i can more or less follow a recipe from youtube, but i feel it hasn't taught me how to cook. is there a good alternative to culinary school to learn how to cook without shelling out 10k+/year?

i have no intention of being a professional chef. just wanna learn to cook.

things like when to use flour vs corn starch vs tapioca starch for thickening, oil vs butter, how to pick seasonings, which veggies pair well with different meats, how to choose cooking method for meats (braise, grill, roast, etc), how to use a knife, how to know when veggies are cooked well, how to pick veggies/fruits/meat in the grocery store, when to use cast iron vs stainless steel vs nonstick, etc etc

"american" + european + asian (just jap/chinese/korean/viet) foods primarily.

dunno if there's a really good youtube playlist or website or book or whatever. maybe gonna look into those one-off cooking classes in the evenings

my taste pallet is pretty bad, but i can bring food in for coworkers to be my guinea pigs for some feedback.

Practice and experiment, a lot. It will probably take a lot of time to get a feeling for stuff. Maybe look around Amazon for a few high rated cook books in the areas you are most interested in, try recipes that have things you don't know a lot about and see what the different components do to the dishes. Once you get a feel for basic cooking nuances, you can then start experimenting and making your own recipes and learn what works and what doesn't.

These might have some useful information:

http://www.chef2chef.net/learn-to-cook/

http://education-portal.com/articles/List_of_Free_Online_Cooking_Classes_Courses_and_Learning_Materials.html

I never went to culinary school, and I am working towards becoming a professional chef eventually. So as of now, most of what I learn is coming from working in a restaurant.
You can learn so much simply through trial and error. You can actually purchase textbooks used in culinary schools. which helps you learn these things as well. Culinary school is great, but I honestly believe that if you truly love what you do, and are willing to work at it, a self-taught chef can be just as good, if not better than a chef who went to school.

You're welcome to pm me anytime if you have any questions. hofx2 is also someone on the forums that I look up to in this area.

this. culinary school is not necessarily necessary. heston blumenthal is laregly regarded as one of the best chefs in the world and his restaurant was #1 for a number of years but he never had any formal training.

the key is reading lots of culinary texts/cookbooks and a lot of experimentation.

I think Heston Bluementhal is one of a kind though.. lol

But yeah if u just want to learn how to cook for home don't go to culinary school thats for people who wants to become professional cooks!
Just read good books, check good cooking shows and maybe take some culinary courses but more fowarded to general public...

ferran adria also had no formal culinary education. imo its no coincidence that the two are the godfathers of modernist techniques. its precisely because they didnt go to culinary school and get a certain way of doing things drilled into them that they were able to think outside the box and originate new ideas and challenge classically held beliefs. thats not gonna work for everyone, and not everyone is going to rise to that level, but theyre definitely not the only chefs never to have gone to culinary school.

If it's something you really want to do, and make a career of--unless you are creative and confident some training may be useful.
Learning to keep up with the pace of a chef's work environment will take a lot of experience if not prior training.

CreativitE !

I did a simple year of culinary (maybe $4-5 grand all in) and after that had an amazing short career where I sous-chef'd 2 different high end restaurants, and worked at other amazing places in my city.

it's more about your personality than anything...most people aren't cut for it.

that said I ditched all that because it's such a horrible career to choose and I'm way better off now.

edit: and yes the one year of school was for sure worth it, but you need to pay your dues in the field and work your way up from there

edit2: I also did way better than about 95% of the people I went to school with...most people don't know what they're getting into or they get too comfortable at a restaurant and that prevents them from evolving as a chef

edit3: pick a different career lol

This post was edited by Tylenol on Sep 9 2014 03:23pm

vouch this whole post, especially the pick a different career point. I only do it because i love it.

I realize that you have no intention on being a chef, so I would recommend just cooking frequently and figuring out what works for you over time. Youtube can only take you so far.