Hello, bees! I like playing around in the kitchen, but I feel like I really have no idea what I’m doing with the fundamentals. I’m enjoying the learn-from-experience process, but am looking for something to supplement. I recently started reading / listening to Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (by Samin Nosrat). I’m liking it so far, but I am feeling like there are some assumptions made on readers’ understanding. Perhaps there are other helpful materials with different perspectives on covering the basics. Do you have any recommended books, shows, or other material on the absolute basics of cooking?
If you’re open to paying for something, America’s Test Kitchen is a great resource for all the basics. Their website also gives you access to Cook’s Country (which is like regional American food) and Cook’s Illustrated (which does deep dives into how they come up with and test recipes to get the final result, which in turn gives lots of technique tips). They have an absolute wealth of technique tips, recipes, videos, cookbooks, etc etc. They will advertise to you a ton so I recommend unsubscribing from their marketing emails, but the depth and breadth of their cooking resources are massive.
You can also find their content on YouTube with kitchen equipment tips and technique lessons. If you’re a library user, you may also be able to check out digital copies of Cooks Illustrated/Cook’s Country through Libby. The library, digital or otherwise, is also a great resource for cookbooks and such. One last book you might look for is Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, which is massive and does go over a ton of basics.