Why does my white sauce taste floury?
A pasty, raw-flour taste has one cause and two contributing factors — and it can be fixed in the pan without starting again.
beginner10 min4 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
Why will my dried beans not go soft?
Old beans are the usual answer and no amount of cooking fixes them. The five causes in the order worth checking, plus the two additions that genuinely do slow softening and the one that does not.
beginner10 min3 min readCan I make gravy in advance and reheat it?
How to build a gravy base days ahead, what to thicken it with so it survives reheating, and how to fold in the roasting-tin juices on the day so it still tastes like it was made from the joint.
beginner30 min3 min readDo I actually need to rinse rice, and why?
What rinsing removes, which rices genuinely need it and which are actively harmed by it, and the separate arsenic question that is the only health reason to do it.
beginner5 min3 min readHow do I barbecue fish without it sticking to the grill?
Why fish welds itself to a barbecue, the four things that stop it, and which fish are realistic on bars at all.
intermediate20 min5 min readHow do I brown butter without burning it?
The four stages butter passes through, what to listen for, and why a light-coloured pan is essential.
beginner10 min3 min readHow do I fix a sauce I have reduced too far?
How to read a reduction on the back of a spoon, what concentrates along with the flavour, and how to correct a sauce that has gone past the point — including when it cannot be corrected.
beginner8 min4 min readHow do I get a smoky flavour without a barbecue?
Six routes to smoke indoors, from charring vegetables directly on a flame to the ingredients that carry smoke without any fire at all.
beginner15 min3 min readHow do I make choux pastry that actually rises?
Drying the paste, judging the egg by consistency rather than count, and why opening the oven collapses it.
advanced45 min4 min readHow do I segment and peel citrus properly?
Supreming, peeling without the pith, and getting the peel off in one piece.
beginner10 min2 min readHow do I separate eggs cleanly?
Three methods ranked by reliability, why cold eggs separate better, and the three-bowl habit that stops one broken yolk from ruining a batch of whites.
beginner5 min4 min readHow do I stop whipped cream weeping and collapsing?
Plain whipped cream holds for a few hours and then leaks. Five ways to stabilise it — gelatine, mascarpone, milk powder, cornflour-based icing sugar and a hot syrup — with what each one costs in texture.
beginner10 min4 min readHow do I use gelatine and other setting agents?
Leaf against powder, the quantities that give a soft set rather than rubber, and the fruits that stop gelatine working entirely.
intermediate20 min3 min readHow do I zest and juice efficiently?
The order that matters, the tools that help, and why most people throw away the best part.
beginner5 min2 min readIs a deep fat fryer worth buying, or should I just use a pan?
The honest comparison between a dedicated fryer and a heavy pan on the hob: safety, cost, oil volume, temperature control and the smell that decides it for most people.
beginner8 min3 min readIs cold smoking food at home safe?
What cold smoking does and does not do, why the cure rather than the smoke is what preserves, and who should not eat the result.
advanced10 min4 min readIs it safe to brew kombucha at home?
The conditions that make a brew safe rather than risky, what a healthy SCOBY looks like, and the second-ferment pressure hazard nobody mentions.
intermediate20 min5 min readShould I bake cakes with the fan on?
Fan is more even and lets you bake on several shelves, but it dries surfaces and browns less. Which setting suits which bake, and why the standard 20°C reduction is a rule of thumb rather than a law.
beginner6 min3 min readShould I cover meat with foil while it roasts?
Foil turns dry roasting into steaming, which is exactly right for some joints and exactly wrong for others — how to tell which you have, and when to use it as a shield rather than a lid.
beginner8 min3 min readWhat actually makes people ill from shellfish?
Four different causes with four different controls: bacterial spoilage, norovirus, algal biotoxins and allergy. Which ones cooking solves, which it does not, and where the real decisions are.
beginner8 min4 min readWhat do egg sizes mean in a recipe?
The UK weight bands, which recipes actually care, and how to substitute one size for another by weight.
beginner5 min3 min readWhat does hydration mean in bread dough, and how much water do I need?
Hydration is the weight of water as a percentage of the weight of flour, and it is the single number that predicts how a dough handles and what crumb it bakes into. What each band on the scale actually feels like.
intermediate10 min4 min readWhat temperature should a wine cooler be, and do I need one?
A wine cooler is not a cold fridge — it holds a steady, warmer temperature with less vibration, and whether that is worth an appliance depends entirely on how long bottles stay in it.
beginner25 min3 min readWhich tinned fish should I buy, and how do I use it?
What separates a good tin from a cheap one, what oil, brine and spring water each do to the fish, and the species worth having in a cupboard.
beginner6 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.