hilahcooking.

com LEARN TO COOK 1

by Hilah Johnson
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 2
Other Books by Hilah Johnson
The Breakfast Taco Book
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 3
Copyright 2011 by Hilah Cooking
Designed by Christopher Sharpe
Photos of Hilah by Nadia Caffesse - Full Tilt Photography
Food Photos by Christopher Sharpe
Hair by James Devery
Makeup by Jenny Lin
Wardrobe by Laurel Kinney - Trophy Boutique
Special Thanks To:
Adriene Mishler
Billy OLeary
Craig FreekZone Staggs
Dustin Wills
Jessie Tilton
Kirby Conn
Mark Stewart
Natalie Vallot
Paul Ahern
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 5
Contents
How To Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Introduction: Welcome To This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PART ONE: LEARN TO COOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
What Do You Like To Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
How To Read A Recipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Awesome Herb and Spice Lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Conquering The Grocery Store. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Starting To Cook, Finally! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
How To Cut Stuff Up: Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
How to Cut Stuff Up: Animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Cooking Techniques, Revisted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
PART TWO: RECIPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Work-Day Breakfasts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Weekend Breakfasts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Brunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Sandwiches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Hot Lunch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Baking and Roasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Searing, Pan-frying & Stir-Frying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Summertime Suppers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Tacos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Pasta & Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 6
June Cleaver Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Meatloaf Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Roasted Chicken Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Fish Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Vegetarian Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Side Dishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Grain Cooking Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Easy Breads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Food to Impress People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Snackies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Desserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Drinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Classy Day Time Drinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Night Time Drinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Non-Alcoholic Drinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Recipe Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Contents
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 7
If youre thinking, Read it you are correct. I recommend you read it from the
beginning to the end if you really want to learn to cook. Dont worry about stopping to
highIighl or make ashcards or give vourseIf IillIe vocabuIarv quizzes. I lhink vou viII
recall enough information by the end of part one to actually start cooking some simple
things. Do not be intimidated. Cooking is not rocket science. Cooking is for everyone.
Hopefully the anecdotes and dumb stories and junk will do enough to hold your
interest through the book, even if you dont really want to learn to cook but feel like you
need to learn to cook. (If thats you, youre right: everyone needs to learn to cook.) If
youre really into the idea of cooking, maybe you even already know how, this book of
course also has a lot of useful, real information.
In Part One, we deal with terminology of cooking, as well as how plan meals, grocery
shop, and prepare foods for cooking. This is by no means a comprehensive dissertation
on the culinary arts, but it covers all the big subjectsthe fundamentals that form the
basis for aII lhe olher crazv lhings peopIe do in lhe kilchen. Al lhe same lime, vou mav
feel overwhelmed because it is a lot of information. Let me assure you again, you do not
need lo memorize lhe book or even undersland evervlhing in il before vou begin vour
new kitchen lifestyle. You will learn as you go, and with each success you will be more
conhdenl in vour abiIilv.
Part Two is vhere vou'II hnd lhe recipes. There's a Iol of olher informalion vilhin lhe
recipes that will surely be useful and applicable to other situations for you someday, like
more in-depth explanations of cooking techniques, choosing and prepping ingredients,
and helpful hints. Theres so much information crammed in there, you probably will
hnd il usefuI |usl lo read over aII lhe recipes, even lhe ones vou mav nol be inleresled in
al hrsl gIance.
How To Use This Book
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 8
Hi,
Im Hilah!
Who
Are You?
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 9
Welcome to this book.
This book will teach you how to cook food you like to eat.
Food that will make you popular with friends. Food that
wont cost you a million dollars. Food that is healthier
than what you are probably eating now, as a person
who does not know how to cook.
So you dont get the wrong idea, Im going to take a page here to explain a little bit
about my experiences and philosophy of food. That way, youll understand where Im
coming from and what you can expect to get out of this book. Hopefully this will all
sound reasonable enough to you that we can be friends.
First, Ill state for the record that I am not a trained chef. BUT, I can read and have
long been interested in food. Over the last twenty years, I have probably read over a
hundred books on cooking and nutrition.
The hrsl cookbook I had vas caIIed Who Is That Short Chef? I think we picked it up
one day at some kind of county fair or something I remember a turkey leg and a lot of
dust in the air. It was a good little book for kids; there was even a page for kids to draw
on! FUN! You were supposed to draw what you (the short chef) looked like, but since
my brother and I were sharing the book, the drawing (done by me, the elder) was a
weird mish-mash of what my brother looked like and what I looked like, down to what
we were wearing that day.
Anyway, I think I was about seven and thats pretty much when I started cooking.
From there on out, I loved reading cookbooks. Seriously. I mean, I already really liked
reading and eating, so once I discovered what exactly a cookbook was (ie, it has words
and is about food), I couldnt get enough. As I got older, I got more interested in the
chemistry of cooking, too not just how to make brownies, which were my specialty
for many years.
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 10
Also, my parents cooked. Nothing fancy or elaborate,
bul ve dehnileIv veren'l ealing oul aII lhe lime. Mv
dads specialties were chili, chicken fried steak, and cream
gravy. My moms specialty was using cookies to distract
my brother and me from being annoying. She would put
butter and sugar in a big bowl and tell us to go outside
with it and sit in the sun until the butter was soft. Usually
we would end up eating about half of the delicious butter-
sugar mess before we went back inside.
Mv inleresl in nulrilion specihcaIIv slarled vhen I
was in high school and one day, like many alternative
kids, decided that I was going to be A Vegetarian.
Fortunately, I had hippie parents who were familiar with
this alternative choice, and my mom gave me a book
to readDiet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe,
which is a great book that I recommend to anyone who
is considering adopting a dead-animal-free diet. Its all
about how to combine foods to get the most protein out
of them. It also makes a very convincing case about why
everyone on the planet should be vegetarian (well, she
allows for the sea creature eating) before the whole place
blows up in a cloud of methane, but I just dont think
about that part.
NLvavz, lhe vegelarianism Iasled aboul eighl vears
and included a short-lived stint with veganism, but the
fascination with nutrition and vitamins and junk has
stuck with me.
With all that in mind, this is still my cookbook and
all these are all things I eat. For the most part they are
fairly well-balanced and healthy recipes. What I mean
by healthy is: I keep a loose leash on my calorie and
fat intake and include lots of vegetables and fruit. Im
not a nutritionist but Im no dumbass, either. You wont
hnd anvlhing in here lhal caIIs for a slick of buller (veII,
excepl cookies) or a pound of bacon. Whal vou mighl hnd
is half a stick of butter and half a pound of bacon. To
me, thats reasonablesometimes.
Organic
This label has become very annoying
to me as ubiquitous as it is. Dont
get me wrong, I believe organic
farming is the way to go for the
planet and for our bodies as well,
but I will never, EVER list organic
anything in any of my recipes. I
think its obnoxious, in the same
way that specifying Good quality
anything is obnoxious. Yes, I do buy
organically grown (local when I can)
produce and meat when Im feeling.
But I dont beat myself up over it
when I cant afford it and I dont
think you should, either. Inform
yourself and do your best. But dont
go broke over it. (That said, in the
weeks when we are poor I will just
forgo meat of any kind.)
Most important to buy
organic: celery, peaches,
strawberries, apples, blueberries,
nectarines, bell peppers, spinach,
kale, collard greens, cherries,
potatoes, imported grapes, lettuce.
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 11
Anyway, youve heard it before: moderation. Thats my basic rule. But I also measure
my moderation in forty-eight hour chunks. For example: On Monday, maybe all I will
eat is Triscuits, coffee, and pimiento cheese; but on Tuesday, I will moderate by eating
only romaine lettuce, roasted chicken, and apples. See what I did? In forty-eight hours,
I got all my food groups. That is how old I am: I still think about food groups instead of
the stupid pyramid.
Now lets talk about you. Why do you want to learn to cook? You know the answer to
this.
The most common answers are:
These are all great reasons to learn to cook. But youre not going to eat better unless
you like the food you cook; youre not going to save money unless you buy and cook
food you want to eat; and youre not going to impress anyone by making crap. These are
all facts.
Hopefully this book can help you avoid all those possible results and get the ideal
results you want by starting from the beginning and learning to work with what youve
got. Im not going to tell you what kind of food you should be buying, cooking, or
eating. Im not going to tell you to eat healthier, or organically, or free-range, or to quit
using sugar or salt or wheat or lard or vodka. Im not going to tell you to be a vegetarian
or not be a vegetarian; to eat breakfast or to blow it off. You can put whatever you want
to into your body, whenever you want to put it in. Im going to help you make that
happen.
So you can eat better
So you can save money
So you can impress people
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 12
PART ONE
Learn to
Cook
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 13
Chapter
One
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 14
What Do You
Like To Eat?
I had this roommate once who asked me to
teach him how to go to the grocery store
Sadly, I told him, Just buy food you want to eat, then
laughed in his face.
ul lhal vas manv vears ago and I have since come lo reaIize lhal lhere are hundreds
of smart, capable people out there who would ask the same question. (In my defense,
that guy was a dillrod in a myriad of other ways, and I was about to kick him out of the
house at that point. Still, I guess Im sorry, dude, for laughing at you.)
Anyway, I should actually thank him because I have thought back to that
conversation many times while writing this book. I think the problem wasnt that he
couIdn'l hgure oul hov lo gel lo lhe slore, pul groceries in a carl, and lhen purchase
them rather, I think the problem was that he had no clue what to buy. The guy was
used to eating his meals in restaurants, where he was presented with a limited number
of options. A grocery store offers unlimited options, as long as you know how to cook.
Of course he didnt know how to cook, so how would he know what to buy in order to
cook? Whos the dillrod now, Hilah?
So think about that little anecdote that makes me look like a mean old butthole. If you
are in his boat, I think I can help you now that I have had many years to gather wisdom
and magical tips. Give me a chance, huh?
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 15
First, I think its important to differentiate between what you actually like to eat and
what you think you should like to eat (ie, breakfast, salad, oatmeal, tofu). Now is not the
time to try and completely overhaul your eating habits (well, except in the case where
youre eating chicken nuggets thrice daily). If you really want to learn to cook, learn to
cook some things you know you already like.
This will help you learn in two ways: by cooking something that is familiar, you will
be better able to judge your relative success at making it good; making something that
you like will give you great satisfaction instead of great disappointment.
I mean, say you try out some OysternEggplant Surprise (thinking that you would
like to be the kind of person who eats crap like that) and the surprise is that it tastes
like oyster barf now, an experienced cook would blame the recipe and move on, but a
new cook will likely blame themselves, causing a downward spiral of frustration, at the
bottom of which lies a pile of garbage and strong urge to give up and never cook again. I
dont want you to end up there.
What Kind Of Person Are You!?
Hov do vou calegorize vour ealing choices nov` This is nol aboul |udgmenl. This is
about honesty. Think about me as you would a food therapist. I can only help if you are
honest with yourself and me about your attitude toward food.
The foIIoving calegories are aII perfeclIv hne approaches lo food and ealing, and as
Iong as vou undersland vhal lvpe of ealer vou are, vou can hgure oul vhal kind of cook
you should aim to be and you will be a happier cook for having done so.
You likely will cross boundaries into more than one category, depending on your
mood, the time of day, or whether or not those chocolate chip cookies on the reception
desk at your grandmas nursing home are free. But generally speaking, what would you
say about yourself?
Healthy Person Do you study nutrition labels and try to make conscious decisions
to choose one thing over another? Do you believe in food as medicine and get joy from
providing your body the best? Is your desire to cook driven by having more control over
what you ingest?
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 16
Convenience Matters Will you eat almost anything as long as its fast and easy to
obtain? Do you think of eating just as something you have to do in order to not die? If
you could just take a pill instead of eat dinner, would you? Maybe you are interested in
learning to cook so you can save money or time by not having to leave the house every
time you are hungry.
Adventurous Are you up for anything and love to try new cuisines? Do you dream
of taking food vacations to far-away lands and eating things that have no English
translation? Enjoy spicy food? Want to be able to recreate fancy or weird food at home
for way less than a restaurant while at the same time impressing the shit out of your BF
or GF?
Close To Home Do vou palronize lhe same lhree reslauranls` Do vou aIvavs order
one of the same three dishes? Are you reluctant to try new foods? Have a long list of
dislikes? Feel a burning desire for moms meatloaf every night of the week?
Now, these are just categories that I came up with on my own, based on my
experiences and the people I know. If you feel that you belong in a new and
unmentioned category, please write to me about it. Id like to know more about you.
At any rate, I hope you dont have the idea that I am trying to label you or put
you in a box of my own design. Im not. But, and heres an analogy for you, but say
you wanted to learn to play guitar. Say you also really loved Slayer. Doesnt it stand
lo reason lhal lhe hrsl slvIe vou vouId allempl lo masler vouId be melaI` Chrisl bul
I hate analogies, but cant you see what Im trying to do here? I hope so. Its for your
ovn good! The poinl is nol lo hl vou inlo one of mv calegories, lhough, il is lo gel vou
to clearly consider who you are, why you want to learn to cook, and what you want to
learn to cook.
Which leads us to your next step on a successful journey to being able to cook: come
up with a short list of maybe three dishes you would like to know how to make. This
may seem silly or overly simple, but think about the following questions and write
down some ideas if you want, or save paper and just keep them in your head.
What are your favorite fruits and vegetables?
What are your comfort foods? Dishes made by your parents or grandparents?
What are your favorite restaurants and what do you order?
Think about meal parts you are fond of. Do you love breakfast foods? Do you like
soups? Sandwiches? Salads? Are you someone who likes anything with cheese for
hilahcooking.com LEARN TO COOK 17
example, or anything with noodles?
Think about things like that. Knowing the answers to those questions will help you
cook things you like to eat.
And of course, think about what you dont like. For example, I hate mushrooms
passionately. I hate the texture, the smell, the taste. And yet, every few years I will try
them again, just to make sure I still hate them. I still do. What do you hate?
Wonderful. Now that youve got a neat little cheat sheet with some dishes youd like
to be able to make for yourself, lets talk about the recipes youll use.