Steam is such a versatile way to cook, but for most of us in the Western world it’s not something we’ve traditionally used or understood that well – in a sense it’s reasonably unexplored territory for the hook cook.

If you take a look at the kinds of cuisines that are popular in Asian cultures, steam and steam cooking is a day to day proposition, and they have mastered so many different ways for steam to bring the best out of ingredients.

On top of the huge health benefits, there’s just so much control when cooking with steam. I really believe if you can learn how to control steam as a cooking medium then the results you can get from it are akin to anything you’d get at a top restaurant.

I take a lot of inspiration from people. Not just their ideas, but from their curiosity. The majority of people want to be better cooks, and that really inspires me to want to be a better teacher. The chefs I admire and that inspire me are the ones that can take the seemingly complex and break it down into the simple, clear, and concise. Understanding is the key to being a better cook, so understanding what people want to know and learn is key for being a better teacher.

Obviously I’m going to say it’s my combi-steam oven, purely for the variety I can get out of it, and the options it opens in the way I cook daily.

Outside of an appliance, I can’t live without a mortar and pestle. When you look at what it is, it’s just a bowl with a hammer in it. But what it does to food is unlike anything else – there is nothing else that can mimic what a mortar and pestle does. Like an old wok, a mortar and pestle develops its own flavour and what they do to ingredients is something that a machine can’t do. Make a pesto in a food processor and then make it in a mortar and pestle; the difference in flavour is incredible.

Colour = equals flavour, it’s as simple as that. Take an onion, how many recipes have we read that say sauté the onions until soft? But why? That doesn’t enhance the flavour profile of the onion, it just allows it to take on the flavour of other things, such as garlic.

Take the same onion, half the quantity, and get some colour on it – deep rich golden brown colour. You’ll immediately notice a different flavour profile, and the dish you are creating is immediately lifted by that ingredient.

Don’t be scared to get some deep colours on your food – you’ll end up using less ingredients and getting bigger flavour. That’s what cooking is all about.

There is so much value in cooking, not just in terms of feeding ourselves and our families, but in terms of our own mental wellbeing right now. Learning new skills keeps you motivated, it give you purpose, and it relieves stress.

But most of all, for me cooking has an incredible ability to take my mind off things. I find something as simple as making a pasta dough very therapeutic. You can’t think about anything other than the task at hand – there is a focus in every part of the process that means everything else just disappears.