VideoProper food, properly explained.
Simple recipes, practical techniques and the confidence to cook them yourself.
Start with what you have
What are you cooking tonight?
Short on time? Cooking for a crowd? Just want to keep things simple? Start here.
- Under 30 minutesOn the table before you have talked yourself out of cooking.50 recipes
- One panOne pan in, one pan out. The washing up is the point.63 recipes
- Five ingredients or fewerShort shopping lists, built on things you probably have.51 recipes
- Feeding a familyScales up without falling apart, and everyone eats it.69 recipes
- Cooking for oneProper meals in single portions, with nothing going off in the fridge.22 recipes
- Batch cookingCook once, eat three times.19 recipes
On film
Latest from the channel
The three most recent. Each one opens the written recipe, so you can cook from it instead of scrubbing back through a video with wet hands.
Who is behind this
Hi, I’m Tom
I’m a chef in the North East of England, and I started at the bottom of the kitchen, washing dishes. More than 15 years later, I keep coming back to the same thing: good cooking isn't complicated. It's about getting the basics right.
So everything here is written for the person standing in the kitchen, wondering where to start.
More about me
Where to start
Tom’s picks
Not sure what to cook? These are some of the recipes I'd point you towards first.
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The layer under the recipes
Learn the basics
Understand the basics and you'll find yourself cooking with much more confidence.
- prepKnife skills, and getting set upA sharp knife, a board that does not slide, and everything chopped before the pan goes on.
- prepSeasoning, and tasting as you goSalt in layers while you cook, not in a panic at the end. And taste it, every time.
- heatBrowning and searingColour is flavour. Getting it needs a dry surface, a hot pan and the patience to leave things alone.
- heatRoasting meatHigh heat for colour, lower heat for the middle, and a rest that is not optional.
- heatBraising and slow cookingCheap cuts, a little liquid and a long time. The oven does the work and the dish improves overnight.
- heatShallow and deep fryingThe right oil at the right temperature, and enough space in the pan. Crisp is a temperature, not a technique.
Newest first
What’s new
Six more recent recipes, picking up where the three at the top of the page left off.
More than one dish
Recipe Collections
Recipes brought together to make planning, cooking and serving a little easier.
