Cajun Food: New Cooks Can Make Great Food and Have Fun Doing It

Learning to cook can be tricky, and you'll probably never stop learning new techniques for preparing food. Do it well, however, and cooking can be extremely rewarding and cost effective.

Once you have the basics of cooking down, learning more advanced skills is not difficult. If you've never cooked before, the basics can seem like a challenge. But if you stick with it, the basics of cooking will eventually become second nature. Here are a few things to remember when you're first learning how to cook.

1. Even the best chefs had to start somewhere

You know those people who cook on TV? Well, they had to learn culinary basics once too. If you get frustrated with your first few attempts at creating masterpiece meals, don't worry. Even Emeril had to learn how to julienne at some point.

2. Use references.

It's not cheating if you follow a recipe. Look to cookbooks, browse online resources, and ask friends for recipes. Eventually, you'll learn what flavors work together and you won't need to follow recipes exactly. But you aren't born knowing how to cook, so take advantage of your resources.

3. Keep it simple.

If you're a cooking newbie, stay away from recipes that require more than an hour to prepare and involve lots of complicated steps. It's easy to mess something up if a dish takes a long time to prepare. You have to crawl before you can walk. Similarly, you have to learn to crack an egg before you can make a soufflé.

4. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Odds are something you make will be terrible. Don't dwell. Just move on. If you want to try the recipe again later, do so, but try not to get caught up with perfection. You may never make a perfect beef Wellington, but, honestly, most other people won't either. Take a deep breath and move on to another culinary adventure.

5. Taste everything.

Some new cooks don't remember to do this, which is a big mistake. Always taste what you're preparing, both while you're cooking it and before serving. Many times, a dish can be salvaged if you're monitoring its taste along the way.

6. Make what you know.

If you've never tried hollandaise sauce, odds are you won't make a good one. The best cooks learn from taste and experience. So try to prepare your favorite foods, not obscure dishes that sound great but that you've never tried.

7. Remember cooking is fun.

Lots of people consider food preparation to be a rewarding experience. Why shouldn't you be one of them? Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself when you're making a meal. And remember, there's always that burger joint around the corner if you screw up.