[thenomad]

There's one takeaway - no pun intended - that leaps out from this.

Learn. To. Cook.

I run a small, scrappy company that's been in startup mode multiple times over the last 20 years. Being a good cook might well be the most valuable skill I've used over those years.

It lets you drop to very low personal expenditure very easily - far lower than you could manage on all but the junkiest of ready food - whilst still eating well and keeping your health up.

Thinking about it, would a "How To Cook For Hackers" video / ebook / webseries be of use or interest to HN? With the right instrumentation, absolutely anyone can learn to cook nutritious, tasty, cheap meals.

[TarpitCarnivore]

> Thinking about it, would a "How To Cook For Hackers" video / ebook / webseries be of use or interest to HN? With the right instrumentation, absolutely anyone can learn to cook nutritious, tasty, cheap meals.

The need for cheap, healthy and delicious meals isn't mutually exclusive to "Hackers." In fact there are many sites out there that have this aim already. One such site is called Budget Bytes [1] which my wife and I use all the time.

1: http://www.budgetbytes.com/

[thenomad]

Very true - there are lots of excellent cooking resources out there already. I'm a fan of Delia Smith's stuff, personally.

"Hackers" / startup guys / whatever you want to call them tend to have similar patterns of thought, which can be applied to cooking to make it easier to learn. For example, we tend to get on well with science and chemistry, which means that it may be easier to teach high-quality meat cookery based on Mailliard reactions, denaturing of proteins, conversion of connective tissue, and so forth.

Hence the question of whether a specifically focused course might help or appeal to the HN crowd - despite the many cookery courses out there, I do see people (like the OP) mention that they haven't found cooking easy to learn.

[TarpitCarnivore]

> For example, we tend to get on well with science and chemistry, which means that it may be easier to teach high-quality meat cookery based on Mailliard reactions, denaturing of proteins, conversion of connective tissue, and so forth.

These things are fine to learn, but they're not essential to learning how to cook. Knowing about the connective tissues isn't going to suddenly make you better at cooking a steak or braising short ribs. Time, practice and patience is what's going to help.

Realistically the easiest and simplest way for anyone to cook is with a crock pot. There are a million recipes out there for basic crock pot cooking. And even better it lets you make large enough batches for multiple days.

[thenomad]

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, I think.

I know that I personally became a much better cook - and specifically, since you mention it, much better at cooking steak - after learning the science behind it.

I do agree that they're not essential to learning how to cook. Millions of people cook without knowing these things. But for people with a specific mindset, they are likely to be helpful if more "traditional" routes don't gel well for them.

[mindcrime]

Realistically the easiest and simplest way for anyone to cook is with a crock pot. There are a million recipes out there for basic crock pot cooking.

I largely agree with this. I love my crock pot. Very easy and simple to make very tasty delicious meals. And you can leverage the timing by doing things like turning it on before leaving for work in the morning, and then come home to a hot, tasty, home-cooked meal.

(This is assuming you're comfortable leaving a heat based appliance turned on. In the case of a crock pot, I am. YMMV)

And even better it lets you make large enough batches for multiple days.

Exactly, this is a great feature of slow cookers. I bought one of the larger ones for this exact reason.

[TarpitCarnivore]

I wish I could enjoy using a crock pot, but try as I might I just can't. Everything always tastes very steamed, or boiled, especially with meat. I would love to use one for than keeping stuff warm, because it's such dead simple cooking.

[mindcrime]

I guess it depends on what you're trying to cook. I tend to use mine for things like stews and soups, chili, etc. To be honest, I should probably attempt to broaden my repertoire of slow-cooker meals, but never seem to find time. Every time I go to Barnes & Noble I swear a see a new slow-cooker cookbook on the bargain rack, and I keep meaning to pick one up and try some of the recipes, but somehow doing that never quite makes it onto my agenda... sigh

[ericcumbee]

The best Hack I have found working out of my house is a crock pot. Especially during the winter months. put some combo of a meat, pasta, rice, vegetables, and maybe a little bit of cream or cheese on in the morning, make a point of stirring it a couple times during the day, and by supper time you have a warm, nutritionally balanced, filling meal, that you can eat off of for a couple days.

[VLM]

I'm not entirely disagreeing, but learn WHAT to cook.

Woe is me, I cannot bake a cake from scratch and my souffle always collapses, well, off to McDonalds for a double cheezeburger. OK, well, its pretty hard to mess up the "cooking" involved in making a salad. Oh you want a snack instead of a meal and its too hard to scratch bake homemade cookies so you'll just drive to krispie kreme and eat a dozen donuts, nope, go eat a carrot. Let me describe the "cooking" steps in preparing a raw carrot snack. Wash off the dirt. Optionally cut off the green end or just don't eat it. If you're lazy and wealthy you can buy a bag with carrots in it where this advanced "cooking" has been taken care of for you. I can provide similar "cooking" recipes for grapes, apples, pears, bananas, cherries, blueberries and many more. Meat is microscopically more complicated, but not much worse. Put raw chicken parts in slow cooker. Do not lick hands until after washing them. Dump BBQ seasoning packet (for those who can't handle mixing 8 or so cheap, practically free, dry ingredients by themselves...) on chicken. Put cooker on high for 5 hours, or follow packet directions. Its about that hard.

Another "what to cook" problem is you'll get into huge arguments with people addicted to junk food, because taco bell 35% "meat", which they call beef filling and there have been lawsuits filed to forbid them from calling it "beef", in a shell, is a lot cheaper than seared kobe beef tenderloin, and thats the only option for cooking at home, therefore its too expensive to cook anything at home, so welcome to taco bell for all meals.

Edited to add another common anti-pattern heard continuously on HN is insisting on comparing fake food to out of season organic imported hydroponic food. I live near blueberry country so I'm used to paying about $2/pound once a year. Yet out of season, you can easily pay over $15 per pound. Invariably someone will use as an example, blueberry flavored kool aide vs out of season organic hydro grown imported blueberries at $15/pound at whole foods, which isn't all that fair. My brilliant solution to the annual variation in blueberry prices is not to eat them when the price is above $5 or so per pound. And I can and freeze them. Freeze them on a cookie sheet THEN bag them so they don't clump up.

[thenomad]

I'd completely agree. In fact, I'd say a big part of learning to cook is learning what to cook, what not to cook, and why.

[tegeek]

It also helps your brain to release stress & depress.

Over the years I've discovered that cooking is the most enjoyable hobby that saved me going into constant stress & depress.

[frownie]

Amen.

As a "hacker", I think a lot, all of the time.

So I cook to think about something else. Washing the dishes without dishwasher is also a moment where I let my mind wander.

Definitely not some time lost (to be honest I don't enjoy washing the dishes as much as cooking, of course, but I feel that connecting my brain on something "easy" is rahter good for me, else I'd jump on my computer right after eating...)

stf

[tegeek]

I actually learned almost entire lambda calculus, partial application, currying & tons of other theoretical CS while cooking.

I usually buy a book (these days I'm reading "Elements of Programming") read a chapter and then build the mental model while cooking. Cooking is a double edge sword for me.

[ruidelgado]

I've never thought of it like that. That comment helps, thanks.

[chao-]

Same here w.r.t. destressing. And when I need to cook but am not particularly in need of the mental break, I'll load up Ruby Rogues or another dev podcast and get some learning or inspiration added to the mix.

[ruidelgado]

Thanks! I really hope I get to that level. I don't enjoy it so far, but I will do it until I do.

[mseebach]

> Thinking about it, would a "How To Cook For Hackers" video / ebook / webseries be of use or interest to HN?

What's the hacker angle on cooking? In my experience, cooking is much more of a craft than an intellectual exercise, which doesn't make it very 'hackable'.

Personally, I'd recommend start with something like these [1][2] - good, fast, cheap, nutritious food has been focus for many others than hackers, for quite a while.

1: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/books/jamie-s-15... 2: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/columns/dinner_tonight/

[ncarroll]

I always thought the hackable angle on cooking is patterns. A whole lot of stuff that you might cook for everyday eating is, in fact, a pattern and once you know that, you can riff off whatever is in your fridge.

Take soup, for instance. You need a certain amount of liquid, veggies and meat are optional in their type and amounts and you need to apply the correct methods and tools.

I've had a domain and plans to write about this for years but never gotten around to it. Maybe 2015 is the year - even casual interest around here would hitch it up on my priority list.

[wanderingstan]

I second this. For years I thought recipes were secret inalterable incantations. Once I realized that there were basic patterns (soup, casserole, curry, etc) I found joy in "hacking" food. It then became a challenge to use the contents of my fridge in the tastiest way.

[TarpitCarnivore]

> I always thought the hackable angle on cooking is patterns. A whole lot of stuff that you might cook for everyday eating is, in fact, a pattern and once you know that, you can riff off whatever is in your fridge.

This isn't "hacking" (loathe this word when used this way) cooking, you've just learned the basic ratios of recipes.

[VLM]

Ah but the hacking is the "messing with ratios" part, not just knowing them.

I slow cooked homemade bbq chicken with a dry rub last weekend. You can play games for your whole life with the ratio of paprika to cayenne. A lot of people are really happy with 1:1:1 ratios of onion garlic chilli but I prefer weaker heat and stronger onion and garlic flavor. Another ratio is brown sugar to salt, I prefer no/low sugar and higher salt, but tastes do vary. I suppose "no sugar" is such extreme hacking, that some might not consider my bbq chicken to be bbq chicken anymore. Oh well.

Another analogy is its like modding a game. (and edited to add, its like design patterns)

[TarpitCarnivore]

Maybe it's just because I cook often, but to me this is the foundations of cooking. You're always changing and tweaking what you're making to suit your needs. What a more smokey taste in the chili add some chipotle and smoked paprika. Want to make that rub sweeter add some more brown sugar.

[Luyt]

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

...featuring a novel kind of diagrams which show you when to do what, for example, look at the bottom of http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/227/Ratatouille

[MrMattWright]

http://www.amazon.com/The-4-Hour-Chef-Learning-Anything/dp/0... is quite fun and as much a book about learning to learn as about cooking. It's sort of a hackers guide to cooking. Or agreed...Jamie is a good start too. One of the original ones (http://www.amazon.com/Return-Naked-Chef-Jamie-Oliver/dp/0718...) got me started.

[thenomad]

There are lots of intellectual / scientific ways to look at cooking which can really help.

For example, understanding the science of cooking meat lets you cook safely, precisely, and to a very high standard. If you understand how flavour pairings work in terms of aromatic chemicals, you can generate likely combinations from what you have available. And so on.

[pavlov]

... cooking is much more of a craft than an intellectual exercise ...

Most programming is that way too, really: putting ingredients together in a way that makes sense for the end user.

[bobcostas55]

Check out Nathan Myhrvold's work, cooking is (or at least can be) very much an intellectual exercise.

[thenomad]

Heh, I'm well aware of NathanM - his initial work on Sous-Vide on eGullet is what got me started with it.

Modernist Cuisine is pretty amazing, but not quite the same sort of thing I was thinking about: it isn't exactly newbie-accessible, either in price or approach.

[jules]

There are three angles on cooking that I don't find in standard recipe books:

1. The structure of cooking. A lot of recipes share common patterns, but in recipe books they are presented as individual recipes rather than as modular building blocks and techniques.

2. A scientific approach to cooking. By this I do not mean a description of the chemistry, but rather a more experimental approach and a focus on verifying claims based on taste testing and boiling down recipes to their essentials. There is a lot of stuff around food that to me sound implausible or unnecessary. For example the idea that expensive wine tastes significantly better, or that kosher salt tastes differently, or that searing a steak seals in the juices are as far as I know all myths. There are tons of smaller examples, like recipes that call for adding tomato paste, canned tomatoes, and water, or recipes that call for adding the same spice at several different points in the process. If that is experimentally shown to make a difference, then sure, but otherwise keep it simple. On the other hand there are some things that do clearly work in my experience. Increasing the PH of the cooking water keeps vegetables, potatoes, rice more firm, lowering the PH of cooking water turns them into mush. Grinding spices fresh and combining tastes much better than a pre mixed garam masala. Some herbs are ok dried (e.g. thyme, mint), but some are worthless when dried (e.g. basil, parsley). There is a lot of knowledge like that which you could learn by running your own experiments or from a lot of experience, but that takes far too much time for the average person. It would be great if somebody ran the experiments, and for each recipe tried several different ways of cooking it, and determined the best way to cook it with a taste test panel.

3. Quality over quantity & originality. Many recipe books contain a lot of recipes around a specific cuisine or even sub part of a cuisine (e.g. french soups). Many books try to have original recipes rather than classics. I don't care about any of that. Given that I have a limited lifetime, I don't want a book with 50 moderate French soups and 2 great French soups, or a book with 50 moderate Indian curries with an original twist by the author and 3 great Indian curries. Given that I can easily access millions of recipes, the value of a book is not in the recipes which it contains but in the recipes which it does not contain. Please only include the truly great recipes. This also ties in to point #1. This page for example: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/recipe/easy-homemade-curr... It lists 5 curry pastes as 5 different recipes, but 90% of the ingredients are the same. So give a basic recipe, and list the variations. Secondly, it suggests toasting the spices, which in my experience does enhance the flavor of some of the spices, but it destroys the flavor of others. This ties into point #2. Run an experiment: toast each spice individually, then for each spice dissolve the toasted and untoasted version separately in water and in oil, and then taste the difference. I could run that experiment myself, but it would be handy if I didn't have to.

[thenomad]

Searing steak: yep, it's a myth.

The reason you sear steak is to cause what are known as the "Mailliard reactions", a complex waterfall series of reactions that happen when you expose meat proteins to temperatures over 140C. That decomposes the surface of the meat into a very complex collection of extremely tasty aromatic compounds (including some of the compounds responsible for the taste of coffee and chocolate).

If you're interested in this sort of thing, a) the experiments have already been done, b) I recommend Harold McGee's "On Food And Cooking" as a solid starting point. "America's Test Kitchen" is also good.

This is also the kind of thing I was thinking could be covered in a "Cooking for Hackers" series.

[ruidelgado]

You're absolutely right and thank you for your suggestions! I would totally see a "How To Cook for Hackers" video series.

[borski]

You may enjoy a Pantelligent: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hevans/pantelligent-int...

[aw3c2]

Prominently displaying the quote by pg while the whole thing is YC backed felt dishonest to me.