This is the time of year when college lets out, and new graduates gear up for "real life."
Thirteen years ago, that was me: armed with a lot of student-loan debt and a curious spirit but very little sophistication in the kitchen, I packed my bags for a new life in New York City. I thought cheap Spanish Cava was "good champagne" and overcooked my pasta because I didn't know better. My first home was a tiny illegal sublet on 61st Street, whose one-drawer kitchen was seen by everyone passing on the Roosevelt Island tram. That one drawer was full of a lot of dull knives.
You probably know at least one graduate who will fend for his or herself in the kitchen for the first time this summer. (And just maybe that graduate is you!) No more campus cafeterias or midnight pizza runs; it's time to cook for real.
Here's a crash course in kitchen basics — from finding a good cheap knife, to cleaning the worst sorts of stains off your pots, to roasting a chicken.
A Crash Course for a New Cook
- High-quality, affordable knives - First order of business: Get yourself a good knife. Here's a great discussion of good yet cheap knives.
- Basic knife skills - Watch this video to learn how to handle your knife skillfully, like a real chef.
- 25 tips for saving money at the grocery store - Learning how to shop frugally is key. Here are tons of tips and good ideas!
- How to organize your fridge - A guide to putting everything in its place.
- How to clean the toughest stains off cookware - Even when you burn the pasta, these tricks will get your pans in shape.
- Buy good fruit and vegetables - A guide to picking out the best produce at the market.
- How to steam vegetables - One of the easiest way to cook those fresh veggies.
- How to make chocolate chip cookies - No more care packages from Mom? It's OK. Bake your own cookies.
- How to roast a chicken - One of the simplest, most satisfying suppers we know how to make.
- How to fry an egg - Never go without breakfast.
- How to make brown rice - Another cheap, basic staple in the kitchen.
- Recipes for new grads - Last but not least, a few good recipes for the new cook.
Congratulations, graduates! Go forth and cook...
What do you wish you would have known about cooking when you first made your way in the world? Leave a comment and we'll round up some of our favorites!
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Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
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The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Elizabeth Apron fro...
Justin's Contemporary Contrast
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
and, graduates, check out my eating-well-in-graduate-school blog at masteroffineeats.blogspot.com. latest post is on swiss chard quiche!
What's wrong with Cava? It's not champagne, sure, but I tend to think champagne is a little overrated. Cava is a fine sparkling wine in its own right, though. A new grad could do a lot worse than that.
Great post!
UdonNoodles - of course there's nothing wrong with Cava. I love it! Cheap Cava (meaning not just inexpensive but truly cheap) is something else. There's a particular brand that gave me many of the headaches I had in my early 20s!
i wish i knew these three things when i first began cooking for myself:
[1] garlic is not the seasoning answer to every savory dish.
[2] the simple perfection and infinite uses of balsamic vinegar.
[3] the delight and surprise experimenting with nuts and/fruits in salads can bring.
I learned how to cook when I was in college. Why wait till you graduate? Kids these days...
I know a lot of folks several years out of college who could use this guide (and, alternately, some college "kids" who could have written it)!
Roast chickens (and quartered chicken legs which are hella cheap in my neighborhood), fried eggs, rice and beans are what have sustained me in my back-to-school-for-something-practical efforts over the past few years.
My one good knife has been absolutely essential.
http://marnellicious.blogspot.com
Yes, you got to get your kids involved in the kitchen well before they start buying cases of Top Ramen!
I fully believe that if they know what tools to use and what to buy when shopping, it's an easy formula for the rest of their life: fresh produce good knife pan at the right temperature = the true joy of cooking
This is GREAT. I did not learn to cook -- I mean, really cook. Like beyond pasta/sauce from a jar and scrambled eggs -- until I dated a chef. At 26, he showed me what a real knife was (and how to use it) not to mention how to fend for myself. At 22, I had no idea. Our first kitchen (described in detail in my upcoming book NO PLACE LIKE HOME) was full of my roommate's IKEA finds and her mom's old dishes. Groceries were: Cheerios, yogurt, skim milk, coffee, coffee ice cream, pasta, Paul Newman's sauce, and whole wheat bread. Sometimes, we'd buy strawberries. I worked as a waitress, so I ate the rest of my meals from whatever job I had. And we thought we were so healthy, so responsible! We had no clue. I wish I'd learned to: not fear the big chef's knife, embrace protein and lay off the breads, and understand that cooking for onself is a great way of taking care of oneself. Those lessons would come later.
@viciouslips I'm with you. What the article is describing is me when I left home when I was 17. Five years later and I was relatively accomplished, at least compared to how I started out.
Don't target this just at the new grad - how about for anyone who wants to learn to cook. My fiancee is in her late 20's and she would do well with a beginner's crash course.
I agree that everyone should learn to cook basic family fare before departing out on their own. It's just sad how many people don't know this stuff!
Great books!That's my answer to the person who likes food but is encountering cooking it for the first time ;) I'd definitely recommend Elizabeth Raby's "Surviving College Life Through Cooking" http://www.amazon.com/Stir-Surviving-College-through-Cooking/dp/193348313X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275599863&sr=1-1 or Ruth Reichl's "The Queen of Mold" http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Mold-Ruth-Reichl/dp/1933540052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275599970&sr=1-1. Both were good reads with usable recipes.
I wish I would have learned good knife skills sooner. It makes prep faster and more enjoyable.
I have no shame in admitting that I could stand to read some of these myself, and I'm in my late twenties. I had not learned a lot of skills before college and it has been a mad dash through undergrad and grad school to a point where I realize I would like to be able to eat good food I have cooked myself. So, thank you for this compilation!