Ultimate custard, perfectly timed pasta, espresso-fuelled stews: 37 brilliant recipe hacks

The Guardian

26-01-2025

Chef-owner of Murano and Cafe Murano, London, and co-host of the Dish from Waitrose podcast
Grate garlic on a microplane
This is something Neil [Borthwick, Hartnett's husband and also a chef] taught me. It's quicker, easier and you get all the flavour. You don't even have to remove the skin because it won't go through the holes. I do this now whenever I'm cooking with garlic, certainly if I'm making a pasta sauce. Make sure you've got enough oil in the pan and it's on a low heat, as grated garlic burns more easily.
Author of BBQ Days, BBQ Nights (Hardie Grant, £22)
Slow-cooking beef? Add coffeeIf you want to add a deep, roasted flavour to your slow-cooked meat, add coffee. People might be familiar with using coffee in chilli con carne, but I like to stretch this concept and add it to short rib and beef shin. I'd start with a shot of espresso and add more if you want. You don't want it to taste like coffee, just enough to give it an intriguing depth.
Get a crunchy crust on a toastieJust before you do the last flip, scatter with more cheese, turn it over and wait for it to make a crunchy crust. Cheddar or red leicester work best for this. And don't forget to spread both outer sides with mayonnaise before you start cooking for that even gold colour.
Perfect caramelisation for raguWhen browning mince for ragu, I like to fry it in large patties to increase the surface area for caramelisation. I sometimes do it in the oven as it's cleaner and easier, but it does take more time. I read this theory that the oven dehydrates it more, so when you then add it to the sauce, the mince immediately sucks up all the liquid.
Chef-owner, A Wong, London
Oyster sauce improves umamiAdd oyster sauce to anything: it boosts the umami flavour and adds viscosity (because it contains cornstarch). You can use it in stir-fries and Asian soups and sauces but also in European dishes such as coq au vin, beef stroganoff and bolognese. The more I tell European chefs about it, the more I'm beginning to hear, 'Yeah, we tried it, it's amazing.'
A time-honoured way to tenderiseUse baking powder in marinades to tenderise meat. This is a traditional technique in Chinese cuisine and it works well with sliced meats in particular. Put the meat in a bowl and wash it, pouring out the excess water (don't worry about drying it, a little residual water is fine). Sprinkle over the baking powder, about 1g per 200g of meat, mix it around and leave it for an hour or so before cooking.
Author of Easy Wins (4th Estate, £28)
Brine brings the umamiBrine from jars is usually thrown away, but this stuff is gold. It's good in salad dressings, and adds punch to a pasta sauce. Instead of adding vinegar and salt to tomato sauce, use brine to bring the umami. I also shake mine into a caper brine margarita – about one tablespoon for two cocktails. Think about what olive brine does to a dirty martini – this is even better. Just be sure to always taste your brine before using it, as different brands have different levels of salinity.
Everything's better with yoghurtMy cooking at times could be described as 'things on top of yoghurt'. I'll pile roast vegetables on top of it, use it as a base for dips, as a substitute for buttermilk in baking, and I often combine it with cream for a less rich whipped cream. I like to use it in soups, not just a dollop on top, but stirred through to give acidity. It's brilliant for adding creaminess and brightening your food at the same time. A good example is the Syrian preserved lemon and herb pasta dish in my book One: Pot, Pan, Planet, which is baked in yoghurt.
Baker and author of Small Batch Cookies (Kyle, £22)
Don't sweat your yeast varietiesIf a recipe calls for one type of yeast, but that's not what you have on hand, don't worry. Types of yeast are generally interchangeable. If fast action/instant dried yeast is called for, but you only have fresh, triple the amount. If fast action/instant is called for, but you have active dry yeast, increase the amount by a quarter.
How to substitute oil for butterIf you're making a cake but you've run out of butter or want to make it dairy free, you can easily switch it out for oil. To make the cake as similar as possible, add 82g of oil for every 100g of butter, and up the liquid ingredients by 18g for every 100g of butter. This keeps the ratio of fat and liquid the same.
Oil-based cakes often taste moister as the fat is liquid at room temperature. Try playing around with oil types based on what you think will pair well. Mild olive oil gives a subtle note, and if you're making something citrussy, such as an almond and orange cake, extra virgin gives a lovely, floral fragrance. But if it's going in a recipe with different ingredients that'll overpower it, there's no point spending the money, especially with its current price tag. Rapeseed, sunflower or vegetable will do a great job.
Toast milk powder for flavourToasted milk powder is one of my favourite ingredients; I call it 'double brown butter'. It's made by very gently toasting powdered milk in a frying pan or low oven. It has the same flavour note as brown butter, so I add it instead of, or alongside, brown butter to emphasise that deep nuttiness. Cookies are a great way of using it, as they are often neglected when it comes to adding layers of flavour, so a little toasted milk powder makes them taste a bit more sophisticated and special.
Chef and author of forthcoming cookbook Lugma (Quadrille, £28)
The secret to dal is …Where I come from in Bahrain, every family has their own version of dal. I always say it's the one recipe that's so hard to write down as there are just so many ways of making it; there is no 'correct' way. I'm not going to divulge all my secrets, but I can tell you that I always add a chicken stock cube. It adds a well-rounded, salty, umami flavour. You can use vegetable stock cubes, but I prefer chicken.
Chef-patron of Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxfordshire
The many colours of pastaYou can substitute egg for so many surprising things when making pasta. A pasta recipe is usually 100g of tipo 00 pasta flour and one medium egg. A medium egg is on average 55ml, so you can substitute the egg for the same amount of beetroot juice, spinach puree, saffron water, red pepper juice or squid ink to make the most colourful and flavourful pasta.
You can still make the pasta exactly the same way and we would usually serve it with a complementary sauce. If we were making a beetroot pasta, for example, we would normally serve it with beetroots as well. We would make it into a ravioli filled with beetroot, ricotta, lemon and garlic and serve it with steamed beetroots, crispy sage leaves, parmesan and some good olive oil.
Chef-owner of No6 and Caffe Rojano, Padstow, and The Mariners, Rock
Add custard to custardAdd Bird's custard powder to homemade custard rather than thickening it with gelatine or cornflour, which don't really have any flavour. This idea came about when we took on the Mariners, where we use custard a lot. The Bird's gives you a lovely maltiness and it thickens the custard. It also adds sweetness, so we put less sugar in with the egg yolks as a counterbalance.
Swap bay leaves for tomato vinesIf you buy your tomatoes on the vine, use the vines in stews, chillies and tomato-based sauces in the same way as you would a bay leaf (discarding before eating); there's so much flavour in them. A chef taught me this years ago: why throw them away when they're humming of beautiful tomatoes?
Add seaweed to stewElevate a ragu or stew by adding chopped seaweed instead of extra salt. We use a dried seaweed salad from the Cornish Seaweed Company, which we rehydrate in dashi or water, but nori, dulce or sea lettuce are all good.
Keep guacamole greenWhen you make guacamole, rub a cut lime all over the clingfilm and then sit it directly on the guacamole, lime side down. This will keep the top layer from oxidising and going dark – and you won't waste guacamole by scraping off a brown top layer.
Author of the Roasting Tin series and India Express (Square Peg, £22)
Use your head (of cauliflower)Make the most of the odd head of cauliflower, broccoli or squash that needs using up by keeping ready-made spice mixes on hand to save time and pack in flavour – a good ras el hanout, baharat, panch phoron or harissa will transform a tray of roasted veg. Shichimi togarashi is my current favourite spice mix – I added it to the sauce for a broccoli-and-kale mac and cheese recently and it was spectacular. The company Rooted Spices does wonderful spice blends, including a baby blend to liven up toddler weaning.
Chef and founder of Poon's, London
See fire, release flavour​​I reduce the salt and add soy sauce to most things, both Chinese and western, as it adds a certain depth of savouriness. If I'm cooking a stew and feel it's missing something, I'll try some soy sauce. It's always the answer. With stews you can just throw it in anytime but if you're cooking a stir-fry, it needs to hit the hot pan. The Chinese say you need to 'see fire' – this is how flavour is released. You'll often see people drizzling it around the edge of a hot wok. I don't know the science, but imagine it's something similar to dry-toasting spices.
Replace dried fish with anchoviesAnchovies in oil are a good substitute for any Chinese recipe calling for salted dried fish. Some people find salted fish a bit too funky, so anchovies are a subtler stand-in. If you're going to make steamed pork patty, you might add some anchovy, or perhaps to some fried rice with chicken.
The magic of vegetable waterDon't throw away the water after boiling vegetables – it makes a good base for a quick Chinese broth. Add a smacked piece of ginger, a drop of sesame oil, a drizzle of soy sauce, a pinch of white pepper, salt to taste and you have a warming, nutritious accompaniment to the meal. Toss in some diced tofu and it can be the meal itself.
Co-executive head chef of the River Cafe, London
Slow down scrambled eggsScrambled eggs can be like a runaway train, so I add a knob of cold butter when they're ready, to slow them down. It also enriches them. This trick also works when you add a tablespoon of olive oil to garlic that's cooking too quickly, or anything that is threatening to burn that can take a little extra oil.
Take a minute for perfect pastaAlways take pasta out a minute ahead of the time on the packet – al dente actually tastes better. Also, yes, pasta water is useful but don't over do it. If you're making a simple vegetable sauce with courgette, for example, lots of pasta water and tossing helps emulsify it and encourages it to stick to the pasta. With sauces that already have their own body, such as ragu, adding more starch to the sauce isn't doing much and can make it cloying. With fresh pasta especially, there's already lots of sticky starch on the outside, so no need to add more.
Chef-owner of Gloriosa, Glasgow
The simplest chocolate sauceMake the most delicious, silky chocolate sauce by mixing good-quality dark chocolate and hot water. Break 100g chocolate into little pieces, put it in a bowl and gradually pour 60-65ml of boiling water on to the chocolate, mixing constantly until completely smooth and glossy, the consistency of double cream. Add a pinch of sea salt to set it off and pour liberally over ice cream.
Give chantilly cream a tangMake chantilly cream by folding a spoon of full-fat Greek yoghurt through double cream that's been whipped with vanilla and sugar. The yoghurt stabilises the cream, making it last longer without splitting and giving it the most wonderful tangy, rich flavour. I picked up this tip while working at Ottolenghi; guests at my restaurant always comment on how delicious the cream tastes.
Balsamic vinegar for depthAdd a splash of balsamic vinegar to a tomato sauce about 10 minutes before the end of cooking to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and create a flavour that is rich and deep. I prefer it to adding sugar, which is more one-dimensional – balsamic increases depth as well as sweetness.
Co-founder of Eat Well MCR and chef-partner at Treehouse Hotel, Manchester
Make a fermented liquor spreadDon't throw away ferment liquor – make a Marmite-type spread by reducing it to a syrup. You can mix different ferments; it turns out slightly differently every time. Bring it to a boil in a pan, skim it, then simmer until it thickens into a sticky-sweet, salty, sour syrup, stirring towards the end so that it doesn't catch. It's lovely on toast with butter.
Give caramelised onions a kickCaramelise onions with star anise to enhance flavour – this completely transforms stocks, sauces, stews and curries. When I worked at the Fat Duck, we'd add about 3g of star anise per kilo of onions, which we'd caramelise for ages in a heavy-based pan until the onions are really deep, dark brown. The anise flavour gets cooked out but enhances the onions.
A quick route to homemade butterFreeze cream if it's going out of date, then defrost it and shake it vigorously in the container for 20-30 seconds to make homemade butter. The expanding ice crystals break the emulsion and the butter separates from the whey. Use the whey in cakes, white sauces or to poach fish in. (You could use it as your chicken marinade but because the cream's been frozen, it's not going to have the same acidity as you get in cultured buttermilk that you'd buy from a shop.)
Chef-patron at Prashad, Bradford
Use your herb stalksI don't like waste in the kitchen. When using fresh herbs such as coriander when making chutney or stocks, add the stalks as well as the leaves – they give you extra flavour as well as quantity. When blending ginger to make a fresh masala, don't bother removing the skin, just wash it and add it to the blender whole. I also like to add whole chillies (stalk removed). The seeds are what give you flavour and texture.
Too salty? Add raw potatoAdd a roughly chopped raw potato to dishes that are over-salted, and cook over a low heat for 5-8 minutes to absorb some of the salt and fix your dish. If your food is too spicy, you can reach for more than just dairy products to take the heat down a notch: a little sugar, something acidic like tomato juice, lime or lemon, or a nut butter that's rich in fat can help dissolve the capsaicin and calm down your dish.
Chef-owner of Benedicts, Norwich
Salted butter: the home baker's friendAlways use salted butter in your pastry: it's more stable and forms a better bake. Most recipes say to use unsalted butter and then add salt, but it's not very consistent – you're trying to break the salt down into the pastry and you end up overworking it in the process. In salted butter, the salt is already emulsified in and distributed all the way through. I think it freezes better as well – it comes out of the fridge more stable.
For my recipe for sweet pastry, place 125g of diced, room-temperature salted butter in a bowl with 1 vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste), 250g of plain flour and 90g of caster sugar. Run it through your fingers, massaging the butter with the flour and sugar to incorporate. Once you have a breadcrumb-like consistency, make a well in your flour mix and add one whisked egg. Gently bring together, being careful not to overwork your pastry, then remove and place onto a lightly floured surface. Knead three or four times until it comes together into a ball, cover with clingfilm and transfer to the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using. This pastry will keep for up to 7 days in your fridge and 3-6 months in the freezer.
Chef-owner of The Tannery, County Waterford and author of Butter Boy (Nine Bean Rows, £35)
To make a glamorous aperitif
Poach pears in supermarket-bought mulled wine, reduce the cooking juice to a syrup and serve through prosecco or cava for a glamorous aperitif. You can add spices like cinnamon and cloves to the wine. If there's any juice left over, freeze it in ice cube trays and add to gin and tonics.
A ravioli shortcutChinese wonton wrappers are a brilliant shortcut to making perfect ravioli: soft, silky and easy to work with. No one will ever know you didn't make them yourself. You can get wonton wrappers in the freezer sections of Asian shops. Fill them with pumpkin and sage, or mushrooms with cream and parmesan. Use a bit of egg wash to pinch them closed.
Instant caesar salad dressingAdd a squeeze of lemon to cream along with some grated parmesan and garlic to make the quickest, tastiest caesar salad dressing. The lemon juice thickens up the cream so that it coats the lettuce perfectly. For 100ml of cream, I'd use about 1 teaspoon of lemon, 1 tablespoon of parmesan and one small grated garlic clove, a bit of pepper and salt, and away you go. Do it at the last minute before serving.
Chef and co-owner of Wild Artichokes, Devon
Trimmings add flavourIf you are making a soup or risotto with squash or pumpkin, use the seeds and stringy inners along with any other vegetable trimmings to make a stock. Simmer for 30 minutes, then strain. This was something I learnt at Riverford, where we had an annual pumpkin day for the public. We had to make thousands of portions of soup. We soon found we got a better colour and a more concentrated flavour if we recycled the trimmings.
Save fat for the best roastiesSince the price of oil has doubled, I always save the fat from chicken, beef or veal stock. After making it, I chill it down, then take the fat off. If I'm not going to use it immediately, I'll pass it through a muslin cloth to remove impurities, then store it in a plastic tub and keep it in the fridge for two weeks to a month. It will also freeze. My favourite is guinea fowl fat – it makes amazing roast potatoes.