Lucas Hollweg pulls together a lexicon of handy hints, helpful know-how and indispensable techniques. Learn these and you’ll elevate your kitchen creations to new heights of deliciousness

THE SKILLS

AL DENTE is an Italian term used to describe food that’s cooked so that it retains a bit of bite after cooking (the literal translation is ‘to the tooth’). Food best cooked al dente includes pasta, which should be soft, but with texture. Commercial (dried) pasta generally reaches the al dente stage when the whiteness in the centre has disappeared, although if you’re adding it to sauce to cook for a few more minutes, it’s ready when the centre still has a bit of chalkiness. Risotto and rice should also be cooked al dente. Vegetables such as carrots and green beans are best when they still have a bit of bite, too. Aim for a firm, ‘just-cooked’ texture.

BLANCHING means cooking something (usually green veg) briefly in boiling liquid. Blanching cabbage, broccoli or beans for a few minutes ahead of time until they’re just al dente (see above), then cooling rapidly in ice-cold water will help keep their vibrant green colour. The veg can then simply be thrown briefly into boiling water to reheat when you want to serve.

It’s also an important step for fruit and veg you’re planning to freeze, as blanching deactivates enzymes on the surface that could otherwise make the food discolour or lose its flavour. Blanch vegetables to be frozen for just a minute or so.

C ARAMEL: THE TWO METHODS Dry caramel is sugar cooked without water (as you’d expect). You just tip the sugar into a pan and let it melt and darken over heat, but you’ll have more control if you melt some of the sugar first, then sprinkle more on top as it starts to caramelise, gently swirling it in.

Wet caramel involves water. It cooks more slowly than dry, giving you more control, though there’s a risk that sugar crystallising at the edge of the pan will cause it all to turn white and hard. To prevent that happening, put a lid on the pan until the sugar starts to caramelise – condensation will ‘wash’ any crystals from the sides of the pan back into the sugar mixture.

Deglazing means adding liquid to detach the dark bits left in the pan after browning meat. The resulting liquid is the base for great sauces/gravies. You can deglaze with water, but wine, whether red, white or sweeter marsala/ Madeira, is more usual. Add the liquid, stir and scrape the base, then leave to bubble to dissolve the brown goodness.

ILLUSTRATIONS: GETTY/ISTOCK, MARTINE TINNEY

EMULSIFYING is the process of whisking together fat – oil or butter – with water (and/or vinegar) to form a thick, glossy sauce. Emulsions work by ‘dispersing’ tiny droplets of one liquid in the other, usually with the help of an emulsifier such as mustard or egg yolk. Traditionally, you’re told to whisk in the fat a drop at a time until the sauce emulsifies. These days, stick blenders make things much simpler and quicker. Blend the egg yolks for mayonnaise or hollandaise (or mustard for a vinaigrette), with a splash of water, then, with the blender running, trickle oil or warmed butter down the side until the sauce thickens.