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rule of thumb cooking

Updated 2021-07-25

While my recipe bot project aims to make a science of keeping myself fed, this project is aimed at helping develop low-friction, almost intuitive ways to achieve the same thing. Whereas the former is focused on finding paths to optimal nutrition, this project is focused on making me more inclined to cook my own food from scratch.

guiding stars

These are the principles I'm laboring under. These are conjecture on my part. Developing this system is how I'm testing these.

Don't be afraid of failure. Don't be afraid of making "wrong" food. Don't worry about not having access to "quality" ingredients. If it's edible, you've made food. If it tastes good, great! If your noodles are thick, or your bread a strange shape, or if it doesn't taste *exactly* like what someone else says it should, so what? You're cooking to feed yourself, not to become a world famous chef or anything.
Many dishes can be made from the same basic components, so focus on mastering those components and try to build with them as often as possible. Eggs and flour can become bread or pasta, flour and butter is the basis of creamy sauces and biscuits alike, etc. This will save space in your pantry and refrigerator.
Fresh food *may* have better nutritional value if prepared with that in mind. E.g., higher quality ingredients can result in more nutritious versions of what can be found at the store.
Recipes can be complex and hard to memorize, but the principles behind them so far seem to be both simpler and more memorable. Understanding principles should in theory allow one to cook good food with whatever is at hand, without having to consult a recipe (except perhaps for inspiration).
At the risk of overstating the first point: nothing needs to be done perfectly, and very little actually requires the "right" tools. You don't need a special machine or a giant hardwood rolling pin to make pasta, for example. Embrace a "chaotic" approach to cooking, guided by a few general principles, and see where it takes you.

accumulated rules

dough

"Too dry:" Crumbles and does not stick together in a nice ball.
"Too wet:" Sticky! Looks "spiky" where it's touched.
"Just right:" Sticks to *itself* rather than your hands or the counter. Can be easily formed into a ball. Should look mostly smooth, like putty.

Add flour when too wet, add something wet when too dry. Add a little at a time, as it's easy to overshoot "just right."

pasta

Mix flour with something wet to produce fresh pasta dough. Add more wet things if it's too dry. Common wet things for pasta include eggs, blended tomatoes (deseeded or not, but preferably deseeded), blended spinach or basil (but anything leafy and green should work, TBH), olive oil, and water. For eggs, a 3/4 cup or 100g of flour per egg ratio will get you close to "just right." Let rest at least 30 minutes covered with a bowl (or in plastic wrap) at room temperature.
Start the water boiling before you add the fresh pasta, and keep a keen eye on it. Fresh pasta cooks quickly, usually within two minutes, rarely any longer than four. (Depends on how thick the noodles are.) Stir immediately and constantly to keep it from sticking to itself.
Boil the fresh pasta in very salty water. It should be like sea water. If the salt has stopped dissolving, you've added enough.
Immediately after draining, either toss with a sauce or with olive oil. This will keep it from sticking to itself as it starts cooling down.
Getting thin pasta is a matter of flattening the dough, flouring it well so it doesn't stick to itself, folding it over in thirds, rolling it out, unfolding it, rolling it out, flouring it, folding it, rolling it out, etc. Way easier if you have a long pasta rolling pin, but doable (if a bit tedious) with a regular baking rolling pin if you pay careful attention to how it starts warping as parts get stretched at different rates and don't let it bunch up and fold over on itself. Easiest way to cut it into strands without a machine is to flour it and fold it like you're going to roll it out again, and then chop it up.
Thick pasta is also tasty, so don't let the folding and rolling step stop you from cooking fresh pasta for yourself if you find it tedious. My first time making pasta, I just rolled it out and sliced it, no folding at all. Made absurdly thick noodles that did not cook consistently through, but they still tasted good!
Hang the pasta to dry for around 15 minutes if you find it's getting mushy in the pot. This is a traditional step that *can* be skipped if doing so doesn't cause problems for you. You don't need a pasta hanger to do this. I've been stretching mine over the mouth of a mixing bowl, layering and criss-crossing as I go.
Different types of flour will produce slightly different results. Semolina flour produces firmer pasta than "all purpose" and is more traditional, but you don't *need* it. You can mix and match flours to adjust firmness to your liking as well. I have heard "hard white" flour is great for noodles that are meant to be stir-fried, though I haven't tried it myself yet.
Try to cook it the same day you make it, but it can be stored under refrigeration for around 48 hours. Freezing or drying it will let it keep even longer. Using only water for the wet part of the dough will also further extend the shelf life.

creamy sauces

Mix 2 tbsp. flour into 2 tbsp. of melted butter, then add 1 cup of milk and heat it up to create "white sauce." This is the foundation of many other sauces depending on what you add to it. Shredded cheese makes it a tasty cheese sauce, for example. Add something acidic, like tomato, if the cheese gets too stringy.

pesto

Pesto just means "something pounded" and is traditionally made with a mortar and pestle. I use a blender myself. The process is just throwing all the ingredients into the blender and pulsing until it's the right consistency. If it's too thick, add more olive oil.
Olive oil is the only consistent ingredient in the recipes I've found. It holds all the ingredients together and keeps the sauce from becoming too thick.
A traditional pesto is made from basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan. Proportions across recipes vary, so just make it to taste.
The essential elements of a pesto seem to be some sort of plant, and olive oil, with garlic a strongly recommended addition. A nut of some kind (walnuts are a common substitute for pine nuts), a cheese (traditionally a hard cheese, but I imagine certain soft cheeses would be *delicious*), and various herbs and spices may be added to taste. A dash of black pepper, cayenne pepper, or chili powder seems to be a common addition.
The "base plant" chosen gives the pesto its essential character. Have fun with it. Again, "pesto" is a broad category.
"Base plants" aside from basil that I've tried so far: deseeded cherry tomatoes roasted with olive oil and a dash of salt, blanched nettles with roasted asparagus tips, and spinach. They've all been delicious and very different in taste. The roasted tomatoes especially had a strong flavor.
Roasting the garlic makes its flavor milder and brings out its sweetness more. The rule of thumb across recipes seems to be that a head of roasted garlic may be substituted for a clove of raw garlic. Seems like a great way to work more garlic into a dish if you're going for that.

misc. tips/facts

Frozen vegetables, microwaved in water, drained, and then topped with butter, are an easy, tasty, nutritious side dish.
A good egg will have a thick shell and an almost orange yolk. To get that sort of egg, the hens have to have been free to eat a healthy diet. This means bugs, not corn.
Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents; they make things fluffier. Baking powder *contains* baking soda. Baking powder is generally composed of 30% baking soda and various acidic ingredients. Baking *soda* reacts with acids in foods and creates carbon dioxide bubbles. (The classic "vinegar and baking soda volcano" science fair project is a demonstration of this reaction.) It also produces carbon dioxide when exposed to high temperatures. (Above 80C or 180F.)
Use fresh, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil. Oil goes rancid after a while. Light accelerates this process. Look for olive oil in dark bottles from nearby places. Whatever you do, don't use rancid oil! I don't think it will make you sick or anything, but it will taste bad!
Generally try to learn what quality looks like for whatever ingredients you're trying to use. Starting with good ingredients will help produce better results.