Reddit reviews How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food--With 1,000 Photos

Cooking totally isn't a hobby. It's basic survival. You just need a few dedicated items to make practically anything. My kitchen is wee and generally always has been. Even with a hot plate, one pan, and a spatula, I could turn out an incredible number of easy recipes.

It's easy, I promise! You'll mess up sometimes, but it's so worth the effort.

Try a cookbook like these (you can check many out from the library, too):

Cooking Basics

Cooking 101

How to Boil Water

I Hate to Cook Book

I agree that "How To Cook Everything" is a good reference guide for complete beginners and those with gaps in cooking knowledge.

It might be a bit over your head at this point, but if you truly want to understand cooking and what's happening when you do it try "On Food And Cooking" by Harold McGee.

For Asian you might like...

"Every Grain Of Rice" by Fuchsia Dunlop (or any of her books)

"Japanese Soul Cooking" by Tadashi Ono

"Ivan Ramen..." by Ivan Orkin (Good for ramen and other japanese-ish food.)

"Momofuku" by David Chang (Really good mix of general Asian flavors)

Other books that might interest you:

"Irish Pantry" by Noel McMeel

"The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern" - Matt Lee and Ted Lee

"Real Cajun" by Donald Link

"Authentic Mexican" by Rick Bayless

"Fabio's Italian Kitchen" by Fabio Viviani

For Vegetarian try anything by Alice Waters or David Tanis.

I really enjoy Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I also just checked out The Flavor Bible from the Library when I was home. I didn't get to spend as much time with it as I would have liked but it is definitely all about how flavors work and will be on my Christmas list.

How To Cook Everything: The Basics by Mark Bittman

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BS03TYU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Plan 1: Grab a general purpose beginner's book like Ruhlman's 20, How to Cook Everything: the Basics, or The Four Hour Chef and get cracking.

For the record, I would start with Ruhlman since he's the most oriented towards principles, techniques, and general purpose stuff. Bittman's great, but he mostly teaches via recipe which isn't that helpful when you're just barely starting out. Ferris' book is incredible and I would wholeheartedly recommend it, but it's huge and filled with a lot of rabbit trails about learning styles, foreign languages, memorizing playing cards, and shooting 3 points. If you like watching Tim Ferris ADD on neat stuff (and I do) it's a great read, but it definitely isn't only about cooking.

Plan 2: Get this poster. Ideally here. Get the veggie if you need it. Buy the stuff, make the stuff. This won't be quite as much initial layout as buying a book, and it's not nearly as intimidating. But it's not nearly as detailed so you're going to have to do a lot more guess-and-check type stuff and be ready to throw out your mistakes, which is probably going to cost more and be more frustrating in the long run.

tl;dr - Ruhlman

Disclaimer: links are for convenience only. I receive no benefit other than sharing my favorite sources.

I don't think you will find one cookbook that has a comprehensive list of every ingredient and piece of equipment used in the book - the list would be incredibly long, and since most people won't cook every recipe from a cookbook, there would be a lot of equipment and ingredients that would go to waste.

However, How to Cook Everything: The Basics does include a list at the beginning of all the equipment used in the book. It also gives a solid primer of the techniques you will need to start out cooking, has basic skill lessons, and recipes for just about everything. I think this would be a great place to start. Once you master the basics and have a stocked kitchen, you should be comfortable enough to start trying out any Italian cookbook.

First of all, relax. You CAN learn to cook, it is NOT rocket science. Of all the things on your plate right now, learning how to cook is one of the easier ones. This book takes you by the hand and assumes you know NOTHING. Follow it, and you'll be well on your way to becoming a confident home cook:

https://smile.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Basics-Food-ebook/dp/B00BS03TYU

And good luck!!

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Basics-Food---ebook/dp/B00BS03TYU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396299839&sr=8-2&keywords=how+to+cook+everything

non-mobile page

I'd go for it. If the chef is in charge of hiring and is vouching for you, then she probably has already figured out that they are just going to take her word for it and leave it at that. An associate's is just a 2 year program, likely from a community college; I've worked with plenty of such graduates that don't know which end of the mop goes on the floor.

The more important question is whether you can do the job. If you have the potential but just lack the experience, then start cramming. Start reading at night to make up for your lack of education. Teach yourself; thousands of people do it every day. Go through used bookstores and look for The Professional Chef, ATK Cooking School Cookbook, How to Cook Everything, etc.

The best cooks I've worked with, whether certified or not, read cookbooks, continue to read cookbooks throughout their career, and are constantly scouring the internet for new trends and ideas.