Cooking 101: Patricia Wells
(Morrow, Mar.)
What’s the most essential kitchen tool?
I would say the chef’s head: an ability to stay organized and clean in the kitchen.
What skills do you admire most in other chefs?
Knife skills, creative abilities, modesty.
What’s your top tip for novice cooks?
Begin with a repertoire of 10 recipes and make them over and over again, until you are satisfied that you have mastered them. Practice, practice, practice.
Cooking 101: Samin Nosrat
(Simon & Schuster, May)
What’s the best basic recipe to have in your back pocket?
A roast chicken. [Nosrat’s go-to version is the buttermilk brined roast chicken featured in her book.]
What’s the toughest skill to master?
Being patient in the kitchen.
What skills do you admire most in other chefs?
Generosity and kindness.
What’s your top tip for novice cooks?
Taste everything!
Cooking 101: Rachael Mamane
Mastering Stocks and Broths
(Chelsea Green, June)
What’s the most essential kitchen tool?
While a chef’s knife might be the most practical answer, my grandmother would insist that a well-seasoned pan is the most essential kitchen tool. In Moroccan culture, tagines are considered family heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation, from mother to bride and so on.
A well-seasoned pan is not only indicative of heritage, but years of use and care will add flavor to your food.
What’s your top tip for novice cooks?
Be patient, not only with yourself but also with ingredients. Sometimes we learn more from making a mistake than executing with success
on the first try. If a dish doesn’t come out the way you expect, turn it into something else first, and then try the original again.
Cooking 101: Izy Hossack
The Savvy Cook
(Mitchell Beazley, July)
What is the most essential kitchen tool?
Your senses. Visual, flavor, textural, and scent cues will guide you through making a dish better than any stopwatch or recipe will.
What is the toughest skill to master?
Adapting or changing baking recipes is pretty tough to do well. Once you the hang of basic baking it becomes a bit less daunting to swap ingredients around, but it can still be tricky to get right.
What’s a tip you always give a novice cook?
Read all the way through a recipe before starting. It’s always useful to see whether you’ll need to watch a video beforehand if there are special skills needed. You can also then see if the recipe requires a large amount of waiting time, like chilling it in the fridge for an hour, so you don’t get caught out later. You’re also less likely to mess a recipe up as you won’t accidentally skip a step.
Cooking 101: Alison Cayne
The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School
(Artisan, Apr.)
What is the most essential kitchen tool?
Nothing can happen in the kitchen without a sturdy, supersharp chef’s knife.
What’s the toughest skill to master?
I find butchering a chicken challenging. I watch [Haven’s Kitchen] culinary director David Mawhinney break down several chickens in just a few minutes, and he makes it look so simple and effortless—his knife glides right through, separating the birds into eighths. It’s never that easy for me, but I’m working on it.
What’s your top tip for novice cooks?
Learn one or two sauces. I don’t mean an Escoffier sauce, but a salsa verde, tahini sauce, pesto. You can use them on all sorts of dishes to change up the flavors and presentations.
