Equipment
This sounds obvious but is the most important thing. Using the wrong pan or knife can be time-consuming, make life difficult and even sometimes be dangerous but here’s the thing: You need a lot less stuff than you think:
- A good sharp cook’s knife with a 6-8” blade. You are more likely to cut yourself with a blunt knife believe it or not so keep it sharp
- A good long bread knife
- A sharp thin long carving knife
- Scissors
- A small sharp knife for cutting fruit etc
- A peeler. You can do this with a knife but why make extra work for yourself?
- Pans. You get what you pay for (more or less) but avoid aluminium – there’s a reason they’re cheap. Stainless steel is cool because they go on the heat but you can also put them in the oven. Don’t go for wooden or plastic handles – plain steel is best. Enamelled stuff like le Creuset pans look cool but weigh a ton and cost a fortune. And they also always have a spout so the lid doesn’t fit properly.
- A casserole dish with a lid (le Creuset are really good at these – cast Iron ones are great because they go on the hob, the earthenware ones are good for the oven but don’t go on the heat)
- Gratin dishes of different sizes – earthenware
- A cheese grater – the box type that has different sized holes on different sides
- Roasting tins. These are either steel or aluminium. You get what you pay for but none are that expensive so if you buy cheap ones then just be prepared to chuck them when they are spent.
That’s about it
Store cupboard
Some things matter and some things don’t. Fresh garlic, if you can get it, is more fragrant than the dried stuff but the dried stuff is great. Fresh pasta feels nice and cooks quickly and is more expensive but the dried stuff is just as good for most things. However things not to muck around with are:
- Salt: Get Maldon Sea Salt and a plastic thing of “table salt”. They do different things – I’ll differentiate between them in the recipes but the table salt should be used for seasoning in bulk such as when you put salt in a pan of boiling water that you’re going to cook pasta in and sea salt is proper.
- Olive Oil: Try different ones – they are more different than you think but remember that extra virgin is not necessary for all recipes so use a decent quality ordinary one for frying etc – I’ll point out where to use what in the recipes. My preference is for Greek or Middle-Eastern oil rather than Spanish or Italian – they tend to have more flavour for some reason but find one or two you like.
- Always have both types – a greenish “cold-press” usually sold as “extra virgin” and a golden warm press, just known as Olive oil. Just so you know – they press the olives and get as much cold-press as they can because they can sell it for more. They then use heat and pressing for what’s left and that is the ordinary stuff. You need both in my opinion – don’t cook with the green stuff unless it is explicitly part of the recipe. If a recipe in here says Olive Oil it’s the cheaper golden stuff, when I think you need Extra Virgin I’ll say so.
- Other oils: Groundnut is cool for frying stuff. Any vegetable, sunflower, whatever are great too. Like Olive Oil it’s horses for courses. Sesame oil adds a nice flavour but add a few drops, don’t cook in it
- Butter. By the time you read this you’ll know my opinion about so-called “spreads”. Even if you feel you have to eat them, although I can’t imagine why you would, don’t cook with them as they are made of poo, dog vomit and yellow paint.
- Black Pepper: Don’t buy it already ground – grind it as you need it – it is much nicer
- White Pepper: Out of fashion but lovely – hotter and less aromatic than black and better with fish. I like it pre-ground as it makes it seem even drier and hotter but try it and see what you think.
Always have these things in you cupboard or freezer and you will be able to make something nice without having to shop at midnight or eat a kebab when you get in from the pub with the munchies:
- Long grain rice (Basmati is easily the best)
- Short grain rice (sold as Risotto rice, Paella rice or sometimes Sushi rice) Arborio or Carnaroli are the best in my opinion
- Red lentils – these are nice because when you cook them they kind of dissolve into a thick peppery paste – great for curries and soups
- Green lentils – these are nice because when you cook them they don’t kind of dissolve into a thick peppery paste
- Canned tuna (in brine or water rather than oil)
- Anchovies in oil
- Canned tomatoes – whole or chopped makes no difference although chopped are easier for most things. Don’t buy them with garlic or herbs or anything else added – you can do that yourself
- Plain flour
- Mustard. You could write a book about this on its own but just get what you like – French and Dijon are nicer, in my opinion, than the bright yellow “English” but its your call.
- Stock cubes. Let’s be honest we won’t be making our own stock very often. Look for the ones with the least crap in them – good old OXO seem to be the best. Get beef, chicken and veg
- Garlic
- Frozen peas. Better than fresh in most cases and take about 2 minutes to cook
- Finish this later
Weights and measures
Say “No” to Brussells! I am not comfortable with grams and litres because we grew up with ounces and pints but I’ve learnt to convert and you should probably try to do the same. I have tried to remember to put the imperial and metric values for each thing but where I have forgotten refer to the table below to convert.
When you are in the supermarket buying stuff just try to remember that a pint is about half a litre and a pound (lb) is about half a kilo and that will be accurate enough when you are buying stuff.
When you are buying meat just try to think that each person should get about 8oz (1/2 lb or about 225g) each for a main course. With fish it’s about 6oz.
I tend not to weigh things but have had to make guesses to give you a guide but just remember that if I give a recipe for, for example, a stock and it says something like 1lb of meat, it will be ok to use ½ lb or 2lb – it will just be stronger or weaker but you will get used to what works for you. It is all just a guide.
Except for anything to do with flour. This needs to be accurate because pastries and breads are just about the only thing that gets completely messed up if you use the wrong ratios of ingredients.
Using this site
There are three ways round the site:
- The menu is pretty obvious but as the categories grow that will be harder to navigate
- If you want to search on the main ingredient or something you fancy then look at the tag cloud on the top right
- Or try a google-type search on the right in the Search box
