Hi! I’m Isabelle, a rookie cook who wants to learn more about cooking in order to add variety to my table and also to eat better and healthier. Each week, I plan to share with you my experiences in learning how to cook, be it a new technique, a new tool, a new recipe or information I discovered about ingredients.
Before any cooking can take place, it’s important to get set up. This step requires gathering basic ingredients and accessories. Let’s begin our Rookie Cook lessons with 101 – Getting Set Up.
Books and websites do not all agree with the basic ingredients and accessories needed to learn how to cook. Below are the items I ensured I had before embarking on my cooking learning experience.
Basic Ingredients
Accessories
You may wonder why I chose the following ingredients and accessories? Simple, since I don’t know much about cooking, I went with what was suggested in a book titled “Cooking: A Common Sense Guide” and with suggestions from some of Martha Stewart’s publications. Of course, before trying a recipe out, I ensure I have all the ingredients.
If you see items missing from my list that are a must in any novice cook kitchen, let us know by commenting below.
Clacked by Isabelle Carreau 
on Jan 26, 2009 @ 12:44 EST5EDT
To equipment, not sure if “spatulas” includes rubber spatulas for scraping down the side of the bowl, but I have several and always use one or more when cooking.
To ingredients, I would definitely add canned broth or stock – chicken, beef and or vegetable. Not only are they used in many recipes, but they are excellent to add to slightly dried out leftovers that you want to re-heat or to cook rice or cous cous in for extra added flavor.