Dishes Every Beginner Cook Should Master

Cream-based soup
"They all have the same basic ingredients," says Portland's St. Jack chef Aaron Barnett. "Garlic, onions, your vegetable of choice, your liquid of choice (whether chicken stock or vegetable stock or water), then cream and butter. The key is how you finish it at the end. Adjusting the salt, the acid, it's all a matter of tasting. That's one of the ways I get my cooks to learn how to work their palate out, by adjusting a soup so it tastes the best to them."

Whole roasted fish
"It's not very hard to do, and results are great," says chef Chip Roman of Blackfish in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. "Use a slender fish like branzino or trout because the cooking time will be more even and quicker. When the dorsal fin pulls right out, you know the fish is done."

Risotto

"I'd recommend risotto," says Miami chef Michelle Bernstein. "If you follow the recipe of a traditional risotto, if you have the stock hot and don't cook it over 20 minutes, it should be good. Risotto is easy to make, but you have to pay attention. And definitely stay off your stupid cellphone."