I have always hated cooking, but I have come to realize how much this hole in my skill tree affects my health and bank account. Can you recommend any online courses, guides, or other step by step beginner-to-proficient cooking resources you’ve used that have helped you overcome your same lack?
In my twenties I watched a ton of food network. Just seeing numerous chefs and culinary educated pseudo celebrities doing the same techniques and using the same ingredients to do a lot of similar shit is how I picked up basics. Knife grip, how to chop, deboning, etc. Prep work. Learning the diff btw sweating and sauté-ing and why you would do one v the other.
I watched a ton of Alton Brown in Good Eats. Largely bc I like that Mr. Wizards World educational format. I know she gets flack but I also watched a lot of 30 minute meals with Rachel Ray. More for techniques than recipes.
Immerse yourself in cooking media. I found cooking is fun and experimental. Recipes are guidelines and once you know your palette and flavors you can have fun - baking on the other hand is a science in which tributes to God’s must be made, or maybe I’m just not good at baking (in all seriousness cooking is fun baking is chemistry).
Edits for typos
Thank you for the reply!
It’s been a long time since I started, but I’ve found getting an understanding of how the different parts work together. The books (but I think they also did mini series’ on Netflix) Cooked and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat were great intros into the fundamentals of the way things work together.