How to cook without a recipe

The four decisions

The base

Aromatics softened in fat. Onion, garlic, ginger, celery, carrot, leek, chilli, spices. This is where depth comes from.

The main thing

What the dish is of. Meat, fish, pulses, vegetables, eggs, grain.

The medium

What carries it and how it cooks. Stock, tomato, coconut milk, cream, wine, oil, or nothing but the food's own juices.

The finish

Acid, fresh herbs, fat, crunch, salt. Added at the end, and the reason a dish tastes finished rather than merely cooked.

The method

How much liquid and how long. This decides whether it is a stew, a soup, a sauté or a roast.

The accompaniment

What it is eaten with, which is more than half of whether the meal works.

Improvising a dinner from what is there

1. Look at what needs using and decide which one thing is the dish. Everything else supports it.
2. Pick a direction — broadly Mediterranean, South Asian, East Asian, or plain and British. This decides the aromatics, the fat and the finish, and it stops the dish being confused.
3. Start the base in fat. Onion or shallot always works; add garlic and spices once it has softened.
4. Add the main ingredient and let it take on some colour if it will.
5. Add the medium — enough to just cover for a stew, a splash for a sauté, none for a roast.
6. Cook until the main thing is done and taste it. It will taste flat, because it always does at this stage.
7. Now finish it: salt, then acid, then fresh herbs, then a little fat. Taste after each.
8. Add something with a different texture — toasted nuts, breadcrumbs, crisp onions, a raw element.

The directions, in one line each

What each set of choices commits you to.

• Mediterranean. Olive oil, onion and garlic, tomato or wine, finished with lemon, parsley or basil, and good oil.
• South Asian. Neutral oil or ghee, onion, garlic, ginger and ground spice bloomed in fat, tomato or coconut, finished with fresh coriander, garam masala and yoghurt.
• East and Southeast Asian. Neutral oil, garlic, ginger and spring onion, soy or fish sauce and stock, finished with sesame oil, herbs, chilli and lime.
• French. Butter, onion, carrot and celery, wine and stock, finished with butter, cream, mustard or a herb.
• Plain British. Butter or dripping, onion, stock, finished with mustard, parsley, vinegar or Worcestershire sauce.
• Middle Eastern. Olive oil, onion, garlic, cumin and coriander seed, tomato or stock, finished with lemon, tahini, herbs and pomegranate.
• Mexican. Oil or lard, onion, garlic and dried chilli, tomato or stock, finished with lime, coriander and something crisp.

What actually makes it taste good

A dish that has all four elements and still tastes dull is almost always short of salt or short of acid. Those two rescue more improvised dinners than anything else, and both are added at the end where they can be judged.

The second commonest problem is that everything is the same texture. A stew is better with something crisp on it; a salad is better with something soft in it. Contrast is a decision, not an accident.

And the third is under-browning at the start. The base is where depth comes from, and softening onions for five minutes rather than fifteen costs the whole dish.

Common questions