HEALTHY EATING

Twenty-five foods, five groups.

The ingredients this site cooks with most, on their own terms: what they do in a pan, not what they do in a body. 25 foods across 5 groups.

Vegetables

Vegetables Carrots Roast them dry and hot. Water on the tray is what stops a carrot from browning.

Vegetables Spinach A kilo wilts to a handful. Squeeze it dry or it waters down whatever it lands in.

Vegetables Broccoli Peel the stalk and it beats the florets. Cut it thinner so both finish at the same time.

Vegetables Peppers Blister the skin black over flame, then steam it covered — the skin slips off in sheets.

Vegetables Tomatoes Never refrigerate them. Cold shuts down the aroma compounds and they do not come back.

Fruits

Fruits Apples Firm varieties like Braeburn and Honeycrisp hold their shape in heat. McIntosh collapses into sauce.

Fruits Bananas The blacker the skin the more sugar. Underripe bananas fry; overripe ones bake.

Fruits Oranges Zest before you juice. The oil in the peel carries more flavour than the juice does.

Fruits Berries Wash at the last second. Water on berries starts the mould clock immediately.

Fruits Mangoes Cut down either side of the flat stone, score the flesh in a grid, push the skin inside out.

Grains

Grains Oats Rolled for porridge, steel-cut for bite. Toast them dry in the pan first either way.

Grains Brown Rice More water and twice the time of white. Rest it off the heat before the lid comes off.

Grains Whole-Wheat Bread Stale is a feature. Day-old is the only bread worth using for croutons or panzanella.

Grains Quinoa Rinse it or the saponin coating tastes soapy. Toast it dry once it has drained.

Grains Pasta Salt the water heavily, drain a minute early, finish the cooking in the sauce.

Protein

Protein Chicken Dry the skin uncovered in the fridge overnight. That is the whole secret to crisp skin.

Protein Salmon Skin-side down for most of the cook. Flip it for the last thirty seconds, not before.

Protein Eggs Age decides the job. Fresh eggs poach tight; older eggs peel clean after boiling.

Protein Beans Salt the soaking water. The old rule that salt toughens the skins is simply wrong.

Protein Lentils No soaking. Puy and beluga hold their shape; red lentils dissolve into a thickener.

Dairy

Dairy Milk For custards bring it just under a simmer. A skin on top means you went too far.

Dairy Yogurt Strained overnight through cloth it thickens to the body of a cream sauce.

Dairy Cheese Grate it cold, melt it warm. Cheese dropped into a boiling sauce splits every time.

Dairy Almond Milk Splits in hot coffee and curdles against acid. Fine in baking, difficult in sauces.

Dairy Soy Milk The one plant milk with enough protein to set like dairy in a custard.