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Be sure to read a recipe all the way through before you cook. The time it saves you in the long run is invaluable.

I tested a lot of old cornbread recipes and most of them were bland or tough.

There's no way I'm going to stand up for bad ingredients. We love seasonal ingredients. It's a false dichotomy to say that modern cooking is at odds with that, but some people want to have a great ingredient and no technique.

A recipe is a story that ends with a good meal.

The hardest part of anything is making a dish consistently great - you order it seven years later, if it's still on the menu, and it's still as good as what you remember.

I love inventive food, but I want the classic dishes to taste like how I remember them. I get a little bummed out when there is too much fancy stuff going on and it doesn't resemble the original dish at all.

I reckon I tried everything on the old apple, but salt and pepper and chocolate sauce topping.

It's always good to go over the recipe beforehand, so you can easily think of the next thing that needs to be done.

You don't have to stick with these recipes. They're guides. As I say, they're a way in. Have fun with them. It's an easier way to cook in a busy life, once you get the hang of it.