Cooking guides
A calculator answers one question. These 12 guides walk through the whole job: what to buy, what temperature to use, what order to do things in, and where to check a figure with one of the 109 calculators.
Roasting and Sunday lunch
Getting a joint or a whole bird right, from buying it to carving it.
- How to Roast a ChickenBuying the right size bird, the oven temperature to use, how long it needs, how to tell it is done, and what to do with what is left.
- How to Roast BeefChoosing a joint, searing, rare through to well done, why beef is timed differently from chicken, and how long to rest it.
- How to Cook a Turkey for ChristmasA full Christmas turkey plan: what size to buy, how many days it needs to defrost, when to put it in, and how to keep the rest of the dinner moving around it.
Planning and timing
Getting several dishes to land on the table together.
Measurements and ovens
Cups, grams, fan ovens and recipes written for another country.
- Fan Oven vs Conventional OvenWhat a fan actually changes, how to adjust a recipe written for a conventional oven, and when the temperature is not the thing to change.
- Cups to Grams: Why the Ingredient MattersA cup measures space, not weight, so one cup of flour and one cup of sugar are nowhere near the same. Here is what that means when you follow an American recipe.
Baking
Tins, scaling and the percentages bakers actually use.
- How to Scale a RecipeWhat scales cleanly, what does not, and how to handle eggs, seasoning, tin size and cooking time when you double or halve a recipe.
- Cake Tin Sizes and Recipe ScalingHow to bake a recipe in the tin you actually own: matching area rather than width, adjusting batter quantity, and what happens to the baking time.
- Understanding Dough HydrationWhat a hydration percentage means, why sourdough is counted differently once a starter is involved, and how baker's percentage ties the whole formula together.
How much to cook
Quantities per person for everyday meals and for a crowd.
Storing food safely
Defrosting, chilling and reheating, following Food Standards Agency guidance.
- How to Defrost Food SafelyWhy the fridge is the right place, roughly how long a joint or a bird needs, how to tell it is fully thawed, and how long you have once it is.
- How to Store and Reheat Leftovers SafelyCooling food quickly, how long it keeps, reheating until it is steaming hot, and why rice has its own rules.
Just need the number?
Every guide links to the calculator that does the arithmetic for you, roasting times by weight, quantities per person, oven temperatures, tins and conversions.
All 109 calculators