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A beef or chicken stew
a soup wtih pasta (beef or chicken)
switch out clams or shrimp for mussels
a indian dish (chicken tikka/butter chicken)
take the chicken parm and change it out for marsala or piccata
chuck roast (goulash, stew, stroganoff with mushrooms)
baked fried chicken
pesto chicken (baked with a pesto brushed on or grilled)
pork roast (so many ways to do this even as a pulled pork which you freeze and make into many meals)
somtimes pasta and a veggie or veggie lasagne
meal salads (steak,shrimp,chicken,salmon atop greens with accoutrement)
fajitas or burritos du jour with what you have on hand (make the Leo Maya/Mario chicken Verde)

Great post...get's us thinking!

-great grilled steak
-(a really good) meatloaf
-beef stew
-great chix noodle or tomato soup w/grilled cheese
-b-b-q pulled pork
-shrimp scampi
-Philly cheesesteak
-fried chicken (fried in bacon grease)
a few of my favs for now, will have more soon!:)

I'll add just a couple:

* various croquettes
* savoury pies, mini pies and quiches - endless possibilities for variety
* kebabs
* soups - again, so many possibilities here (oh, and salads, too)
* pizza

If I had to come up with 20 things a person should know, it wouldn't be recipes per se, but 20 basics that would lead to multiple dishes.

Like knowing how to make a good marinara sauce, which would be the basis for different pasta applications.

Add mushrooms, meat, meatballs to the marinara and it's a different sauce so it's not the same old thing. You can use the sauce on a multitude of pastas, or as a sauce for a number of other things, like meatball or Italian sausage sandwiches. Or over stuffed veggies. Or use the marinara on veggies, like summer squash or green beans. So it's one basic sauce that could turn into a large number of different dishes.

A good meatloaf recipe could be used for meatloaf or meatballs or stuffed inside peppers or other veggies.

Roasting a chicken isn't much different from roasting a turkey or even a hunk of beef. If you understand the concept, you can roast just about anything, and you'd just need to know what doneness you need and about how long it cooks. Then you can add different spices.

Same with braising/stewing. Know the cuts of meat that like to be braised, and what sorts of things you can add to the braise to make it different every time. You can serve your braised dish over noodles, rice, or with dumplings floating on top. Or on tacos. Or shredded and served on buns.

Same with pan-frying and grilling. Not much difference between a pork chop and a lamb chop in terms of technique. You just need to know how long to cook each one. Then, how to make a pan sauce or quick gravy from the juices. If you can grill a pork chop, you can grill a steak, hamburger, sausage or hunk of fish. It's the same technique.

Fish preparation would be good to know, depending on what fish you like and how you like it served. Poaching, frying, steaming, etc. Some of the techniques are the same as other proteins, but there are a few special things about cooking fish that would be useful to know.

Soups, stocks and gravies. They're all sort of related. If you know how to make stock, then creating a soup from that is just a matter of choosing veggies and seasonings, and it can be an endless number of dishes.

Egg dishes. Frittatas. Quiche.

Basic understanding of dough for pizza, calzone, etc. Quickbreads, biscuits, dumplings, cornbread.

Stir-frying basics for Asian dishes and fajitas-like foods.

Know how to cook rice, beans, pasta, veggies.

If you like breaded foods, that would be a good thing to learn. Once you've got the technique, you can bread a fish, chicken leg, a shrimp, or a steak.

If you like them, salads, like tuna salad, chicken salad, potato salad etc. Mayo or vinegar based or both.

I've probably gone over 20, but picking out 20 basics that are based on what you'd like to eat shouldn't be too hard, and then you wouldn't be stuck with the same 20 dishes over and over again.

Where can I stop:

Spaghetti with homemade meatballs
Beef Stroganoff
Chicken Diane
Meatloaf
Fried rice
Steak
Carnitas
Chile verde
breakfast (sausage/bacon, home fried potatoes and eggs)
In summer: Grilled, smoke and BBQ'd anything!! (I have grill, smoker and charcoal rigs which we use almost every night when it gets warm: chicken, ribs, tri-tip, smoked pork, hotdogs, corn on the cob, grilled potatoes with garlic and parmesan.
bracciole
taco salad
soups of all kinds
stews

probably more than 20..but that's what we eat.

JerzeeTomato covered all bases.
dbcurrie followed up
lamora closed the deal.
No one needs to say more.

Follow the leaders, they will take you to your food!

I kinda liked where dbcurrie was going before screwing it all up and now I have to fix what was trying to be said ; ) (love ya more than my folks dbcurrie) It isn't so much the dishes that would be a must know, but the different techniques of cooking that are "must knows". Without knowing how to poach, or to braise or perhaps how to shallow fry as just a few examples.... the rest is meaningless and you'll forever be torturing the family with casseroles and the like.

Make sure you first understand the techniques, then the world is your Oyster!

Chicken wings: they're cheap, super flavorful, and the sauce you toss them in can vary wildly. I use Mark Bittman's recipe from How To Cook Everything: http://bencookseverything.blogspot.com/2009/01/theres-no-shame-in-appetizers-for.html

what are muscles?

I'd say you need to know only 11 main categories, and everything else will grow out of these things. There are only so many ways to apply heat to food, after all.

1.) How to make a basic vinaigrette (and all salads are within reach)
2.) How to blanch/saute and recognize doneness in vegetables
3.) How to make a basic braise: sear meat, add vegetables and liquid (and all stews are within reach)
4.) How to roast a chicken
5.) How to eyeball a bechamel (master this quick flour/butter/milk sauce and you can make mac and cheese, or all manner of cream sauces for pasta)
6.) How to make a killer ragu (serve with pasta, or mix with bechamel, above, and you have a lasagna)
7.) How to make a pie crust (pot pies/sweet pies all within reach)
8.) How to sear and recognize doneness in meat and fish
9.) How to stagger cooking times for a proper stir fry (i.e. don't just throw it all in the wok and hope for the best)
10.) How to fry/scramble/make an omelet out of eggs
11.) How to make mashed/baked/gratin potatoes

This thread went in many different directions, which is cool. The conversation spawned from some friends discussing cook books and how it would take a year to get through the average cook book (and some of the interesting @home websites that do that such as nose to Tail/Alinea).

But, assuming you know how to cook, i.e.: the techniques dbcurrie and Michele Humes mentioned, what could you put on the table regularly to build a family/friends memories. I used to love taco night and spaghetti/meatballs nights growing up...

Personally, i could go for a lot of those dished more than once a month, and often do.

@ doron: hit the gym... and than have a plate of mussels.

@pav, you crack me up.

Yeah. Learn techniques. Learn what flavors marry well. Figure out what you like.

Then just go wild.

Recipes don't have to be a blueprint, they can be suggestions to build upon.

There are very, very, very few things that I make the same way every time. Or actually, I never make them the same, but there are a few where I want the result to be the same as the last time. While ingredients and quantities may change (fresh tomatoes vs canned for instance) I can get to the same end result because I know how to get there by look, feel, smell and taste.

Of course, sometimes I start off with no idea of what the end product will be. It's a little strange in my kitchen some days.

We rely heavily on one pot meals. They taste great, are easy to make and also come in handy for lunches the day after.

Vegetable Soup
Chicken Soup
Beef Stew
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Chicken and Dumplings
Seafood Gumbo
Pot Roast (followed by Pot Roast Hash)
Goulash
Shrimp Boil with potatoes and corn on the cob (all boiled in the same pot)

My husband is diabetic & we are learning to eat a lot more lentils & beans--with rice and a few vegetables they make wonderful, healthy, cheap, dinners. I would add to this list, homemade bean soup and lentil curries. Meats are easy to cook; expand your skills with seasonal vegetables and fruits and you don't have to repeat too often. We are inspired by Indian and Chinese cuisine, homestyle dishes are not difficult. And I would add sauces: learn to can some chutney, applesauce, pear butter, jams, lemon curd; freeze herbal butter--and the sauces make ordinary basics wonderful. Breads too--cornbread, naan, whole wheat bread, cinnamon buns.

I clearly need to learn some of these.

Some of my go to dishes include,

Spaghetti Carbonara
Pasta Puttanesca
Ma Pa Tofu
Lentil Soup with salt pork
Beef Stroganoff

Marinara
Ragu (long-simmered gravy with meatballs, sausage, et al)
Lasagna
Roast Chicken
Chicken Soup
Bread Stuffing
Good Vinaigrette
Mac & Cheese
Chocolate Cake
Pound Cake
Chocolate Pudding
Apple Crisp
Roast Beef
Shrimp Scampi
Properly Cooked Rice (this is the one I don't know)
Bread
Eggs O/E
Some form of Eggs Benedict
Pancakes/Waffles
Scones
Some decent lunch sandwich, i.e. Roast turkey breast, sliced brie, roasted peppers on crusty semolina bread
Brownies
As for muscles, I like mine sweated and pumped... (Sorry couldn't resist.) Mussels - marinara, fra diavolo or Thai with coconut milk or French with shallots, wine and chopped parsley.

This thread exemplifies why I love Serious Eats - intelligent discussion and great ideas. I always get downhearted when I look at seven (or twenty) meals all in a row, but I can get enthusiastic about them one at a time.

The main issue is time for me. For example, lasagne is not on my regular rotation, but spaghetti and clam sauce is. Also, potatoes cut up and tossed with olive oil and rosemary, then some chopped onions added, baked at a high temp for 45 minutes and then a ham slice placed on top until edges are crispy. Soup and homemade bread (5-minute artisan dough sitting in the fridge, thus easy and quick to bake). Broiled chicken thighs. Roast chicken. A big platter of roasted vegetables, like cauliflower, sprinkled with truffle oil, and some soup. Calzone (again using the bread dough) to use up spare vegetables. Curry.

do you mean mussels? or actual muscles?

What i like about the 20 meal approach is a way to combine those dishes you love and are willing to put out consistently (albeit with whatever variation), with the techniques discussed here for the best results.

Something we all know and hear repeatedly is the value of homemade stock. With a monthly list, it's easier to determine how much homemade chick stock is required per month for all your dishes: risotto, soup, braising and maybe a pan sauce for pork chops, etc. You can than determine how much to make at your convenient frequency weekly, monthly, etc.

The same can be done with tomato sauce for meatballs, lasagna, chicken parmesan, etc. It sounds all straightforward, but i have often gone to the freezer and found less quantities of the good home made stuff than i need...

One should learn 20 _techniques_ and that will yield unlimited numbers of different dishes. Amongst the techniques might be:

Braising (stew, pot roast, short ribs, lamb shanks, osso buco, coq au vin)
Roasting
Grilling and broiling
Stir Frying
Deep Frying
Poaching Meat and Fish
Poaching eggs
Assembling a salad dressing with variations, of course
Stock making
Flour-thickened sauces (gravy, white sauce, veloute, some cream soups, mornay sauce, souffle, croquettes, "al a king")
Breading meat or other foods in three steps (flour, egg, crumbs) for frying
Steaming vegetables
Oil-liaison sauces (mayonaise, hollandaise, bernaise, etc.)
Yeast breads
Baking powder biscuits and quick-breads
Pie dough
The butter method for cookies and cakes
Boiled custard (creme patisserie, sauce anglaise)
Deboning meats, poultry, and fish

Well, that's 19! Recipes are great inspiration but at the basis of all cooking and creativity in the kitchen and serving interesting leftovers, etc., is technique.

I yam vegemetarian. SO, using pantry staples like beans, rice, meat substitutes, etc., I like to go the seasonal and local (ahem) root...

Wintertime:
-potatos dauphinois (scalloped potatoes)
-roasted winter vegetables (hi squashes)
-vegetarian borscht
-sweet potato gnocchi
-stuffed bell peppers (and stuffed any vegetable, really)

Spring:
-Mediterranean "muffaletta" sandwiches
-eggplant parmigiana
-whole wheat pasta with peas, veggie bacon and ricotta
-asparagus soup or tossed with other fresh vegetables & whole grain noodle
-spinach and chickpea curry with basmati rice

Summer:
-BARBECUE everybody (vegetarians still grill non-meat burgers and stuff, yeah).
-zucchini grilled
-grilled veggie pizza
-gazpacho (sometimes turned into a bloody mary ;)
-salads with nut and berry combinations

Fall:
-tomato with basil, mozzarella
-veggie burritos with fresh salsa
-corn chowder, (ETC with corn)
-mashed potatoes all over the place
-pumpkin stew, goulash, pie, ravioli, I could go on forevs.

I wish it was summer right now.

dbcurrie:

If I had to come up with 20 things a person should know, it wouldn't be recipes per se,

Yeah, me too. I would add these to the list:

*What seasonings go well together according to different cuisines.
*How to make the kinds of sauces and seasonings most people buy in bottles or packets for $3-4 bux a pop: taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, fines herbes, teriyaki, Thai peanut -- in fact, anything less labor-intensive than chutney or ketchup.
*How to fry an egg!

Funny. After 44 comments, not a single reference to raw fish, either Japanese or Peruvian style. With the proper –and not that hard to learn–technique, sushi, sashimi, ceviche and tiradito can be a very addictive addition to home cooking. These are large families of food, as close to infinite variations and permutations as pasta

1. five varieties of grilled cheese with campbell's tomato soup (too tired to list but you can get fancy here!)
6. chicken marbella from the Silver Palette
7. Roasted chicken or at least chicken breast
8. Really really good mashed potatoes
9. Really good, cheesy (my preference) but not rubbery scrambled eggs and good bacon
10. pasta with red sauce
11. chili
12. meatloaf/hamburgers
13. roasted/grilled zuchinni and cauliflower
14. honey/sweet glazed salmon
15. garlic bread
16. correctly choosing and cooking corn on the cob (I am from Iowa)
17. tacos and/or enchiladas (also - your own guac - big time)
18. a tasty salad (I am not talking dressing, just good ingredients, washed, etc.)
19. at least pan fry a steak
20. pork chops

a nice big pile of beans (PINTO, BLACK,CANNELINNI ETC...) cooked with some veg, seasoned yummy and served over rice with tortillas and cheese on the side. You can feed everyone for pennies and it is good.
I think everyone covered everything else. Man I am hungry now!

My little nephew has called beef "cow muscle" since he was 3. He asked what the steak on his plate was, and that was his grandfather's answer! Now that's the only name for red meat in his world. haha

Beef Stew (of boeuf bourguignon for special days)
Fried/baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy
Good steaks (grilled or pan-fried)
Homemade salad dressings (one creamy, couple vinaigrettes)
Desserts: Apple Pie, chocolate Cake/Brownies, custard/cream pies
Soups (vegetable/minestrone, creamed soups)
Johnny Marzetti
Chili, cornbread
Roast chicken, vegetables, potatoes and pan sauce
Lasagne
Couple different spaghetti/linguine/fettucine recipes
Sauteed chicken breasts (and/or fish fillets) with pan sauce
Tacos
Enchiladas
Pot Roast (with carrots, taters and onions)
Pork chops, sweet potatoes
Composed salads (Nicoise, antipasto plates, tuna and greens)

I'm not sure we are down to 20 since my wife and I both cook. But like one of the posts above we start with a rotation of basics
* Beef (cuts vary from steak to roasts)
* Fish
* Pork
* Shell Fish (Shrimp, Clams, Oysters, Mussels)
* Chicken (includes turkey and other birds)
* Pasta
* Some times vegetables without the above (baked potatoes with toppings, etc.)

Then there is the rotation of preparation
* Bake
* Broil
* Fry (including stir fry)
* Barbecue (when it is not freezing)

And there is a variation of sauces, seasoning, and side dishes.
So there is never a case of too much repetition as there is always variety of these choices. And this does not even include the pizza and pasta quick dinners or the breakfast for dinner choices that we use every once in awhile.

yogiwan
Your Smart Kitchen

@lamora: Did you say bracciole? DROOL!!! So... what time did you say dinner was going to be served?! ;o

As with any list: give the 'how to" portion of the list. Anyone can make a list, show us you know what you are talking about, connect us to the recipies!

Grilled chicken
a good grilled steak
spaghetti olive oil and garlic
beef stew
chef salad or any large salad
chicken soup

I think that really depends on the audience, wouldn't you? I would say that macaroni and cheese may be essential because I have a small child at home, but I can count on one hand the number of times my parents have had mac and cheese in the past ten years.

Some of my staples:

I have 3 dishes I make with ground turkey or beef that can be whipped up in under 20 minutes -- one with worcestershire sauce and cheddar cheese, one with peppers, onions, fish sauce, sriracha and basil, and one that's a variation on sloppy joes.
Spaghetti Carbonara -- we almost always have bacon and eggs
Omelets -- They do in a pinch when the cupboard is bare
Various soups -- I make several variations on tortilla soup, which is a favorite in my house. I also frequently make butternut squash soup, and mushroom soup.
Panfried steak or pork chops with a pan sauce
Salad dressing
Beef Stew
Pot Roast
Tacos -- various fillings
Enchiladas -- various fillings

I can't imagine having only 20 dishes in my repertoire!

http://www.savour-fare.com

My personal Top 20:
1. Bacon and Potato Omelette (I'm from germany and can't live without my "Bauernfrüstück")
2. Pasta with a garlic sauce
3. Spaghetti with meatballs
4. Roasted Chicken
5. Kao Pad (I'm also half Thai, and grew up with this dish)
6. Pancakes
7. Steak
8. Pizza
9. Potato Soup
10. A good Sandwich
11. Satay Sticks
12. Mashed Potaoes
13. Meatloaf
14. Gravy
15. Thai Sausages
16. Green Cabbage and Smoked Pork Chop
17. Spareribs
18. Quesadillas
19. Burger with some Fries and Fried Onions
20. Double Mud Chocolate Cake