HOW TO COOK THE ESSENTIALS ON THE STOVETOP:
All you need to cook these recipes is a pot, a pan (skillet), your parent’s spice cabinet, and a spatula (to handle the meats while cooking).
How to steam vegetables:
Get a pot that has a lid. Put about an inch or so of water in it and throw your vegetables in (I tend to use a whole broccoli stalk), and cover with a lid. Turn the heat up to high until the water begins to boil. After the water in the bottom has been boiling (this shouldn’t take long) for about a minute, turn down the heat to low and give the vegetables about 5-10 more minutes (depending on how soft you want your vegetables). Pour out the excess water in the pot and eat the vegetables.
How to cook chicken breasts:
Thaw chicken if it is frozen. To do this you can either put it on a microwave-safe plate and use the microwave’s defrost option, or put the chicken in a plastic baggie and run room temperature water over it until it is no longer frozen throughout.
Next, get a pan (not a pot this time), and put some sort of oil in the bottom, not a lot, just enough so that you can tilt the pan and get some oil over the entire surface of the pan. This is to prevent sticking. Next, grab your chicken and throw it in the pan. Add some seasoning (this is a fun time to experiment with your parent’s spice cabinet and figure out how each individual spice tastes, just don’t go crazy or you could make some funky tasting chicken). If you don’t feel that confident in self-seasoning your chicken, you can use one of the many chicken seasonings out there (Montreal Grilled chicken seasoning is pretty good). Cook the chicken on medium high until it is cooked all the way through, flipping occasionally to ensure both sides are evenly cooked.
Learning when the chicken is done is a learning process, so in the beginning you are going to need to cut into the center to tell if it is white all the way through, YOU DO NOT WANT ANY PINK IN CHICKEN. After doing this several times you will start to get a feel for it.
How to cook hamburgers:
This is going to be very similar to the chicken. First, get your ground beef and put it in a big bowl. Next, add some seasoning (I prefer a dash of onion powder, dash of garlic powder, and some ground cayenne pepper to add some kick). Crack an egg into the bowl and add in some breadcrumbs (if you don’t have store bought breadcrumbs, you can just toast a piece of bread and crumble it over top). These two ingredients will help the burger keep its shape. Now, hand mold your burgers into patties.
Next, get a pan and put some oil in it (this step will happen whenever you cook any meat on the stovetop). Turn the heat on medium high and throw your hand molded patty into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes then flip to the other side. For hamburgers you don’t want any red, some pink is fine in the center but you want to avoid red. Do the same as the chicken, cut into the center to check how cooked it is. You will eventually get a feel for when it is done but this only comes with experience. Next, throw your cooked patty onto your bread and top with whatever cheese you want and put the other side of the bun on top. Since the patty just came off of the stove, it will be nice and hot and will melt your cheese. Congrats, you just made a burger.
How to make rice:
Throw a 2:1 ratio of water:rice into the pan. So for this example, we will go with a cup. Throw 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice into a pan. You can add some salt or a pat of butter to flavor the rice, although these are not needed. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on high until the water begins to boil. After the water has been boiling for about a minute, turn the heat down to low and cook for another 15 minutes. After 15 minutes is up, the rice should be tender, and it is ready to serve.
There are the essentials. Now get to cookin young one. Learning to cook at your age is great, and you will be very happy when you move out and already know how to cook for yourself. Cooking is a skill that very few young men in this day in age acquire, and most have to rely on microwave dinners and EZ-mac.
