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WHEN MOST OF us first begin cooking for ourselves and our loved ones, it can feel like a triumphant mini-miracle when we manage to get something edible on the table – taste and flavour don’t necessarily come into it at this stage.
But what are the steps that take a beginner cook to the next level of culinary exploration? What are some simple ways a person can improve their cooking skills?
Food writer and home cook Aoife McElwain has recently graduated from being a competent beginner to a regular purveyor of rather decent home cooked meals. Here are some of the tricks she’s picked up along the way, and a few tips from some of the people she has learned from.
1. Get acquainted with your salt and pepper. It’s hard to believe that something so small could have such an astoundingly impactful effect on how our food taste. Get notions and eschew standard table salt for sea salt, and get yourself a good pepper mill. Your dinner will be elevated by a simple sprinkle and twist.
2. Use fresh ingredients wherever possible. Whether it’s mint, coriander or parsley, shop-bought or home-grown, a bunch of freshly chopped herbs can hide even the ugliest curry or stew and freshen up the dullest of salads or pasta dishes. Not only do they add flavour but fresh herbs can stimulate your sense of smell and sight, too.
Herbs aside, sometimes the missing ingredient to a sauce, a soup or a salad is a squeeze of lemon or lime. Go sweet with a squeeze of orange or bitter with a squeeze of grapefruit. One should always have some fresh citrus fruits in the house. Sourcing great quality meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables will change your approach to cooking and enhance your relationship with food. When you know where your food comes from, it might encourage you to treat it with more respect and care.
3. Practice the same few dishes… a lot. Even if practice doesn’t make perfect exactly, it definitely makes things easier on a fledgling cook. Pick three recipes and practice them until you positively master them. The perfect trio to start with are a good tomato-based pasta sauce, a roast chicken recipe and a lovely lemon drizzle cake. Once you’ve practiced and mastered these, you’ll soon see that it’s easy to divert from the basic principles that make these recipes work.
You can experiment with your tomato sauce by using it as a base for a sausage stew with preserved lemons. Roast your chicken with a hint of Middle Eastern flavours by using Ras-El-Hanout. Make a blood orange and rosemary drizzle cake instead of a lemon drizzle cake. When you practice and master basic recipes, you’ll soon see there are patterns in cooking that you can follow and use as launching pads for your own experimentation.
4. As much as possible, plan your meals in advance. It’s often when you’re caught on the hoof that you settle for underwhelming take-aways or end up eating cocoa pops for dinner. That’s fine every once in a while but a little bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to elevating your suppers, especially on weeknights.
Ali Honour, chef and owner at Ali’s Kitchen in Cork, promotes planning as a skill for a good home cook. “A good rule to being a better home cook would be to plan your weekly meals so that you know what you’re buying,” says Honour. This will give you more time in your busy week ahead, as well as helping to cut down on food waste while saving you money.”
For Ali Dunworth, food writer, TV producer, stylist and consultant, lists are where it’s at. “For cooking, and especially if you’r doing two or more recipes together or a big meal, I always break the recipes down into my own running order and timing list, and tick things off the list as I go. It gives me great satisfaction, and I’m less likely to forget to put things in and out of the oven, for example.”
5. Always have your staples on hand. Hot sauces. Soy sauces. Mustards. Spice mixes. Fancy condiments. Salt with notions. You simply must have a good storecupboard built up if you want to get to the next level of home cooking. Niamh Fox, chef and owner of the newly opened Little Fox in Ennistymon, Co Clare, agrees. “Always have condiments in your house. Food and snacks are so easy to whip up if you just have some tasty stuff to put on it,” she says.
“Try boiled broccoli and toasted sesame oil – yum – or cook brown rice and add tamari, toasted seeds and chilli oil. That’s a delicious meal and you’ve actually only cooked one thing. It’s all in the sauce.” Luckily, we put together an essential list of 10 storecupboard staples recently. This top “ten” actually includes nearly twenty essential items. You’re welcome.
6. Buy a few good bits of equipment (not every gadget under the sun). “Spend money on the right equipment,” advises Myles Lamberth from Shells Cafe in Strandhill, Co Sligo. “Buying the best ingredients is what will make you a better cook, so consider that when buying your knives, pots and pans.”
7. And learn how to use them properly. Once you’ve invested in a few good pieces for your kitchen, the next step is to learn how to use them. Rachel Flynn, owner and chef at independent delicatessen Salt & Stove in Dublin 8, emphasises the importance of knife skills in particular. “You can take a class in knife skills or watch YouTube videos,” says Flynn. “Either way, learning how to chop veggies fast or debone a chicken all while keeping your fingers intact will make your life in the kitchen much more enjoyable.” YouTube is also your friend when it comes to instructional videos for basic skills like poaching eggs, chopping an onion efficiently or cooking steak exactly how you like it.
8. Do your research… in whatever way you enjoy most. Sure, cookery shows on TV tend to ramp up the drama and there isn’t much for a home cook to learn from an angry celebrity chef shouting at contestants in an outlandishly pressurised competition. There are, however, genuine lessons and tips to be learned from the more demure shows like Great British Bake Off or How To Cook Well with Rory O’Connell. Read about food in cookbooks, online and in magazines. A marvellous book for those who are looking to stretch their cooking muscles is Nikki Segnit’s The Flavour Thesaurus. Not quite a collection of recipes, it instead helps you understand what flavours work together and guides you towards understanding food at a level beyond strict recipes. And don’t forget that eating food is research, too.
9. If you’re baking, start with everything at room temperature. Caryna Camerino, owner and chief baker of Camerino Bakery on Capel Street in Dublin, says that most cake and cookie recipes work best when the butter, milk and eggs are all at the same room temperature. “Take the ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before you begin,” she advises. If it’s pastry you’re making, however, cold butter is best.
10. Clean as you go. Harry Colley, chef at The Fumbally Cafe in Dublin and co-host alongside chef Aoife Allen of the With Relish podcast, says the secret is to clean as you go. “There’s nothing more stressful than being surrounded by mess,” he says. “It sucks all the fun out of cooking and clogs your headspace. Anytime I’ve injured myself cooking, the place was a state. If there’s tonnes of washing up at the end it’ll discourage you from cooking at all. And if you have an ‘I cook, you clean’ scenario at home, then the person cleaning up a disproportionate mess after you will resent you even if they say they don’t. Keep on top of the cleaning up by doing a quick counter wipe and a three minute sink scrub to clean as you go.”
11. And finally, remember: you’re not on Masterchef. Perhaps the most potentially transformative thing for a home cook to regularly remind yourself that you are not a contestant on Masterchef. Striving for perfection is fine for professionals but you’re just cooking for yourself and your loved ones, right?
Don’t worry if you make a mistake or something doesn’t turn out quite right – learn from it and move on to the next recipe. Relax into cooking and use it as a way to wind down, instead of winding yourself up about soufflés and sous-vides. A relaxed home cook is a happy home cook, and some people say that a cook’s happiness can be tasted in their food.
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Any list of those centres which are fully operational, so I can avoid a partial test,which is utterly ridiculous.
@Leonard O’mahony: Fonthill have two lifts operating. My car passed full NCT last night.
@Leonard O’mahony: add Northpoint 2 to your list. I’m not sure if its’s one, some or all of the lifts functional but my car got tested last week and had the full inspection
Who made the decision to purchase all lifts from the same supplier ? Major rule of thumb in business……spread your risk as much as possible so as to not leave yourself at the mercy of one and one only.
@Nosmo King: another major rule of thumb is to have commonality of training and parts to reduce down-time for training and cost of parts on the shelf. Like everything in real business it’s a matter of balancing risks
Can’t they just buy new lifts? They’ve raked in hundreds of thousands of Euro’s, not like they’re struggling.
@Dublin Wings: it would probably take longer to replace them than repair then.
@Dublin Wings: more like Millions of Euro , joke of a system anyway .
@Dublin Wings: they are putting in new lifts. But lifts aren’t like liars of bread…..no one would have hundreds of lifts in stock anywhere – an order that size is exceptional and would be made to order.
@Dublin Wings: yes I totally agree with you…
@Dublin Wings: they were scheduled to start replacement of the lifts this summer before the faults in the current lifts were discovered, unfortunately they couldn’t accelerate that schedule as the supplier doesn’t have the stock available.
The guards (especially traffic corps) can and WILL take your car off you for an out of date NCT. I know because mine was out of date by two months in January and they took mine off me. The guard also tried to say that having an up-to-date NCT is a requirement from insurers and if your car is out on NCT then you’re NOT covered by your insurer (I doubt this). In short, this needs government intervention, no one should have their cars taken off them for lack of NCT in the wake of this.
@Roger Pollack: lifts where working pre Jan so that’s not the reason you had no nct , did you also not have tax and insurance
@Roger Pollack: having a valid nct is a requirement for insurance
@Roger Pollack:
I’d say your insurance will cover other parties but they will do what they can do not cover you and your car.
You’ve made it void by driving without a valid NCT cert.
@colm connolly: just read your insurance certificate.
No mention of the NCT on it.
@Peter: nope. just as the NCT is not accepted by insurance companies as proof of roadworthiness, the lack of NCT doesn’t invalidate your insurance. That’s why insurance companies still have assessors.
@Peter: axa make it quite clear that if you book and attend the partial test and the vehicle is roadworthy your insurance is valid – wording posted
@Roger Pollack: we don’t have a government
@Niall McNamara: Yes we do. Pre-election government and cabinet remain in place until replaced. Election has not ousted them yet.
@John Moylan: it’s not accepted for roadworthiness as the test is just a snapshot at a point in time, there are a lot of things that could happen in the intervening 2 years to make your vehicle non-roadworthy. The reason insurance companies require it is that it shows you at least make some effort to keep your vehicle up to an acceptable standard
@Cecil Orr: have you ever tried to renew your insurance around the same time as your nct ,the insurance company wont cover you if the nct is out of date within the next 2 months
If we missed an appointment or needed a recheck .. we would have to pay
if NCT cant do their job and someone has to go back because of their issue, they should pay or give a refund to the customer
@Dan: if the vehicle has passed the parts that were inspected then the inspection requiring the lift is free but if it fails on more than a visual inspection then that is a retest using equipment and not free. So effectively the ramp inspection only is free -
It would be great to know what one’s are effing well working.
I went in last week for a retest only to be sent home again, for some lady ahead of me it was her third time and she had to organise time off work and other stuff to get there.
We all make the applications online, why cant they email us back if there is a problem.
Pure balls of a system.
Not exactly connected to the article, but did anyone know that insurance underwriters had access to nct results?
@Logan Shepherd: won’t insure without valid full test for a friend I know
@William Bryan: Even though I have it in writing from my insurance company that not having an nct will not affect your premium. However when renewing my policy the agent said it was adding to my premium. My insurance and nct were out because the car was off the road for 5mts.
I see test cost rising
Just an idea here, what should be done is customers should be allowed to bring their car into an garage where a qualified mechanic who is every bit as experienced as an nct worker and get a written cert to say the car is road worthy. The nct is money spinner for the Government, the mot system in the uk is a far better system.
@aidan mccormack: Having dealt with both systems I can assure you that the NCT is better. Over there you bring your car to a Garage/Approved Mot and he can tell you every jaysus part is hanging off it and it will cost x, y or z to be fixed. The mechanic will then go ahead and fix said items for whatever he likes and certify the car. If that’s not a conflict of interest I don’t know what is. At least the NCT are independent and not affiliated with any type of repair shop. Granted it’s a pain in the gee but at least there’s a process of oversight and complaint to be had.
@aidan mccormack: there’s no requirement in the NCT vehicle tester job description for the applicants to be qualified motor mechanics
@Ros Kelly: Do you tell lies for a living or just on news sites? Check out the careers section on the NCT website and come back to me. I can provide a link if you wish.
@Bingobango: oversight you say? There is less than 0.1% of oversight & secondary inspectors, checks carried out each year by the oversight team. That’s not oversight it’s a heading in a report and nothing more. Whilst I agree with NCT system I don’t fell nearly half enough is done to ensure the inspections are carried out properly. If you note when an older car comes in there’s always a chat to be had with colleagues and then decisions to pass on the likes of a minor reason to get them back for a retest. I’ve watched my local centre staff for quite some time doing this. I’ve only ever failed 1 NCT on a CV boot on our second car (2008) but I watch them chat away each time car is tested since it became 10 yrs old.
@Ros Kelly: I dont think that right. Surely you have to be a mechanic to work in the nct centres.
@Trebor78: Oversight in the sense that they don’t make the rules, the are checked by auditors and you can contest the findings of the test on the day and through a complaints procedure. I don’t necessarily think lads talking to each other about an item is a bad thing, at least there’s a couple of opinions on the part rather than just failing it. Also they can only fail what the RSA tell them to fail, doesn’t matter if it’s a 5 year old or a 20 year old car.
Another job for the boys
@Sean Beirne: please, explain this theory. Good man. Jesus Christ.
So much for a prenentative maintenance procedure / programme…..
@Damian Moylan: there’s never an NDT guy around when you need one, is there ?? :)
Ffs
An organisation whose only purpose is to undertake mechanical repairs , has faulty mechanical items
Only in ireland
Any Accountability and responsibility and action taken , not in a million years
@Sk19: only in Ireland? Try northern Ireland/uk.
@Sk19: what do they repair??
@Alan: typo , inspections
Another job for the boys
I found this on the axa FB page
“We are aware of the of the ongoing issues at NCT test centres and that our customers may be concerned about their insurance cover. We can confirm that until this situation is resolved, AXA will cover any claims provided all other policy conditions are met. We advise all our customers to continue to book your NCT test when due, keep records of your recent car services and attend your NCT appointments.”
At least that is clear – unless you crash with a defective and un-roadworthy vehicle.
https://www.bbc.com › news
MOTs: About 5,000 tests cancelled over cracked lifts – BBC News – BBC.com
Yet in the north it’s a different story
@Dave Byrne: They offered 4 months extra on current certs due to expire plus half the cost of the MoT to be refunded.
Might be wrong.. if u have no tax.or nct . You have no insurance.. as both have to be in date . Otherwise your not insured ☹️
@Sean Beirne: you are wrong. tax & NCT have absolutely nothing to do with your insurance.
@John Moylan: incorrect maybe you should read your policy booklet
@John Moylan: incorrect maybe you should read your policy booklet.
Anyone affected should have a free test. Where are our politicians now?
I brought my car which has been off the road for 6 months for an NCT yesterday. Passed the “partial” test.
Phoned up to get it insured. Must have spoke to more than 10 insurance companies and all refusing to insure the car until full NCT is done.
2 week wait for the last part of the test to be done in Fonthill. Scandalous.
If they can spot faults in there lift’s over a long period of time they clearly can’t see faults in the cars,
Is it me or is this so ironic…. testing centres not testing itself???
Hypocrites. No preventative maintenance program
PEOPLE ALREADY PAID FOR FULL TEST BEFORE THEY GET CHECKED, NOTHING IS FREE,THE PEOPLE ARE PAYING THEMSELVES HAVING TO GO TWICE,AND I BELIEVE THEY DO A WEEKS COURSE/ TRAINING, TO BE TOLD WHAT THEY HAVE TO LOOK FOR IN N C T. BECAUSE THEY HAVE FAULTY MACHINERY, IS NOT THE CUSTOMERS FAULT, THEY SHOULD BE REIMBURSED.
have your say