baking
Shortbread
Three ingredients in a fixed ratio, worked as little as possible and baked pale.
- Time
- 1h 40m
- Serves
- 16 fingers
- Effort
- Easy
86 recipes
Recipes
Filter by what you have time for. Each recipe renders as one table — ingredients on the left, the last thing you do on the right.
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-
braise
Pot Roast
One large piece of beef, a covered pot and four hours. Vegetables added late so they are not baby food by the end.
- Time
- 4h 45m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
breakfast
Blueberry Muffins
A high blast of heat first for the domed top, then down to finish. Frozen berries, tossed in flour so they stay put.
- Time
- 47m
- Serves
- 12 muffins
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Tiramisu
No baking at all. A whipped mascarpone cream, a fast dip in coffee, and a full night in the fridge.
- Time
- 12h 30m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Malai Kofta
Paneer and potato dumplings in a smooth cashew gravy. Bind them properly and fry them hot, or they disintegrate in the oil.
- Time
- 1h 40m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Involved
-
pasta
Lasagne
Two sauces, assembled in thin layers and rested before cutting. The béchamel is what stops it collapsing on the plate.
- Time
- 1h 55m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Involved
-
salad
Crunchy Slaw
Salt the cabbage, wring it out, then dress it. Twenty extra minutes buys you a slaw that is still crisp an hour later.
- Time
- 1h
- Serves
- 6 as a side
- Effort
- Easy
-
side
Stir-Fried Greens with Garlic
Ninety seconds of actual cooking. The trick is a dry pan, dry greens, and not stirring as much as you think.
- Time
- 14m
- Serves
- 4 as a side
- Effort
- Easy
-
soup
Chicken Noodle Soup
Poach the chicken to make the stock, then use both. Noodles cooked apart so day two is still soup.
- Time
- 1h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
technique
Quick Pickled Onions
Ten minutes of work and thirty of waiting. They turn bright pink on their own and improve almost anything savoury.
- Time
- 43m
- Serves
- one jar
- Effort
- Easy
-
weeknight
Smash Burgers
Loose balls of beef flattened hard onto a screaming pan for thirty seconds. The crust is the entire point.
- Time
- 25m
- Serves
- 4 burgers
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Cinnamon Rolls
An enriched dough proved overnight in the fridge, so the baking happens while you are awake.
- Time
- 13h 8m
- Serves
- 12 rolls
- Effort
- Involved
-
braise
Braised Lamb Shanks
A cheap cut that needs three hours and rewards them. Brown hard, braise low, reduce the sauce at the end.
- Time
- 3h 55m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
breakfast
French Toast
Stale bread, a long soak, and a pan cool enough that the custard sets before the outside burns.
- Time
- 32m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Vanilla Ice Cream
A cooked custard base, aged overnight, then churned. The ageing step is the one everyone skips and the one that matters.
- Time
- 12h 45m
- Serves
- about 1 litre
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Cabbage Thoran
A dry Kerala stir-fry of finely shredded cabbage with coconut. Fifteen minutes, and the coconut goes in raw at the end.
- Time
- 27m
- Serves
- 4 as a side
- Effort
- Easy
-
pasta
Aglio e Olio
The ten-minute pantry dinner. Everything depends on not letting the garlic go past gold.
- Time
- 17m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Easy
-
salad
Panzanella
Stale bread salad. Salt the tomatoes first and use the juice they give up as most of the dressing.
- Time
- 50m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
soup
Red Lentil Soup
Thirty minutes from cupboard to bowl. Lentils need no soaking and thicken the soup themselves.
- Time
- 40m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
technique
Chicken Stock
Bones, cold water, aromatics and four hours at a temperature that never quite bubbles. The single most useful thing to keep in a freezer.
- Time
- 4h 15m
- Serves
- about 2 litres
- Effort
- Easy
-
weeknight
Fish Tacos
A quick chilli rub, four minutes in a hot pan, and a slaw dressed at the last minute so it stays crunchy.
- Time
- 38m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Apple Galette
A free-form tart that forgives bad pastry work. Ground almonds under the fruit keep the base from going soft.
- Time
- 2h 15m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
braise
Braised Short Ribs
Beef ribs in red wine and stock, cooked until the bone slides out. Chill overnight to lift the fat off cleanly.
- Time
- 16h
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
breakfast
Overnight Oats
No cooking at all. The ratio is the recipe, and the chia seeds are what stop it being soup.
- Time
- 8h 5m
- Serves
- 1 jar
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Panna Cotta
Cream set with the smallest amount of gelatin that will hold. It should barely stand up and wobble when the plate moves.
- Time
- 5h 25m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Pav Bhaji
Vegetables cooked to collapse, mashed on the griddle with butter and spice, and served with soft rolls fried in the same pan.
- Time
- 1h 5m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
pasta
Baked Macaroni Cheese
A béchamel base, cheese off the heat, and pasta pulled early because it keeps cooking in the oven.
- Time
- 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
salad
Caesar Salad
An emulsified anchovy and egg dressing, croutons fried in the pan rather than baked, and cold crisp leaves.
- Time
- 28m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
soup
Minestrone
A soffritto, whatever vegetables you have, and a parmesan rind in the pot. The pasta is cooked separately for a reason.
- Time
- 1h 10m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
technique
Mayonnaise
One yolk holds a surprising amount of oil, as long as you add it slowly enough. Five minutes, and it fixes if it breaks.
- Time
- 10m
- Serves
- about 1 cup
- Effort
- Moderate
-
weeknight
Sheet-Pan Sausages and Peppers
One tray, one temperature, and a staggered start so nothing is either raw or leathery.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Lemon Drizzle Cake
The drizzle goes on hot, so it soaks in rather than sitting on top. Zest in the sugar, not the batter.
- Time
- 1h 40m
- Serves
- one 900 g loaf
- Effort
- Easy
-
braise
Coq au Vin
Chicken thighs braised in red wine. Marinate overnight, brown properly, and reduce the sauce after the meat comes out.
- Time
- 13h 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
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breakfast
Soft Scrambled Eggs
Low heat, constant movement, and off the pan while they still look slightly underdone.
- Time
- 11m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate, eggs and a little sugar. No cream, no gelatin — the structure comes entirely from beaten whites.
- Time
- 4h 25m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Chapati
Two ingredients and a hot dry pan. The puff comes from steam, and it only happens if the dough is soft and properly rested.
- Time
- 1h 10m
- Serves
- 10 chapatis
- Effort
- Moderate
-
pasta
Marinara Sauce
Four ingredients, forty minutes, and no browning at all. The point is bright tomato, not deep savoury.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- enough for 500 g pasta
- Effort
- Easy
-
soup
Roasted Tomato Soup
Roast the tomatoes rather than simmering them. Concentration and browning do what cream is usually asked to cover up.
- Time
- 1h 10m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
technique
Pan-Seared Steak
Dry surface, hot pan, butter only at the end. Temperature decides everything and a thermometer removes the argument.
- Time
- 23m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Moderate
-
weeknight
Crispy Chicken Thighs
Skin side down in a cold pan, weighted, and left alone for most of the cook. You turn them once, near the end.
- Time
- 40m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Scones
Cold butter, a barely-mixed dough, and a straight cut down. Twelve minutes from bowl to oven.
- Time
- 29m
- Serves
- 8 scones
- Effort
- Easy
-
braise
Oven Pulled Pork
A dry rub, eight hours at a very low temperature, and a rest that matters as much as the cook.
- Time
- 9h 20m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Easy
-
breakfast
Granola
One syrup, one fat, and a low oven. Press it flat and leave it alone if you want clusters.
- Time
- 1h 55m
- Serves
- about 8 cups
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Crème Brûlée
A baked custard in a water bath, chilled hard, then blowtorched at the last minute. The contrast only lasts minutes.
- Time
- 5h 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Aloo Paratha
Stuffed flatbread. The filling must be dry and completely cool, or it tears the dough on the first roll.
- Time
- 1h 35m
- Serves
- 8 parathas
- Effort
- Moderate
-
pasta
Basil Pesto
Raw sauce, so every ingredient shows. Keep the basil cold and bruise it rather than shredding it.
- Time
- 15m
- Serves
- enough for 400 g pasta
- Effort
- Easy
-
soup
French Onion Soup
Ninety minutes of onions and about six of everything else. There is no shortcut and the shortcut versions taste like it.
- Time
- 2h 10m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
technique
Basic Vinaigrette
A ratio rather than a recipe. Learn the three-to-one and the mustard trick and you will never buy salad dressing again.
- Time
- 5m
- Serves
- enough for 6 salads
- Effort
- Easy
-
weeknight
Fried Rice
Cold day-old rice, a screaming pan, and everything prepped before you start. The whole cook is four minutes.
- Time
- 23m
- Serves
- 3
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Pizza Dough
Three days in the fridge, a hot stone, and dough shaped by hand so the rim keeps its air.
- Time
- 48h 53m
- Serves
- 4 x 250 g bases
- Effort
- Moderate
-
braise
Beef Bourguignon
Brown everything separately, braise it low for three hours, and add the garnish at the end so it still tastes of itself.
- Time
- 3h 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
-
breakfast
Shakshuka
A thick pepper and tomato base with eggs poached in wells. The sauce has to be reduced before the eggs go in, or you end up with soup.
- Time
- 40m
- Serves
- 3
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Khichdi
Rice and moong dal cooked together to a soft, savoury porridge. The dish people make when they are ill, and eat when they are not.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
pasta
Ragù Bolognese
Milk before wine, wine before tomato, and three hours at a bare blip. The soffritto is where the patience pays.
- Time
- 3h 40m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
weeknight
Miso-Glazed Salmon
A four-ingredient glaze, a short marinade, and eight minutes under the grill. The sugar in the miso is doing the browning, so watch it.
- Time
- 49m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Fudgy Brownies
Melted chocolate rather than cocoa, whipped eggs for the paper-thin crust, and pulled from the oven while the middle still wobbles.
- Time
- 2h 45m
- Serves
- 16 squares
- Effort
- Moderate
-
braise
Beef Chilli
Chuck cut by hand instead of minced, dried chillies instead of powder, and three hours where you do nothing at all.
- Time
- 3h 30m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
breakfast
Buttermilk Pancakes
Lumpy batter, a rested ten minutes, and a pan that is cooler than you think. Most bad pancakes are overmixed, overheated, or both.
- Time
- 35m
- Serves
- about 10 pancakes
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Jeera Rice
Basmati with cumin bloomed in ghee. The absorption method, a fixed ratio, and a lid you do not lift.
- Time
- 40m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
pasta
Carbonara
Egg, cured pork, hard cheese and pepper. No cream, and no heat under the pan when the eggs go in.
- Time
- 25m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Moderate
-
weeknight
Chana Masala
Tinned chickpeas, one onion cooked far longer than feels reasonable, and whole spices bloomed in fat. Dinner in forty minutes, most of it unattended.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Banana Bread
The blacker the bananas the better. Melted butter, one bowl, and a batter you deliberately undermix.
- Time
- 1h 30m
- Serves
- one 900 g loaf
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Vegetable Biryani
Rice parboiled separately, layered over a spiced vegetable base, and steamed sealed so the two finish together.
- Time
- 1h 45m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
-
pasta
Cacio e Pepe
Four ingredients and one failure mode. The trick is temperature control — the cheese must never meet heat it can't handle.
- Time
- 17m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Moderate
-
weeknight
Mushroom Risotto
Twenty minutes of stirring you cannot skip, and one measurement — the rice must stay just barely covered — that decides the whole thing.
- Time
- 48m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
baking
No-Knead Bread
Twelve hours of time doing the work of ten minutes of kneading, baked in a lidded pot that traps its own steam.
- Time
- 16h
- Serves
- one large loaf
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Poha
Flattened rice rinsed rather than soaked, then warmed through with mustard seeds, onion and turmeric. Ten minutes from start to plate.
- Time
- 20m
- Serves
- 3
- Effort
- Easy
-
weeknight
Weeknight Roast Chicken
Salt it in the morning, roast it hot, and let it rest. Three decisions, one pan, and enough leftovers to make the next night easy.
- Time
- 9h 10m
- Serves
- 4, with leftovers
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Overnight Focaccia
A wet dough, a cold night in the fridge, and almost no kneading. The oven does the work; you mostly need to be patient in advance.
- Time
- 15h 45m
- Serves
- one 23x33 cm tray
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Upma
Semolina toasted dry, then hydrated with boiling water. Fifteen minutes, and the toasting is what keeps it from turning to paste.
- Time
- 35m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the butter first trades some chew for a lot of flavour. The dough rests overnight, which is where most of the improvement actually comes from.
- Time
- 12h 37m
- Serves
- about 20 cookies
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Idli
Steamed cakes from the same fermented family as dosa, but ground thicker and steamed rather than griddled.
- Time
- 20h 42m
- Serves
- 20 idli
- Effort
- Involved
-
indian
Masala Dosa
A fermented rice and lentil batter spread thin on a hot griddle, wrapped around spiced potato. The fermentation takes a day and does all the work.
- Time
- 21h 10m
- Serves
- 10 dosas
- Effort
- Involved
-
indian
Coconut Chutney
Fresh coconut, roasted gram and a green chilli, ground loose. Five minutes, and it goes with almost everything from a South Indian kitchen.
- Time
- 13m
- Serves
- about 1 1/2 cups
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Rasam
A thin, sour, peppery broth. Never let it boil once the tamarind and dal water are in — it goes cloudy and dull.
- Time
- 40m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Sambar
A tamarind and lentil stew with mixed vegetables, finished with a mustard seed tempering. The tamarind goes in after the dal, not with it.
- Time
- 1h 5m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Kadhi Pakora
A yoghurt and gram flour sauce simmered for an hour, with onion fritters dropped in at the end. The flour is what stops the yoghurt splitting.
- Time
- 1h 35m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Bhindi Masala
Okra fried dry and hard before anything wet touches it. That single rule is what keeps it from going slimy.
- Time
- 50m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Baingan Bharta
Aubergines charred whole over a flame until they collapse, then mashed into a smoky masala. The char is the dish.
- Time
- 1h 10m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Aloo Gobi
A dry curry, not a gravy. Roast the cauliflower separately so it browns instead of steaming into mush.
- Time
- 55m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Matar Paneer
Peas and paneer in a straightforward onion-tomato gravy. A weeknight dish that takes half an hour and no special ingredients.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Paneer Butter Masala
A smooth cashew and tomato gravy, strained for silkiness. Sweet, mild and finished with crushed fenugreek leaves.
- Time
- 1h
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Palak Paneer
Spinach blanched and shocked so it stays green, blitzed coarse, and paneer added at the very end.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Rajma
Kidney beans in a thick onion and tomato gravy. Cook the masala until the oil separates, then let the beans thicken it themselves.
- Time
- 9h 30m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Dal Makhani
Black lentils soaked overnight and simmered for hours until they turn glossy. Butter and cream at the end, not the start.
- Time
- 11h 45m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Dal Tadka
Soft yellow lentils finished with a tempering of spices bloomed in ghee, poured over at the table.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
Nothing matches those filters. and start again.