How much salt do I need for fermenting vegetables?
The 2% rule, how to calculate it for dry-salted and brined ferments, and what happens above and below the range.
beginner5 min3 min read
Food & Cooking
The cooking questions people actually search for — how long, how hot, why did it go wrong, and how to keep food good for longer. Techniques and timings, not recipe theatre.
816 guides
How should I store eggs?
Fridge or counter, which way up, how long they keep, and how to test whether an egg is still good.
beginner10 min2 min readRaw or cooked prawns — which should I buy?
Why buying cooked prawns for a hot dish nearly guarantees rubbery prawns, when the ready-cooked ones are the right choice, and how to read what the pack is really telling you.
beginner5 min3 min readShould I turn my fridge or freezer off when I go away?
For a week or two it is not worth it. For a month or more it is — but only if you empty it completely, clean it and prop the door open, and the freezer answer is different from the fridge answer.
beginner30 min4 min readWhat do I do with a glut of vegetables?
Preserving, freezing and cooking a sudden excess of one vegetable before it goes to waste.
beginner1 hr2 min readWhat size roasting tin and baking tray do I actually need?
Roasting tins, baking trays, baking sheets and oven trays are four different things — what each is for, what sizes matter, and why a thin one buckles.
beginner7 min4 min readWhole, semi-skimmed, filtered, UHT or raw — which milk should I use?
What separates the milks on a British shelf — fat, filtration, heat treatment and processing — and which of those differences actually changes how the milk behaves in cooking.
beginner6 min5 min readWhy are my potatoes still hard in the middle?
Four causes in the order worth checking — piece size, a hot start, something acidic in the pan, and hard water — and how to rescue the batch in front of you.
beginner5 min3 min readWhy does the batter or breadcrumb fall off my food?
The dry-wet-dry sequence, the resting step that sets the coating, and why a wet surface guarantees failure.
beginner20 min3 min readCan I cook fish straight from frozen?
Which fish cooks well from frozen and which does not, the timing adjustment for each method, and why thin delicate fillets are actually better this way.
beginner25 min4 min readHow do I cook with yoghurt without it splitting?
Yoghurt splits because its proteins are already acidified and coagulate the moment they get hot. The three things that prevent it — starch, fat and temperature control — and how cuisines that cook with yoghurt routinely do it.
intermediate10 min4 min readHow much roux do I need for the sauce thickness I want?
Four working ratios of butter and flour to liquid — thin, pouring, coating and binding — plus the two things that change the numbers: how dark the roux is, and the fact that every sauce thickens as it cools.
beginner12 min4 min readIs a multicooker worth buying?
One machine that claims to replace a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, a rice cooker and a frying pan — which of those functions are genuinely good, which are compromises, and who should buy one.
beginner8 min3 min readWhat are the bits and spots in my egg, and are they safe?
Blood spots, white cords, cloudy whites, pale yolks and double yolks all have straightforward explanations. What each one is, what it tells you about the egg, and the one appearance that genuinely means bin it.
beginner5 min4 min readWhat is a Dutch oven and do I need one?
The heavy lidded pot that goes from hob to oven — what it does that a saucepan cannot, what size to buy, and whether the enamelled version is worth the money.
beginner6 min4 min readWhich chopping board should I use?
Wood versus plastic, how many you need, and the care that keeps a board hygienic and your knives sharp.
beginner15 min2 min readWhy is my tomato sauce watery and how do I thicken it?
Tomato sauce thickens by reduction alone, so a watery sauce is nearly always a pan and time problem — plus the four things that make it worse and the one thickener worth adding.
beginner25 min4 min readWhy is the beef in my stir fry chewy, and how do I velvet it?
The two things that make home stir-fried meat tough — slicing along the grain and cooking it in a wet pan — and the cornflour coating that fixes both.
beginner20 min4 min readCan I cure my own bacon or ham at home?
What curing actually does, the difference between a wet cure you cook and a dry cure you do not, and why the numbers must come from a tested source rather than from here.
advanced15 min5 min readCan I par-boil roast potatoes the day before?
Yes, and they roast better for it. How to par-boil, rough up and hold potatoes for up to two days, and the one step people skip that ruins the crust.
beginner20 min3 min readDo I need a pizza stone, and does it actually work?
What a stone or steel actually does for a domestic pizza, whether it is worth buying, and the cheaper things that get most of the way there.
beginner7 min4 min readHow do I bottle fruit in jars safely?
The water-bath method for high-acid fruit, which fruits qualify, and the checks that decide whether a jar keeps.
intermediate1 hr5 min readHow do I choose and use a food processor?
What it is genuinely better at than a blender or a knife, and the jobs it does badly.
beginner20 min2 min readHow do I cook a pork tenderloin without it going dry?
The leanest cut on the pig, the silverskin that has to come off, and the sear-then-roast method with the internal temperature that keeps it juicy.
beginner25 min4 min read
Going deeper: PizzaHQ
Dough hydration and fermentation schedules, flour selection, oven types and bake profiles.
PizzaHQ is in development — GuideHQ covers the practical answers in the meantime.