How to cook

Many of us are not eating properly simply because we don’t know how to cook. There’s a common misconception that cooking takes ages, and when we’re busy, it’s simply just much easier to punch a few holes into a ready meal pack and throw it into a microwave for 3 minutes.

You can cook many dishes from scratch in just 30 minutes, and I’ll include recipes on this site that are healthy, nutritious and fast to make, but first you need to learn how to cook! There are a few steps that you need to go through first

How to use a knife

How to select fruit and vegetables

How to prepare different fruit and vegetables

The basics of cooking measurements

We’ll deal with these each in turn so that you can confidently prepare each of the recipes we provide you.

Knife Skills

First, you’ll need a good knife! You only need one! Seriously, very few people use all of the array of knives you can buy in a knife pack. Just one chef’s knife will do 90% of your work. Here’s a video showing you how to select a knife and the basic chopping skills:

OK, now that you have a knife, you must keep it sharp! This is important because you’re more likely to injure yourself in the kitchen than any other room in the house. I had a look a few videos because I want to share with you the safest way to sharpen a knife. I saw Jamie Oliver’s and nearly passed out cold as he sharpens the knife with the blade flying across the steel toward him!! No no no…away from you, always!! Please see Gordon Ramsay demonstrating a better way:

Now that you know how to sharpen and use a knife safely, and less likely to slice yourself during your meal preparation, let’s look at how to chop different vegetables. These techniques will really save you time in the kitchen, so it’s worth giving this page some time!

First, onions will feature a lot in the recipes I share with you, so here is Jamie Oliver showing you how to prepare an onion. Please, do not even consider chopping as fast as he is, and remember that claw action from Dani’s video – Jamie does use the claw, but it’s a bit more subtle.

And finally, here is a video teaching you the various methods of chopping because these terms are often used in recipes: rough chops, dicing, julienne cuts etc. You may not want to be as perfect as this guy, remember – he’s a chef! I’m certainly not this fussy!

Next > How to select fruit and vegetables