In part one I showed you a few recipes I think you should know how to make in your 20s. I think it’s time you guys learned how to make a few more!
Eggs (scrambled)
Step 1
Turn the stove on to medium and allow it to heat up fully. Pour a little bit of oil or butter. Just a splash of oil or a small pat of butter. Nothing crazy
Prepare the eggs while the butter melts/oil warms.
Step 2
Crack open the eggs in a separate container or bowl. You want to do this instead of cracking them into the pan in the event one of the eggs has gone bad or maybe drop some egg shells. If you like living dangerously, carry on.
I personally use a ratio of 2 eggs per person being served. If you know whoever you’re feeding eats more than the average person, you can adjust this however you want.
Don’t be nervous about destroying the eggs while cracking them or getting egg shells in the food. Every time you crack the eggs, make a mental note of how much pressure and force you used when things went right and when things went wrong.
If you drop a shell in, don’t bother with all the hacks out there of how you can take it out. Your hands should already be clean so just wet your finger a bit and reach in; don’t be a baby 😉
Step 3
While using a fork, whisk the eggs together until the yolk and the egg whites look cohesive. Feel free to add some salt, pepper, or other spices like garlic salt/powder or onion salt/powder.
Despite many “hacks” out there stating you should add salt or seasoning at the end of the cooking process, I’ve never been able to taste a difference. You might not either, but try both methods and see what you like best.
Step 4
Pour the whisked eggs in the hot pan and listen to the sizzle. Make sure it’s not a loud hiss; if so, it might be too hot. If it barely makes a noise, it may not be hot enough.
Leave it alone for 3 minutes or so and start stirring. Leave it again for another minute or two and stir it again. Keep an eye on it and occasionally stir until it gets to your desired level of “cooked”.
Step 5
Once it gets to about the level you like, remove from the heat as it will continue cooking for another minute or two while it cools. Eggs should be ready to serve however you’d like!
Fix up some biscuits or English Muffins and fresh fruit for a quick breakfast or pair with some cheese, bacon, and a tortilla for a delicious breakfast taco.
Cooking chicken
My favorite part of the chicken, believe it or not, is the chicken breast. I know, “but it’s dry” you say. Nay! I think as long as you don’t bake it, you should be fine. This guide will work with either chicken breast or chicken thighs, but butterflying the chicken is something I think you only do on the chicken breast.
Step 1
Heat up the pan to medium heat or maybe even a little bit higher. Once the pan is heated up enough, pour a little bit of oil.
While the pan heats up, if you’re using cooking with chicken breast, start butterflying it. If you accidentally cut it all the way and end up with two pieces, that’s fine too. Pretend that’s what you meant to do and move on 🙃
Step 2
Butterflying is a very simple cut to make so don’t get nervous that the technical words are coming out. What you’ll want to do is take your knife and cut the chicken breast almost all the way in half. Kind of like when you’re cutting a hot dog bun almost all he way through.
The reason for doing this is because a normal chicken breast is quite thick. If you try and cook it without butterflying or cutting it in half, you’ll have a burnt outside and a raw inside; the heat won’t penetrate all the way through.
Step 3
Season the chicken! Unless you want incredibly bland chicken, season with whatever you want. Try using the classic salt and pepper or thyme, oregano, basil, and parsley for Italian. Pre-made seasonings sold in your local grocery stores like Lemon Pepper, Poultry seasoning, Beer Can Chicken, and Jamaican Jerk seasoning are great choices for mixing things up.
I’ve read some tips out there recommending you cover the chicken breast in flour as this will supposedly help give it a nice crust. I will say that I preferred it with flour before pan-frying but I don’t think it was life-changing so feel free to skip that step if you want to.
Step 4
Drop the chicken into the pan and listen to the sound. If it’s a super loud sizzle or hiss, the temperature is too high and you should turn it down. If the opposite happens, turn it up just a tad.
Leave the chicken alone for about 3 to 5 minutes depending how hot the pan is. Take a peek if you’re nervous but try not to move it too much or it won’t get that yummy sear. Now flip it and leave it alone for a few more minutes. Because the chicken is so thin since we butterflied it, it won’t require all that much time to fully cook.
Invest in a cooking thermometer if you can so you can poke your food and ensure it’s fully cooked. If you do, the temperature you’re looking for is about 165, but if you don’t have one, give it a poke and make sure it’s fairly firm. If it’s super gooey and soft, leave it longer and make sure you flip every few minutes so the outside doesn’t burn.
Step 5
Once you think it’s done, leave it to rest before cutting so the moisture in the chicken doesn’t all drip out. The chicken should be white on the inside and not have any red or pink.
This will be your “gateway” recipe that will allow you to eat most anything you could want. Serve with literally anything you want; make rice with vegetables, include it in a soup, or even mix it in with a salad. Try shredding the chicken and make a pot pie. Cut the chicken into chunks and add it into your quesadilla. The world is now your oyster.
Hamburger
Cooking burgers was also one other thing that scared me. I guess I just thought it was too hard and advanced for some reason?
Well, it’s really not. Just be a little more conscientious of how long you’ve been cooking it to make sure it’s not raw or overcooked and you’ll be fine. You’ll need a spatula, seasoning of your choice, a little bit of oil, and the meat of course.
Everyone prefers their burgers a little different, but I usually tend to go for 80/20 ground chuck. 80/20 meaning it is 80% meat and 20% fat. I find this good enough for my needs, though you may want a leaner cut; the less fat, the better your chance of drying out the patty.
Keep in mind that because the patties lose their fat, they shrink so don’t be surprised if you eat less than you originally thought you would. Again, the more lean the patty, the less it will shrink.
Step 1
Choose the meat you want and shape it into a patty. If you don’t want to handle it or try and form the patty, you can usually find pre-shaped patties at the store.
Step 2
Heat up your pan to about medium heat and drop some oil. The patties will lose some fat, depending on which cut you got. The fattier the cut, the less oil you’ll want to use or it’ll be dripping in grease.
I’d recommend about a tablespoon at first. If it’s not enough, add a little more. If it’s too much…sorry 😬
Step 3
Season your patties while the pan heats up. Use whatever you want; salt, pepper, garlic powder/salt, onion powder/salt, etc. I personally recommend you using this Weber Gourmet seasoning. I use it EVERY time I make burgers because it just makes them taste unbelievably good! Most grocery store sell it in the spice section.
Step 3
Once the pan is nice and hot and you have your patties seasoned, drop a patty or two. Listen to the sizzle and make sure the pan isn’t too hot or too cold. You know the drill by now.
Don’t be scared to check the patty, but don’t go flipping or checking constantly. You’ll want to leave it alone for a few minutes in order for it to get that nice crispy and slightly charred outside.
Also, beware of grease potentially popping!
Step 4
After about 3 – 5 minutes, you’ll want to flip, and leave it alone again for a few minutes. Repeat once or twice again until you’re happy with the desired doneness.
If you want to add some cheese, now’s the time to put it on so it gets nice and melty. For optimum melt levels, put it on top of the patty and cover with a lid so the heat gets trapped inside.
Step 5
Once it reaches your desire level of doneness, remove from the pan and let the meat rest for a bit. Much like the chicken, and other types of meats, resting is preferred as it prevents the moisture from oozing out. Less moisture, the drier the meat.
One thing to keep in mind is that it will continue cooking after you remove from the pan so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to remove the patty just before you think it’s done so it’s exactly how you want it to be cooked by the time it finishes resting.
Serve however you’d like! Go the traditional route with sesame seed buns, lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles or try going low carb and substituting the buns with lettuce.
This recipe is a little hard to figure out let alone try and teach someone over the internet. Your first few tries may be filled with thoughts of not being sure if it’s done or not, but practicing is the only way you’ll learn!
Quesadilla
This is such an easy recipe that I love because it can be so cheap. All you need is tortillas and cheese, or you can add whatever fillings your little heart can think of.
Get all your fillings ready because this recipe goes by quick!
Step 1
Heat up the skillet or pan to about medium heat and wait for it to get nice and toasty before doing anything else.
Step 2
Place tortilla on the pan and leave it for about 30 seconds. Once 30 seconds pass, you’ll want t flip. What you want to see is the tortilla puff up a bit.
My mom told me an old Mexican folktale says if the tortilla puffs up, it means your mother-in-law likes you. After that I get a lot of satisfaction seeing it puff because it reminds me of her ❤️
Back to the real world!
Step 3
Flip the tortilla one more time and sprinkle some of your favorite cheese. You can’t ever go wrong with shredded Colby Jack cheese or even a bag of shredded “Mexican-style” cheese. If you want to get authentic, try it with some Asadero or Manchego cheese!
Step 4
You can either put another tortilla on top so it looks like a tortilla sandwich or simply fold the tortilla in half so it looks like a cheese taco. I recommend simply folding it, but it’s completely your choice.
Flip once or twice until the tortilla gets toasted and the cheese melt. This part won’t take long at all.
You can either go ahead and eat it as-is or you can add some fillings. Options are endless; cooked mushroom and sautéed onion, chicken or beef fajitas with sautéed bell peppers, or even smoked sausage 🤤
Fried Rice
Oh man, guys. This is one of my absolute favorite dishes and you can’t go wrong with whatever you want to put in it (don’t take it as a challenge please). It does require some more obscure ingredients than the usual ones you might have at home like rice wine vinegar and sesame oil but they’re pretty cheap at whatever grocery store you choose to go to.
Step 1
Cook the rice. This can take between 15 and 20 minutes so start that first. See previous post on how to make it if you haven’t read that one yet.
Step 2
I recommend getting a rotisserie chicken and simply taking all the meat from there but if you already have some chicken in the fridge, you’re welcome to make it. See above on how to make it if need be.
Step 3
Now that you have your chicken and rice ready, it’s time to start the fun stuff.
In a pan, or wok if you have one, add a splash of oil and half a chopped onion. Allow the onions to cook and drop some garlic along with whatever veggies you want.
You can choose broccoli, peas, carrots or whatever tickles your fancy. Frozen vegetables work great in this recipe since you don’t have to cut or anything.
Step 3
Once the veggies and everything seem tender, about 3 to 5 minutes, push everything to one side of the pan. The other is for the eggs. Drop about 2 eggs or so and scramble them.
Once they seem fully cooked, mix completely with the veggies.
Step 4
Now’s the time you want to add the rice and chicken as well as 3 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, and 1 tsp of sesame oil.
Mix it all together until you think it’s sufficiently incorporated. Voila, you’re done!
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As I’m sure you guys have noticed these aren’t real recipes in the way you might see in a recipe book. I’ll make some of those later; these are general guides for you to learn how to cook the dish. The rest, such as spices and seasonings, are completely up to you. Also, I make no money for the things I recommend. I just like them.
Is there anything you think should be added to the list? Did I not make sense any of the recipes I included? Do you have any questions?? Comment below or shoot me a message!
