Is anyone an amazing cook who is self taught?

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I've convinced myself I'm never going to be able to learn how to cook properly. I had a mother who hated cooking and provided us with ready meals (not slating her, nobody is perfect). I once spoke to a chef who worked at a Michelin star restaurant who said when it comes to cooking he either thinks you've got it or you haven't which I found quite discouraging. I'm not the best with books and magazines and YouTube because I'm not good at estimating things and winging things. I'm such a perfectionist. But I'm going to really give it a bash now as I'm fed up of eating awful ready meals. And I actually really want to eat healthy and hearty meals. Are there many people who have taught themselves and have become a really good cook?

Agree with previous posters that Delia 1-3 (and DeliaOnline), BBC Food and good old Jamie are good ways to get used to cooking delicious meals.

Look for cookery books in charity shops and your local library and try out some recipes that 'sound' tasty.

Think of types of cuisines that you like - Italian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese, Thai... - and look up recipes online.

Try some easy recipes like Spag Bol or a basic curry, then dial it up a notch and try a Chinese stirfry. (Hint: Asian flavours are amazing: ginger, garlic, chilli, soy sauce, a little honey, plus a teaspoon full of fish sauce if you can get it - add sliced chicken breast or prawns, plus veggies of your choice...... delicious!!)

Experiment! Lose your fear!

I've always been able to feed myself but I actually learned to cook from watching 'ready, steady, cook' the old one in the 1990s.

I hated cooking lessons at school, I leaned to chop an onion at school and that was it.

Depending on my arthritis I have been known to make 5 course dinners.

I'd say don't be scared of using tins and packets. Start simple and work up.

I always say start with this pasta dish:

Ingredients

Pasta
cream cheese (Philadelphia or supermarket brand)
water (from the tap)

You also need
1 pan
1 frying pan
1 kettle
1 wooden spoon
1 desert spoon
something to drain the pasta - a sieve is fine

OK the pasta - you can use any pasta but I suggest tagliatelle because it comes in what look like nests and 1-2 per person is easy to measure. You need 1 or 2 per person, 3 for someone with a large appetite.

Fill the kettle with water and boil it
put 2 'nets' of tagliatelle in the pan

When the kettle boils pour the water over the tagliatelle, enough to cover it and put on to the heat, set a timer for 10 mins and go sit down.

After 10 mins go back to the hob and put the frying pan on the heat, add some cream cheese to the frying pan, for 1 person about 1/3 of the tub, stir as the cheese starts to melt.

Add 2 dessertspoons of the water from the pasta and continue to stir for 30 seconds.

Drain the pasta and then add the drained pasta to the frying pan, give it a final stir and serve.

Congratulations on cooking a very basic pasta dish.

Next time you cook this what are you going to add? It might just be salt and pepper. Or you might fry some mushrooms in a bit of butter before you add the cheese, or some bacon, or both.

Maybe you will leave it as it is and at the table grate some parmesan over it.

Ignore him what an idiot. Of course you can. Learn basic stuff and build it up.

Chef is talking total rubbish. Dp and I taught ourselves and won’t be winning any Michelin stars but the food here is pretty nice!

I agree with loads of what others have said! Maybe order the odd gusto box - the recipes are not too hard to follow! Delia is great too

Huge difference between Michelin star chef - not many people can do that - and being a decent home cook, which most people can do. Just take it slow, and remember, you will make mistakes. Just learn from them.

I'm a good cook - I just started off with a Delia book 30 years ago and relied on following recipes for a good while. Over the years your confidence builds and you start to add things, make up your own recipes etc (and how to rescue things when they go wrong!)

I'm a good home cook - downside I am easily annoyed by meals out !! So often not that good (except that I didn't have to cook it).
One thing is that meat can take longer to cook than fish or veg. I was brought up on meat and two veg, DHs preference, but now I do more fish, veg and egg dishes.

Ou est le garlic? by Len Deighton is fantastically helpful in showing cooking techniques and how to create variations on a simple recipe. It’s in a cook strip/cartoon format.

Basically, get something that shows you techniques and patterns in food not just recipes.

Add curiosity and enjoyment to that and you’re golden.

I'd like to think I'm a good cook, I think in order to be a good cook, you have to really like eating (probably too much!).

There is a great programme on Netflix called Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat which explains the basics of flavour and is a great watch. Also a book called the Flavour Thesaurus helps with what tastes good with what.

I learned by following recipes, and then working out what I would prefer in them. I especially like trying to guess whats in restaurant dishes or street food and then try and recreate them.
I also find myself daydreaming about what I might want to eat and then basing it around one ingredient and looking on the internet to get inspiration.

Most of all, enjoy yourself, sometimes things go a bit wrong but there is usually a solution on the internet, or very often on Mumsnet!

Also, just stick to basic herbs and spices at the moment until you get a bit more confident or you'll end up with a cupboard full or jars and sauces that you only used once!

I am not a good cook, I can follow a recipe and can make shepherd's pie, lasagna, salmon en croute, spag bol, sausage and mash, a stir fry, meals that keep my kids alive and interested.

My DH on the other hand is a self taught excellent cook, really enjoys it, the process of it, spends hours prepping curries and delicious meals. Always does the dinner party cooking etc.

I have a couple of books that I return to time after time, roasting tin book is excellent, shove everything in a pan and stick in oven. The only modification I have to make is triple all amounts as my two sons, builder husband and myself are clearly pigs.

Im hopeless. I wish I was good but Im not. Got a few of the usual nigella Jamie books. Never tried anything from them.

@Viviennemary

Im hopeless. I wish I was good but Im not. Got a few of the usual nigella Jamie books. Never tried anything from them.

How do you know you're hopeless if you haven't tried any of those recipes?

Surprise yourself - glance through one of those books (I'd suggest Jamie to start with), select a dish that appeals to you but isn't complicated...... and just do it - at a time when you're relaxed and not in a 'dinner has to be on the table at 7pm sharp' mood.