The secret kitchen wisdom that top chefs and cooks swear by (and you should too)

The Age

24-06-2025

It's often the tiny differences that improve your cooking. Here's the advice from the experts including Poh Ling Yeow, Donna Hay and Maggie Beer.
The best ideas are often the simplest. The same goes for cooking. In our popular column The Dish, we ask some of Australia's most influential people what cooking wisdom they live by – among many other burning questions.
Here are the golden nuggets from some of our top cooking talent that you can apply in your kitchen, too.
Lennox Hastie, owner-chef, Firedoor, Sydney
I always say cook the food you want to eat – it sounds stupidly obvious but it's everything. You have to make yourself happy first. You have to choose the ingredients you want and there's nothing worse than cooking something you don't love.
Silvia Colloca, Italian-Australian TV personality and cookbook author
It's imperative the pasta is not overcooked. The concept of al dente [resistance to the tooth] matters to Italians, and it matters to me. It's more important than you think and not as snobby as it might sound. It mostly applies to dry pasta. As a rule of thumb, if the packet says 11 minutes, take it out after nine or 10 minutes because it continues to cook with the residual heat.
Andrew McConnell, chef and restaurateur
Less is more. I wish I had learnt this earlier as a chef, but it's something you learn on the job as your palate matures. It has a lot to do with you as a person and what you like, and not so much the technical aspect of cooking. In the southern countries of the Mediterranean, they do this so well.
Brigitte Hafner, owner-chef Tedesca Osteria, Victoria
I learned very early on from [Sydney chef] Kylie Kwong about when to season. It's essential, and many people put the salt at the end, but for me, salt is there to extract flavour, not to add anything. I would say you must always season carefully and purposefully. And, of course, taste as you go.
Poh Ling Yeow, TV presenter and recipe writer
I learnt about balance from my mum – salty, sweet and sour. At the end of cooking a meal, it's all about these three things.
Clare Smyth, chef, Oncore
It's about buying the best-quality produce you can afford. That rule never gets old. Buy what's in season and keep it simple when you cook. Eat more vegetables is another one – it's better for us and better for the planet.
Sarah Wilson, Australian author and podcaster
My mum had six kids and was so good with food. The wisdom I got from her is 'do not peel vegetables or fruit'. A lot of the nutrients are in the skin, and that's the same with meats. I use the last little bit of everything. I reuse lemon peels, the skin on chickens and the fat on meat. I also live by this mantra: If in doubt, eat as your grandmother or great-grandmother used to eat.
Diana Chan, TV host and writer
As simple as it sounds, it has to be 'taste as you go'. Many cooks forget to taste their food, but I am always checking the flavour as I cook. It's important that when the dish hits the table, it should have the perfect amount of seasoning.
Donna Hay, tastemaker and recipe writing legend
For me, it's about combining simple ingredients that punch above their weight, rather than adding more when you're working on a dish. 'Less is more' is always the key.
Maggie Beer, Australian cooking legend
Produce is the key, as is simplicity. Make produce shine by using the right cooking technique, and have the confidence to keep it simple.
Shannon Martinez, owner-chef, Smith & Daughters, Melbourne
Observing my paternal grandmother, Rosa Martinez, in her commission house kitchen is where I learnt a lot about cooking. I would plant myself with her in the kitchen whenever she was by the stove. It's where she spent most of her time. We would talk, and I would observe her gentle style of cooking. As a young chef, you see a lot of aggression in the kitchen, but I liked her passion with a gentle approach.
Marion Grasby, TV presenter, food writer and entrepreneur
Never wash someone else's wok. A well-seasoned wok's patina is a work of art and a labour of love. Scrub too hard or use harsh detergents and all that love gets washed away. Do the dishes but leave the wok, please.
Guillaume Brahimi, French-born chef and restaurateur
The best advice I heard as a chef is that seasonal ingredients are everything. It doesn't mean they have to be expensive, but in season is a must when cooking. I don't try to cook with produce that isn't available. I learnt that as a young boy growing up in France with my family – we always shopped from markets as we needed items. I do that with my work as well. Shopping in season is the most cost-effective.
Hugh Allen, chef at Vue de Monde, Melbourne
It's a common piece of advice, but starting with incredible produce really makes all the difference. If the base ingredient is exceptional, you don't need to do much to make it shine.
Helly Raichura, owner-chef of Enter via Laundry, Melbourne
My cooking style is instinctive, and I continue to approach the kitchen in the same way. I hold on to the basics I learnt growing up in an Indian household – like how to cook rice, chapati and vegetables. And in Australia, I go with what is fresh and in season.
Stephanie Alexander, Australian cooking royalty