Kitchen Skills
Learn to cook. Then cook anything.
Recipes tell you what to do. Skills tell you why, and once you have the why you can cook without the recipe. These are the eight that matter, in the order cooking schools teach them, because each one leans on the one before it. Running through all of them is one method: salt, fat, sugar, acid, then heat.
Read one, do the drill, then cook one of the recipes under it. That is the whole method: a little understanding, then your hands. All eight are free.
- 01 / 08Set upStart every meal calm, with everything within reach.Start here →
- 02 / 08KnivesCut faster, safer and more evenly, with three knives you will use for life.Start here →
- 03 / 08CookwareKnow which pan to reach for, and why, before the heat goes on.Start here →
- 04 / 08Dry heatSear, sauté, roast, grill and broil, and get browning on purpose.Start here →
- 05 / 08Moist heat and slow cookingBoil, simmer, poach, steam, braise and sous vide, and make tough cuts tender.Start here →
- 06 / 08Stocks and saucesTurn the brown bits in the pan into a sauce, every time, from memory.Start here →
- 07 / 08Building a plateInvent a dinner from what is in the fridge, and make it taste finished.Start here →
- 08 / 08Kitchen termsRead any recipe and know exactly what it is asking.Start here →
After the eight
One method at a time.
Each way of cooking has its own full lesson: what it is, why it works, the steps, and what to do when it goes wrong.