Before Cooking: An Introduction

Welcome to Undercooking, the digital stories of a horrible chef.

Don't let the title fool you.  I overcook things just as often.  While I enjoy mocking my ability to boil water incorrectly, my actual hope is that this blog will chronicle my journey from being a horrible cook to a seasoned, mediocre one.  As a twenty-something living in an over-priced city who has no money to spend on the world-class take-out surrounding him, this project is far overdue.  Money must be saved.  Waistlines must be spared.

A few notes about my kitchen that will be helpful to know:

• My roommate is vegan, and we use all the same cook and dishware, so I can only cook vegan things.  (Wait... am I basically going vegan?)
• We have no microwave.  I have no idea why.  This makes heating and re-heating things exponentially more difficult.
• I don't like most vegetables, especially raw.  My roommate has gotten me to explore the likes of broccoli and kale, but that's as far as I'll go.
• This already looks like a bad idea.
• We have pink salt and kosher salt and sea salt and regular salt.  I don't know the difference between any of them.
• There is not enough space on this page to list all the different kinds of cooking oil in our cabinet.
• Our stove and oven are gas appliances and work pretty well.  Our exhaust fan and stove lights do not.
• We do have an amazing blender and (hopefully) all the necessary cookware any aspiring mediocre chef would need.
• The only available electrical outlet is on the opposite side of the kitchen from the counter, rendering the amazing blender as a cookbook stand.

Each week I hope to master a new, simple cooking skill, such as al dente pasta or roasting vegetables (I've heard they're bearable that way).  Depending on time and resources, if I fail at said skill, I will keep trying until I get it right.

If you are also a horrible cook, I'd love for you to go on this journey with me!  E-mail (myfriendantony@gmail.com) me stories and photos of failures and successes.  They will definitely be posted on the internet in the name of solidarity.  Also, I need as much advice as humanly possible.  So use the comments section liberally!

As beacons of hope, I will leave you with two of my greatest kitchen heroes: Hannah Hart of My Drunk Kitchen, and the Vegan Black Metal Chef.  May they be inspirations to you all.