8 Fundamental Tips for Home Cooking

Whether you’re new to home cooking or an experienced veteran, these are the 8 fundamental tips every home cook should be using to make the biggest difference in the kitchen at home with the smallest amount of effort - the highest ROI (return on investment) if you will. These are the things you’d be silly not to do, and common tips even Michelin star chefs preach at home. Let’s begin.

The first tip starts before you’ve even picked up a pan… by creating a weekly menu. Instead of buying a bunch of random ingredients and cooking on the fly, pick the meals you’ll cook each week and list them down, treating it as if you’re a restaurant with a menu, taking pride in what you’re making and looking forward to each dish. Now I know you might be thinking “that’s a lot of effort, and I’m not a restaurant”, but once it’s a habit, the whole process becomes an organised system that flows like butter.

Here’s how it works. Work out how many meals you need that week (you might be out some nights, or always do a Friday takeaway), then flick through your recipe cards, cookbooks or old reliables and pick the ones you’d love to have. Then list every ingredient and check it against what’s already in the kitchen, so you only buy what you need. It’s the least thrilling step, but the one you’ll thank yourself for the most: no making meals up halfway down a supermarket aisle, no going back to the shops for the thing you forgot, and more time to potter around the snack aisle.

So that was the longest tip, but here’s the shortest… Read the Recipe. That’s right, simply read the recipe in full before you start preparing or cooking.

The amount of times we’ve stormed ahead, prepared everything, then got to step 3 only to realise the oven needed to be on, or that we actually had a 45 minute window to prep whilst something cooked in the oven. Read it once, start to finish, before doing anything else.

Now this sounds fancy, because it is. Mise en Place translates to “Everything in its Place”, and is a fundamental concept in professional kitchens - although just as important in home kitchens. Simply put, it’s the practice of preparing and organising everything before you start cooking: getting out your recipe and equipment, then gathering, weighing and preparing every ingredient (chopping produce, making sauces, marinating meats).

Of all the tips, this is without a doubt the one that makes home cooking life the easiest, because oh my does it remove stress. No panic chopping whilst something’s frying away, and no realising you’re missing a key ingredient halfway through. Yes, it adds 5-10 minutes at the start, but the calm it buys is without a doubt worth it. Think of it as adopting a new zen mindset to the cooking process.

This little trick is one you’ll think is completely unnecessary, that is until you try it - then there’s no going back. The table top pot is just that, a little pot or bowl on the counter where you put food trimmings, used utensils, and packaging waste as you go, so you’re not going back and forth to the bin or dishwasher (and opening bin lids or touching surfaces with messy hands).

You may have unknowingly used this trick before, perhaps using the leftover meat tray or mushroom punnet to collect scraps, then tipping it all in the bin at the end. The table top pot is simply the intentional version of that. You can even use something that complements your kitchen, just make sure it’s dishwasher proof, that way it goes in at the end of each meal, ready for the next.

Now I know you’ve heard this a million times, but it’s for a good reason. A sharp knife is faster, as it cuts cleaner, and safer, as it’s easier to control and less likely to slip. Keep it that way by honing it every few uses (the cool thing chefs do with that metal rod, and it only takes 30 seconds), and sharpening it on a whetstone every few months (please don’t use a pull-through sharpener, it will ruin your beloved blade).

Here’s the hack we use. Sharpening on a whetstone is easy, but it’s pretty boring, and the last thing you want to be doing before dinner. So instead, we use a local knife sharpening service, which costs between £5-£10 per knife: drop them off on a day you won’t be cooking, pick them up the next. Then all that’s left is honing the blade every few days, which let’s be honest is both fun and fast.

An incredibly easy and fast tip is to season as you go, otherwise known as “layering” - this is where you season (e.g. salt & pepper) your food at regular intervals during the cooking process, rather than all at the end. Layering allows flavours to develop as you cook, resulting in far greater depth and balance.

This doesn’t mean adding vast amounts of seasoning, it just means spreading it out. For example, seasoning your vegetables whilst they fry, seasoning your meat before it even enters the pan, seasoning again once it’s all combined, then finally when you serve. It also means you’re tasting as you go, so you can adjust and end up with a flavour that suits your tastebuds best.

As home cooks we value time immensely, because quite frankly there just isn’t enough of it, and some ingredients are an absolute pain to prepare (we’re looking at you garlic). So here are our highest ROI swaps: frozen chopped garlic or ginger (or a paste) instead of peeling and chopping, stock paste instead of making stock, bottled lemon and lime juice instead of fresh, frozen or cupboard herbs that won’t spoil in a few days, and frozen chillies you can scoop by the teaspoon (no more touching your eyes - we’ve been burnt a few times, pun very much intended).

Now bear in mind these swaps come at a price - literally, as they’re usually a little more expensive than their bare bones options. And where an ingredient is the star of the dish, or the recipe finishes with a fresh herb garnish, fresh might still be worth the time. But for most recipes, they save a tonne of prep without losing much in flavour.

Most recipes will tell you the level of heat to use, but there’s a few heat control fundamentals that are good to know regardless. High heat is for browning meat and veg, low heat for slowly bringing herbs, spices and sauces together, and anything milk based (cheese, cream, etc) goes in on low or no heat so it doesn’t curdle (clumping… eww!). And always let your pan heat up first before adding oil, followed by your ingredients, as a hot pan browns better and stops things sticking.

Don’t overcrowd the pan either, otherwise you’ll steam instead of brown (that thin layer of liquid you can’t seem to get rid of), so cook in batches: veg first, set aside, then your meat, and combine at the end. Finally, don’t wash away the brown bits left in the pan, as they pack a massive amount of flavour. Instead, deglaze with a splash of wine, stock, or vinegar to lift them back into the dish as you continue to cook.