a vitamix, stick with the food processor and ditch your toy blender.

We have two nesting saucepans, and our mixing bowls, strainers etc fit on the shelf above them. Our sandwich/steak weights (get rid of the panini maker) fit next to the bowls. Our bakeware fits under the oven. Our appliances fit on the shelving unit (mixer, food processor, toaster, mixer accessories, blender, popcorn maker(who okayed that?), slow cooker, and dish towels etc).

Having a small kitchen SUUUUCKS if you like to cook as much as we do, but if it's what you got, ikea and storeables are your best friends.

I didn't really answer your question because I didn't understand your question, is one to replace everything? Or the other two?

When it comes to knives; invest in a few good ones. Learn how to sharpen them. Wash and dry them straight after use, take care of your knives. Good knives are like babies, they will last as long as you take care of them. Go Japanese, take a look at Global. Global's bread knife also does the job pretty fucking well, also good for butchering down some meat when the going gets tough.

If you're feeling like a big boy, go for a 10" Masahiro - this will keep you sorted for all your veggie needs forever and ever. This small peeler from Fiskar is also an underestimated legend in my kitchen.

Thank you for this! I have one, not by Lodge, that came free with a kitchen utensil I bought years ago. I could never find a replacement and when I Googled in the past they were never this size or look.

This thing is the perfect tool when you need to scrape food off of pots, pans, bowls and the best is glass casserole dishes! No more scraping with your finger nails that dried on food debris!

Friends of Reddit, you need to buy it you will make cleanup way easier! Enjoy!

https://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Scrapers-Handheld-Polycarbonate-Cleaners/dp/B0039UU9UO

You want a fast reading digital thermometer, by the way. Something like this will do the job.

There's an amazing instant read that's even better, but they're like $100. But temperature is your main concern, really.

Also, an excellent technique for cooking meat that's quite forgiving is braising in a slow cooker. It's stupid simple, cheap, and you end up with something tender and delicious.

1. Obtain slow cooker.
   
2. Obtain pork shoulder.
   
3. Place pork shoulder in slow cooker.
   
4. Dump in a cup or so of a braising liquid - Coke classic works well for pork, but anything with a decent level of acidity and reasonable flavor profile will do the trick.
   
5. Cook on low for 8 hours.
   
6. Shred it with a fork and season to taste.
   
   You can stick on in the oven on a baking sheet under the broiler to crisp up a bit. With some salt and other seasonings of your choice that can go great on tacos.
   
   Or you can combine with BBQ sauce for a pulled pork sandwich.

So far I've just been browsing Kinja deals and had one recommendation as well as interested in others' recommendations. Here are some:

$52 Instant Pot 3 quart. Love the 6 quart version, but it's huge. I think 3 qt would've been fine for me.

$26 dinnerware set don't know this item.

$37 Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven. Considering this. Anyone own it? Do I need a cast iron dutch oven? Is it better than a stainless steel one? Already have a cast iron pan.

$25 Stick blender

The sous vide immersion circulator was sold out but will be back, let's hope.

I usually tell people to check out How to Cook Without a Book. It has some recipes, but it's more about giving readers a better understanding of techniques, how to put something together from what you already have on hand, and what things you should just keep around at all times because of their usefulness. As opposed to a lot of books I've seen that give a list of things to buy which will then need to be prepped with tools you might not have.

edit: If you got money to spend and really dig the art and science of cooking there is also Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. At just under $550 USD it's the most expensive and most beautiful cookbook I've ever seen.

Zojirushi.

I've had many other rice cookers, from the target and Walmart brands to black and decker.

Zojirushi is just plain and simple worth it. It will consistently give you perfectly cooked rice...every...single... time.

The reason is it has this thing called fuzzy logic where it's computer can determine how to cook things depending on the weight and what not (not sure how it works exactly, but it works great!). The initial buy in is a bit more expensive than other rice cookers but it's worth the investment. It will last very long.

For steaming, you could use the vegi steamer tray for a pot. It's honestly 100x faster because you don't have to wait like 15 minutes for the water to boil.

This is as good one: http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-TSC10-Uncooked-Cooker-1-0-Liter/dp/B0074CDG6C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394815672&sr=8-2&keywords=zojirushi+rice+cooker


This is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-ZCC10-Uncooked-Premium-1-0-Liter/dp/B00007J5U7/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1394815672&sr=8-4&keywords=zojirushi+rice+cooker

I can't praise it enough.

Also, this for steaming veggies. Works amazing, I've had it for years:http://www.amazon.com/Amco-Collapsible-Steamer-Stainless-Steel/dp/B000Q4N2LO/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1394815756&sr=8-9&keywords=steamer+tray+for+pot

I'm going to go another route and recommend How to Cook Without a Book because it helped me finally get into cooking. It's geared towards the home cook and teaches you easy recipe 'blueprints', and gives you examples of how you can adjust them to create a variety of dishes. There is nothing too fancy or advanced here, but it gives an insight into how these dishes work and how you can play with them.

For example, one chapter is just about frittatas. First it teaches the basics of how to make one, and then has a bunch of different frittata recipes (bacon & onions, zucchini & mozzarella, spinach & sausage, potatoes & artichoke hearts, etc) with notes on how to adjust the recipe to incorporate the various fillings. Another chapter I still reference often is the one on a roast chicken dinner. Again it outlines the basics first, and then gives you recipes for breaded dijon, rosemary lemon, BBQ, and tandoori chicken all cooked using the same technique.

I know it's not exactly what you're asking for, but it really helped me build enough confidence in my cooking so that I could start improvising more in the kitchen and take on more advanced techniques.

Also, youtube helped a lot.

I guess I could call myself an experienced home cook now and I also would recommend Rachael Ray recipes. A lot of people on reddit seem to hate her because she's not Gordon Ramsey or Alton Brown, but I think that a lot of her recipes are a simple, realistic way to start cooking. Alton Brown, Julia Child, and the like are all great for learning to cook from, but most people don't have the time it takes to cook like them every night. Aim to prepare their recipes once or twice a week, but in the meantime, just gain some experience with the simple stuff.

Definitely get a meat thermometer! I've been using this one for a few years. I've had a few others, and this is the only one that has lasted a while. I used to say that I didn't like meat very much, but when I started using a meat thermometer, I really started to enjoy it. It's a lot better than cutting into it and losing juices, especially since you should let your meat rest for at least 5 minutes after cooking it.

Also, check out this slideshow about the most common cooking mistakes.

The super hardened steel in "professional" knives are much more difficult to keep sharp. They make sense for professionals, because they won't wear away to a nub with heavy use, but unless you're actively using, honing and sharpening your knife for 60 hours per week, they're completely unnecessary.

Here's a perfect starter kit for the home chef:

• Global Chef Knife
  
• Whetstone
  
• Sharpening Steel
  
  Don't waste money on expensive sets unless having a butcher block stand on display in your kitchen to impress your guests is something that matters to you. Put your money into a good quality chef knife that's easy to keep sharp and the tools to keep it that way.
  
  If you don't trust me, take it from Anthony Bourdain.

I don't like cooking boneless, skinless breasts in the oven as they are as you describe, dry or undercooked. I did start using an instant read thermometer to solve the undercooked problem..

But I've used this recipe with great success. I've used it by cutting up the whole chicken and I've used it with just breasts, but ones with skin and bones. And it's come out great - that is moist and done.

I still use the thermometer (this one) to make sure they're done.

Hope this helps...

The first cookbook I ever owned was this one: America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. (I have the 2016, version, though.) It has a great many recipes from different cuisines and will teach you technique while it's guiding you through it. I didn't find it intimidating and pretty much everything I've made from there was delicious.

The only caveat I'd make is that not all the meals are the same size. And sometimes you don't want to cook 6 servings. In which case I'd recommend The ATK Cookbook for Two. I gave it to my father last Christmas. He has a lot of cooking experience and he picked it up and immediately learned new things and enjoyed the results.

This is a really good read - these are the opening lines of the book’s introduction:

> Anyone can cook anything and make it delicious.

> Whether you’ve never picked up a knife or you’re an accomplished chef, there are only four basic factors that determine how good your food will taste: salt, which enhances flavor; fat, which amplifies flavor and makes appealing textures possible; acid, which brightens and balances; and heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food. Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat are the four cardinal directions of cooking, and this book shows how to use them to find your way in any kitchen.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat

If you haven't cooked much, I would recommend picking up Alton Brown's book 'I'm just here for the food' It covers cooking from a science and chemistry perspective, and understanding why something happens makes you a better cook. It also helps keep you from developing bad habits, or working on erroneous information (like
browning meat 'seals in juices'.) Also some very good recipes.

Link: I'm Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0 https://www.amazon.com/dp/158479559X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_g-7eAbXGFVZ5R

For the 'what do I need part' you can get enough equipment to get started from a thrift store, and cast iron skillets are cheap. A skillet/ saute pan, stock pot, mixing bowl and baking sheet will cover most things. For spices I would at least stock garlic, pepper, kosher salt. Lawry's can work in a pinch although I otherwise avoid spice mixes. If you're making Christmas treats, you're probably going to want cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, vanilla, maybe allspice/ mace depending on the recipe. Buying those and the rest of your groceries at Aldi or Trader Joe's is more economical if there is one nearby. International food stores/ Indian groceries sometimes have much better prices on spices as well.

My go to for the holidays is the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, it's all over the internet. Favorite cookies anywhere when they're fresh out of the oven :)

I use my Global 20cm Chefs knife for ... everything. Basically everything. I have tried a few different brands. My knife rack has Wusthof, Henckel and a few other (cheaper) ones. I go to the Global every time.

This is very subjective. My other knives are also very good, I just prefer the Global. It's light and quite thin, holds an edge better than the others. It suits me well. IMO that's 99% of what people are saying when they tell you one knife is better than another of comparable price, that it suits them well.

See if you can borrow a few knives from friends and work with them for a bit and see what you like.

>Shirley O. Corriher is a biochemist and author of CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking, winner of a James Beard Foundation award, and BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking.

(From wikipedia.)

Here is the Amazon page for Cookwise:

https://www.amazon.com/CookWise-Successful-Cooking-Secrets-Revealed/dp/0688102298/

I have used the OXO mandoline at $50 and I never touch it, too bulky and a pain to wash buy this: http://www.amazon.com/Harold-Import-Company-BN1-Mandoline/dp/B0000VZ57C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325311921&sr=8-1

Benriner is what chefs use and what I use to use as a cook but also at home as well. At least this comes with the handguard which at work I never had (almost sliced off fingertips many times). Great for slicing tons of onions in a uniform width if you want to carmelize a ton at a time or necessary for getting super thing slices of a vegetable for making potato chips for example.

Has blades for julienne as well so you can then use it as is or for a faster and more consistent brunoise.

And you have money left over for something else too.

This is the set I got. It is big enough to cover the bases but small enough to add things to down the road.

And since you aren't a big baker I would recommend just getting one of these. And two of these. That way you are pretty much covered for your baking needs.

Oh and you can get a lodge 10 or 12 inch for like $20. Really cheap. You are better off getting a really old one from a thrift shop or goodwill.

I realize that this doesn't exactly answer your question, but rather than focus on specific recipes, I would suggest that you learn all you can about the various cooking methods. Alton Brown does a nice job disucssing this in his first book, I'm Just Here for the Food. It's a fairly easy read for the basic cook. When you have an understanding of the science behind cooking, or why different foods react the way they do to different cooking methods, you've given your cooking skills a tremendous boost. Other resources I highly recommend are the publications of Cooks Illustrated and anything by Harold McGee.

I recommend buying a single quality chef's knife and a pairing knife for finer work.

Inexpensive pick:
http://www.amazon.com/R-H-Forschner-Victorinox-8-Inch-Fibrox/dp/B000638D32/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1_s9_rk?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&s9r=8a5850a4189e98760118ecb694da07af&itemPosition=1&qid=1229892744&sr=8-1

Expensive pick (the one I use):
http://www.amazon.com/Global-8-Inch-20cm-Cooks-Knife/dp/B00005OL44/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1229892885&sr=8-1

Also consider ceramic if you don't want to sharpen:
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-Revolution-5-Inch-Slicing-Knife/dp/B000ESJGZS/ref=pd_sim_hg_5

Pairing Knife:
http://www.amazon.com/Forschner-Victorinox-4-Inch-Paring-Handle/dp/B0001V3UYG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1229893245&sr=1-2

You will want a serrated bread knife as well.

whatever you do, don't buy ridged knives that saw through foods (ginzu, etc). the knife should simply glide through most food effortlessly without sawing.

Don't buy a full set, as you should be able to get by with just two. These are tools and the more you keep your use to just the knives you have, the more adept you will become with them.

Go into a fine cooking store and put a few knives in your hand to see what feels natural.

Enjoy!

If you really want to learn the ins and outs of taking recipes to the next level, I strongly recommend the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat. I've been a pretty serious home cook for about fifteen years, but this book has really opened my eyes to how easy it can be to get amazing, flavorful results with some fairly basic techniques.

Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat has a handy flavor wheel chart that explains flavors by nationality. It's pretty handy, I actually photocopied mine and hung it on my kitchen wall. The rest of the book is super interesting too, definitely worth purchasing.

I'd say the essentials include a non-stick frying pan, a smaller pot (2-3 qts), a larger pot (5qts+), a cutting board, a chef's knife, measuring cups, measuring spoons, mixing bowls, a whisk, heat resistant silicone spatula, stirring spoons, serving spoon, ladle, aluminum baking sheet, tongs and can opener. With all of the above, I can cook ~ 90% of what I usually cook.

I, personally, don't care much for cast iron skillets. They require too much care and too much oil to keep up to snuff. I prefer a nice three-ply fry pan (This is what I own). A couple splurges on my part were a 2 qt saucier (was on sale for $50) which is great for making sauces of any sort because the whisk can fit in the rounded bottom of the pan. I also like the All-Clad 4Qt. Essential pan, with the tall sides and wide top. It's easy to make something a bit larger with this pan.

Finally, I bake all of my pizza on a cheap round pizza pan. It's not the fanciest, but it gets the job down well.

I haven't read Cooking for Geeks, but On Food and Cooking, which /u/Arkolix also mentioned, is a great reference book.

My own personal recommendation is Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, who used to appear occasionally on "Good Eats". I like this book because, in addition to explaining the hows and whys of things happening, there are also recipes that show, as one example in a baking chapter, what happens when you make chocolate chip cookies and use more white sugar or more brown sugar or shortening instead of butter.

This is my cooking bible. Think of any major, favorite or well-known dish and I almost guarantee it's in this book. Very solid and dependable recipes all around.

My one minor criticism is I think they might compromise the ethnic dishes a little too much towards western cooks. They always prefer using easily found supermarket ingredients.

Regardless though out of almost 50 recipes I've cooked out of this book I haven't run across a bad one yet. It's also a really great resource for making that classic dish you already know just a little bit better.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cooks-Illustrated-Cookbook-Americas/dp/1933615893

Experimenting is great, but doing a bit of reading along the way wouldn't hurt and might spare you some disasters.

On the cheap, Pam Anderson's How to Cook Without a Book was a good starting place for me when I had similar questions / concerns in college. It focuses on a few basics and then builds upon them with variations. Moreover, this text is a quicker read than many of the other tomes out there. You can get it used for $12 including shipping. Used cookbooks are seriously the sh*t.

If you wanna drop a bit more money (~$26), James Peterson's Cooking has far more visuals and recipes than Anderson's. Beautiful text, mouth-watering recipes.

Lastly, I think it makes sense to focus on a certain style of food for a while so you get it dialed in before moving on. That way, you build momentum and better retain the lessons you learn. With Anderson's book, for instance, you could riff on a homemade pasta sauce for a week or two, or mess with sauteing chicken and vegetables a few different ways. Keep a list of what you make so you get a sense of where you've been in the kitchen, what you've accomplished, and what you might want to try next.

Oh, and keep coming back to cookit to discuss. Hooray community!

DO NOT buy one of those "kitchen in a box" starter kits for $99. You will only learn how to burn things because the steel is so thin! You will end up years from now either donating them all to Goodwill or using them only to boil water. Buy one nice pan every month or two and you will never regret it.

Required Reading For New Cooks:

• Alton Brown: I'm Just Here for the Food Not only teaches you the kitchen basics, but the science behind why it is so.
  
• Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen Not just gear, it also has some recipes :)
  
  Happy cooking!

Might I suggest an alternative method? In my experience, the study of the techniques to cooking are at least half the battle in laying a foundation for a good culinary education. Rather than take the direct simple-to-complex recipe route, perhaps there is value in utilizing a hybrid method of learning where the recipes are centered around the use of particular skills in the kitchen. Some useful materials that come to mind are "Complete Techniques" by Jacques Pepin or "The Way to Cook" by Julia Child. Once these types of technical skills are engrained in your cooking process, you will find the true joy of cooking which is much less about following instructions and more to do with finding your "culinary groove".

Just cook. Experimenting, watch cooking shows, get cookbooks(Cooks Illustrated 20 year book is an amazing book) from the library. But most importantly don't give up and don't be afraid of a challenge. That's how we learn by pushing ourselves. Everything you make won't be a success but in the long run it will be. Also remember to just have fun and enjoy it. Heck I have been cooking for over 20 years and my lastest experiment just totally flopped, but I tried something new and learned from it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1933615893/ref=cm_sw_r_other_taa_i_AszbBb6PHTS6R

Jacques Pepin is awesome at teaching techniques, and especially good at giving detailed instructions that are easy to follow (even if not so easy to execute without practise).

Besides his numerous youtube videos, his Complete Techniques book and DVD (i have both) are really good. Like how to cut vegetables, cook eggs in various ways, debone a chicken etc. I find the DVD easier to follow.

Book: http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000LXHJZA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1457271533&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=jacques+pepin+dvd&dpPl=1&dpID=51RpoAjNx9L&ref=plSrch

His video on making an American omelet and a French omelette. This video is the best there is, and i have seen dozens of other videos about making an omelet.

https://youtu.be/s10etP1p2bU

Edit: His scrambled eggs recipe since you said that is your next goal.

https://youtu.be/u8QIDHla6iA

(From 11:40, but if you go back a few minutes, he also tells you how to make mushrooms to accompany the scrambled eggs)

Definitely a cast iron skillet. I got one for Christmas last year and use it near exclusively for cooking and baking unless what I am making involves something acidic or eggs. It basically gets used every night and is super easy to clean, especially with one of these

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-SCRAPERPK-Durable-Polycarbonate-Scrapers/dp/B0039UU9UO

A really good pizza needs to form a lot of gluten. This means you need a very strong flour to make a good pizza. Normal 00 is not strong enough. I personally add a 5% in weight of gluten to the dough maiden with 00. Professional pizza makers use their own mix of flours. A very good book that explain many details of dough making process is
https://www.amazon.com/CookWise-Successful-Cooking-Secrets-Revealed/dp/0688102298

I don't know about buying cookware. It's a pretty personal decision. The most useful gift when I moved out was an immersion blender like this: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-2-Speed-Immersion-Blender/dp/B00ARQVM5O/ref=lp_289916_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375294914&sr=1-1

I recently got, and have been really enjoying, How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart. It focuses on techniques that are simple enough to memorize yet open to endless variations with whatever you have on hand. Useful for cooks like me who resent having to measure things and follow recipes!

Yeah, Victorinox is a "college graduation present" knife. It's a good value and great for beginners but falls far short of better knives. I upgraded to Globals a couple years ago and the difference is unbelievable.

I would go with things that start looking at techniques or at "why things happen."

Books I'd recommend:
I'm Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown

Cooking School published by America's Test Kitchen

And of course Jacques Pepin's Essential Techniques. The ebook is particularly nice.

One thing I liked a lot at that age was vintage cookbooks. The pictures in something like The Cooky Book were downright magical.

As others have said, practice.

With that said, books like Ratio and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat have also been a huge help to me.

They both teach you more about what things work well together rather than how to follow particular recipes. Ratio is about what flavors compliment each other and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat demonstrates how the combination of those four elemental units in cooking can up your game across the board.

I recommend spending ~$10 and getting this book. Jacques Pepin has superlative technique, and this book has great explanations and illustrations. It has great recipes (some simple, some that shows-off higher skills) and suggestions on what to buy.

It isn't a cookbook, but a book on how to cook. Alton Brown's I'm just here for the food 2.0. Love it. Also have several of his others in the series which are equally good IMO.

These are two fantastic books for beginning cooks, so much so that I've been buying them as wedding/hosewarming presents as part of my gifts to newlyweds/new homeowners just starting out.

How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart by Pam Anderson

The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

The ATK book apparently has a new edition coming out in October. They also have a similar version if you are less interested in perhaps the best tasting versus the more healthful options.

a giant granite mortar and pestle is a good tool to have. This is a good book, as long as you can track down the ingredients. Andy Ricker's is probably also good, as I'm sure David Thompson's other book is too.

I've been lucky, my immersion blender fits perfectly into some glass working jars we got from Crate and Barrel. Then can just slap the lid on and call it good. Items below for reference, i think the jars are sold all over the place.

Jars - https://www.crateandbarrel.com/set-of-12-large-working-glasses/s643663

IB - https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-Blender-Brushed-Chrome/dp/B00ARQVM5O/

Yes, AB's books are excellent. I own his first 2 books and they are excellent for learning technique.

I'm Just Here For The Food
http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-Food-Cooking/dp/1584790830/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404671790&sr=1-2&keywords=i%27m+just+here+for+the+food

I'm Just Here For More Food
http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-More-Food/dp/1584793414/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404671790&sr=1-3&keywords=i%27m+just+here+for+the+food

I highly recommend getting a copy of Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food.

He really teaches the hows and whys of different cooking methods and then gives you recipes to demonstrate those methods. Then you have a better understanding of braising, sauteing, roasting, frying, broiling and when to use which method for what types of cuts of meat or veg. Once I was really able to grasp the science of what occurs chemically to food when cooking it, it helped a great deal in improving all of my meals.

Tangentially related, I would get his books as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-Food-Version/dp/158479559X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291527138&sr=1-4 (This one is about cooking)

http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-More-Food/dp/1584793414/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291527138&sr=1-6 (this one is about baking)

Read through those and you'll feel much more confident.

If you are cooking meat, I'd suggest getting a probe thermometer: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-1470-Digital-Cooking-Thermometer/dp/B00004XSC5/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291527262&sr=8-2

You'd be amazed how good any kind of meat tastes just with some salt and fresh pepper cooked to the exact right temperature tastes...

I'm also in the process of buying a new Zojirushi rice cooker, but I'm a little confused. Can someone please explain to me why the the NS-TSC10 5 1/2 cup model is a good $20+ cheaper than the NS-ZCC model? To me it looks like it ought to be the other way around.

I heard the NS-TSC model is made in China while the NS-ZCC model is made in Japan, but is that really the only reason the ZCC model is more expensive? I know the ZCC features "neuro-fuzzy" technology, while the TSC model is only one of the Micom models, but it features "fuzzy logic" technology, too! Is neuro-fuzzy better than fuzzy logic?

I'm thoroughly confused by all these different kinds of fuzzy.

https://smile.amazon.com/Lodge-SCRAPERPK-Durable-Scrapers-2-Pack/dp/B0039UU9UO?sa-no-redirect=1

Are you talking about this? In that case, I should go buy one. :)

And stop forgetting that I love the lovely chainmail thing.

It sounds as if you are a novice? If you are and you are looking for books as your guide I suggest anything Jaques Pepin produces like this.

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques

https://www.amazon.com/Jacques-Pépin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520771297&sr=1-3&keywords=jaque+pepin+cookbooks

Jacques Pépin is a masterful teacher. There are also youtube videos and TV shows that would add to anything you get from his books. I highly encourage you to seek them out.

Beyond that, if you are looking for more a narrative form and you are more than a novice, consider:

Simple French Food by Richard Olney

Thats just a start, I'm sure there are many others that deserve consideration. In my experience Jacques Pépin; however, is one of the most approachable of the masters and I have a long-standing admiration of him, so my opinion is likely biased.

edit: a letter

I clean my cast iron with hot water and scrub all the shit away with this, which works wonders. On really messy jobs, I used a tiny bit of soap, maybe 1/5 the level of soapiness required to wash dishes. It's not a problem if the scrubbing isn't too vigorous. Afterwards, I dry it on the burner then rub oil on it (sometimes I skip this step, but never if I've used soap). I try to take care to oil the bottom of each pan every so often (probably every 4th-5th use). That method seems to work really well. I didn't used to, but then my stuff started rusting on the bottom.

For (northern) Thai food Andy Ricker is very similar lived in Thailand developed a love for the food learned as much as he could and brought it back to the states and made a cookbook finally

Rick Bayless and Justin Wilson are respected for their shows on Mexican and Cajun cooking respectively

https://www.amazon.com/Global-G-2-inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B00005OL44

Great balance and grip. Easy to clean.

America's Test Kitchen has some awesome books too. Got the Cooking For Two one from my Reddit Secret Santa last year and it's been fantastic.

I don't have it but I imagine the Cooking School Cookbook from them would be pretty much exactly what the OP needs.

Yeah, I was thinking maybe chicken teriyaki. This Cooks Illustrated Cookbook is my favorite cookbook I own, and it never lets us down. It has the best chicken teriyaki recipe I've ever made.

The missus got me a Global chef's for Christmas. Wicked sharp, holds a great edge, balances well, and looks pretty cool as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Global-G-2-8-Inch-Cooks-Knife/dp/B00005OL44

I'd recommend the Mercer Genesis 8" Chef Knife, the handle is a lot nicer than the cheap plastic grip on the Victorinox knives. It's also a dollar and half cheaper. It'll last you decades if taken care of, I still use mine from 9 years ago.

Maybe go with the Victorinox paring knife for the price and any cheap serrated knife will be fine for bread, maybe one of the ones you already have.

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-Forged-Chefs/dp/B000OOQZMY

Cooks Illustrated. Ex bought this for me and it's pretty much been my bible. Good luck!

I have a set of these Mercer knives and they are awesome. Apparently they are common culinary student knives, typically sold in restaurant supply stores not consumer stores. Not under $25 but a great knife for the price.

http://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-Forged-Chefs/dp/B000OOQZMY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421252538&sr=8-1&keywords=mercer+chefs+knife

I use this one for brewing and cooking. It is a great all purpose thermometer at a great price. It has a very fast response time too.

CDN DTQ450X Digital ProAccurate Quick-Read Thermometer-NSF Certified https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0021AEAG2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hLCzxb93WGH0V

> the results aren't worth the extra dishes to clean

An immersion blender is the only "extra" thing I have to clean when making mayo. I use the jar that will eventually hold the excess mayo for the mixing.

Still have a small jar of Hellman's in my fridge, as some of my friends actually prefer that taste on some sandwiches, but for everything else ... some seconds with my trusty "stick"

Second the nomination of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.

Good Eats fans with an interest in the science might like Shirley O. Corriher's Cookwise, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed. She was The Science Lady on the Good Eats show.

Andy Ricker's Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand is a very accessible book that is well regarded as a good take on Thai cuisine.

Andrea Nguyen is a similarly excellent resource on Vietnamese food and cooking.

I've had one of these for about 4 years, and it's been awesome. It's very comfortable and well-balanced. I get it sharpened regularly and hone it often.

Love my Global. It's pretty much all I use.

Get it from Amazon and return if you don't like it.

I used this link for mine a couple of years ago: https://www.amazon.com/Global-G-2-8-inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B00005OL44

The price fluctuates. It's $99.95 now. We paid just under $130.

I love most Cook's Illustrated cookbooks, but for a new cook it can seem rather daunting and some ingredients are not in a simple grocery store.

That being said, everything I have made from my Cook's Illustrated Cook Book has been delicious.

Here. Bonus because the flat side is great for pancakes.

I recently took the plunge and got a neuro fuzzy. I don't really know what the differences are except that the neuro fuzzy is supposedly better at making sushi rice and I make a lot of sushi rice, and then just eat it like regular rice.

Before the Zojirushi I used a cheap $30 rice cooker or just a pot on the stove and have tried both cheap and expensive rices, sticky or otherwise. The difference between the old methods and the Zojirushi is night and day. It really makes superior rice but then better quality cooked rice is not a priority in most people's lives so whether or not it's worth it will depend on you.

Honestly, after it's seasoned, you can use soap no problem (and probably before that). I likely wouldn't let it soak in soapy water though. My regular routine was to get the pan hot (either off stove or with hot running water), clean it with a bit of soap, rinse well with hot tap water, dry, and add a super thin coat of high temp oil (rub in with paper towel, removing as much as possible with a second paper towel). I recently found the lodge pan scrapers work really well in just water, no soap. I still dry and treat with oil after each use. I think getting the pan hot before cleaning it is the biggest difference, gets stuff to stop clinging.

This is a great guide and the beauty is that it can be produced on demand.

Not a blog but there is a good cookbook called something like, how to cook without using a book. Teaches techniques, not recipes.

Edit: Found it!

I also second The Joy of Cooking, and would like to add the following to your list:

• Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
  
  
• Alice Waters's The Art of Simple Food
  
  
• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Everyday and The River Cottage Meat Book
  
• Any of Alton Brown's books, some examples here and here
  

I think Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food is a really good starting point.

It does a fine job of explaining why and how different cooking methods work, and pairs multiple techniques with recipes. I think the way they're presented is really good for someone who is learning.

Just some bits and pieces that might help:

You need to learn the quirks of your stove/oven. They aren't all the same. Gas vs electric is a huge difference, but even two gas or two electric setups can be different from each other. Just because a recipe says you put something in on X temperature for X time doesn't actually mean that's how it's going to work for you. At my last apartment, my oven ran hot and things went from done to overcooked extremely fast. At my new apartment, it's the exact opposite. Get a meat thermometer and accept that it'll take some time to figure out your setup.

For dishes you make on the stove, or one sheet pan meals in the oven, the #1 rule is do not crowd the pan. If you add too many things at once, your food is going to steam in the water that its neighbors are releasing, not sear. You want them seared for that Maillard reaction. This is related to the Chinese phrase wok hei.

Better seasonings helps a lot. Subscribe to Penzeys emails, the owner hates Trump and has been doing crazy giveaways every time he gets mad at Trump (I'm not trolling or shilling, he really does do these giveaways.) The spices/herbs/seasoning mixes are high quality and they make a huge difference.

Hands down the best book for learning the WHY of cooking, not just the how, is Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

The production of vegetable based pastas is certainly a worthy cause, and I'm sure the veggetti is very capable, but I think the point is that you could also just buy a $20 mandoline slicer and do pretty much the same thing (okay, you might be stuck with shorter noodles...) plus much more

I love my Global knives; I chose them mainly because they are a single piece of stainless steel and I get skeeved out about bacteria hiding (so you could
put them in the dishwasher if you wanted to, tho I don’t). They were fairly affordable and have a modern / minimalist style.

Currently I have the 8” chefs knife and bread knife (just amazing). We lost a santoku and a western paring in a cross country move and I will probably replace the paring with the exact same and the santoku with another regular global chefs knife just because I like the look; I don’t think they were substantially better than a competitor of the same style and I didn’t have much use for the santoku.

If it were me, I'd probably go with something like this:

• Cast iron skillet - https://smile.amazon.com/Lodge-Seasoned-Cast-Iron-Skillet/dp/B00006JSUB $20
  
• Nonstick skillet (mostly for eggs and the like) - https://smile.amazon.com/Ozeri-PFOA-Free-Stone-Derived-Non-Stick-Coating/dp/B00GG5FBKW $21
  
• General purpose saucepan - https://smile.amazon.com/Cuisinart-Classic-Stainless-Saucepan-719-16/dp/B00008CM69 $17
  
• Stock pot - https://smile.amazon.com/McSunley-606-Stainless-Stockpot-Metallic/dp/B01CS5C49Y $15
  
• Half-sheet pan - https://smile.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Natural-Aluminum-Commercial/dp/B000G0KJG4 $12
  
  Total: $85, leaving you some headroom for another saucepan or a specialty pan (cake pans, roaster, casserole etc.)
  
  That said, I'd take a good look around thrift stores, craigslist and the like too.

I have the Tojiro DP that was the standard recommendation. I also got my Mom the Fibrox, which is good but I didn't love it.

I actually got the Mercer Genesis as something I could take with my if I was cooking somewhere else and wouldn't be heartbroken if I left it. I actually really like it and find myself reaching for it more than anything else.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is not exactly this concept. But would definitely be a great tool for building skills, concepts, and what kit you actually need.

Instead of a sub to Cook's Illustrated, OP could also just get their cookbook. It's pretty inexpensive, has pretty much every recipe I could ever want, and I've only gotten raves when I've made recipes out of it. I use it all the time. I literally have it open in front of me right now.

Yeah, once you realize that no-non-stick coating means you can whip out the heavy cleaning artillery, steel pans become easier to clean than non-stick.

Also, scrapers

As an engineer "Cookwise" is pretty cool for the science of WHY you should do certain things while cooking. (Linky)

Throwing in my hat into the ring. My favorite knife over the last 5 years has been my Mercer chef's knife. Good balance and feel (for me) and cheap. Great for most kitchen tasks. Picked mine up at restaurant supply but here it is on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OOQZMY

Although carbon steel knives are the sharpest and arguably the sexiest in existence, they are simply overkill for most home chefs. Take a hint from the fact that you cannot use them in any restaurant for sanitation reasons. You need professional quality stainless steel knives that any good chef would use.

Here are my recommendations:

The Mercer 9" Chef that was part of my culinary school kit is all that most people need for an all-around Chef's Knife. It is the baseline for the professional world, so you know that is meant to take a beating and perform. It's miles better than any bullshit you'd buy at retail stores, and at $45 it is worth a try. I still use mine as the workhorse when I don't feel like putting my good knives through hell.

If you are willing to spend more, then I highly advise going with a Global. They are a perfect mix between Eastern and Western styles. The hard Japanese steel can be sharpened to a finer angle than German steel, yet hold its edge for a long time (mine's gone over a year under heavy use without a sharpening and still puts everything but my Shun to shame). The weight and balance make it so easy to use it is by far the most practical knife that I own. I cannot tell you how many of my friends want one of these after using mine. And at $100 it is worth every penny.

You really don't need to spend any more than that.

To fill in your collection, buy them as you need them. Do not buy a set of anything other than steak knives.

I'm deciding on either one of these Zojirushi NS-YAC10/18 (with slow cook and kind of outside my budget) or NS-ZCC10/18. Is the slow cook function on YAC10 is going to be that useful or with some simple trick I can achieve the same thing on the white one and save some money?

Here's the production comparison chart, serious business!

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Well explained the why's of using each element. Very well organized and good recipes to try. Uses basic ingredients too, so won't break your budget.

amzn link

Alton Brown: I'm Just Here for the Food. I read it cover to cover like I would any other book.
http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-Food-Cooking/dp/1584790830
I've got a copy of the Larousse Gastronomique, it's amazing.

I love the Lodge cast iron grill/griddle:

https://www.amazon.ca/Lodge-LPGI3-16-Inch-Cast-Iron-Griddle/dp/B00008GKDQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1481743343&sr=8-5&keywords=cast+iron+pan+lodge

Also does well in the oven.

I had a friend that went to culinary school who said they were what came with the price of admission and she hated them, but I love it.

Here's mine.

Like a lot of other folks, I have a benriner and I'm happy with it. It is extremely sharp so watch your fingertips.

I ignored the advice for getting the Victorinox that everyone recommends and got a Mercer Culinary "Genesis" chef's knife. Excellent knife for about the same price. And it actually looks nice, unlike the Victorinox, in my opinion. Mercer supplies the knives to many cooking schools in the US.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OOQZMY?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title

Yep. I had it backwards. I went to look it up in Cookwise ( an excellent book if you don't already have it ) and came back to orange envelope.

Yep, I agree. I was actually wondering how he's take my question on the iPad app. Whatever - I bought two of his $40 book, and he knew it. :P

(You can get them waaaay cheaper online, but I wanted to support the store, etc.)

buy a Japanese mandoline it will help reduce teh cutting time in half . theres a small screw at the bottom to help you adjust to the thickness you want and slice away . (it also comes with different blade attachments if you wanna do small julienne etc

https://www.amazon.ca/Benriner-Japanese-Mandoline-Slicer-Green/dp/B0000VZ57C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521339467&sr=8-3&keywords=mandoline

The expensive brands in that same price range:

All-Clad, Le Crueset, Henckel, and Mauviel.

This five piece set is worth it's weight in... well, copper. Cuz copper is super expensive.

At a much more reasonable price range you've got Cuisinart, Calphalon, Lodge, Victorinox and a few others.

-------

Here's a list of things they could get (an entire kitchen revamp) for under $1000:

A $300 knife set with 4 steak knives (note: the 7 piece classic set is available from Costco online for only $80 if you have a membershit, same blades, no fancy handles. The steak knives can be got for $10-15 each, so the entire set is like $130 if you don't want rosewood)

Anova sous vide cooker for $110. Toys are fun.

Lodge enameled dutch oven for $60

Mauviel carbon steel pan for $40 (needs to be seasoned), or a pre-seasoned Lodge for $20

Lodge cast iron for $10-20 (depending on 8 inch or 10 inch).

Scrapers (super important!) and maybe silicon handles for $10

and the most important thing they'd want, is the Calphalon tri-ply set for $225 (which I think is also cheaper over at Amazon).

An Instapot (combined pressure cooker + slowcooker + ricecooker, this thing is like a slowcooker on crack). You can also opt for just a regular $30 slowcooker, too.

If they don't care about fancy looking handles, the Fibrox handles actually have a great grip, and Victorinox knives are sharp as shit.

Other things:

OXO good grips tools/spatulas/measures/everything for about $100 depending on what they want.

The Costco membership would probably be worth it just so you can buy the Victorinox knives (and I think also the Calphalon pans?)

---------

Total price: ~$1000 if going with the rosewood handles (I personally didn't bother), and instapot (I would highly recommend the instapot, though!)

If going with regular handles and instapot, $850 <--- my choice

If going with regular handles, instapot, but no sous vide, $750 <--- probably most economical choice

If going with regular handles and regular slowcooker, and no sous vide ~$650

Just regular Victorinox Fibrox knives, and Calphalon Tri-Ply set and one cast iron skillet: ~$400

Pam Anderson's books are great if you get stuck on this, or need a starting boost.

If you want a cookbook that will teach you classic French cooking techniques and also provide recipes, I'd recommend Jacques Pepin's New Complete Techniques. The Julia Child book was good for its time and definitely popularized French cooking, but it's more of a historical touchstone at this point than a functional guide for 21st century cooks. It assumes that you already have a lot of cooking knowledge.

I've switched to aluminum half sheet pans and they never warp.

[Two of these and you'll be set for years.] (https://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Natural-Aluminum-Commercial/dp/B000G0KJG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500067435&sr=8-1&keywords=nordic+ware+half+sheet)

The bottoms of cookies and bars are never burnt, they are light, they are easy to clean (I mostly use parchment) and they work with standard sized sheet cake/bar recipes too.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

And Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller.

If she really wants that master chef vibe I recommend Buchon and The French Laundry.

... which leaves you with chicken that tastes like saltwater instead of chicken. A better tip would be - get a $17 thermometer and don't overcook them.

He did say "griddle", not pan.

I've made cast iron pan pizza starting on a stovetop and finishing in the oven, and I like the way the crust comes out, but this definitely makes a deeper dish pizza than a NY style.

I've got a decent sized cast iron griddle too but I've never tried it for pizza -- I'll put it on my list of things to try! It's oblong shape (10' x 20') will make it hard to use for a round pie, but oblong is OK with me.

If you go with cast iron, get a double burner griddle. You can have higher heat on one side for bacon, lower on the other for eggs. They're also the best for pancakes if you're flipping with a spatula as there is little lip to deal with.

This link is not provided as an endorsement of the supplier or manufacturer, just as an example of what I'm talking about:

Griddle

Moritaka 240mm AS Gyuto

Catskill 19x14 End Grain cutting board

All Clad Thomas Keller (no relation, unfortunately) 5qt Sauteuse

Bamboo flat spatula, the one on the far right.

Dish washing net cloth. No dishwasher, so it's all hand wash in my house.

Bonus round: Instant read thermometer, Microplane, Immersion blender, SS Mixing bowls various sizes, Stock pot/Dutch Oven

My next thermometer will be a thermapen. But what I use now works great, albeit a bit more slowly than the $70+ TP. The CDN got good marks from Cooks Illustrated - I like that you can calibrate it, but I have not needed to. It has stood up to several years of regular use, being dropped, splashed, etc.

/#1 Best Seller in Cooking Encyclopedia's

Salt. Fat. Acid. Heat.

These are the best thing I have for cleaning pots, pans, and any other dish

No worries, here's the knife: https://www.amazon.com/Global-G-2-inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B00005OL44

The handle is a continuation of the metal so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about that at the time, but I've never had a problem with it being too slippery or uncomfortable.

edit: I've heard great things about Shun as well.

I use a three-step process:

1. I clean my pan either using a little bit of water and a some salt (rubbing the salt with a paper towel to scrub the pan and absorb grime) or, if it's really caked in there, I have one of these to scrape the pan with. Using the scraper, I've never found a need to use dish soap on the pan.
   
   
2. After rinsing, I always towel dry and then put it on the stove and turn the stove on for a few minutes so any remaining moisture evaporates. Cast iron is very prone to rust is any water is left on it -- this ensures it dries thoroughly.
   
   
3. I read somewhere that bringing whatever oil you used to coat the pan to its smoking point helps it bind with the pan, thus solidifying the seasoning. Not sure if this is the right thing to do, but after a minute of the pan being on the stove to dry, I put a thin layer of oil on the pan and let the oil go to smoke point. It works well for me.

I've had a few Nordicware half-sheets for years now. I use them several times a week for roasting veggies, making cookies, etc. They work great and weren't too pricey.

A nice Immersion Blender could be cool too...

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041

some of these are quite simple yet amazing.

I think you'd like Alton Brown's book I'm Just Here for the Food. It does contain recipes, but its focus is teaching you to understand how cooking techniques work so that you can apply that knowledge as you will. Relatedly, I've heard CookWise is something like what you're looking for.

[This cookbook is a great companion to leave out with that one] (https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041)

what you really want are recipe inspirations with common ingredients, not necessarily techniques. There are tomes out there like the CIA's Professional Chef or Pepin's New Complete Techniques which go into minute details on very classical preparations expected at high-end restaurant kitchens, but for the avg home cook that's overkill.

I think your ultimate goal is to develop a set of protocols to guide you in creating dishes on the fly, which actually is a really difficult thing to do even for skilled cooks. The only advice i can give is to cook broadly, learning preparations for various cuisines, from Italian dishes, to Lebanese/Israeli, to Indian, Chinese and Japanese. Many ethnic/cultural cuisines have a certain flavor profiles, with specific spices and ways of combining proteins & starches. But you need to read & practice so these protocols come instinctively.

Get at least one counter lowered to chair-height. You can cook pretty much anything you want while sitting in a chair.

If you're reasonably coordinated, but lack strength, you can cut lots of stuff with a mandoline (make absolutely certain you buy and use a safety glove)

It does depend on how thick it is, whether there is a bone present or not, the cut of steak, how cold the steak was before it hit the pan, etc. There are some basic guide lines you could probably goolgle. I would say to get a digital instant read thermometer and follow a chart on doneness. Eventually you will be able to get good at this by just feeling it and looking at it.

Get the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. Tons and tons of classics made with perfect technique. It'll be your new go-to.

Don't blame me! You ASKED for it!

But seriously, look for cookbooks that are specific to different cultural foods. Take a world culinary tour from home. It's amazing to discover the similarities and differences there are by preparing foods you wouldn't commonly prepare.

Don't go too cheap on the rice cooker, you'll probably need to spend at least $80 maybe a bit more, unless the prices have gone down recently. Find one that keeps the rice warm and a timer is nice too. We have a Sanyo and a Zojirushi (lived seperate now together and kept both of them). The sanyo was about $90 the Zojirushi about 120 (on sale) both are great, the Zojirushi has a few more features such as a quick cook button that gets it done in about 15 minutes with a little sacrifice on quality but hey sometimes ya gotta eat. I think my Sanyo works better on brown rice but that could be that I am used to cooking with it too.
Both of them have locking lids which some say are key, I don't know since I was an abject failure at rice before the rice cooker.

Here are our's:

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-ECJ-S35K-Micro-Computerized-Bread-Baking-Function/dp/B000W9WYBW/ref=sr_1_9?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1310083854&sr=1-9

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-ZCC10-Cooker-Warmer-Premium/dp/B00007J5U7/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310084003&sr=1-1-fkmr0

Alton Brown puts out a cookbook called I'm just here for the food that was a significant resource for me. A lot of the more basic applications of heat to food are discussed in the book, which helped kick-start me, and it's written in an "Alton Brown" style that's pretty entertaining. There are a few recipes, but each one focuses on a "style" of cooking (braising, roasting, sauteing, etc.)

[The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936493837/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_23U1CbE5CPG6W) has easy recipes, less waste since you know exactly how much to buy, plus I've found that it keeps me from gaining weight because I'm not cooking a meal for 4 people and eating most of it myself.

Proper Thai sweet & sour sauce. Made some out of Pok Pok and I must say that the western stuff doesn't hold a candle to the spiciness or complexity of the recipe in here.

Oh. I poked around. Is it Salt Fat Acid Heat?

If so, here’s the link: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476753830/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_l0G0DbT4XX0MZ

No, but Food + Heat = Cooking is Alton's book. It's basically the show in book form and exactly like what OP is looking for.

Instant Read Thermometer's cost under $20 on amazon. I have the second one, the CDN DTQ450X ProAccurate Quick-Read Thermometer. $17.99 currently.

It's a thin little stick and reads really quick. Just jab it into the center of the meat when you want a reading, then go back to cooking (take the thermometer out!) and check again if it's not done.Small enough that a few jabs wont affect the meat.

I use this for bloody everything. Even frozen corndogs... I don't want to bite in and find a frozen or chilly center.

Another book that I would recommend is Cookwise by Shirley Corriher.

Natural harvest... A literal semen based cookbook https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041

Reminds me of this great book. Natural Harvest: a collection of semen-based recipes

https://www.amazon.ca/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041

I like Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For the Food.

For Thai I recommend Pok Pok by Andy Ricker https://www.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888

Here's a cookbook I would recommend: America's Test Kitchen The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook

I like this one that I have:

https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-Blender-Brushed-Chrome/dp/B00ARQVM5O/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_79_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9XWRWRHPSPTG9Y3S5VYG

Bam.

You've already got a stove, this will just help you use it in a new way. I'm not a fan of uni-taskers (and I put a griddle in that category.)

Yep - get one of these

Give "How to Cook Without a Book" a shot. It really helps break down the pieces that are pretty much in every recipe. I suck at formatting on Reddit, but here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Without-Book-Techniques/dp/0767902793/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0767902793&pd_rd_r=9d03edaa-e125-11e8-9704-5356cc4fab24&pd_rd_w=hUDFT&pd_rd_wg=mCIUR&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=3EYBEJTXDAGRSBJSCR0G&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=3EYBEJTXDAGRSBJSCR0G

You need Alton Brown's cookbook. It will teach you how to actually cook food as opposed to simply telling you how to mix a bunch of expensive spices together. It goes through the basics of cooking (the application of heat to food), which is sorely overlooked in most recipe books. Highly recommended.

James Peterson's Cooking. It has lots of good recipes and not just the how, but the why. Also, How to Cook Without a Book and Ratio to learn how to improvise.

I really like the America's Test Kitchen guys, but instead of their generic cookbook, I'd suggest the one they make for two. All of the recipes are portioned out for just two people. If you find you end up using this book, then pick up one of the larger volumes and modify as you need.

Thirding this. I have all Mercer steel and I really like them. Here's the knife we're talking about. Not hugely expensive either, which is a big plus. (Like the Swedish flag but more slicy.)

That top review is epic
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/1565546660/R1YTRFFOEP53JA/ref=cm_cr_dp_mb_rvw_1?ie=UTF8&cursor=1