About
I’m Tom, a chef and recipe creator in the North East of the UK.
Pinch of Mint was created to make cooking at home feel simpler, more achievable and a lot more enjoyable. It is written for anyone who wants to cook properly from scratch and has never been shown how.
How I got here
I have spent over 15 years working with food, but my career in the kitchen did not start with a chef’s jacket. I started as a kitchen porter, washing dishes, and worked my way up through the kitchen. That taught me a lot about food, about hard work, and, perhaps most importantly, that you never stop learning.
One thing I have learned along the way is that good cooking is not about complicated recipes. It is about understanding the basics. Fold, reduce, rest, season to taste: every one of them is a step somebody once decided was too obvious to explain, and every one of them is the point where a home cook is left standing over a pan wondering whether this is normal.
That gap is the reason for this site. Every recipe here says what a thing should look and sound like, not only how many minutes to give it, and puts a short reason beside any step that seems strange. Cook enough of them and the reasons start to join up, which is the point at which you stop needing the recipe.
What you’ll find here
Proper recipes, food tutorials and practical cooking guides written for real life, with the home cook in mind rather than a restaurant pass.
The full written recipes
Clear ingredients, a method that says what a thing should look like as well as how long to give it, and the tips that make it easier to follow. 238 of them, from British classics to comforting family dinners.
The techniques underneath them
Good cooking is not about complicated recipes. It is about understanding the basics, so the simple techniques that make the biggest difference get guides of their own.
The videos, and the people cooking along
Recipe videos, cooking tips and ideas go up on the channel, and that is where the Pinch of Mint community swap what they tried, ask questions and say how they made a recipe their own.
How I develop recipes
Built on more than 15 years of professional cooking experience.
Pass 1: Start with the fundamentals
I begin with the ingredients, technique and cooking method. Years of working in professional kitchens have taught me how food behaves and what it takes to make a dish work.
Pass 2: Make it work at home
I develop recipes with the home cook in mind. The aim is to make them practical, achievable and enjoyable, without unnecessary steps or complicated techniques.
Pass 3: Explain what matters
Where a technique or step makes a difference, I explain why. Understanding what you're doing gives you the confidence to make adjustments and eventually make a recipe your own.
Why you can trust the recipes
I've spent more than 15 years working with food, starting as a kitchen porter and working my way through professional kitchens. That experience has taught me the fundamentals of cooking and, just as importantly, how to recognise what makes a recipe work. Every recipe on Pinch of Mint is built from that knowledge, with the aim of giving you something you can actually cook at home.
What I look for
- The recipe should be achievable in a normal home kitchen.
- The ingredients should be practical and easy to understand.
- The method should be clear enough to follow without guesswork.
- The finished dish should be worth the effort.
A recipe is a starting point, not a set of rules
We all have different tastes, preferences and ways of cooking. So while these recipes are written to give you a good place to start, I would always rather you experimented, swapped things out and adjusted them to suit you. The best meal is the one you enjoy eating.
A little more about me
Food is not the only creative outlet, and the others keep turning up in it.
- A degree in Art
- Drawing and painting came first, and they are still the most relaxing thing I do. That side of things found its way into how I approach food and how the recipes are put together.
- Guitar, taught the long way
- I have played from a very young age, working it out by listening to and watching other musicians. Figuring things out for myself is a habit that has carried into everything else.
- Everything behind the camera
- When the channel started I had to learn filming, photography and editing from scratch to turn an idea into something worth watching. Learning those has become one of my favourite parts of it.
- Travel, and other people's kitchens
- Seeing how other cultures cook and eat, and how food brings people together wherever you are, keeps feeding the recipes and ideas I bring back into my own kitchen.
What matters to me
Good food doesn't need to be complicated. It needs to be useful, honest and achievable.
No unnecessary jargon.
I explain the things that matter without making cooking sound more complicated than it is.
No recipes for the sake of recipes.
Everything starts with food I actually want to cook and eat.
No pretending.
If I don't know something, I won't dress it up as fact.
No unnecessary fuss.
The aim is always to get you cooking good food without making the process harder than it needs to be.
No hidden recommendations.
If something is sponsored or paid for, I'll tell you.
Why Pinch of Mint
The goal is straightforward: to help you understand how food works, give you the confidence to experiment, and make cooking at home something you genuinely enjoy. Whether you are completely new to it, working on your skills, or just after something good to make tonight, I hope this gives you a reason to get into the kitchen.
Cook simple. Eat happy.
Tom
Questions about a recipe are best asked under the video, where the answer is useful to everybody else stuck on the same step. Website issues and business enquiries go through the contact page.
