MasterChef Secrets: 4 Pro Tips & Tricks To Take Your Cooking From Good To Great

A (deliberately) runny scotch egg, a cluster of rogue peppercorns and a mutant Malteaser later, and we finally made it to the end of this year’s MasterChef series! Nat has been crowned queen, promptly pocketing her $250K and dashing off to sell vintage clothes at a market stall in Fitzroy, while Pezza was left to lick his wounds, dolefully rueing an insubordinate malt sugar ball.

A record almost two million people tuned in to watch the finale, a testament to the incredible power that food and culinary arts have in this country¹. Watching relatable contestants execute remarkable skills to turn out mesmerising dishes under immense pressure has an almost hypnotic appeal.

The Australian incarnation of MasterChef is arguably the most popular branch of the franchise in the world. Its impact - known as the MasterChef effect - is felt across many strata of Australian society - boosting rates of restaurant patronage, driving up prices of ingredients used in specific episodes, and, most notably, inspiring Australians to experiment in the kitchen and develop their cooking skills.

If you’re among the hundreds of thousands in the latter category, you might have developed a deep inadequacy complex. Watching the magic happen on TV is one thing. Replicating it in your own kitchen is quite another. If you’ve put a ton of time and effort into becoming a skilful cook but feel like you’ve hit the ceiling and are struggling to get from good to great, we’re here to help. In this blog, we’re focusing on four critical areas that you can work on to elevate your kitchen skills to the next level.

1. Cuts Like A Knife

Knife skills are central to virtually everything that we do in the kitchen. Understanding the ins and outs of using knives can drastically improve your food's quality and visual appeal while saving you significant amounts of precious time and effort. Let’s unpack the sharp and pointy side of your culinary skillset:

Use Great Quality Knives

This should be a no-brainer, but it’s remarkable how many people skimp on purchasing knives for their kitchen. You wouldn’t let your kid walk out to the crease with a flimsy cricket bat or send them to dance with tattered ballet shoes, so why would you cook with substandard knives? Good quality knives provide better strength, balance and stability, all of which help you achieve greater control when chopping, slicing and dicing. High-quality knives can be pricey. However, they typically last for many years, if not decades, without needing to be replaced, making them cost-effective in the long run.

Looking Sharp

Few things are more satisfying than the feel of a new, viciously sharp blade gliding effortlessly through a tomato or silkily dissecting a carrot. However, most of us accept our knives dulling over time as one of life’s inescapable truths. Blunt knives detract from your knife work and can impact your performance, not to mention increasing your stress levels. Whether it’s a few daily passes over the honing rod, a regular session with a whetstone, the occasional trip to a professional knife sharpener, or even experimenting with that nifty gadget you saw on IG, keep ‘em sharp, and you’ll see palpable results on the plate.

Get A Grip

Like most people, I always held my kitchen knife like my table knife - four fingers and thumb around the handle and index finger on the back of the blade. This classic rookie mistake is definitely holding you back from advancing as a chef. The correct way to hold a knife is known as the “Blade Grip”. Grip the front of the handle with your middle, ring and pinkie fingers while your index finger and thumb rest on the base of the blade in front of the bolster - that’s the hilt where the blade meets the handle. This grip may feel a tad awkward at first, but you will be amazed by how much additional control, dexterity and speed it affords you.

While we’re talking grips, what about your other hand? Now that your knives are razor-sharp, the fear of slicing a digit or two is central to stunting your knife skills. That’s where the “Claw Grip” comes into play. Place your hand on top of the food you’re cutting, and bend the tips of your fingers back towards your palm. The side of your knife will now slide harmlessly along your finger joints, allowing you to chop with lightning speed with almost zero risk of knicks or cuts. Gently ease your hand back as you slice, using the food adhering to the opposite side of the blade as your size guide to get regular, evenly chopped ingredients that look great and cook consistently.

Put these knife tips to work in your kitchen, and you will immediately see a palpable difference in the standard of your cooking.

2. Tools of The Trade

The adage that workers are only as good as their tools is never more relevant than in the kitchen. Understanding that what you cook in is as important as what you cook is crucial to boosting your output. Cheap, nasty cookware is a surefire way to ruin your favourite dishes and ensure your gastronomic experiments go awry. Conversely, high-quality pots and pans can revolutionise your performance in ways you never imagined. Let’s break down what you need to know about cookware:

The Right Stuff

Choosing the right pot or pan for the job can be critical in creating the perfect dish. The surface, shape, size, depth and other factors all play a part. Which material you use for your cookware is an obvious place to start. Most people have at least some level of preference for a particular material, whether that’s cast-iron, copper, stainless steel or other. Each type of cookware has pros and cons, so much of it will come down to personal preference or the foods you prefer to cook.

GreenPan’s non-stick ceramic cookware is a perfect all-rounder for virtually any cooking job. Our range includes an extensive variety of looks, feels and bases so the chances are you’ll find something that perfectly fits your style. Most importantly, all our cookware is free from PFAS, PFOA and other toxic chemicals, so you can cook with peace of mind knowing that you’re keeping your family safe and healthy.

In a previous blog, we took an in-depth look at how to choose the right cookware for your dish, but here’s a brief refresher:

• Frying Pan: Jack of all trades, perfect for frying, searing and sauteing.
• Skillet: Typically have higher walls than a frypan, so they’re perfect for cooking saucy one-pot meals where the larger surface area helps with reduction.
• Chef's Pan: Smaller and with a round, conical shape, this wonder is perfect for sauces and gently sauteeing delicate items.
• Grill Pan: Elevated ridges replicate the BBQ effect, giving authentic grill sear marks and allowing grease to drain away for leaner eating.
• Saucepan: Small to medium size and versatile, this pan is perfect for larger-volume sauces requiring longer cooking time. It is also perfect for steaming veggies and cooking rice, quinoa, and other grains.
• Stock Pot: Deep and voluminous, use your stock pot for warming soups or large quantities of chili. It is also ideal for bulk batches of sauces, stocks, or broth if you need to feed a crowd or freeze in batches to use when needed. The tall profile with a lower surface area relative to volume retains heat and liquid with much less evaporation when you need to keep things saucy.
• Casserole Pot: Also known as a Dutch Oven. Casseroles are great for sauteing onions and vegetables or browning meat, then switch seamlessly to slow cook mode for deep-flavoured stews or casseroles. They can usually go straight from the stovetop to the oven, making them an incredibly versatile one-pot option.
• Wok: Woks are extensively used for Asian cuisine due to their wide, deep, tapered shape. This shape creates excellent heat distribution and allows ingredients to be easily tossed and turned when stir-frying. Woks can also be perfect for deep frying or even steaming.

Which item you use may depend on numerous factors such as volume, cooking time, desired texture, and liquid volume. Choosing the right tool for the job can make a noticeable difference in what hits the plate.

If kitchen tech is more your speed, from the weird and wonderful to the downright miraculous, there is no end to the number of gadgets available to simplify your life in the heart of the home. We would need acres of cyber-space to cover everything, so here’s a short list of versatile and functional kitchen appliances that can not only make your life easier but extend your skill set:

• Slow Cooker: The perfect item for busy people who want to create complex stews, casseroles or soups but are short on time. Throw your ingredients in the slow cooker before you leave the house in the morning, and you’ll come home to tastebud tickling flavours ready to devour.
• Airfryer: This gadget has revolutionised the cooking world. Air fryers circulate hot air around your food using a powerful fan to replicate the effect of frying food, but with only a fraction of the fat and calories. Learning how to use an air fryer will add a new string to your healthy cooking bow.
• Contact Grill: Is it a toaster? Is it a griller? Is it a waffle maker? A contact grill is all that and more. One of the most versatile appliances you can own looks like a sandwich press but uses interchangeable plates to open possibilities for a huge range of cooking processes in one handy unit.
• Raclette Grill: Perfect for dinner parties and entertaining, this tabletop wonder could easily be called the most fun cooking gadget ever. No other appliance allows you to grill burgers, make perfectly fluffy omelettes or pancakes, stir-fry veggies, or sear fish quite like this marvel.
• Omni Cooker: If a slow cooker and casserole dish procreated, this would be their offspring. This ingenious tech can be used to sear meat and fish, cook stews and soups or even make rice.

Whatever cooking style you prefer, ensuring you have the right equipment is one of the easiest and most effective strategies for getting it right on the hob.

3. Vampires Beware

Garlic is an indispensable part of virtually every cuisine in the world. Whether you’re saying “bonjour” to a creamy French confit, “annyeong” to a spicy Korean ssam, “salaam” to a Middle Eastern hummus, “kamusta na” to a Filipino sinangang or “como vai” to a succulent Brazilian feijoada, garlic is the life of the dinner party wherever you are on the planet. Don’t be surprised, however, if people keep their distance in any language.

You may be surprised to find garlic on a list of pro cooking tips, but it’s so central to what happens in the kitchen that we feel it thoroughly deserves its place. With few exceptions, we all love the flavour of garlic. However, you’ve probably noticed that the potency and sharpness of the flavour and aroma can vary from dish to dish. Learning to control the intensity of the garlic to suit your favourite dishes is an advanced skill everyone can learn. Before we get into the nitty gritty, we first need to understand the chemistry of garlic and where that signature pong derives from.

The Chemistry of Garlic

Garlic’s telltale smell is a built-in defence mechanism to protect it from animals that would otherwise eat it. It also has antibacterial properties, which is why people have used garlic to ward off illness for millennia. As for why it has the power to deter vampires, that may have to wait for another time.

Each garlic cell contains a substance called Alliin and an enzyme called Alliinase. When the clove is intact, these two are kept away from each other, like that time your friend accidentally invited both you and your ex to a house party. However, cut or crush the clove, and these two end up in a catfight that creates Allicin, a volatile compound that delivers the sharp smell and taste. The more garlic cells you break, the more Allicin you create, and the more pungent the smell².

What Is The Best Way To Prepare Garlic?

So, let’s look at ways to use garlic to get your desired impact:

• Whole cloves: These will provide a gentle infusion of flavour with little to no offence to those around you. Beware, though! Bite into the clove, and you unleash Alliinase to do its job—game over!
• Bruised: Lay the clove under the side of your favourite blade and press or bang down to smash it lightly. This technique keeps most of the clove intact while creating just enough Alliicin to infuse your food with a mild-medium aroma, which is perfect for salad dressings or sauces without overpowering your hero ingredients. Be sure to remove the garlic pieces before serving, so nobody at the table gets a potent “surprise” in their lettuce leaf!
• Slice: The thinner you slice your garlic, the more cells you break down, so this method gives you excellent control over the flavour strength.
• Chop: One of the most common ways to use garlic - finely chopping allows you to get most of the impact while keeping some of the flesh intact. As with slicing, the finer you chop, the stronger the hit.
• Mince: Either in a garlic crusher or by hand using the “hacher” technique, this will give you pretty much full garlic power to add to stews, stir-fries, curries, marinades or rubs.
• Grind: A microplane or mortar-and-pestle will help you grind your garlic into a spectacular paste for the ultimate garlic lover. With these methods, you’re essentially breaking all or most of the cells down and unleashing the maximum amount of Alliinase. If you’re using a mortar and pestle, add a sprinkle of kosher salt to create enhanced abrasion, and you will end up with the most surreally delightful garlic paste that you can add to virtually anything. Add some fresh herbs or spices, then pulverise them all together to create sublime flavour infusions that elevate your favourite dish to legendary status. Alternatively, shmear it on a slice of baguette for the best garlic bread you’ve ever eaten.

The pungent story doesn’t end there. You can exert further control over your garlic through your cooking techniques. There are two primary ways to temper the sting in your garlic.

1. Heat: you’ve probably noticed that the more you cook your garlic, the milder the kick. Heat is a catalyst for numerous other chemical reactions in your garlic, some of which mask or break down Alliicin. For example, roasted garlic gives a delicious flavour without causing your conversation partner to carefully back away. When cooking a stirfry, adding the garlic early will achieve a similar result, while throwing it in towards the end of your cook will ensure a powerful dose. Just make sure whoever you’re kissing is eating it, too!
2. Acid: Lemon juice, vinegar and other acids work in much the same way as heat. The effect is mild at room temperature, so you can take some of the edge off while retaining the pongy punch. Cooking the garlic with an acid is a double whammy that typically cuts out most of the smell.

Now that you know everything you never knew you needed to know about garlic, you can understand why we believe it’s one of the most pivotal ways to boost your cooking credentials. Sorry Drac!

4. Order In The Court!

It doesn’t matter how exceptional your cooking skills are; a lack of organisation, planning and system in the kitchen is a slam-dunk recipe for disaster. If we had to nominate one item in the culinary arsenal that is a sure bet to keep you stranded at intermediate level, this is the one. If you’ve ever dashed about the kitchen in a blind panic, desperately looking for an ingredient you left out, only to find that the food on the stove is burning, then you’re the kind of home chef we’re talking to.

Organising your cook and implementing ordered systems will save you from costly, gut-wrenching disasters, reduce stress and help you ensure you get every dish right every time. Let’s look at a few surprisingly simple ways that you can totally revolutionise your cooking systems and forge your path to dizzying gastronomic heights.

Marie Kondo In Your Cupboard

You might think you know where everything is in your kitchen, but disorder in the pantry or cookware cupboard leads to chaos on the stove. Before you’ve even started cooking, getting your ingredients in order, visible and easily accessible will get you off to a flying start.

We’ve covered this section in detail in a recent blog post, so it’s worth checking that out in detail. However, to get the ball rolling, consider these simple pantry hacks:

• Keep your ingredients in well-ordered, clearly labelled containers
• Keep your most frequently used ingredients in the most accessible locations so you don’t need to go searching for the soy sauce or balsamic vinegar in the middle of a recipe.
• Keep an overflow stock of your favourite ingredients so you never run out in the middle of a cooking session.
• Keep your countertops tidy and as free from clutter as possible
• Arrange your cookware, bakeware and utensils by category and/or size for easy accessibility.

Read. The. Recipe.

This one is so simple it’s almost embarrassing to say. However, the number of people who fail miserably at this first hurdle is truly gobsmacking.

Reading the recipe from start to finish at least once before you start your cook is unquestionably the simplest and one of the most effective skills you can implement to get yourself organised in the kitchen. As you work through the recipe, your mind will start planning what needs to be done, when, and in what order. There will be no whoopsies, scatterbrained omissions or unpleasant surprises along the way because you’ve gotten everything straight in your head before you’ve even picked up a spatula in anger.

Pay careful attention to:

• Ingredient list: You might be thinking, “Duh!?!” but failing to read the recipe thoroughly almost guarantees that you will leave something out at some point. It might not be today, but it will happen.
• Preparation method: How is each ingredient prepared? Is it chopped, sliced, diced or julienned? If so, how finely? This will not only help ensure you get the right textures and visual impact, but it’ll also give you a grasp on how much time you will need to complete each step.
• Measurements: Have you ever got your tbsp mixed up with your tsp, or your ¼ confused with your ½? Of course, you have. A thorough reading ensures you have the quantities and ratios right.
• Equipment: Knowing what tools you’ll need at every recipe stage will save you scrambling mid-saute to find the right pot or slotted spoon.
• Order: This is another seemingly obvious one that is all too frequently messed up. Cooking is chemistry. You wouldn’t mix your chemicals in the wrong order in the lab, nor should you do so on the stovetop.
• Timing: How long does each step require, and how much attention is needed? If your recipe calls for frying on high heat while stirring constantly, you know it needs all your attention, and the next step must be ready in advance. Conversely, if it’s more of a “stir occasionally”, “leave to simmer on low”, or “bake for half an hour” kind of deal, then you‘ll have time to let nature take its course while you’re chopping the next ingredient.
• The details: High heat or low? Covered or uncovered? The devil is in the details, so keep him at bay by being on top of the finer points of each recipe.

Be Prepared!

Gathering and preparing all your ingredients before the flame is even lit is another monumental time, stress and error saver. The French call it “Mise en Place”, which means “everything in its place”. Once you experience the joys, you’ll never look back.

Put simply, Mise en Place entails measuring out all your wet and dry ingredients and arranging them beforehand, so when they’re ready to go POW! Straight into the pot.

Washaphobics may bristle at this one, but popping each ingredient into a bowl or container is an easy way to keep everything primed and ready for action precisely when needed. If multiple vegetables go in at once, combine them into the same bowl to save yourself at least a bit of washing up.

Herbs and spices are another superb opportunity to streamline your processes. Measuring them out can be finicky and leave you prone to error if you’re under time stress. In most cases, you can easily measure all these elements onto a single plate before you start and simply scrape them into the pot or pan as required. Not only does it provide you with an Insta-worthy moment to see all those stunning colours and textures on a single plate, but it will simplify your cooking in a way you never thought possible.

Cooking is one of life’s greatest joys. It can also be stressful and frustrating when your hard work doesn’t turn out as you imagine. Follow these simple yet crucial steps, and you too can come off like a MasterChef in your home kitchen.

At GreenPan, creating delicious, healthy meals is a passion that drives us forward each day to create the word’s highest quality, non-toxic, non-stick cookware. For more tips on how to give the gift of amazing food to your family and friends check out our selection of incredible recipes and stay up to date with the latest kitchen tips and tricks in our glog section. Of course, we love seeing what you’re creating in your kitchen, so don’t forget to get Social and share your stunning creations with #theOriginalGreenpan.anz

Happy cooking!

End Notes

¹ Paramount ANZ: MasterChef Australia Serves Up Series Success Reaching 11.2 million Australians: https://www.paramountanz.com.au/news/masterchef-australia-serves-up-series-success-reaching-11-2-million-australians/#:~:text=MasterChef%20Australia%202024%20Highlights.&text=11.2%20million%20viewers%20reached%20across,audiences%20ever%20for%20the%20series!

² Purdue University: The Chemistry of Garlic https://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/2organic/garlicframe.html