The 6-Recipe Rule Ina Garten Recommends To Beginner Cooks

Everyone has to start at the beginning. Believe it or not, it's actually the most exciting part of learning any skill, including cooking. Of course, if you're just starting out, you might want to grab some tips from Ina Garten to help you up your cooking game. The Barefoot Contessa dropped her pearls of wisdom on her website when asked about advice for new home cooks. Garten shared the secret to success for a new cook is to learn six really good recipes and make them on repeat until you master them.

The cookbook author revealed that most cooks run into problems because they want to show off and make complicated recipes. Translation: No one expects coq au vin or croquembouche to be the first recipes that come out of your oven. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk, and Garten says this is why, once you learn how to make a perfect roasted chicken, "... then you'll know how to make a good roast turkey." Each time you make the same recipe, you are building confidence for the next time, gaining valuable skills and insight on how to do it better, and you learn to roll with the unexpected.

The more you make a recipe, the better understanding you will have of the ingredients and how different variations in measurements can impact the flavor and the final product. However, to learn to make those six recipes and master Ina Garten's rule, one of the most important cooking tips beginner cooks need to know is how to read the recipe. You want to read it from start to finish before you break out a pot or chop up that first onion. Reading it through before you begin will give you the opportunity to Google cooking terms you may not know and make certain you have the right equipment.

You also want to be sure to follow a recipe to the letter the first time you attempt it. There's a lot that you can figure out during the first cooking session. The next time you make it, you may want to adjust the cook time, temperature, or even try a substitution. In addition to choosing six recipes to practice, Garten urges new cooks not to be afraid of salt. The celeb chef wrote on Substack, "The two biggest mistakes people make about cooking can be corrected with two things everyone has in their kitchen — salt and pepper."