It is a good thing to learn how to cook. You are dependent on nobody for your food. Just like learning how to play the piano or sew a dress or dance the ballet, one must practice and learn the basics well. There is a lot of science and math involved in cooking and baking. Baking times, measuring ingredients, different temperatures of cooking can give us different results. Practice does make perfect. Knowing where you have gone wrong will ensure that you can rectify it the next time. Before, people learned by trial and error or copied cooking methods from friends who made wonderful food. Now we can learn why certain foods turn out certain ways because of the science behind it.
When I first started making cookies, it was by trial and error. I really did not understand the basics of what I was doing. I just followed the recipe. As soon as the cookie came out of the oven, I pressed it and it was soft. (Sugar is still in melting stage and will harden upon cooling. That's science.) I did not understand this and proceeded to add more flour to the batter. Of course, I had rock hard cookies then.
The first cake I made came out so wrong. I was so embarrassed that I threw it away in the dust bin before anyone saw it. I bet even the birds would not have wanted to eat it. There was once when I even forgot the flour. The cake was baking for five minutes and it was during clean up when I moved the receipe book and saw the flour! That was when my kids were young and I got distracted for a while seeing to them. I can bet you that I never ever forgot the flour again.
Baking bread was another big learning experience. After the yeast mixture and butter is added to the flour, the dough will be soft and sticky. This is because the bread needs to be kneaded on a lightly floured surface where more flour will be added. Then the dough needs to rest because of the gluten. It needs to be covered and left to rise. I did not know this when I first baked bread. I kept adding more flour when the dough was sticking and the result was a really hard bread that I could use as a brick! Do make sure the yeast is still active. If it does not froth after it is put into warm water (not hot) and add sugar, it means the yeast is no longer active. Your bread dough will not rise. (Anyway, Paul Hollywood who is a master baker says that dry yeast does not need very warm water. Maybe it has to do with baking bread in cold countries long ago when they did not have central heating and the water was cold.) I still add a little warm water to my yeast. Old habits die hard.
I decided to buy a really good cook book and that was my trusty "The Good Housekeeping Step-By-Step Cookbook." It had all the answers to my questions. It is my cooking bible. I still use it a lot.
The main thing is not to give up when you want to learn something. I made so many mistakes but I kept on trying again and again.
Cooking and baking is subjective. What some like, another may dislike. Like I don't like oysters and lots of oregano in cooking. I don't like creamed cakes with lots of fondant sugar icing and too much of creamy stuff on food. I like food simple and straight forward.
With all the self-help videos out there on the internet that teach you step by step how to cook and bake from master chefs, it is hard to go wrong. Just choose good cooks that explain the why and how. The only thing to do now is to experience it for yourself.
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