Starter kitchen: Easy recipes and advice for new cooks
June ought to be called the freshest month. College graduates move into their lives, newlyweds set up house, and a new crop of cooks hits the kitchen.
New York food writer Brooke Parkhurst has been there. When she graduated from Davidson College in 2002, she moved to New York for a career in TV journalism. Instead, she became a novelist with "Belle in the Big Apple," and married a chef, James Briscione.
Today, Parkhurst and Briscione have their own cookbook, "Just Married & Cooking" (Scribner) and a website, justmarriedandcooking.com.
Parkhurst's first advice for new cooks is simple:
"Get in the kitchen, begin with simple meals and practice.
"Don't be overly ambitious. Don't go for the chateaubriand for your first time. Work your way into things. Good results will encourage you to keep cooking."
The following tips come from Helen Schwab and Kathleen Purvis of the Charlotte Observer, Andrea Weigl and Felicia Gressette of The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and New York food writer Brooke Parkhurst.
5 TOOLS EVERY KITCHEN NEEDS
1. Tongs. Preferably locking tongs. They should be long enough to keep your hand away from spattering skillets, but short enough that they're easy to maneuver. Try the OXO 12-inch stainless steel locking tongs ($12.99).
2. A set of cake pans. You do a lot of things in a cake pan even if you don't have a full set of cookware.
3. An enameled, cast-iron Dutch oven. They're heavy, they last a lifetime and when you make your first pot roast, you may find yourself addicted to cooking for life. Try the Lodge Enameled Cast-Iron 6-quart Dutch Oven ($60).
4. A fine-mesh bowl sieve. They're more useful than colanders with big holes, and they double as flour sifters (easier to clean than a sifter, too). Try OXO Good Grips Double Rod Strainer ($22).
5. A really sharp zester from Microplane, which cost $13-$15. They're easier and faster than getting out a big box grater. Parkhurst uses hers to grate garlic: "It will melt into a dish when you grate it. You get the essence without crunching into bits."
5 COOKING DO'S
1. Decide how you will organize your recipes, before you have a big, messy pile of torn-out recipes you'll never use. How you organize isn't as important as having a system.
2. Clean as you go. It saves a lot of time, and cooking is more fun if you don't have a disaster to clean up when you're done.
3. Find a really good cook who will let you hang out, watch closely and ask a lot of questions.
Cast Iron Cooking Recipes - News
For dinner, I stuff pork chops with Annie's home grown garlic and heat a cast iron frying pan. Because I'm cooking with butter instead of olive oil, I can't get the pan as hot as I normally would, but I manage to brown the chops anyway.
An enameled, cast-iron Dutch oven. They're heavy, they last a lifetime and when you make your first pot roast, you may find yourself addicted to cooking for life. Try the Lodge Enameled Cast-Iron 6-quart Dutch Oven ($60). 4. A fine-mesh bowl sieve.
An enameled, cast-iron Dutch oven. They're heavy, they last a lifetime and when you make your first pot roast, you may find yourself addicted to cooking for life. Try the Lodge Enameled Cast-Iron 6-quart Dutch Oven ($60). 4. A fine-mesh bowl sieve.
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Lodge Manufacturing Company
Manufacturer of cast iron cookware.
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