Foundations

Foods

Everyone has their favourite foods. Foods that I like, I call my Go-To Foods. Foods that I absolutely love, I call my Magical Foods. My MFs are the foundation of my kitchen and my GTFs revolve around them. Each of those foods belong to a Food Group (proteins, vegetables, fruits, grains and dairy), and also to a Food Family, like shellfish, wet cheeses, stone fruits). You don’t need to learn the composition of every food (impossible) – you just need to know to which Food Families they belong. Understanding these families help you adapt recipes and make substitutions.

• Go-To Foods

• Magical Foods

• Food Groups and Families

See Foods ⟶

Tastes

Every food belongs to a Taste Family . To the five classic families (sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami), you can add another three (fatty, spicy and astringent). Creating tasty dishes is a fundamental skill. You learn how to pair two foods based on their respective tastes. For example, salty foods like sweet foods (prosciutto and melon, ham and pineapple), while umami foods like bitter foods (tomatoes and rocket, anchovies with Brussel sprouts). Texture Families help you take advantage of the properties of foods like mushy bananas, creamy yoghurt, crumbly feta. Creating your own Taste & Texture Pairings based on your favourite foods, is the second principle for storing your magical kitchen, and super-easy to do!

• Taste Families

• Texture Families

• Taste & Texture Families

See Tastes ⟶

Flavours

Packing a dish full of flavour takes your cooking up a notch. Unlike food and taste families there is no universally agreed list of flavour families. What one chef calls a food floral, another chef calls fruity. Another chef calls a food grassy or verdant. You need some simple Flavour Bases and an understanding of Flavour Families to get going. Bases are easy. Pairings take some time and effort – but if little else, I swear it will help you filter out the good recipes from the dud ones.

• Flavour Bases

• Flavour Families

• Flavour Cheat Sheets

See Flavours ⟶

Fixtures

Scents

Herbs and spices are the culinary equal of  enhancing an otherwise simple get-up (crisp white shirt, jeans and leather jacket) with a kick-arse accessory or two (gem-encrusted flats, panama hat). Herbs and spices are what I call Go With Foods – none of them is worth eating on their own, many are the beating heart of particular cuisines (Chinese, Mexican, Scandi) and certain dishes (two obvious being Vanilla Ice Cream and Chilli con Carne). Understanding Scent Bunches and Scent Capsules are key here - buying only those scents that compliment your favourite foods. What you don’t want is a a drawer or cupboard packed with more herbs and spices than Imelda Marcos’ shoes (somewhere between 3000-plus!)

• Scent Bunches

• Scent Capsules

• Using Scents in Cooking

See Scents ⟶

Condiments

I think condiments are the unsung heroes of the culinary world. They don’t get a lot of attention in the world of cooking, but in my experience, they punch above their weight in the kitchen. Condiments are the second group of Go With Foods, to include oils & vinegars, mustards, sauces & pastes and preserves to create Condiments Clusters. While we link herbs and spices to foods (dill with potatoes, cucumbers, beets), we link condiments to cuisines (pesto, plum sauce, pomegranate molasses to Mediterranean, Chinese and Middle Eastern dishes respectively). The basic rule for using condiments is to let geography and traditions to guide your choice of which one you want to use.

• Condiment Families

• Condiment Clusers

• Using Condiments in Cooking

See Condiments ⟶

Potions

This step is for adults only, please. Potions are the last group of Go With Foods. Booze has long enhanced the world of cooking. It remains fundamental to gastronomy and comes in all types of flavours, concentrations and colours. What you need to know is the different Alcohol Strength and Alcohol Properties that they have. You can then learn about using booze in cooking. Most alcoholic drinks are region-based (Calvados from France, Amaretto from Italy) and which found their way into the relevant regional cuisine (Poulet a la Normande, and Tiramisu). The cost of alcohol makes it prohibitive for most of us to stock in quantity, so the way to use potions economically is to build up a preserve of pocket-sized miniatures. You can buy these in wine shops.

• Alcohol Strength

• Alcohol Properties

• Using Alcohol in Cooking

See Potions ⟶

Finishes

Colours

There is no reason why you can’t create colourful, visually grabbing dishes on your own. You simply need to brush up on colour wheels and how they are used in food-plating and styling. The colour of foods also provide clues to the underlying nutrients and which deliver different health benefits. Colourful dishes are nutritionally-packed. What you want are some Colourful Riots – drawing on the rainbow colours of nature. A trio of potato, carrot and parsnip will meet your test of taste, but it will fall short of meeting the test of sight. The over-used cherry tomato plopped on top of a piece of fish or meat is better than being plain, but a glistening portion of steamed broccoli will make a better impact.

• Colourful Riots

• Nutritious Colours

• Using Colours in Cooking

See Colours ⟶

Divas

Common to many a creative endeavour (which cooking is), there comes the moment when the creator wants to add a final detail to complete and perfect their magnum opus – their ‘great work’. We need some Diva Foods – an assortment of decorations and embellishments that create those magical final details. I call them Divas, but you might know them as garnishes or finishes. Divas are not to be confused with those naff garnishes we used to see dotting buffet tables (spiralised radishes, rose-formed carrots). What youo want are some Diva Combos to turn all of your hard work into a piece of art.

• Diva Food

• Diva Combos

• Diva Cheat Sheets

See Divas ⟶

Occasions

You want each course to be nice – but also to make sure each course fits together as a whole. This is not always the easiest thing to do when you are just starting out. There are some Occasion Basics to help you create your own, personal menus. Also some Occasion Options & Tips. Without doubt, the least stressful approach to creating a menu is to stick to one type of cuisine throughout. Over time, you will work out how to play ‘tag’ with cuisines that have a high degree of commonality in terms of raw ingredients – Spanish and Mexican, for example. Once you have mastered this, you will be a mere hop and a skip away from creating menus that really impress.

• Occasion Basics

• Occasion Options

• Occasion Tips

See Occasions ⟶