Start Cooking in Quarantine: Motivation & Benefits

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, quarantine has been the only preventive method for the disease. Staying at home has not been easy, but the change in routine has enabled many people to explore new fields, such as gastronomy! 

This is the case of the journalism student, 22 years, Silchya Rodrigues. The young woman used to eat on the street due to the daily rush, but by spending more time at home she was able to dedicate more of herself to the kitchen and apply her wish to reduce the consumption of meat. In her first recipe, she took a chance and was not discouraged. “Everything went wrong, it was a bean burger, I added too much flour and then there were no ready beans, it was chaos”. But she continues to cook and says she is getting better every day. 

Silchya prepares dishes according to what she likes to eat and says that this is a great incentive for those who want to start cooking, in addition to being able to influence their diet. “I eat healthier because I make my own food, so I make more vegetables and drink more natural juice”.

With a bachelor’s degree in gastronomy, Larissa Lopes also points out these advantages for those who ventured into cooking during this period. “One of the benefits of starting cooking at home is knowing all the way of your food, where it was bought, how it was washed, stored and how you will eat it”. She also highlights that cooking your own meal allows people to start tasting things they previously thought they didn’t like. 

The student of Publicity and Propaganda, 21 years, Isabella Bernardi says that she feels bad for not knowing how to cook the basics, but the time she gained with a quarantine helped her to take a risk into gastronomy. “I felt more independent in the sense of not depending on others to cook something for me that I feel like eating. In addition to knowledge in cooking, I was praised for many foods that I made in quarantine.” Isabella points out that it is important to use your time available in the kitchen. “The tip I give to beginners is that the person really dedicates time to it, without being in a hurry, maintaining hygiene and also being very careful not to get burned when preparing.” 

Starting with simple recipes and then increasing the degree of difficulty was the secret for Suzana Rodrigues, 19, a journalism student, to onboard in the kitchen. In the quarantine, the student was able to dedicate herself to something that went beyond her food. “Certainly, quarantine has made people’s relationship with the kitchen completely different from just an obligation. For me, cooking has become something therapeutic, where I can control anxiety and do something for everyone who lives with me”.

Recipe for beginners

Mistakes and successes are common in the kitchen, but to make everything easier we bought a recipe indicated by our cook Larissa Lopes. An ideal cake for those who want to start. According to the professional, the recipe allows several simple substitutions that make it possible to change the flavor, check it out!

Base of the Easiest Cake in the World

• 3 eggs
• 1 glass of sugar (those of curd, you know?)
• 2/3 cup of oil
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• Beat everything in the blender, except wheat flour and yeast;
• With the help of a whisk, add the flour and yeast and stir until there are no lumps and it is very beautiful and homogeneous;
• Arrange in a hole shape in the middle, or whatever you prefer, already greased with butter or oil and wheat flour;
• Bake at 180 °C for 25min or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Tips

• Only open the oven after the first 15 minutes, this prevents your cake from taking a thermal shock and wilting;
• Put the cake in the oven with it already warm;
• Before molding, let it cool on a grill (it could be the stove). Thus, there is less risk of it breaking, because it is cold, and not wilting, because it is not in direct contact with a cold surface.

Variations

• Coconut – Add 2/3 cup of grated coconut when beating
• Chocolate – Add 2/3 cup of powdered or chocolate (with chocolate it tastes better and less sickening) at the time of beating;
• Corn Meal – Replace 1 cup of wheat flour with 1 cup of cornmeal
•  Orange – Replace milk with juice from the fruit itself
•  Carrot – Replace the milk with 300g of carrots, without the peel
•  Without Gluten – Replace the flour with 1 part rice flour, 1/2 part cornstarch and 1/2 almond flour

• cooking
• kitchen
• quarantine