Fat is flavour

If you’re not cooking with fat, you should be, according to recipe developer and consultant Ana Da Costa. “Fat is flavour so don’t be afraid of using it. Use butter, use lard. It will make you happier, trust me!”

Peel beetroot after you cook them

“I preserve a lot of local produce into jams, pickles and condiments, and pickled beetroot is one of our most popular items,” explains Ishiah White from Prosperity Kitchen & Pantry. “And I wish I’d learnt sooner that peeling beetroot after boiling them is much, much easier than peeling before boiling them.”

Re-grow vegetables from scraps

Did you know you can re-grow a lot of the basic staples you use in cooking every day? And you don’t need a big space for many of them – a windowsill or grow-bag will do nicely.

“Allium vegetables such as onions, spring onions and garlic make the base of hundreds of meals from bolognese and tagines to shakshukas and stir-frys, and what’s great is that they can be grown from the leftover scraps you’d usually throw away,” says Sophie Nahmad, lead recipe developer for Gousto.

“To begin, all you need to do is save the bases of the vegetables, making sure the roots are still attached. Place these roots in a shallow dish of water near the windowsill, and soon enough you should see green shoots begin to appear.

“Spring onions are super easy as you can keep the roots in water, and then harvest the fresh green shoots as they re-sprout. Other types of alliums such as garlic and onions will need to be planted in soil in the garden or in a pot to produce a larger crop.”

Create your own culinary identity

“The best tip I’ve ever received is to not get caught up in following gimmicks,” says Ian Syme, executive chef at Fairmont St Andrews. “Create your own culinary identity and stick with it, then adapt to people’s changing tastes instead.”

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Images: Getty; contributor’s own

From saving burnt soups with cucumbers to ‘freeze-en-place’: 25 professional chefs and food experts reveal the one kitchen tip they wish they’d learned sooner