What makes a great cook great? The little things. Like always having sharp knives… and knowing how to neatly segment an orange. And you can’t do the latter without the former, so sharpen up and listen up and we’ll show you how!

Coulis. Pronounced ‘coolie’, It’s just a poncey way to say ‘strained puree’. In fact, in French coulis means just that – ‘strained’. Easy to make and perfect for summer when berries are bouncing around everywhere, a coulis is a quick, simple, no-cook way to top off, tart up, drizzle over, or generally improve your dessert game. Ice-cream and other creamy desserts like panna cotta or a plain cheesecake are ideal contenders. But its uses don’t stop there – swirl coulis though yoghurt, or top off your breakfast pancakes or muesli with a splodge or two. You can even shake, muddle or stir some through cocktails, mocktails or smoothies for a burst of berry yumness. And nor should lack of access to fresh berries stop you in our couli-making tracks either as frozen ones are perfect to use. In fact, that’s what we used; frozen raspberries. Fresh or frozen blackberries, boysenberries, blueberries, strawberries or a mixture are all great options; use what you like or what you have…

Barbecuing meat is not hard, but we are always intrigued when people who usually never cook (dudes of a certain age mainly; just sayin’), are suddenly experts once they’re armed with a barbecue, a silly apron, a beer, and a few sharp cooking implements. So move over steak stabbers and over-turners; your time is up! Our LSC resident BBQing expert is here to show y’all how it should be done. And it’s simple.

Repeat after us – “roasting concentrates flavour roasting concentrates flavour.” It’s our mantra, even in summer and yes, even with tomatoes. Roasted tomatoes taste amazing; sweet and intense, they're useful for so many things. Hurl them into a salad, throw them into a sauce for pasta, put them alongside cheeses or on an antipasto selection on a board, or turf them onto a pizza with other summery flavours (prosciutto, basil, burrata and olives spring to mind)… the world really is your roasted tomato.

Nothing, but NOTHING will make you glow with domestic pride like bringing a crackling-topped pork roast to the table. It’s virtually The Meaning of Life. Try our easy steps to crispy-crackly-porky nirvana and tell us we’re wrong. We love cooking a belly roast because the crackling-to-flesh ratio is high; there’s plenty for everyone. And there aren’t too many watchpoints here except making sure you dry your pork skin super-well, and don’t cut your arms off with the box cutter. Those things are sharp.

Put down the Best Foods and step away from the Kewpie. As one of the foundational sauces of French cuisine, it’s worth mastering the art of making your own mayo. And it’s easy once you get a feel for it; with experience, you’ll ‘get’ how fast you can add the oil, how to adjust lemon juice so it’s in balance, and how much hot water to add to fix up a too-thick consistency. We recommend making mayo by hand initially so you fully grasp the process, then, once you’re confident, you can let loose with the food processor or stick blender and make it with ease.

Y’know, there really aren’t too many opps during the year for showing off your baked ham moves so Christmas is open season on hamming. The Big Day is not the same without a massive, sticky haunch of smoky, succulent pig to haul to the table – and figuring out what the heck to do with the endless leftovers? You just can’t put a price on a conundrum like that! If you’re daunted by dealing with a whole ham; fear not. Our easy steps will have you glazing and baking like a real kitchen whizz; just follow them to a tee and you won’t go wrong. 

Pavlova. Did we invent it or did they? We must be the only people on the face of the earth who don’t really give a toss, national pride be damned. We’re more into how good pav tastes, how simple it actually is to make, and how economical it can be too, if you don’t go nuts on exxie garnishes. Heck, you can just hurl whipped cream and canned passionfruit pulp on yours and call it a day – it’s delish any which way. So if you’re not confident with meringue, just bring out the Kenwood and follow our helpful steps. Your sugar coma awaits!

What separates OK cooks from Really Great cooks? Not what you might think. No, it’s not the ability to whip up a croquembouche like it’s a reflex action, or craft a molecularly gastronomic dinner party menu on the turn of a dime. It’s actually the little things. The smallest masteries of techniques. The tiny refinements. These are what give you an edge in the kitchen. The details. Details like… achieving Peak Crisp when you’re cooking salmon…

Gravlax, a.k.a. cured salmon, is fast and simple to prepare. The best cut to use is the ‘top loin’, cut from a whole fillet. Its even thickness means it cures evenly, which is exactly what you want. Gravlax lasts for up to a week in the fridge (or even longer; it’s designed to keep), but you'll eat it well before then!

What happens when you s-l-o-w cook lamb shoulder? Freaking magic, that’s what. All those connective tissues and layers of fat just melt away, making the flesh soft and ridiculously tender; if we used the despised ‘moist’ word, we’d have applied it here. That’s how good this lamb is. And if you’re useless at carving – happy days – it doesn’t matter with this roast. You literally just look at it and it falls apart.

We hate peeling and coring quinces; it’s a dangerous endeavour. Those suckers are hard and it’s easy to slip and accidentally amputate some essential body part with a paring knife. So we love this Maggie Beer-inspired recipes to bits; you literally turf your unpeeled, uncored quinces into a dutch oven with a s%^&-ton of sugar, some water and a few aromatics. Then, you turf them into the oven and pretty much forget they exist for 8 hours. The results? Sticky, soft, fragrant, gorgeous and yes, very sweet quinces for virtually no effort at all. Sometimes, that’s exactly our idea of cooking.