How do I cook beetroot without staining everything?
Cooking beetroot whole with the skin on, why you should not trim it too closely, and how to get the colour off your hands.
beginner20 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 do I cook liver so it is not grey and grainy?
The two-minute window, why slicing thickness decides everything, and the soak that removes the metallic edge.
intermediate20 min3 min readHow do I cook ox cheek and beef short ribs?
Two of the cheapest and best cuts on a cow, what makes each behave the way it does, and the braising times and finishing steps they each need.
intermediate35 min4 min readHow do I cook pearl barley, spelt and farro?
The two methods — open pot and absorption — the realistic timings for each grain, and why these are not quick grains.
beginner45 min3 min readHow do I devein a prawn, and do I actually have to?
What the dark line in a prawn really is, when it is worth removing and when it is not, and the cut that deveins and butterflies in one movement.
beginner10 min3 min readHow do I dry fruit at home so it keeps?
Oven, dehydrator and airing-cupboard methods, how to tell when it is dry enough, and the conditioning week that stops mould.
beginner30 min4 min readHow do I get mixed vegetables to finish cooking at the same time?
Two levers — when each vegetable goes in, and how big you cut it. The roasting ladder for a single tray, and the staggered method for a pan on the hob.
beginner10 min3 min readHow do I get the fat off a stock or a stew?
The chilling method that lifts it off in one piece, and the three quick methods for when you cannot wait.
beginner10 min3 min readHow do I look after milk kefir grains?
The daily rhythm, what the grains need, why kefir separates, and how to pause the whole thing when you go away.
beginner10 min5 min readHow do I make bread sauce?
The infused milk that makes the difference, the bread to use, and how to make it a day ahead without it turning to paste.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I skin peppers properly?
Charring then steaming, which is the only method that works, and why the skins matter in the first place.
beginner30 min3 min readHow do I stop a sauce or custard forming a skin?
The evaporation and protein coagulation that produce a skin, and the three reliable ways to stop it.
beginner5 min3 min readHow do I store chocolate so it does not go white?
The two kinds of bloom, why the fridge causes one of them, and the temperature range chocolate actually wants.
beginner5 min3 min readHow do I use a griddle pan properly?
Why the ridges are the point, oiling the food rather than the pan, and how to get bar marks without a raw middle.
beginner15 min3 min readHow do I use dried mushrooms properly?
The soak, the soaking liquid that is the real prize, and the grit that ruins a dish if you pour it all in.
beginner30 min3 min readHow long should a ragù cook, and does it really need milk?
What the long cooking is actually doing, why milk goes in before the tomato in a classic Bolognese, and how short you can cut it before the sauce stops being worth it.
beginner3 hr4 min readShould butter be kept in the fridge or on the counter?
Butter goes off by oxidation rather than by bacteria, so light and air matter more than temperature. What that means for the butter dish, how long each option really lasts, and how to freeze it properly.
beginner4 min4 min readWhat are the mother sauces and why do they matter?
The five classical sauce families, what each is actually made of, and the more useful idea underneath them — that every sauce is thickened by starch, reduction or emulsion, and each mechanism fails in its own way.
beginner8 min3 min readWhat do the sustainability labels on fish actually mean?
MSC, ASC, Good Fish Guide ratings and the catch-method wording on a pack — what each one certifies, what it does not, and how to make a decent choice in thirty seconds at a counter.
beginner7 min4 min readWhat is a wire cooling rack actually for?
A cheap wire rack solves soggy bases, steamed roast meat, greasy fried food and cakes that stick — the several jobs it does and why a plate cannot do them.
beginner5 min3 min readWhat is the difference between hot-smoked and cold-smoked salmon?
One is cooked and flakes, the other is raw and slices — how to tell them apart, what each is for, and how long each keeps once opened.
beginner5 min3 min readWhen should I use baking paper, greaseproof or foil?
Four kitchen papers that look similar and behave completely differently, and the acidic-food problem with foil.
beginner5 min3 min readWhich fat should I use for roast potatoes?
What each fat actually contributes — smoke point, flavour and how it behaves at 220°C — and why the wrong one gives you bitter, pale or smoking potatoes.
beginner5 min3 min readWhy did my caramel taste burnt and bitter?
Caramel goes from amber to acrid over about twenty degrees, and it keeps darkening after the pan leaves the heat. Judging it by colour and stopping a stage early is the whole technique.
intermediate15 min3 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.