Cooking Tips and Meal Planning
FERC's Mini Cooking Courses

Cooking tips and meal planning parameters that are used by Formula Easy Recipe's Mini Cooking Courses will help the new cook develop the same judgment that let your Mom throw together a gourmet meal from the contents of the fridge.

Parameters of this book

Formula Easy Recipes focuses upon dinner entrees only. It's the biggest headache for the home cook.

Commonly available cuts of meat, fish, or seafood are spotlighted. Exotic foods have been deliberately avoided. Expensive ones have been limited - but not entirely, I love shellfish and a great steak.

Everyday cooking tips are emphasized.


There are deliberate simplifications throughout the site.


When you finish this workbook, you will not need a cookbook again, the recipes will be in your head.

All recipes are for 5 servings to make it easy to multiply quantities for larger groups. Also, fractions aren't used because it's aggravating to deal with a mixed fraction. Decimal places are easier (e.g., 1 2/3 cup makes more sense when you see 1.6 cups.

Recipes lend themselves easily to your shortcuts.


e.g., if you have a jar of Hollandaise in the fridge, why make it?


Learn to use charts and graphs in your cooking.

Check out temperature charts and "lag times."

A lag time is that period after you remove the heat source from your dish, the temperature of food continues to rise for a while.

Copy the temperature charts and tape them inside a cabinet at eye level near your oven and range. Your standard should NOT be "time in the oven" but rather, internal temperature of the item cooked.

Become familiar with the parts of an animal and how location predicts toughness.



Herbs and spices are written to discourage measuring in favor of developing a sense of proportion:


e.g, oregano:thyme:sage is about 1:1:1 (read "one-to-one-to-one"). A coin-size amount in the bowl of your hand is the best measuring spoon. It that coin is a half dollar or a dime depends upon how much you like the flavor of that spice.

The rules and cooking tips are different for baking where you often have to be very precise, but we don't bake at Formula Easy Recipes.

Salt and pepper are left out of recipes. Don't wait until the last minute to add them though, they should be "layered" in as you go.

An emphasis is made upon "leftovers" and how to use them.

In the real world, you are not starting from scratch every night. You have something you need to use up. This workbook lends itself easily to that reality.


Believe it or not, some sauces can be combined to clear out your fridge. Combine a half teaspoon of, say Carribean Jerk Sauce and A1. Taste. Experiment!

Several dribs and drabs of barbecue sauce can be used up all at once for a barbecue

Mix several leftover mustard types together.

Put leftover relish in mayo or Miracle Whip for a great tartar sauce. Add any leftover gherkins, and even pickles.

Here's a handful of recipes for dealing with the more common dribs and drabs in your fridge.



fried rice
bread pudding
dressing
stock
lettuce soup
spinach wilt
Pasta Primavera

We hope these cooking tips are useful to you. Back to the cooking course?