Cooking for students

Hi Students,

I'm a graphic designer, looking to create a "How To ..." guide for Grade 12 leavers and new University students, focussing on nutritious, quick and above all cheap meals - using under 6 ingredients and taking less than half an our from start to finish - so my questions are:

(1) What is the one cooking tip you wish you had before leaning fo Uni?
(2) what is your indispensable piece of cooking kit?
(3) would an infographic style work better for you than written descriptions for recipes?

Thanks in advance for your answers :smile:

Dave

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

1) I actually had this tip before going to uni but I think generally important: there is no such thing as "rare" chicken. Chicken always has to be cooked all the way through as the parasites that cause food poisoning from it exist throughout the meat, not just on the surface. With beef the parasites only exist in the stomach and so can get on the surface of whole pieces of beef during the slaughtering process but won't penetrate into the meat, hence you can have rare beef by searing the outside (which kills those parasites. By extension though you should also cook ground beef through completely as in the grinding process will get mixed up into the whole thing.

2) A rice cooker. Honestly it just makes everything much simpler and can be used for other things potentially. Plus rice is cheap and filling and versatile so a good option for all students :smile:

You can even get rice cookers pretty cheap! Only downside is some student halls may not allow them (or require them to undergo portable appliance testing/PAT first).

3) Maybe, depends on the recipe. Ultimately it's impossible to avoid written descriptions without running the risk of people misinterpreting and potentially poisoning themselves...

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

davelow

OP

2

Original post by artful_lounger

1) I actually had this tip before going to uni but I think generally important: there is no such thing as "rare" chicken. Chicken always has to be cooked all the way through as the parasites that cause food poisoning from it exist throughout the meat, not just on the surface. With beef the parasites only exist in the stomach and so can get on the surface of whole pieces of beef during the slaughtering process but won't penetrate into the meat, hence you can have rare beef by searing the outside (which kills those parasites. By extension though you should also cook ground beef through completely as in the grinding process will get mixed up into the whole thing.

2) A rice cooker. Honestly it just makes everything much simpler and can be used for other things potentially. Plus rice is cheap and filling and versatile so a good option for all students :smile:

You can even get rice cookers pretty cheap! Only downside is some student halls may not allow them (or require them to undergo portable appliance testing/PAT first).

3) Maybe, depends on the recipe. Ultimately it's impossible to avoid written descriptions without running the risk of people misinterpreting and potentially poisoning themselves...

Hey artful_lounger!

Thanks for the reply 🙂 this is great - and "rare chicken" ! Yes! completely agree :smile:

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by davelow

Hey artful_lounger!

Thanks for the reply 🙂 this is great - and "rare chicken" ! Yes! completely agree :smile:

I've seen some horrifying images on twitter before of people doing that! I mean even before knowing the reason why, I knew you're not meant to do that :biggrin:

Reply 4

watranosmv

Hi
I would like to add that you should know how to preserve food overnight in a way that it does not lose its taste or anything of that sort, Add that your how to, might be like how to preserve the "Recipe" that you just made, I have been surfing many websites over it and it has given me that sort of idea on how to do it properly without freezing the taste out of it.