[forkexec]

Practice makes perfect.

No one can learn to cook well instantly. I've been cooking for 30 years and coding for 25. There are no shortcuts. Maybe watch Alex of French Guy Cooking, get a book on the science of cooking, and then a translated series of books on classical French techniques that start from the beginning. Don't expect to make a soufflé or merengue before boiling an egg. Start at the beginning.

And for god's sake, don't use powdered garlic. Start with reasonable quality, fresh ingredients or cooking will be utterly pointless and frustrating. I wouldn't waste money on very high quality ingredients for practice, but gets some basic staples like good onions, peppers, carrots, celery and make some soups, chili or stews in a crockpot. Those are hard to ruin. One of my grandmothers just took some random leftover vegetables from her fridge to make chicken noodle soup.

I have boxes and boxes of heirloom recipes that my grandmothers made and collected over the years... they're handwritten and I can't decipher some of them. For most people, it's easiest to just go on allrecipes or similar sites, pick a dish and sort by highest user review because there are hundreds of thousands of recipes online now and statistically thousands of good recipes.