Help! Cooking and eating meat..

[Lemonnhoney]

I've been a vegetarian for over 10 years, since I was 17 so most of my adult life. I want to start eating meat again but I'm so intimidated by cooking it.

I've been eating meat whilst out in cafes/restaurants and buying easy meats such as ham/corned beef.

Could anyone give me some recipes which are easy or ways the add meat into their diet?

I tried cooking chicken but felt it tasted quite dry! I'd love to cook a roast chicken but is it as simple as putting it in the oven?!

I know this sounds dim so be kind to me 😂

Chicken breast can be a bit dry by itself, some people like that but otherwise you need to season it or use olive oil or sauce.
A whole chicken can just go in the oven according to packaging instructions but needs to be basted in its juices frequently.
I've recently started cooking chickens in a casserole dish upside down (or right way up depending on how you look at it) for 80% of the cooking time. Very flavourful results.

Forgot to add it needs flipping for the last stretch of cooking time very carefully so not to break the skin. Carving fork helps with this.

My daughter is a vegitarian, but also (at her insistence) the chief cook for her partner and I who are both carnivores. My daughter always used a meat thermometer when cooking us meat.

I'm vegetarian but cook meat for my DC. My easy go-to meat dishes are chicken and veg stir fry, chicken fajitas, chilli and bolognese. You could start with something like that and go from there?
If I'm cooking chicken breast I marinade it for a while in white wine, oil, lemon juice and garlic. It seems to keep it moist - apparently!

I'd advise a meat thermometer. I don't eat meat, but my husband does and it makes so much difference, because I know for sure it's cooked and safe to eat. That should reduce dryness as you won't feel the need to overcook it just to try to make sure it's done. I'm a fan of dry brining meats, as it makes them much more forgiving texture-wise to overcooking to. There's a Serious Eats article here on it. Not specific recipes but I rate Serious Eats and Ethan Chlebowski for science based food analysis, so watching videos or reading their articles you can learn why things work the way they do to help your cooking. I can't help too much, as the only thing I can do is help DH roast a chicken or turkey (dry brine & spatchcocking).

Chicken can be both very easy and very difficult to cook. I would advise starting with more forgiving chicken options. eg - slow roasted chicken pieces are very hard to mess up because a little too long or too short makes very little difference. Here's my foolproof method:

Create a marinade for your chicken pieces - thighs are best. A very easy one would be juice of one lemon, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, teaspoon of fennel seeds, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, salt and pepper (but I also often add a tablespoon o brandy). OR a tomato based one would be tomato sauce, some olive oil and a tablespoon of vinegar and whatever herbs you like.

If you have time, leave the chicken in the marinade in the dish you'll use to cook it in for an hour or so (but I almost NEVER have time). Make sure your chicken is all skin side up and add a bit more salt. Then put in a fan oven at 150 or a regular oven at 160. Cook for 40 minutes, baste, then cook for another 25 minutes. Done!

Or cook it very quickly in something like a fajita. I usually cook onions and peppers and passata with spices separately then slice the chicken finely and fry in a very hot pan so it browns. Then add to the pepper/tomato mix and let it cook or a few more minutes.

Other "easy" meat options are mince - spaghetti bolognaise being, of course, a standard for most people becuase you cook off the mince first then leave it to simmer with the tomato and stock and wine and herbs for 30-60 minutes and it's a) completely cooked through and b) not dry.

Similarly, thinks like lamb shoulder can be slow cooked and are harder to mess up but I think might be too "meaty" for someone who was vegetarian for a long time. Maybe build up to that!?