**The Art of Cooking Perfectly**

For me, there's no substitute for perfectly cooked rice. The kind that's light, fluffy, and utterly delicious - it's the foundation of so many great dishes. And I'm here to share my secrets with you.

First things first, start with high-quality rice. I always use 400 grams of rice, which is spot on for most recipes. But before you can cook it, you need to get rid of the dust and starch that's accumulated on its surface. This is where rinsing off in cold water comes in. Simply rinse the rice under cold running water, and then drain it well. Don't stop there - a quick rinse will help prevent the rice from becoming clumpy in the pan.

Now, let's talk about flavor. To add some depth to our plain fluffy rice, we're going to infuse it with the flavors of cardamom pods and star anise. These two ingredients are absolute game-changers when it comes to cooking rice. The cardamom pods will release their fragrant oils as they simmer, while the star anise will add a warm, aromatic flavor that's just perfect for rice. Simply pierce the pods with your knife or fork to allow the flavors to escape.

Before we start cooking, let's talk about seasoning. You see, when you season cooked rice, it's much easier to get everything mixed up and combined than it is once the rice is perfectly cooked. So, add a pinch of salt and pepper to the pot now - don't worry if it looks like a lot, because as you fluff the rice with your fork later on, all those flavors will be evenly distributed.

Now, let's talk about cooking. The key to perfect rice is to use a ratio that's spot on: one part rice to one and a half parts water. Don't overdo it - too much water can make the rice mushy and unappetizing. But if you get the balance right, you'll be rewarded with perfectly cooked rice every time.

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for eight to ten minutes. This is where all the magic happens - as the water evaporates, the rice will start to steam instead of boiling, resulting in that perfect light, fluffy texture we're after. Don't lift the lid until it's done, because if you do, all those flavors will escape and your rice won't be infused with their deliciousness.

Once the rice is cooked, remove the star anise pod and fluff the rice with a fork to release all those amazing flavors. And that's it! You now have perfectly cooked rice - the perfect base for so many great dishes.

**Making the Most of Leftovers**

Now that we've got our basics covered, let's talk about making the most of your leftovers. One of my favorite things to do with last night's rice is make a delicious fresh salad. Simply chop up some veggies and toss them with cooked rice, add a squeeze of lemon juice for acidity, and you're good to go.

Another great way to use leftover rice is in stir-fries. I like to scramble it up with eggs or simply mix it with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger for a quick and easy dinner. And if you're feeling fancy, try adding some diced chicken or shrimp for added protein.

But leftovers aren't just limited to rice - we can use them in all sorts of creative ways. Take potatoes, for example. Instead of serving them plain, try making some delicious roast potatoes by parboiling them and then sprinkling them with semolina or flour before baking. This will give you a crispy exterior that's simply divine.

**Keeping Herbs Fresh**

Now, I know what you're thinking - why not just use fresh herbs in your cooking instead of relying on leftovers? Well, the truth is, herbs are great for adding flavor to your dishes without breaking the bank. And with a little bit of knowledge, you can keep them fresh for up to a week.

To keep herbs fresh, simply place them in a glass of water and cover it with a cloth or paper towel. This will absorb excess moisture and keep the herbs hydrated. You can use this trick with any type of herb - from basil to parsley, and everything in between.

**Skinning and Deboning Fish**

Now that we've covered the basics of cooking rice and making the most of leftovers, let's talk about one of my favorite things: fish. Skinning and deboning a fish may seem intimidating, but trust me, it's easier than you think.

To start, make sure your knife is nice and sharp - a dull knife will only cause you more trouble. Next, take your fish and gently pull back the skin with a pair of tweezers or fingers (depending on how comfortable you are with manual dexterity). Once the skin is removed, use your knife to carefully score the flesh in one direction, then peel it off from underneath.

The key to deboning a fish is to be gentle but firm. Don't press too hard, as this can cause the bones to break or the flesh to tear. Instead, work slowly and patiently until you've removed all the bones and skin. And voila - you now have perfectly skinned and deboned fish ready for cooking.

**Conclusion**

And there you have it - my secrets for cooking perfect rice and making the most of your leftovers. With a little bit of practice and patience, you'll be whipping up delicious meals in no time. Happy cooking!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfirst up cooking pasta a great budget basic to keep in the cupboard it can be easily undercooked or overcooked here's how to do it properly first water in nice large pan to make sure the pasta's got sufficient room to cook evenly nicely seasoned absolutely crucial olive oil in that stops the pasta from sticking together bring it up to the ball that's the rolling boil the secret there it stops the pasta from sticking together and it gently rolls it around now this is angel pasta nice thin pasta takes three and a half to four minutes so into the pan as it hits the water it melts and then you turn it round tongs as that starts to melt gently twist that into the pan bring it back up to the boil if you're bad at timing then set a timer beautiful to test it lift a little strand and you can actually feel it with your fingers still nice and firm al dente not a bite not a strong bite but just really nice and firm inside definitely not crunchy and then into a colander drain the pasta in a light seasoning salt and pepper a tablespoon of olive oil mix that through that stops it from sticking together and look there you go beautiful pasta al dente and cooked perfectly a tip for making the most of spare bread blitz leftovers into breadcrumbs great for stuffing or crab cakes or cut into chunks and freeze for perfect croutons on demand or simply tear and use in a delicious rustic salad dried pulses like chickpeas or lentils are great for soups and stews and cost pennies but don't season them until the end of the cooking or the salt makes them go tough for perfect boiled potatoes always start them off in cold water and never boiling water this way by the time the centers of the potatoes are cooked the outside won't be falling apart and when you're cooking potatoes always cook extra so there's leftovers they're fantastic to have on hand for making my delicious gnocchi and potato rusties for a classic bubbling squeak basmati rice the king of all rice is light fluffy delicious and i'm going to show you how to cook it perfectly now start off with 400 grams of rice rice in spot on so what i'm going to do now is just rinse off the dust and the starch cold water always and just rinse the rice that stops the rice from becoming clumpy in the pan and allows it to become really nice light and fluffy once it's cooked rice into the pan now to make a plain fluffy rice exciting we're going to infuse it three cardamom pods and just get the pots and just pierce them so it allows all that flavour to come out cardamom pods and then star anise now these are beautiful whole star anise it makes it really nice and fragrant salt and pepper a lot easier to season the rice now than it is once it's cooked you start to break it up when you season once it's cooked now it's basically one part rice to one and a half part water 600 mils always start off in cold water cold water in onto the gas lid on bring it up to the ball as quick as possible and turn it down and let it simmer for eight to ten minutes and that's the secret behind cooking great rice allow it to steam as it's cooking do not lift that lid up lid off it smells aromatic basically all the water's absorbed the rice has doubled in size and is nice and light and fluffy take the staranise out the cardamom pods they all should have risen to the top pods out take your fork fluff it through basically it just sort of starts to open everything back up once you've fought it through it becomes really nice and light and fluffy and that is perfectly cooked rice always make the most of your leftovers use last night's rice in stir fries scrambled up with eggs or it's simple to make a delicious fresh salad remember a good cook wastes nothing a great tip for stopping potatoes apples and avocados from going brown wing cut simply cover with water and add a squeeze of lemon the acidity stops the flesh from oxidizing which is what causes the colour to change herbs are great for adding flavor without spending a fortune to keep them at their best simply place them in a glass of water and they'll stay fresh for up to a week and if you've got extra herbs left over save and waste by making an amazing flavored oil place wash and dried stems in a bottle cover with warmed olive oil then seal and leave to infuse great for salads pastas and drizzling on veg with how to skin and debone a fish the hassle-free way this is basically a filleted side of salmon it's been taken off the bone and now skin off pick up your knife a really nice broad flexible filleting knife a little sharpen lift up the base of the towel and then just nick a little bit at the end there twist the knife almost as if it's horizontally underneath the salmon pull the skin and you slice the salmon underneath and let the knife do the work now get your skin flip it back over and check you're not leaving too much salmon on top of the skin pull it back nice and slowly get the skin wrap it around your fingers pull the salmon towards you and then just all the way through lay that down one nicely skinned salmon just like a perfect snakeskin get your knife and just run the knife down and then with a pair of tweezers these are fish tweezers but you can use normal tweezers look for the head up and pull and with the skin being removed from underneath the salmon the pin bones come out a lot easier the pimples only go to just basically halfway along the fillet one nice fillet of salmon beautiful there's still plenty of flavor in the trimmings from affiliated fish my tip is don't waste those fish bones add to water wine a bay leaf and some chopped veg to make a simple but versatile fish talk at home the perfect base for a delicious fish soup a great tip for intensely flavored stress-free veg is to steam them in their own juices simply add to a pan with a knob of butter and seasoning then cook on a low heat with a lid on to lock in the moisture for crispy roast potatoes you can depend on my tip is to parboil them leave them to steam dry then sprinkle them with semolina or flour and give them a good roughing up this ensures they go really crispy in the oven a great tip for browning meat or fish is to dry with kitchen roll before you cook it then you'll get a much better color too much moisture makes the meat steam instead of sear and you'll lose that rich brown crust like the one i got on those sticky pork ribs youfirst up cooking pasta a great budget basic to keep in the cupboard it can be easily undercooked or overcooked here's how to do it properly first water in nice large pan to make sure the pasta's got sufficient room to cook evenly nicely seasoned absolutely crucial olive oil in that stops the pasta from sticking together bring it up to the ball that's the rolling boil the secret there it stops the pasta from sticking together and it gently rolls it around now this is angel pasta nice thin pasta takes three and a half to four minutes so into the pan as it hits the water it melts and then you turn it round tongs as that starts to melt gently twist that into the pan bring it back up to the boil if you're bad at timing then set a timer beautiful to test it lift a little strand and you can actually feel it with your fingers still nice and firm al dente not a bite not a strong bite but just really nice and firm inside definitely not crunchy and then into a colander drain the pasta in a light seasoning salt and pepper a tablespoon of olive oil mix that through that stops it from sticking together and look there you go beautiful pasta al dente and cooked perfectly a tip for making the most of spare bread blitz leftovers into breadcrumbs great for stuffing or crab cakes or cut into chunks and freeze for perfect croutons on demand or simply tear and use in a delicious rustic salad dried pulses like chickpeas or lentils are great for soups and stews and cost pennies but don't season them until the end of the cooking or the salt makes them go tough for perfect boiled potatoes always start them off in cold water and never boiling water this way by the time the centers of the potatoes are cooked the outside won't be falling apart and when you're cooking potatoes always cook extra so there's leftovers they're fantastic to have on hand for making my delicious gnocchi and potato rusties for a classic bubbling squeak basmati rice the king of all rice is light fluffy delicious and i'm going to show you how to cook it perfectly now start off with 400 grams of rice rice in spot on so what i'm going to do now is just rinse off the dust and the starch cold water always and just rinse the rice that stops the rice from becoming clumpy in the pan and allows it to become really nice light and fluffy once it's cooked rice into the pan now to make a plain fluffy rice exciting we're going to infuse it three cardamom pods and just get the pots and just pierce them so it allows all that flavour to come out cardamom pods and then star anise now these are beautiful whole star anise it makes it really nice and fragrant salt and pepper a lot easier to season the rice now than it is once it's cooked you start to break it up when you season once it's cooked now it's basically one part rice to one and a half part water 600 mils always start off in cold water cold water in onto the gas lid on bring it up to the ball as quick as possible and turn it down and let it simmer for eight to ten minutes and that's the secret behind cooking great rice allow it to steam as it's cooking do not lift that lid up lid off it smells aromatic basically all the water's absorbed the rice has doubled in size and is nice and light and fluffy take the staranise out the cardamom pods they all should have risen to the top pods out take your fork fluff it through basically it just sort of starts to open everything back up once you've fought it through it becomes really nice and light and fluffy and that is perfectly cooked rice always make the most of your leftovers use last night's rice in stir fries scrambled up with eggs or it's simple to make a delicious fresh salad remember a good cook wastes nothing a great tip for stopping potatoes apples and avocados from going brown wing cut simply cover with water and add a squeeze of lemon the acidity stops the flesh from oxidizing which is what causes the colour to change herbs are great for adding flavor without spending a fortune to keep them at their best simply place them in a glass of water and they'll stay fresh for up to a week and if you've got extra herbs left over save and waste by making an amazing flavored oil place wash and dried stems in a bottle cover with warmed olive oil then seal and leave to infuse great for salads pastas and drizzling on veg with how to skin and debone a fish the hassle-free way this is basically a filleted side of salmon it's been taken off the bone and now skin off pick up your knife a really nice broad flexible filleting knife a little sharpen lift up the base of the towel and then just nick a little bit at the end there twist the knife almost as if it's horizontally underneath the salmon pull the skin and you slice the salmon underneath and let the knife do the work now get your skin flip it back over and check you're not leaving too much salmon on top of the skin pull it back nice and slowly get the skin wrap it around your fingers pull the salmon towards you and then just all the way through lay that down one nicely skinned salmon just like a perfect snakeskin get your knife and just run the knife down and then with a pair of tweezers these are fish tweezers but you can use normal tweezers look for the head up and pull and with the skin being removed from underneath the salmon the pin bones come out a lot easier the pimples only go to just basically halfway along the fillet one nice fillet of salmon beautiful there's still plenty of flavor in the trimmings from affiliated fish my tip is don't waste those fish bones add to water wine a bay leaf and some chopped veg to make a simple but versatile fish talk at home the perfect base for a delicious fish soup a great tip for intensely flavored stress-free veg is to steam them in their own juices simply add to a pan with a knob of butter and seasoning then cook on a low heat with a lid on to lock in the moisture for crispy roast potatoes you can depend on my tip is to parboil them leave them to steam dry then sprinkle them with semolina or flour and give them a good roughing up this ensures they go really crispy in the oven a great tip for browning meat or fish is to dry with kitchen roll before you cook it then you'll get a much better color too much moisture makes the meat steam instead of sear and you'll lose that rich brown crust like the one i got on those sticky pork ribs you\n"