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[SirHoneyBadger]

Tomatoes are a good suggestion. I'd suggest trying to find "petite diced" tomatoes, if you're going to use canned.

I find the texture to be better, and they break down a little faster than the regular dice, too.

For breaking down meat in Indian cuisine, you might also experiment with kiwi fruit and pineapples. Both of them are relatively inexpensive, and both contain meat tenderizing enzymes.

Milk will also work as a tenderizer, in a pinch (we've been baking hams in whole milk for a couple of generations now, and it works great).

I would think you could also probably find a cheap wine (red for vindaloo) that'll work in the place of vinegar...or maybe go half wine, half vinegar?

Speaking of acidic ingredients, if anyone access to green grapes and a juicer, you could try verjuice. It was an extremely common ingredient in the Middle Ages, that has since almost disappeared:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verjuice

[Awayfarer]

If you can find the Fannie Farmer cookbook, by all means pick up a copy. There's a good mix of easy and slightly more complex recipes. The only thing my fiance and I haven't really liked thus far were the crab cakes.

A little miscellaneous seafood advice.

Swordfish is a steaky/chicken-y meat that is good with anchovies. Try broiling a few on top for about a minute before the steaks are finished.

You can get away with leaving salmon a little raw in the center. This will ensure that it's nice and moist. Salmon should be flaky enough that it will fall apart with only a little pressure from a fork. If your salmon is tougher than this, try taking it out of the oven a bit earlier. The exception here is sockeye, which is tougher and meatier than most varieties. It also lends itself pretty well to sweet, smoky marinades IME.

Cod and most whitefish should be baked at fairly low temperatures, generally around 300-350 degrees. Anything more and they'll dry out.

Crab cakes go really well with remoulade.

I'm a New Englander and a Bay State resident. We know fish.

[Hawkfrost]

What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

[viskaslietuvai]

When it comes to breaking down tough meat braising is the awesome. When I'm poor (frequently) and need protein, I just get the cheapest stuff make it smallish pieces, though that's not even necessary and slow cook that thing in spices and liquid for a few hours. Good times. Incidentally, putting coke in the liquid mixture is like magic for flavor. Braised beef or pork is especially good for burritos, tacos, curries, sandwiches, dumplings all kinds of great stuff.
To tenderize you can also boil (not exciting) and as the badger said, use high acid type marinades. Pineapple works wonders.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

Beer Soup a la Maggarg

Some beer.
Lots of vegetables
Probably some salt.
Possibly some water.

Stick the beer in a pan with the vegetables and salt. Cook it somehow, if the vegetables go gooey and it smells good you're doing it right. When it looks good, take it off the hob and eat it.
Traditionally eaten straight from the pan with a spoon.
Leave pan to "soak" for some weeks.

[Rysith]

What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

Complete beginner with a budget, or complete beginner with no money? I ask just because the first time many people realize that they are complete beginners is right around college/moving out, and they often have no money then, either. Anyway, some of my college favorites:

pasta with egg sauce (It has some other name, but I forget how to spell it)

Code: [Select]

1/4 lb pasta
one egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup powdered Parmesan/Romano cheese
1/4 cup crumbled bacon (cooked until crispy, then crumbled/chopped)
ground pepper to taste

boil water for pasta, combine other ingredients and mix until well blended.
Once pasta is cooked, drain well and rinse in boiling water if desired.
Return Pasta to cooking pot and pour the egg mixture over is, then mix thoroughly to coat the pasta and cook the egg. Serve hot

Stir Fry of Doom

Code: [Select]

Vegetable frying oil
Soy sauce
1 tsp Sesame oil
1/2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp cold water
1 tsp finely chopped ginger

At least three of the following:
thinly sliced beef or chicken
sliced mushrooms
Boy Choy (Chinese Cabbage)
Chinese egg noodles (substitute ramen if desired), cooked and coated in oil.
Spinach
Carrots
Extra Firm tofu, sliced into cubes and marinated overnight in soy sauce, sesame oil and/or honey
Snow peas
Shelled Soybeans

Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce with sesame oil, water, and corn starch, mix well, and set aside.
Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan (or Wok if you have one) over high heat. Wait until a chunk of ginger thrown in sizzles immediately.

Add ginger and stir-fry (keep in constant motion with a wooden spatula) for 30 seconds or so.
Add meat (if using), mushrooms, Boy Choy, carrots, and/or Tofu and a bit of soy sauce. Stir-fry one minute, making sure meat is fully cooked on the outside.
Add other ingredients, stir-fry until well mixed.
Stir the corn starch sauce briefly, then pour over stir fry. Reduce heat and stir until the liquid at the bottom is thickened.

Serve over rice if not using noodles.


[Enzo]

Incidentally, putting coke in the liquid mixture is like magic for flavor.

I know what you mean, but I still have to say it...enough coke will make anything magic.

Cheap and absolute beginner recipes? Bean Burritos.

Code: [Select]

1 can of kidney beans
1/4 of an onion
Tortilla's of any variety
Salt (to taste)
Chili powder (to taste)
Salsa, Cheese, Peppers, Lettuce, Yogurt, Hotsauce or whatever it is you put on burritos.

Add a small amount of butter and a 1/4 of an onion to a frying pan, turn on medium/low heat.
Wait 2 minutes or until the onions start to brown a little.
Dump in can of beans (and liquid) and turn up heat slightly.
Mash the beans with a fork while they're frying, add half a teaspoon of salt and a few tablespoons of chili powder.
Cook for about 5 minutes or until it's a nice thick paste, stirring constantly, then remove from heat.

And that's about it. If you can't wrap a tortilla yourself you're probably beyond my help.
The beans will probably stick pretty badly despite your best efforts so you'll have to soak the pan afterwards.

Admittedly doesn't look very good on paper, but it's pretty delicious for a can of beans and 15 minutes.

[SirHoneyBadger]

What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

Complete beginner with a budget, or complete beginner with no money? I ask just because the first time many people realize that they are complete beginners is right around college/moving out, and they often have no money then, either. Anyway, some of my college favorites:

pasta with egg sauce (It has some other name, but I forget how to spell it)

Code: [Select]

1/4 lb pasta
one egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup powdered Parmesan/Romano cheese
1/4 cup crumbled bacon (cooked until crispy, then crumbled/chopped)
ground pepper to taste

boil water for pasta, combine other ingredients and mix until well blended.
Once pasta is cooked, drain well and rinse in boiling water if desired.
Return Pasta to cooking pot and pour the egg mixture over is, then mix thoroughly to coat the pasta and cook the egg. Serve hot


Rysith-'Carbonara'.
 
One of my favorites, that I cook a couple of times a year. 

A lot of recipes will call for proscutto. American bacon is much better, in my opinion, especially if you can get good, thick-cut bacon. Sometimes this comes covered in cracked black pepper (I've bought it before, in the supermarket). The pepper mentioned is integral to the dish, so this would be ideal.

The only problem I have with Carbonara is that it always comes out a little bland for my tastes...so I tend to add other ingredients. I always add lots of garlic.

Mushrooms (the cheap white ones, thick sliced and cooked separately, on very high heat, which intensifies their flavor. You could use portabello/crimini, or any kind of edible mushroom, really) are good, spinach or Swiss chard-preferrably fresh-is also good, precooked just until it wilts, beforehand.

Both of these, I'd add at the very end, as a "topping".
I'd also probably serve this with sauteed chicken livers on the side, if I had any handy.

I've also seen recipes which add meatballs, chicken, Italian sausage.

Hawkfrost: What sort of things do you like to eat? If you'll let me know, I'll try to find you some easy recipes.

The nice thing about just learning to cook is you can experiment around and figure out what you like to eat, and then learn how to cook those things, before branching out.

[Mr Tk]

Cooking with Dave

He's pro at cooking.

[Enzo]

A lot of recipes will call for proscutto. American bacon is much better, in my opinion, especially if you can get good, thick-cut bacon.

...what? I have nothing bad to say about bacon, but Proscutto is...godly. Westphalia ham is closer to it than bacon, too.
Sorry, I just had to jump in with that, I think I would get flogged if I told my parents bacon was better than proscutto. They are all about the proscutto. It's expensive, but not too bad if you get it ricepaper thin. Now I want pork.

Also that link is pretty funny.

[SirHoneyBadger]

kinseti, I'm just saying for the carbonara. Proscutto is good stuff, but it's a little too mild for an already bland dish.

Aside from the flavor, yeah it's about 10 times as expensive as bacon, so why waste it in a recipe where bacon will perform better?

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

carbonara is kind of bland alone, but if you throw in bacon and stuff it becomes this godly bacony dish with an awesome flavour and texture.

[SirHoneyBadger]

It's filling--and tasty enough the first time you eat it, but after a while, it just gets boring by itself.

Considering the huge amount of fat and carbs in the dish, it's just not worth it, if it doesn't taste really good.

[viskaslietuvai]

carbonara is kind of bland alone, but if you throw in bacon and stuff it becomes this godly bacony dish with an awesome flavour and texture.

I always understood carbonara to be traditionally made with bacon, or rather, probably prosciutto. My personal favorite, pancetta. At this one spot in San Diego, we made a Roqueforte Caesar salad and it was finished with crispy pancetta. It was delicious.

[Enzo]

SHB : ah. Seemed worded as a general statement. Also I like to argue lately, apparently. I don't really cook carbonara because yeah, it's dairy, carbs, and bacon.

Bring on more questions! Only people who know how to cook seem to be posting here...  which is nice, but wasn't the stated purpose.