🍳 Pro Tip: That glossy berry dome on top of the back croissant
That glossy berry dome on top of the back croissant? It’s a simple mirror glaze: reduced berry compote + gelatin, poured at 35°C. Takes 5 minutes to m
Chef Tips
Professional skills — tempering, emulsification, piping, glazing, and more from a luxury hotel chef
Knife Skills 101: How I Learned to Cut Like a Chef
On my first day in a real professional kitchen, I was handed a chef’s knife and told to dice 10 kilos of onions. I gripped it like a cricket bat, hacked away like I was chopping firewood, and produced the most uneven, embarrassing pile of onion pieces you’ve ever seen. My senior chef looked at … Read more
How to Read a Recipe Like a Professional Chef
Most people fail at recipes not because the recipe is bad, but because they don’t know how to follow a recipe correctly. They glance at the ingredient list, skim the steps, and start cooking — then wonder why the result doesn’t match the picture. After 10 years as a professional chef, I can tell you: … Read more
Mise en Place: The Chef’s Secret to Stress-Free Cooking
If I could teach every home cook just one thing from my years in professional kitchens, it wouldn’t be a recipe or a technique. It would be mise en place. Understanding the mise en place meaning in cooking — and actually practising it — is the single biggest upgrade you can make in your kitchen. … Read more
Heat Control in Cooking: The Skill That Separates Amateurs from Pros
You can have the best ingredients, the sharpest knives, and the most expensive cookware — but if you don’t understand heat control cooking tips, your food will never reach its potential. Heat is the most fundamental tool in any kitchen, and mastering it is what truly separates amateurs from professionals. I’m Giriraj Singh, a professional … Read more
How to Layer Flavours Like a Professional Chef
Ever tasted a dish that just had depth? Not just salty or spicy, but layer after layer of flavour unfolding with each bite? That’s not luck. That’s intentional flavour building. Understanding how to layer flavours in cooking is what separates a good cook from someone who truly commands a kitchen. I’m Giriraj Singh, a professional … Read more
5 Fundamental Cooking Techniques Every Home Cook Must Master
Recipes come and go. Trends change every season. But basic cooking techniques for beginners — the real foundational skills — remain the same whether you’re cooking in a home kitchen or a five-star hotel. Master these five techniques and you can cook almost anything, with or without a recipe. I’m Giriraj Singh, a professional Pastry … Read more
The Maillard Reaction: Why Browning Makes Everything Taste Better
There’s a reason that a perfectly browned crust on bread smells incredible, why a seared steak tastes ten times better than a boiled one, and why golden croissants sell out before pale ones. It’s called the Maillard reaction — and understanding this perfect browning cooking technique will genuinely change the way you cook. I’m Giriraj … Read more
Why Your Food Doesn’t Taste Like a Restaurant (And How to Fix It)
You follow the recipe perfectly. You use the same ingredients. But somehow, your food never tastes like what you get at a restaurant. Sound familiar? The gap between restaurant quality cooking at home and what most people actually achieve isn’t about talent or expensive ingredients. It’s about a handful of techniques that professional kitchens use … Read more
How to Plate Food Like a 5-Star Hotel Chef
If you’ve ever eaten at a fine-dining restaurant and wondered how the plate looked so perfect — like a painting you almost didn’t want to touch — I’ll let you in on something. Food plating techniques aren’t magic. They’re a set of learnable skills that every professional chef practises until they become second nature. I’m … Read more
The Art of Deconstructing a Classic Dish (And Why It Makes You a Better Cook)
What does it really mean to deconstruct a dish? Chef Giri shares how pulling apart classics like cheesecake and biryani taught him to be a better cook — and how you can try it at home.
How Long Does Homemade Pastry Actually Last? A Pastry Chef Answers Honestly
How long does homemade cake actually last? A professional pastry chef shares honest shelf life timelines for croissants, cookies, cakes, and macarons — plus hotel FIFO principles for your home kitchen.